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I just added the Freecharacter Tag into SWF convert
It is perfect, the flash player uses about 2MB of RAM for the whole movie (about 6MB - 300 frames) and It should work for any size.
I'm diffinitly adding it into the next version update!
thanks guys
I am trying to add this tag to a movie. Can I do this through the action script of Flash?
I am streaming video and need to use this tag to offset the ram issue as well. Leviathan and JAEzell have both given good example but its still way above me
Is this only possible for Programers and how do I add it to my actual movie in the end.
I am puzzled
jp
well , yeah I guess it really can only be done by creating a SWF file through a program - like SWF convert.
I'm not aware of anyway to make flash add in the tag V4 or V5. As it is an undocumented tag, It's more of an internal sort of thing that the editer would handle.
What program or how do you normally convert movies to SWF?
I'll be releaseing the updated version of SWF Convert around the 17th July.
It's current formats - include .jpg,.png,.tif,.png,.pcx,.psd,.tga,.bmp ,.wav and .avi I'm working on .wmf,.wmv,.wma,.asf,.mp3 and .mov
It is not an actinoscript tag, but a tag used in the flash file format. There may be some way to set flash to optimize files and use it, but I don't know of one. The best way it to program it in...my question is, "how are you creating streaming movies in Flash?" Seems like it would be rather time consuming instead of buying a program to do it or making one yourself.
PS: chironex: this also frees the IDs up, so you can re-use them.
--Jesse
Well its easy to stream a flash movie using the basic tools of Flash. The hard part is keeping file size down and our last problem the freeCharacter thing to make playback possible for low power users.
We use our own compression software to compress to a jpg format. The software we use is very good but I believe its more technique as I compare different softwares I think I can eek something good out of all of them.
Then we import this jpg sequence into flash and we have gobs of different tricks for Flash that we use as needed. When compressed correctly prior to importing into Flash we can compare to DV codecs on quality and file size and for larger screen 600 x 480 we trounce the DV guys streaming an excellent image at around 90k per second.
The FreeCharachter tag will be our last obstacle to making flash video a contender in the streaming video marketplace. Already we have clients inquiring but we are getting bombarded by the DV guys.
I know I can unload a movie every 10 seconds or so to reclaim ram, thats our latest development but man what a pain. I much prefer Leviathans example which unloads bitmaps as they play.
We plan to release a book that is the result of about 8 months of experiments ranging from capturing video all the way to streaming it in Flash. I have talked with xn briefly about the possibility of packaging his software with the book but I dont believe any software exists today that can produce the results that we produce manually http://www.mantaproductions.com in the "case studies" section
I would love to be proven wrong.
Anyway now I know that it needs to be a program made I can stop my looking through every document on Macromedias site
haha, I know their site better than my own now :) I have sent zn an email asking his participation with his software and help to take advantage of the FreeCharacter tag. If he is not interested I will be looking for someone else, plus if you guys see opportunity in this for yourselves let me know if you have a related product because we are going to target the same market the DV guys do. Powerpoint Users etc...
Thanks for your help
jp
Lev,
Assuming I have this line in my code:
movie.Frame(i)->RemoveObject(bitmap);
Where and how should I call the "FreeCharacter" function?
Xn
I don't know which toolkit you are using so if it doesn't provide support for the FreeCharacter tag you have to modify it as well. Jesse provided quick modification to his own stuff some messages above. The rule is to call FreeCharacter AFTER you've removed the object from the display list using the RemoveObject tag. It accepts as a parameter the tag ID of the object you want to delete from memory (stored as a word). FreeCharacter has a tag ID of 3. For example if the movie instruct the player to remove object ID 50, the hexdump of that portion would look like:Quote:
Originally posted by xnxnxn
Lev,
Assuming I have this line in my code:
movie.Frame(i)->RemoveObject(bitmap);
Where and how should I call the "FreeCharacter" function?
Xn
03 00 32
| | |
| | |
| | -------|
| |---------| this is the character ID
|
|------------| this is the FreeCharacter tag ID
Cheers,
Lev
(I know, formatting just sucks...)
pretty cool but now sound.
Sound is actually a way to overcome other obstacles and we have a section in the book dedicated to that but its not a problem as far as ram is concerned.
Lev,
I'm using the high level API of the SDK.
Xn
No matter what SDK you are using you will have to add the new tag to it. Just follow the same format as the other tags, an easy one to base it on would be the protect tag. Just follow the same format.
But if you are using the MM SDK, you will have to fix how it allocates the character ID's if you want them to be truely deleted and made available again. in the origrnal it is just an int that is incremented.
can you send me some sample code? Because I'm not sure I understand what you mean.
Thanks,
Xn
Mail: [email protected]
Site: http://www.geocities.com/vid2swf
Discuss: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vid2swf
Hi...
Emmm... I've just downloaded your application...
when I tried to convert QT movies to swf an error msg come out... (illegal operation)
what happened there??..
is there step by step method that I should follow??...
emmm wondering....
You are probably missing a component called "Still Image Support".
Try re-installing the QuickTime software.
You will prompted to select either "Install minimum", "Install Full",
or "Install Custom".
"Still Image Support" does not come with the default "Install Minimum" option.
Please tell me if this worked for you,
Xn
Yuppp... it WORKED!!!....=)
Thanx...
Emmm... No sound... What a pity...=(
Anyway, it's a good revolution though...
email me and I'll send you a version that supports sound.
Xn
i use to convert .avi to swf in a very long but sure way:
open the .avi (it must be an .avi !!! else u have to convert it to .avi)
in "animation shop 2" (comes with "paintshop pro") as a GIF.
in the animation shop u can control the speed and amount of pic per second.
now save it as a .gif and open the .gif in flash/
thats all
Hello. . .I purchased this software a couple days ago using the paypal function on your site. I also sent an e-mail to both of the altavista and yahoo addresses, and I have not heard anything back. Please advise to when I will get the software sent to me.
Thanks,
Paul
I'm in the same boat. I paid for my copy last week and still have not heard from xn. I understand from an autoreply that he is out of town,....but I think he would have been better served to mention this on his site so that we could have made a wise business business decision and await his return to order and receive the product within 24 hours as advertised. If your going to hang with the big boys,..you have to have good service service service and more service!!!! I have dealt with xnxn before and he is a VERY NICE person,...I'm sure we will get our product as soon as he returns. I hope.
TPhilipDolce,
Thanks for the information. I have only read good things so far and that is why I was surprised not to hear anything at all.