Digital Workshop

Thanks first of all to Robin Garrett for all the help.
I am trying to publish a project to play on both Mac and PC.
I have an autorun and .exe for pc - works fine.
I have published the same project to .swf for Mac - it works on the Mac if I first open Flash player, then navigate to the CD and open the swf file. (Simply clicking on the .swf file opens Quicktime player, and nothing happens.)
I have attempted to create a Projector with Flash MX 2000 and director, but have not had any success. (Flash imports the swf as a bunch of frames and frankly I don't know what I'm doing with Director).
Anyway, can I create a disc with the .swf so that the Mac user can simply click on the file and flash player will open and play the production?

Thanks so much.
Bill Hancock

Hi Bill,

You need to copy the html file created by Opus to the CD too. Ideally create your own html file borrowing the code from the Opus html file.

You then direct the user to double click the html file, not the SWF file. The SWF file will then open within their internet browser, Safari or which ever is their default browser.

Now to make life easier for the Mac user, I must suggest that you create a custom hybrid CD. This will enable you to assign a custom icon to the html file and add a more professional edge to the production. Do this using Roxio Toast 6 and the Apple Disk Utility. Also please note that Mac OS X computers do not support autostart.

If you are interested in creating a hybrid cd for the mac I can go into this further, and suggest the best methods and software to use to get the job done.



Regards,

Luke

Thanks Luke!
I was hoping to open the flash file without the browser, but I will do as you say instead. (time is not on my side).
I am using Macimage to create a hybrid CD on my PC.
It does seem to work, although I have not figured out how to make icons yet.
What do you mean by borrowing the html code from opus?
Thanks again,
Bill

Hello All,

From the large amount of views this post is receiving there seems to be demand for some sort of stand alone Mac player solution, the only kind currently possible is a SWF player for Mac.

I'm in the process of developing a borderless Web/SWF player for Mac OS X using Cocoa, which would include the browser window only so no toolbar, url text box or any other buttons. With this it'll be possible to start an Opus SWF automatically from the player and give it an icon. This will give the user the impression that it is a native Mac application, as it’ll have an about box and all.

The application would then be wrapped in a disk image, with icons, a folder image and a custom cd icon, a hybrid cd would then be created. So the Mac user would have a very polished professional publication, which is something you don't get from MacImage or CDEveryWhere.

Would there be much interest in this service for Opus users? I can offer this service including hybrid cd development? I'll try and put together a sample publication over the next week and I'll post it here including screenshots.

So if people are interested please post back, remember there is over 14 million active Mac OS X users.



Kind regards,

Luke

Hi there,
The best software in the market to produce standalone flash projectors with the capabilities of different skins and much more is Flash Studio Pro.
I use this product all the time when I have to produce projectors to be used for MAC (you need to purchase separate plugin) and PC.
I really recommend it. It has many more function and I have been able to use it with the swf output from Opus.

I hope this help. If you are interested you can go here:

http://www.multidmedia.com/software/zinc/

Thanks Luke, I am interested in your work.

Cheers
German

Hello German,

The best way to make MDM Zinc v2 work with Opus produced Flash movies is to create a SWF file with Macromedia Flash and use the following code:

this.loadMovie("movie.swf"); //movie is the name of the opus swf file

Publish that file and then create a builder for this file using Zinc, include the movie.swf in the folder of the exe projector file. And that's it.

Can I ask DW to get in touch with www.multidmedia.com so that the next version of Zinc will work perfectly with Opus SWF files, as it's would be of benefit to both companies. Also they have an Affiliate Programme which could benefit DW by passing sales on.


Regards,

Luke

Luke,
I have been using Flash Pro (now called Zinc) without problems.
This is what I have been able to do:

1-Create your swf using Opus Pro XE 2.8/Opus 4.0/Opus Pro XE 4.0 Flex component
2-Open your Flash Pro
3-Select the swf you want to produce projector
4-Give a skin, choose your settings
5-Produce the projector.

Again, I use the mac plugin which is the same...

I hope this helps unless I am missing something here...
German

Hello,

The Opus SWF files you create are they interactive, with buttons? Or just slideshows/animations?

I had problems getting interactive SWF files to work with Zinc, Bill also had issues. But the solution above solves the problem.



Luke