I appreciate the input from all of you.
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I appreciate the input from all of you.
OK, I have downloaded the km175beta.exe file. As before, do I uninstall my previous version and replace it with this one? I can't remember what I did before when installing 1.67
Thanks, for your patience and help.
No, all you have to do is double click the installer.
You can have multiple versions of KM on your machine.
This new 1.75 beta... when does it no longer be a beta?
And when does it appear on the KM web site as a real version number like the 1.67 is?
Thanks
Movie clips would be VERY welcome! :) What would the size limitations be and what options would there be to control the clips from within the Flash movie?
Also, an idea for bones...
I would like to see a skeletal system in KoolMoves. I don't know how difficult it would be to set it up, but here is how I would attempt to pursue it...
There would be 2 types of bones. The first would be joints, which would be represented by a small fixed circle. Clicking a button would allow you to place a joint in a frame. You could then attach limbs to the joint, which would be represented by a sizeable (by length) straight line. Joints could be inserted anywhere into an existing limb to create say a flexible backbone. Highlighting a limb that is attached to a joint would allow you to reposition the limb without resizing it or detaching it from the joint. All of the bones attached "below" the limb you move would also move with it, like bending your knee, your foot moves with it. This type of system could allow users to create almost any type of creature imaginable.
Now... getting more than just a stick figure. If there were a way to "attach" a simple vector graphic (lets say a dog) to a bone system. You could create/import your dog graphic and build the sketeton over it... then you could do something like group the two together to make the vector dog respond to the movements of the skeleton. You could also build your skeleton and then create your "skin" around it and then group them.
I don't know if this stuff is possible and if it is I am sure it is easier said than done, but these are just ideas... I hope they are worth something.
Also, will KoolMoves be getting more actionscripts? Perhaps a way to save numeric variables and maybe add and subtract them, for game scores for instance. The score could be passed on to a web server through a URL, or Javascript. Maybe even and "If, Then, Else" type actionscript? Just curious...
I wrote a tut on passing game scores to javascript. It is here: http://www.koolmoves.com/scorekeeper/scoretut.html
FScommands can be accesed by typing FScommand:command in the get URL and then putting the arguments in the target.
There is a decent article at moock.org that deals with FS commands and Flash Player Methods. It is here: http://www.moock.org/webdesign/flash...and/index.html
Since Kool Moves is based on the Flash 3 SDK (what was available when the app was written) I don't know about how bob feels about rebasing the product on the Flash 5 SDK (It has only been available for abot 25 days and the Flash 4 SDK has only been available for about 90 days or so- This is MM doing) and Flash 3 handles actions differntly than Flash 4 and 5.
If you want to Know more continue reading if not then stop now becuase the next bit is Technical and realting to the SWF file format itself. If you don't care about that then just be satisfied that until Kool Moves is based on the Flash 4 or 5 model we shouldn't expect more advanced scripting.
See we already have almost all of the Flash 3 actions available in the Flash 3 Model.
Here they are listed
While the Flash 4 model is completly dififerent:Quote:
Excerpt from the SWF SDK
The SWF Version 3 action model consists of eleven simple instructions for the player:
Play – start playing at the current frame.
Stop – stop playing at the current frame.
NextFrame – go to the next frame
PreviousFrame – go to the previous frame
GotoFrame – go to the specified frame
GotoLabel – go to the frame with the specified label
WaitForFrame – wait for the specified frame
GetURL – get the specified URL.
StopSounds – stop all sounds playing
ToggleQuality – toggle the display between high and low quality.
SetTarget – change the context of subsequent actions to a named object.
This is a list of all actions available in Flash 4:Quote:
excerpt from the SWF SDK
SWF version 4 supports a greatly enhanced action model including an expression evaluator, variables, conditional branching and looping.
The Flash 4 player incorporates a stack machine that interprets and executes SWF4 actions. The key SWF4 action is ActionPush. This action is used to push parameters on to the stack. Unlike SWF3 actions, SWF4 actions do not have parameters embedded in the tag, rather they push parameters onto the stack, and pop results off the stack.
The expression evaluator is also stack based. Arithmetic operators include ActionAdd, ActionSubtract, ActionMuliply and ActionDivide. The Flash authoring tool converts expressions to a series of stack operations. For example, the expression 1+x*3 is represented as the following action sequence:
ActionPush “x”
ActionGetVariable
ActionPush “3”
ActionMultiply
ActionPush “1”
ActionAdd
The result of this expression is on the stack. Note that all values on the stack, including numeric values, are stored as strings. In the example above, the numeric values 3 and 1, are pushed on the stack as the strings “3” and “1”.
Quote:
Excerpt from the SWF SDK documentation
Arithmetic Operators
ActionAdd ActionMultiply ActionDivide
ActionSubtract
Numerical Comparison
ActionLess ActionEquals
Logical Operators
ActionAnd ActionOr ActionNot
String Manipulation
ActionStringAddActionStringLengthActionMBStringLen gth ActionStringEqualsActionStringLess ActionStringExtractActionMBStringExtract
Stack Operations
ActionPush ActionPop
So what you are asking is impossible for something based on Flash 3 which is why FSCommands and Flash Player Methods are important.
Thanks :)
I know how to use Flash with JavaScript and have made some score keeping "devices" with it already, but I appreciate the reply. This is a line from a Flash 4 ActionScripts specifications page I read:
"Data and operators (or functions) are encoded using the same way Flash 3 codes are."
That made me think that Flash 3 does support data and operators like +,-,=, etc... but I now see that page has a list of (then) new codes added to Flash 4. Oh well, LOL I have no problem with JavaScript...
OK, a couple of more things...
I am using the new beta version on a project. I LOVE being able to use MP3s, but I noticed one thing and wondered if anyone knows what is happening. I use 2 browsers IE 5.5 and Netscape 4.08. On IE I have the Flash 5 plugin, on NS I have the Flash 3 plugin. On NS the MP3s cannot be heard, but they can on IE. Is this due to the Flash 3 plugin, or the Netscape browser itself?
When I included MP3, I had to change the version of the swf file to version 4 from version 3. Version 3 players do not recognize MP3 or other Flash version 4 commands (hence your web browser with version 3 won't play the MP3 part of the movie). Numerical actions are Flash 4. When I will get to these I don't know. My plate is full with bones, etc. The outline presented by DigitalDog for how bones should work is probably fairly close to what I have in mind. I am aiming for simplicity. Richard and I will be going over this topic later this morning.
There have been no new bugs reported for 1.75 beta (I found one myself and corrected it -- I messed up how the tracing image is displayed). I updated the beta yesterday with all fixes. I am waiting for my meeting with Richard to fix anything he has found and then I will release it. So, it could be this afternoon or tomorrow that there is an official release.
It is easy for me to add FSCommand as an action. Should I?
[Edited by Bob Hartzell on 01-06-2001 at 09:52 AM]
I would just to reduce confusion and while you are at it another easy command would be a javascript command that automatically adds the javascript: to the get URL.
Advertise it as new scripting abilities- It'd be a blast (At least MM thought it would be a big deal about adding a Flash javascript developement package to dream weaver and advertised it as a big deal and they also made a big deal over the NEW FS Command interface in Flash 4.)
I absolutely love Digital Dog's idea on "bones" and that would be absolutely the most wonderful dream imaginable for an animator. It's like taking your drawing, importing it in and treating it like a skin to the skeletal structure then attaching it and moving it around with the joints.
I say that would be a dream,..because I'm not sure how that could be realized technically speaking. I mean if you change the joint to move the leg of your dog character,..it would have to recreate the likeness of the drawing style that is the dog and bend the leg as you had instructed while maintaining your artistic integrity.
Think about something more natural and funny for a cartoon. In the simplest of examples, if a person jumps up from a stand still position,...an animator knows that the character must bend at the knees and hunch down a bit before stretching back up into a jump position. this reflexive anticipation would be significant enough that the whole character takes a different shape before the jump. How would the program know how to extend the buttocks out and squanch the legs? I mean I know that I could add joints and skeletel lines tobend those areas,...but like DDog said,..you would have to be able to group that skeleton with the actual image. That would be key,..but it would then have to be up to the artist to actually draw the exaggerations. In my narrow cartoonist mind, I can't see a program figuring that out.
I believe 3DMAX does this with powerhouse plugins like Bones Pro from Digimation. All of the animating is done in a wiremesh mode and you then lay a skin over it, but I'm not sure. I'm glad there are Bob's in the world to figure that out,...because all I can do is draw.
[Edited by TPhilipDolce on 01-06-2001 at 09:07 PM]
The bone structure I outlined would have to be used with vector graphics. Other images would not work, except for maybe DXF files(?). The skeletal movement would simply alter the "skin" according to it's points. Make sense? You move a limb and the points of the skin that are associated with that limb move with it.
[Edited by DigitalD0g on 01-06-2001 at 09:12 PM]
I was assuming that we were talking about vectors, just was mind boggled by the technical side of it. I don't know how these coders and programmers do it!!! Amazing!!!
Bones would be adherently related to the import capabilities of KM too. Km would have to allow for a nice range of vector format extension imports. (which I believe it does now)(ie .cdr, .ai, .tga, .eps....) I can't think of one feature that could set this program leaps ahead of many other 2D animation softwares as "bones" could. I know Moho has it,..but I haven't seen it there yet to try it and Moho no longer will support .swf output.
Thank you, Bob. Great work!
How do you feel about the accelerators for playing the animation (e.g., ctrl+enter)?
-good
Do you feel that importing swf files is a high priority?
-VERY MUCH
Should drop shadow functionality be a high priority?
-no
Should movie clips be a high priority?
-yes
How about being able to loop a "fun" file inside another? For example, you have a logo that is 3 frames, and I want to loop it continously throughout ...say a 10 frame animation. But I do not want to have to take the 3 frame logo and create the graphics on each of the 10 frames... Loop one animation (fun) inside another (fun) file.
Thanks
Frank