Conversion to Flash file?

[CreativeIndulgence]

Hi all,

I'm sure this question has been raised before, but the search results seem to all address "flash" in conjunction with YouTube etc.

The question is this - is there a way to save a project as a Flash file (.SWF)? I'm working with a web authoring system (Microsoft Expression Web) that allows me to embed flash files, and need to see if P2E presentations can be saved in this format.

Similarly, the same question but for any Windows Media file formats (.WMA, .WMV, etc.)

Thanks as always for your help!

Best,

[mightec]

Hi Jerry

The way I would look at this problem is to create an AVI file in PTE and from there create a WMV file using Windows Movie Maker, there maybe some loss of quality but for a website it should be OK. To create a SWF I would use the AVI file and find something like an AVI to SWF Converter, do a search on Google and you should find something to suit.

[CreativeIndulgence]

Hi Mike -

Thank you for the quick answer. I see that the AVI of a presentation I have results in a file size of about 56 mb. However, the MP4 I generated was about 230mb. That's a pretty significant difference in size, and presumably quality.

I also see that the AVI appears to be a temporary file that I have to "catch" and clone at the right time, else PTE will delete it.

I'm hoping to create as hi-quality a SWF or WMF as I possibly can, something that will be the equivalent of the HD video I've already created on YouTube:

http://blog.jerryandlois.com

Do you have any favorite AVI to SWF converters you can recommend? I'm always leery of what you may also "inherit" from the various shareware sites out there.

Many thanks!

[hlion]

Hi,

Once the AVI file made with PTE ypu may use : http://www.koyotesoft.com/indexEn.html or http://rivavx.de/index.php?encoder&L=3

Rgds,

Henri

[mightec]

Jerry

The conversion software I use is from Sothinkmedia, below is a link to their MP4 to SWF converter, I have not used it myself but I am very happy with the products that I have bought from them. I recently upgraded my computer and I had lost my registration key for the product I do have, I emailed them and by return they provided me with the original information. I was impressed.

http://www.sothinkmedia.com/flash-video-en...CFQpNQwodtXvl0w

[Conflow]

Jerry,

I have just looked in on this thread and you wrote:-...."is there a way to save a project as a Flash file (.SWF)?"....

Sorry for saying this, but your question above is a contradiction. Flash and SWF are two different File Formats although

most PTE users seem to think that they are one and the same thing ~ as do most A/V Enthusiasts.

1)

SWF (Shockwave-Flash) is a Movie Format ~ its highly compressed and very 'lossy'. A variation of that is used by You-Tube

as a type of Hybrid-Video Format.

2)

Flash (FLV) is a Hi-quality Video Format ~ its the true world of Vector-Graphics. Very little loss, used by Commercial Business.

Both can be used on the Web and its easy to see the difference. Look at 'Motion-Adverts' for Vehicles and Airlines and things

like 360.degree product views ~ its nearly 100% certain ther're using Flash !

Correct me if I'm wrong ~ but you seem to need Hi-Quality on the Web ~ the best is Macromedia-Flash now called Adobe-Flash.

It's expensive, Adobe-Suite is approx $2500) - but there are many small Utilities out there (some-free) which will fit your needs.

The 'Link' below will give you some ideas:-

http://www.snapfiles.com/downloadfind.php?...ind+it&lc=1

The "Trick" is to get your Slideshow into an 'acceptable-format' 1024x768 or 800x600 pixel Images and then get them into a

really good Video-Converter (PAL/NTSC Format) and then into a good Video~Flash Converter. There are Programs available

which will directly convert AVI's into a (simple) Adobe-Flash Format.

You need to experiment to find what suits you best ~ reason being that 'Adobe-Flash Creator' is the top of the heap, its good !

but I reckon something less ambitious would suit your requirements.

Hope this is of some help to you ~ remember don't confuse Flash with SWF.

Best of luck with the project.

Brian.Conflow.

[CreativeIndulgence]

Hi Brian, Mike.

Thank you so much for weighing in, and the comments you and others have offered.

Mike -

The tool you mentioned looks promising as well, and I'll be giving it a good trial run to see what it produces, and how that compares against the original MP4.

Brian -

The key point you raised - here's the clarification. I actually am looking for a method to create SWF, WMA, or WMF format files. These are the formats that are natively supported by my web authoring tools (Microsoft Expression Web).

Your comments about SWF being very lossy are well taken. When I created the one YouTube piece mentioned earlier in this thread, this was done with 1024x768 mode (when using PTE to create the MP4). What I don't know is how a SWF file will compare to whatever the YouTube "black box" created after my MP4 was uploaded to the server.

Now that we're moving in the direction of some web authoring, I'm just looking for whatever will allow me to nicely embed some of our other PTE presentations. The ideal would be if there are less conversion steps of course.

Again - thank you both!

[Conflow]

Jerry,

Just a quick answer to yours above:-

I see where you are coming from ~ In my experience if SWF is played directly with a nFLV Player or a Flash-SWF Player

the results can be surprisingly good, but not as good as Flash-Video. You can compare these for yourself.

About You-Tube...Its really a (low-level) 'Hybrid' Video-Film System where the reproduction size is approx 400x300 pixels

and these Images seem to be 'raserised' into the system. Compared to Flash-Video which is a Vectored-Graphics system

which is fully scalable which means you can blow up or down with no loss of quality somewhat like a good PDF Document.

Because of the extreme compression-algorithms used in You-Tube its better to restrict your Image-sizes to 800x600.pixs

which drastically reduces the compression down to 2:1 and makes the job of you Mpeg Encoders so much easier.

This makes for a much better (received) Web Computer-Image which can reasonably be enlarged as the PC makes a much

better job of enlargement than You-Tube can.

You-Tube is not good with motion-artifacts such as PZR or movements within the Images themselves. Thats a classic

mistake made by all aspiring (novice) Film Directors. You-Tube is useless with any 'lighting-artifacts' such as deep contrast

(shadows) and suffers terribly from 'Flare-out' with any reasonable Hi-lights.

There is a very simple Rule:- Once your production goes outside the Video-Format of 'Hand-Held Video Cameras' you

are creating your own problems because HH-Video Cameras do all the preliminary work such as Auto-Contrast, Auto-Lux Level,

and Auto-Gamma Correction plus Hi-Light suppression etc,etc,etc (all those things you can't do)......that really explains it all

and consider that nearly 90% of all You-Tube presentations come from HH-Video Cameras ~ it's what its designed for !!.

Concerning the making of SWF's ~ The 'Link' I sent you in Post #6 above has a plethora of 'SWF-Makers' but at the end of

the day you really have to download and try a few of these until you find something which suits your needs.

Hope this helps,

Brian.Conflow.

[Igor]

There is a very simple way of publishing slideshow as video on your website without Youtube or Vimeo.

1) Download Uppod player. It is stand-alone 100 KB .swf file and txt file with settings. And upload to your website.

2) Choose Create HD video for PC/Mac and choose necessary video size. 640x480 for example.

3) Once PicturesToExe finished creating of MP4 video file, upload it to your website and insert the next script to HTML page:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="uppod.swf" width="640" height="480"><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="uppod.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="comment=myslideshow.mp4&st=video3-772.txt&file=myslideshow.mp4" /></object>

Many players including Uppod player have direct support of MP4 video files. And no need to convert it to SWF.

[CreativeIndulgence]

Hi Igor -

Interesting suggestion...

Once I've uploaded the Uppod player to my site, will that require other viewers to have this or some other plugin on their machines to view my slideshow?

Certainly, I want to avoid the SWF format (per Brian's comments) and stay with the better presentation from what was generated from PTE. My MP4 files look and play fine (outside of local issues with one of my graphics cards).

Thanks!!! (And thanks for such a great application!)

[CreativeIndulgence]

Brian -

Thank you for taking the time to simply type out all the information! Even with flying fingers, it still takes a while.

And yes - YouTube is not kind to those wanting a better than "chunky" look. That's especially true if, as professional photographers, we've put so much effort into creating nice clean images and nice clean productions.

Regarding the plethora (love that word) of 'SWF-Makers' - the one concern is that installing and trying a bunch of different apps introduces its own risks. First and foremost, there's no such thing as a clean un-install (the best one can do is restore the machine to an earlier snapshot, however that's been created). And lots of app downloads - again some obvious risks.

You're obviously much more experienced with video production so if you do have a particular maker you're partial to (and acknowledging your comment about reviewing for myself), would greatly appreciate your recommendation.

Again - thanks for the great dialog! If ever you find yourself in the Seattle, Wa, USA area, please do let me know!

Best wishes,

[Guest Techman1]

Igor or anyone else on the forum,

Any help on downloading the "Uppod player" would be appreciated. Everything appears to be in Russian? regarding this player. I'd like to try it out, but am not sure how to download all the components.

Thanks in advance,

Fred