New version 2.40 released

[Bob Hartzell]

I sent an email this morning to a number of you with the download location. Sorry about the haphazard mailing list. I will try to have an official mailing maybe next release.

These are the changes:
1. Added a frame navigation toolbar, more toolbar icons and changed some icon coloring with frame navigation preference under View
2. Improved bones reliability and behavior
3. Added a basic human skeleton tool
4. Added shadow effect
5. Added fade in and fade out effects
6. Added score view (indication of which shapes are present in each frame)
7. Added point indications while drawing point by point
8. Added freehand unfilled curve tool
9. Added gradient scale transform
10. Added bitmap scale tranform
11. Added view of button actions and sounds and more event icons to Actions and Sounds display
12. Added color difference to differentiate between before and after onion skinning
13. Added ability to screen capture all frames including tweens
14. Add ability to set color of bones in File > Preferences
15. Added ability to set the color of unselected shape points
16. Added ability to view primary and secondary joints associated with a shape point (View > View Associated Joints)
17. Added display of shape points in bones editing mode
18. Added transform of skeleton when body is transformed
19. Improved symbol rotation
20. Updated third-party dlls pertaining to image and vector imports
21. Fixed minor problems with Points > Get and Set Position
22. Fixed problem with Transform > Scale/Translate Selected Shapes
23. Fixed problem with bitmap fill off by 1 pixel horizontally
24. Fixed toolbar coloring problem present with Desktop Themes
25. Fixed minor selection problem with non-text symbols
26. Fixed problem with moving certain shapes that are difficult to select by click selection
27. Fixed problem with missing transparency for semi-transparent bitmap filled symbols
28. Fixed problem with Transform > Rotate Image Fill for a symbol
29. Fixed problems associated with internal rendering of image and gradient filled symbols

[fwhilton]

Very Good Upgrade Bob,

This KM is getting really to be a great product!

Keep up the good work.

[johnie]

I'll get used to the Frame Bar on the Bottom. I sure wish we had a choice of it being on top or bottom


Anyhow I like the improvements- especially the button view in sounds and actions. The drop shadows are okay too.

The score is kinda neat. It would be nice if when you clicked on the frame it takes you there or to be able to shift shapes along it. Perhaps even a cut and paste along it? That's probably real hard to do.

I'm waiting for vector export also- that would be nice- I could use KoolMoves to create WMF and EPS.

[Bob Hartzell]

I'll get used to the Frame Bar on the Bottom. I sure wish we had a choice of it being on top or bottom

-> You do! See near bottom of View menu bar. Given your strong sentiments how could I not give you the option!

The score is kinda neat. It would be nice if when you clicked on the frame it takes you there or to be able to shift shapes along it. Perhaps even a cut and paste along it? That's probably real hard to do.

-> We will definitely do more with score. I like to go slowly when I venture into new territory. The highest priority is not to screw up the gui.

I'm waiting for vector export also- that would be nice- I could use KoolMoves to create WMF and EPS.

-> I will put some effort in that direction.

[johnie]

Oh yes, thank you I am so very happy now

I came across an animation contest and trying to figure out how to get it so KoolMoves users can eneter the contest. I figured Matt, Brad, Chadmagic, and Maggie my be interested also.

I will post the details when I figure it out.

[johnie]

Okay, I think I have it figured out- You guys are going to love me for this. If I am right what I am going to do will let you transfer KoolMoves SWFs to VHS without anything really Special. I'm off to Radio Shack to Buy some suplies and I will tell you if it works.

You may need a video card though (graphics card with tv-out).

This is the Idea....

Plug the Video Out cable into the back of your computer into the Video in of your VCR.

Then plug your speaker Out cable to your VCR audio in.

Then all you have to do is Load KoolMoves into a Fullscreen Chrome-less Browser.

Hit record on your VCR and Viola- Flash to VHS.



[Edited by johnie on 07-08-2001 at 06:07 PM]

[mmreed]

nice upgrade!

KM is becoming very user friendly AND powerful.

I would like to see the following abilites in order to ditch the other apps I use:

be able to paste shapes from frame x to frame y rather than just to end or beginning.

insert a swf as a sprite and apply transitions to it as it plays. (main goal is to use wildform flix to make a swf from an avi and play it withing my km movie without using the LOAD command which causes it to load in the top left corner)

A few 'cleaner' and 'business edged' text effects.

Add these three items and I can throw away Swish 2.0, Moho, and put Flash 5 on the shelf as an archive!!!!

[midnight_writer_2000]

How can I get the download location for the new release? Do you need something from me -- like registration number? Would you , please, let me know at [email protected]

Thanks

[BradBradleySL]

>>Plug the Video Out cable into the back of your computer into the Video in of your VCR.

Then plug your speaker Out cable to your VCR audio in.

Then all you have to do is Load KoolMoves into a Fullscreen Chrome-less Browser.

Hit record on your VCR and Viola- Flash to VHS.>>

LOL...its not that simple..unless you know something I don't.The reason being..you are going from digital to analog, you can't record digital direct to analog the formats are not that compatible, but you can using screen recorders and compositing tools..output the digital format to the analog recorder.. sounds like it could be complicated but its not that complicated I haven't done it will KoolMoves yet..but I plan on it, especially with the capture frame ability...I can finally edit the animation in a compositing tool YAY!

You do need to plug the cables as you said...but you need a tool that can export to the VCR for recording..with your idea you would need a screen recorder. I've done it, but using special software...I think it can be done with ABC Video Roll...I will try..and get back to you..and Johnie if your idea works:-D please share.

I can finally continue on my tutorial series been waiting for this release...great job to your team and yourself Bob!




[Edited by BradBradleySL on 07-09-2001 at 07:00 AM]

[Bob Hartzell]

be able to paste shapes from frame x to frame y rather than just to end or beginning.

-> OK.

insert a swf as a sprite and apply transitions to it as it plays. (main goal is to use wildform flix to make a swf from an avi and play it withing my km movie without using the LOAD command which causes it to load in the top left corner)

-> Johnie, correct me if I am wrong but this sounds like I will need a flash player .ocx activex control to play movies within KoolMoves.

A few 'cleaner' and 'business edged' text effects.

-> Please offer some suggestions in priority order. I intend to add an effect each version release and control effects if possible from the menu bar (add, edit, remove on all selected shapes) as well as from the properties popup. And maybe display and control from the score popup.

[Bob Hartzell]

Originally posted by midnight_writer_2000
How can I get the download location for the new release? Do you need something from me -- like registration number?

I emailed you with what I need.

[chadmagic]

This upgrade is spectacular!!!
Keep up the GREAT work Bob!

Chad

[johnie]

Originally posted by BradBradleySL


>>Plug the Video Out cable into the back of your computer into the Video in of your VCR.

Then plug your speaker Out cable to your VCR audio in.

Then all you have to do is Load KoolMoves into a Fullscreen Chrome-less Browser.

Hit record on your VCR and Viola- Flash to VHS.>>

LOL...its not that simple..unless you know something I don't.The reason being..you are going from digital to analog, you can't record digital direct to analog the formats are not that compatible, but you can using screen recorders and compositing tools..output the digital format to the analog recorder.. sounds like it could be complicated but its not that complicated I haven't done it will KoolMoves yet..but I plan on it, especially with the capture frame ability...I can finally edit the animation in a compositing tool YAY!

You do need to plug the cables as you said...but you need a tool that can export to the VCR for recording..with your idea you would need a screen recorder. I've done it, but using special software...I think it can be done with ABC Video Roll...I will try..and get back to you..and Johnie if your idea works:-D please share.

I can finally continue on my tutorial series been waiting for this release...great job to your team and yourself Bob!




[Edited by BradBradleySL on 07-09-2001 at 07:00 AM]

Brian,

I got it to work. And its that simple if you have the correct hardware. The only thing is that you must have a graphics card with TV-Out and the driver associated with it. The graphics card converts it from Digital to Analog.

The price of these cards are comming down becuase of their popularity. I picked one up at Comp USA for $120 although I have seen them going for less than that on the web (as low as $50 and I question the quality of the card.). In a few years computers will all probably ship with these cards.

Windows 2000 has TV-Out suport built right into it as I suppose XP will also. It is becoming the new thing to use your computer as a second tuner or to use your computer to play DVDs on your TV with it.

I got the Idea from my "Networking for Complete Idiots" book in which it discussed the benifits of using your TV as a monitor and the hardware required. I figured if your TV could play what is on the screen then patching the cords directly into the VCR would have the same effect with record abilities. I researched it some more and found that others had done this with a product called MGI Video Wave and the full screen preview mode. So I tested this out and it works okay- not the best in other words but it gets it done.

[johnie]

Originally posted by Bob Hartzell
be able to paste shapes from frame x to frame y rather than just to end or beginning.

-> OK.

insert a swf as a sprite and apply transitions to it as it plays. (main goal is to use wildform flix to make a swf from an avi and play it withing my km movie without using the LOAD command which causes it to load in the top left corner)

-> Johnie, correct me if I am wrong but this sounds like I will need a flash player .ocx activex control to play movies within KoolMoves.

A few 'cleaner' and 'business edged' text effects.

-> Please offer some suggestions in priority order. I intend to add an effect each version release and control effects if possible from the menu bar (add, edit, remove on all selected shapes) as well as from the properties popup. And maybe display and control from the score popup.

Bob,

You would need that to play Flash directly in your app but I don't think that is what he wants.

It seems to me that he is wanting a feature like Swish 2's Import as Sprite feature. What he doesn't realize is that sound is lost in all SWF imports schemes that follow the Documented recomendations. There is a possibility with KoolMoves that others have not thought about... Since KoolMoves does not intergrate the sound and image files into the FUN file anyhow but rather links to them it is possible to create a tool much like SWF Scanner that would extract all of the Image and Sound Files into a directory and then create a fun file with the vector and frame information from the SWF to finish making a directory with the FUN file.

There is a third option that hasn't been addresed with this either. Chironex makes a freeware app called AVI decompose. This app takes the AVI and creates an image sequence, JPG, and the sound file. He could then import those images into KoolMoves along with the sound file and edit it to his hearts content. The software to do what he wants is available right now it just isn't pretty. Also Jesse has posted his Free application with source code that converts these things also.

[Bob Hartzell]

Is movie clip capability almost what Mark wants (sorry Mark to talk about you in the third person)? Movie clips don't require a flash player. If I understand them correctly they are symbols with their own timeline.

[mmreed]

Yeah.. basically, the AVI would be converted to a SWF using wildform Flix app... this makes a swf file that is both the audio and video frames.

Then I would like to be able to take that SWF and use it in my KM movie as a symbol (or sprite as other apps call it) this gives you the ability to treat it as an object and move it, resize it, apply effects to it..etc...

This is not the same as using the Load command and having it play in the top left corner... the load command is very limited.

Thsi would give me the ability to convert video clips to swf files and use them in my KM movies... such as a KM movie of a guy turning on a TV and actually having a live video play (a swf file)

Swish 2 is touting this as a major feature, which it is... it is the ONLY reason I am thinking of buying Swish 2. If KM had it, my loyalty would be 100% to Bob!!!!!

[johnie]

The Swish 2 "import as sprite" may indeed dissapoint. Since the betas are missing SWF export, and you can't really tell but, I am pretty sure that the sounds from a imported SWF from Swish 2 are indead missing just as shapes rotated counter clockwise are also missing and the actions go away. In fact I am 90% sure that the imported sprite will be missing the sound.

- Have you ever noticed that all of the Converted Video to Flash is less than 2 or 3 minutes? This is because the Flash Player caches all of the Bit Map Images into the Ram memory. Any more than 3 or 3 1/2 minutes and most computers are out of resources. The Flash Player really isn't designed to handle bitmaped information in large quanities, such as in the use of Video. Also the Flash Player isn't designed to handle very large movies period. Once you get to 16,000 frames then the player stops. Consider this- At 16 FPS (which is going to be real mediocre video quality) you can get at most 16 minutes of video and that is assumming that the machine does not run out of RAM. At 30 FPS you are only going to get 8 minutes.

The Makers of Swideo, I beta tested for them, reccommend that you not excede 5 minutes.

The maker of Vid2SWF recomends the same thing.

That is why Flashants produced the FMPlayer. Since the Flash player is not really equiped to handle Video it uses OLE to overlay a video layer using Media Player or whatever is installed. In effect it appears as if the Video is part of the Flash but- in effect embedding it.

- I do agree with you though that SWF import and MovieClips would be a good feature to have but not for the same reasons as you do.

[mmreed]

I do agree that swfs should not be used for streaming video...

I am looking to capture 30-45 second clips to use throughout presentations .. for example... a college presentation would show a clip of students walking across the campus, then later in the movie a 15-30 second clip of students playing athletics, etc...

I know this could be done using an AVI decomposer, and then insert the images myself one by one and do my own fram eanimation..but this would be tedious.

I just like the idea of being able to embed a swf as a sprite... as for the sound,. I do thing the audio is lost on export... but that is easily fixed by extracting the audio to a file and playing at at the right spot in the movie.


THis inst limited to avi>swf captures..but even where I would like to develop small swf clips of my own and be able to reuse in spots thru other movies without using the LOAD command. It wouldnt be a problem if load allowed you to position the clip rather than top left align.

[johnie]

I agree with you that SWF Import would be a must desirable feature as would sprites (less so than SWF Import- I really don't like the idea of multiple time-lines but you have to keep up with the Jones's after all and besides a lot of people like the idea and I am luke-warm to it, since I know advanced scripting is easier with sprites).

I think another great idea would be AVI import into KoolMoves. No need for Flix then. I think Jared- AKA Chironex pulled the source for AVI Decompose off of the Open SWF board- I remember seeing it before, perhaps it was Jesse, AKA Jaezel who posted it- not sure.

Flash uses the Get URL action to load movies- go figure.

[Bob Hartzell]

Johnie, is it technically possible to control a swf from a movie clip with an action script? Maybe the import swf as a sprite does not actually import the swf but just controls it. This is somewhat analogous to my import an image graphic. Images cannot be stand-alone objects -- they can only be fills. So for packaging purposes, I create a rectangle, no border, and fill it with the image.