Digital Workshop

Hi Folks

Bit of a roadblock here... I had been embedding SWF files into a standalone EXE publication as video, but the performance wasn't great, so I switched to using DOCview. Worked great in the editor (PRO 7.0.5) but when I created the publication, the EXE behaved very differently. It just shows empty white frames instead of displaying the video.

I know DocView is dependent on having the right program installed, but clearly that's not the issue here because I edited and ran on the same machine, and it only goes bad in the published version. I also tried another machine and installed the latest Flash, with no improvement.

Any ideas as to why that happens? App is here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ib0ilfw63apu ... lator2.exe

Just Click ON-OFF button and then any of the number keys to call up a video.

Docview doesn't embed the file, so you'll need to include the SWF and DLL along with the published version.


As for playback of the SWF as video, I'd check your encoding settings as this format proved excellent when I tested the different containers.

Mack

Sorry to be such a noob - what encoding settings are you talking about? In the SWF creation or the actual app?

No problem. It's the swf settings. As it's a container, it can use various codecs. Opus will stutter on h.264!

Instead, look to use a h.263 or variant such as spark or vp6. Some links that might help:

http://www.live.interaktiv.co.uk/index. ... Itemid=166


http://helpx.adobe.com/flash/kb/support ... layer.html

Mack

OK - Funny thing - I'm using OPUS to create the SWF. I'm publishing the project to a flash output (swf) so I can embed into the application. From your chart, I would guess thats H263 encoding - no?

Sample SWF attached.

Ahhh!

The file produced by Opus doesn't actually contain a video.

It'll play reasonably well if the video object in Opus is set to on-top and you use centre but probably not as smoothly as an SWF (or other format) video.

Is it not possible for you to use Opus own create a video formation publication instead of Flex?

Mack

MAYBE - my problem is that I need it to continue indefinitely. Most video formats have sort of abrupt ends and resets. SWF is very small, and continues more-or-less forever. The pub looks great in the editor, but the published EXE with the SWF's embedded don't display as well. The 30fps look like 5fps. and the video isn't very smooth.

Possibly a daft question, but if the animation was created in Opus, why can you not use this directly in your other Opus publication?

Mack

No, it's a legitimate question...

I need to endlessly scroll the ECG rhythm like you see in the SWF above. I accomplished this by taking two identical ECG strips, and placing one on a canvas that is EXACTLY the size of the strip. The second is off the canvas and immediately to the right of the canvas. Both move left at the same rate. When strip #1 leaves the canvas, it resets back into place where strip #2 is, giving the illusion of more ECG.

Essentially, what I have are two perfectly timed images that give the illusion of a never-ending ECG strip. This eliminates the abrupt "RESET VIDEO" effect that happens when you end a video and start it over.

I'm totally open to another idea if you know of any ways I can get the same look.

I understand the trick.

What I don't understand is why this method isn't being used in the EXE publication your creating instead of trying to add it as a SWF?

Mack

At first the concern was that the off-canvas ECG strip would be visible, so I made an SWF because it only publishes the canvas area and gave the necessary appearance.

Now I'm thinking I should just use layering to put the ECG behind a gray background and just leave the viewable area exposed. That might work better.

This would be a non-issue if I could make two occurrences of the same object at one time. I would have one ECG strip, and make the first occurrence move left and the second move left just as the first begins to disappear. It would give the illusion of one continuous object, but I can't SHOW the same object from the original starting point twice.

You do know that if you put an object in a frame that it can be extended beyond the boundaries of the frame by hold Control?

Mack

Hmmm..... no sir, I did not.

Your solution was brilliant Mack. I changed the objects from SWF video to frames containing image files. I placed one off-frame and the other center-frame, and made them both move left at the same rate and reset. This lead to:

- Better system performance
- Less lag transitioning from video clip to video clip
- Better 'video quality'

Awesome tip Mack thanks!