When it comes to the comparison between compression and file sizes, sometimes it’s like …well…peas and carrots. There have been forum posts from confused users with assumptions on compression and file sizes and I think it is time to shed some light on the topic. The easiest way to compare videos is often to take file sizes as references, however, this can some times be misleading. The discussion below covers various aspects of encoding choices which will affect your final file size.
Using Events in SWiSH Video3 is no longer limited to video. The latest release of SWiSH Video v3.5 now supports importing MP3 audio files. The video produced will contain a waveform animation, but it can also be used to easily synchronize the audio with animation in your SWiSH Max2 or SWiSH miniMax2 files.
You can download the source (SWI) file for the example displayed above, here – sv3-max2-flv-audio-sync
Users often ask about the difference between Flash Video versions. The aim of this article is to compare Sorenson (’MX Video’), VP62 (’Flash8′) and H264 encodings. H264 is now available with the new release of VideoHQ for SWiSH Video3.
Three videos have been encoded with SWiSH Video3 using the three possible codecs. The links below allow a direct comparison of the different codecs for each of the videos.
A recent blog post discussed the Film Countdown component (LoaderMovie). This component can be used as a replacement preloader in SWiSH Video3 movie controls. Here I describe how to modify the Bubblegum Purple control for swf movies. However similar steps can be applied to other controls.
The modified SWiSH Video3 control can be obtained from bubblegumpurplecountdown.zip. The zip file contains both the .swi and the exported .swf. This discussion assumes that your movie has a frame rate of 15fps and the export size is 300w x 225h (4:3 aspect ratio). Refer to the original article on the Film Countdown component (LoaderMovie) to change these settings.
Onto Lesson 3, here we discuss ‘Functions’. If you missed them you can review the first and second in our series of lessons on scripting. Functions provide a convenient way of defining sections of script that can be easily re-used. This has many advantages which are discussed later in this tutorial.
In addition, many of the Components supplied in SWiSH Max2 (or miniMax2) call a user supplied event function to signal that an event has occurred. An understanding of functions is useful to get the maximum benefit from Components.
Have you ever wanted to offer users a speed controller to a Flash Video? Yes?! Then you’ll like this new feature we’ve included with SWiSH Video3 SWF controls. The Control Parameter ‘Speed Controller’ displays a floating playback controller which gives you fast or slow motion playback control of your favorite action video. This would be very useful to analyse your golf swing! Read on for a (very quick and rough) demonstration of the control …
Sticking to the juggling theme, YouTube.com has a lot of instructional videos (example) but the ball movement is still too fast when viewed live so if you want to use SWiSH Video3 to slow things down a little this is what you could do…
