convert AVI, MPG, MOV -> swf

Quote:

---

Originally posted by xnxnxn
I was the first to deliver a solution back on November 2000. But it was clear that the big companies are going to ride the wave quickly enough.
Us, private people can only compete with the big guys in "time to market".

Good luck to Adobe, I love their products.
And good luck to anyone who tries to write a flash player that shows video with no memory problems.

Xn

---

Thats not entirely true XN. We can also compete price wise. An individual or a small group has lower overhead.

Also you guys are missing another very important limitation. The flash player can only play 16,000 frames. Why isd this important? Asumming there aren't any memory problems at 16 fps the max length of your video could only be around 16 minutes at about 30 fps you are looking at 8 minutes. At 25- again only about 10 minutes or so. The Flashplayer just wasn't built for video.

I have not heard of this tag, is this flash 5 or 4.
"FreeCharacter"

----------------------------------------------------
as to the 16000 frame limit. 99% of the video on-line is kept to below 3 min runtime. E-commerce, training apps, intro movies, movie trailers, info mercials, and such dont need long running video.

Not to mention the costs of streaming on demand long running video to hundreds or thousands of people each day would be impractical.

Real and other companies do it all the time. If yopu go to http://www.sputnik7.com they often stream 30 minute videos on demand. There are also many movie sites that stream 1 and 2 hour movies on demand.

The average training tutorial on line is about 25 minutes the average training video (Specialized on VHS or DVD runs 20 minutes-1 hr depending on the subject). http://www.learn2.com tutorials stream on demand and typically are are that long if not longer. They use Java and other formats interchangably. Librix uses Flash and Shockwave content and the sesions are roughly 15-20 minutes also.

Any type of training video that is less than about 10 minutes would not be very valuable for training.

If you are getting 3 minute vidoes then chances are most likely that they are for advertisements or for very quick demos in advertisements.

Yes you will find some examples that are longer. I am not saying that they dont exist, only that a much larger market sector is given to short video. Tune into streamingmedia.com for the latest news on cutbacks and streaming.dotcom failures.

But why get stuck on having to argue a mute point. Flash can play as long as any video and forget the 16000 frame limit.

We on purpose split our videos up to counteract the ram hungry player and then play them back seamlessly with no problem. We can playback 2 hours of video if somebody really wants it, no problem.

If you want to argue the cons of Flash video their is only one (1) and that is the ram hungry player. We have already created some workarounds for this and are continuing to improve upon them.

If you want to discuss the benefits you will need another 10 pages in this forum.

We will be releasing an e-book on simulated video next month that will enable every flasher to easily create top qwuality interactive video using commercially available software most of which they probably own already.

Cheers

jp

What I don't understand about the Flash Player in general (BTW if you want the source go to http://www.openswf.org or one of its many mirrors and click the download for the original SDK, it includes the Player source) is why didn't they use an OLE layer to embedd video like http://www.Flashants.com ended up doing? Media player is intergrated into the Window OS after WIN ME (It is distributed with every WIN 95 and higher OS) and QT comes installed on every MAC? The truth of the matter is that for PC's with WIN 95 and higher (and that is most of them) media player is installed. Linux distributions also come with its own media player so it is quite possible that Macromedia could have done some dealing.

It seams to me that the answer is that they didn't want to mess with it. That and the fact that they charged Real and QT a hefty fee, I am sure, to intergrate the Flash Player into those Players. In fact of the 3 big players in the PC Video market (Apple, Microsoft, and Real) Only Microsoft has not intergrated the Flash Player into its product yet. Once Microsoft intergrates the Flash Player into Media Player- which I can see happening, this will all be a mute proposition becuase once MS (Especially since the Linux/Unix market will propably follow) is on board then you will have just about 100% Video Intergration with Flash.

The SWF format is quickly becoming like the Postscript format- only more so. I can see by the end of next year implementations or plans to implement SWF export into every graphic, Presentation, and animation tool on the market- Heck we are already heading there anyhow... Presenter 10 supports SWF Export, Open Office has SWF Export on its to do list for Star Impress and Star Draw, Photoshop has SWF Export, illustrator has SWF Export, MGI has plans to add SWF Export to its products, Corel Draw has SWF Export, Corel Graphic Studio 10 comes bundled with RAVE which creates SWF, Linker Animation Stand Pro and higher exports to SWF, I can See SWF Export for QT Pro 5.5, Poser has SWF Export, Xara X has SWF export, Adobe is adding SWF export to just about all of its products, There is a plug-in for Dream Weaver that makes SWF Export, there is a plug-in for Free hand that adds SWF Export, Adobe After Effects has SWF export slated for its next version, Almost every 3D app exports or has a plug-in for SWF, and I could go on. I say within 2 years any tool that exported to AVI will also export to SWF also making this a mute point.

I also look around at who is speaking at what conferences. FF2001 has a section on Flash without Flash and I looked at who is speaking at it: Someone from Flash Jester, Someone From Wildform, someone from Toon Boom, and someone from Electric Rain. Of the three production teams the only one that has developed within the last 7 months is Toon Boom. Flash Jester is selling old and now obsolete tools becuase much smaller companiers have beat them to market with new tools plus individual developers have come along (AKA the developers of SWF Studio and Flash Wiz whose products offer more in functionality and cost less and hence are used more) . The same is true of Wildform- which hasn't produced a new product or really signifigantly added new functionality to its tools since last november or so and their price has been undercut by just about every competing firm. With as saturated as the Third Party SWF market is these companies who are not Adobe, Corel, or Macromedia (All of which have spent millions of dollars on PR so that they have both name recogonition and customer loyalty) have to either produce newer more functional tools or create new tools. Stagnation is death for a small 3'rd party SWF app company. The people who put together these conferences don't seem to understand that or they would have chosen much different speakers.

And then again the GURU's of Flash are often time uneducated about the history and the market conditions of the 3'rd party app industry. They don't realize that just about every graphic, presentation, and video tool on the market will be making SWFs nor do they realize that there are 5 tools on the market right now that can replace Flash 3, 1 that could be used to replace Flash 4, and at least 2 Open Source Linux/ Unix projects to "Clone" Flash 5.

My perdiction is that SWF Developers in 2 years will be a dime a dozen. There will be such a glut in the market of people who can use tool or another to produce SWFs that the $80-$120 standard fee that a Flash Designer can charge now will be almost nothing unless the designer is realy competent at design. I already see thousands of Flash companies going under. I further Predict that the Flash Format will not stop at the web. SWF will not be the final output but rather a componet just like a Jpeg will be. The MultiMedia programs and devices will all be able to stream video and have interactive SWFS (We are already there with Real and QT BTW). Since there will already be Video support for these programs and devices it would be pointless to Imatate video when real video is already supported.

I'm not sure when FreeCharacter came in. It is not defined in the spec. The info is sparse on the tag, but I would guess it is from around v4 (or earlier).

--Jesse

Thanks,
I will look into this. If it works- video in Flash will just have taken one small giant leap forward. :) and if anybody else knows anything about this tag including an example of how to use it that would be great.

As for johnie's post.

I think your predictions may be right. The big boys will always control the game that is for sure.

In the meantime I find flash video liberating and simple once you know what your doing.

One of the other moderators on flashkit is involved in simulated video and they are doing realy cool things with it.

I was impressed with their work though they need a little help with the technical aspects. I am sure that their design company is going to do great things with it. Like you say in the end its the designers brain thats going to count more than anything.

cheers
jp

Quote:

---

What I don't understand about the Flash Player in general (BTW if you want the source go to http://www.openswf.org or one of its many mirrors and click the download for the original SDK, it includes the Player source) is why didn't they use an OLE layer to embedd video like http://www.Flashants.com ended up doing?

---

Not quite. The Flash SDK doesn't include the Player code at all. You need to license it from Macromedia and they are quite selective on why you want to get it and what you're going to do with it. The Flash SDK contains only some buggy classes to generate simple Flash movies (other people like Jesse Eazell provides better alternatives).

They cannot include an OLE layer because it's an exclusive techonology of the Windows platform. Including it, would have rendered the Player specific only to Windows. Also, these software layers, increase the size of the code and the plugin.

As per the FreeCharacter I gave an explanation a while ago see:


http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=155068

Cheers,
Lev

This FreeCharacter Tag looks like just the ticket. I will test it out just as soon as I find how to get to it.

Where are these tags, how do I get to them. sorry for my ignorance all my experience in Flash has been with relation to streaming video and image compression.

Thanks

Also I checked out Barefoot is that your compnay. I think we could use that for the e-book we will be releasing. I have had many inquiries for this type of thing. After we package our book I will know better the advantages of the software and perhaps can refer some business your way.

jp

1. Download SWFSource
2. Add the following code to FControl.cpp:


std::ostream &operator << (std::ostream &out, FlashTagFreeCharacter &data)
{
out << FlashTagHeader(3,2);
WRITE_UWORD(data.id);
return out;
}
std::istream &operator >> (std::istream &in, FlashTagFreeCharacter &data)
{
READ_UWORD(data.id);
return in;
}

3. Add the following code to FControl.h:

class FlashTagFreeCharacter : public FlashTag
{
DEFINE_RW_INTERFACE
FlashTagFreeCharacter() {}
public:
FlashTagFreeCharacter(UWORD _id) { _id = id; }
private:
friend std::ostream &operator << (std::ostream &out, FlashTagFreeCharacter &data);
friend std::istream &operator >> (std::istream &in, FlashTagFreeCharacter &data);

UWORD id;
};

4. Have fun :-)

FreeCharacter will be available by default in the next release of SWFSource.

--Jesse

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Leviathan

Quote:

---

What I don't understand about the Flash Player in general (BTW if you want the source go to http://www.openswf.org or one of its many mirrors and click the download for the original SDK, it includes the Player source) is why didn't they use an OLE layer to embedd video like http://www.Flashants.com ended up doing?

---

Not quite. The Flash SDK doesn't include the Player code at all. You need to license it from Macromedia and they are quite selective on why you want to get it and what you're going to do with it. The Flash SDK contains only some buggy classes to generate simple Flash movies (other people like Jesse Eazell provides better alternatives).

They cannot include an OLE layer because it's an exclusive techonology of the Windows platform. Including it, would have rendered the Player specific only to Windows. Also, these software layers, increase the size of the code and the plugin.

As per the FreeCharacter I gave an explanation a while ago see:


http://board.flashkit.com/board/show...hreadid=155068

Cheers,
Lev

---

The OpenSWF link contains links to the Player code. I downloaded it 3 days ago. http://www.openswf.org
[Edited by johnie on 07-12-2001 at 10:43 AM]

Quote:

---

Originally posted by johnie
The OpenSWF link contains links to the Player code. I downloaded it 3 days ago. http://www.openswf.org
[Edited by johnie on 07-12-2001 at 10:43 AM]

---

I could not find any link to the original Macromedia Flash Player. There is a Linux Player by O. Debon but it is not based on the Macromedia Source and is incomplete. Can you post the URL?


Cheers,
Lev

Thanks for the info on this FreeCharacter tag.

I am not a programer. Can you tell me will this tag become part of the flash document or is this tag supposed to be used to create another player that a viewer would have to download

thanks

jp

Quote:

---

Originally posted by whiterabbit
Thanks for the info on this FreeCharacter tag.

I am not a programer. Can you tell me will this tag become part of the flash document or is this tag supposed to be used to create another player that a viewer would have to download

thanks

jp

---

No, it's already there, it always been there (I mean the Flash Player) since version 4, if you use it, people watching your movie don't have to download a new plugin.

Cheers,
lev

Okay, thanks very much, then this looks like a possible solution to the last obstacle of streaming video in flash.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Leviathan

Quote:

---

Originally posted by johnie
The OpenSWF link contains links to the Player code. I downloaded it 3 days ago. http://www.openswf.org
[Edited by johnie on 07-12-2001 at 10:43 AM]

---

I could not find any link to the original Macromedia Flash Player. There is a Linux Player by O. Debon but it is not based on the Macromedia Source and is incomplete. Can you post the URL?


Cheers,
Lev

---

http://www.openswf.org/flashsdk.zip Contains a Player SDK for making Non-Browser Players

Then there is the O Debon- The Plam and Windows CE players are based on this.

JAVA Player(Broken link- but it lists the author).

You are right about Macromedia not being very forthcomong with the Player Source. Pretty much they won't respond to your request for the Player SDK.

you could try here : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swiff-info/

Quote:

---

http://www.openswf.org/flashsdk.zip Contains a Player SDK for making Non-Browser Players

---

Isn't that just an ActiveX container that allows you to embed the Player ActiveX Control in your own app ? I don't believe it contains the source code for the Player itself.

Exactly nmain,
johnnie, that zip files contains the skeleton project to use the ActiveX version of the Flash player and not the source code of the player itself. I would wondered if Macromedia would left such a thing hanging around the net freely. They have been loose in the beginning, we actually licensed the source code and ported it to Linux and PocketPC. Our version is actually much better then their own, supporting all the feature. We sent many e-mails to Macromedia saying that we wanted to hand back our porting for free before they even started to think about making a PocketPC version but we got not response, so it's actually taking a rest in my hard disk...

Cheers,
Lev

I wonder why they changed their tune?

They have been actively removing files about the format and about previous version of the player and the Java player. Information that was there 2 months ago is gone now. I wonder why they are doing this?

I would think they would want the Flash Playeer Ported more than more products to make SWFs?

I would love to get the source for the Flash player, The main reason is that I want a function in the active-X control that does not require the swf file to be a file\url, but can be passed to the control as a memory buffer. This would open so many doors. can this already be done?


I'm going to add the FreeCharacter Tag into SWF Convert, adn See what effects on player performance I can come up with.