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| Changing
the speed of Flix SWF videos with Linx |
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| Contents |
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| View
Videos |
| Click
to play slow motion video |
| Click
to play fast motion video |
| Click
to play normal speed video |
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| Introduction |
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You
can create slow motion and fast motion video
by combining your Flix SWF output with Linx.
This tutorial explains how.
Note: If your video has audio
This technique applies only to video without
audio. When you have a Flash SWF video with audio,
the file must play at the speed at which the
audio was encoded. This is the way Flash is designed.
So if your video has audio you can use the “Remove
audio” option in the SWF Properties window.
Note: If you have FLV files
This method will not work with FLV video. FLV
files play independently of the SWF file you
load them into. |
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| How
it works |
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| There
is an easy way to use some of the SWF playing
characteristics of the Flash player to create
slow-motion or sped up video. This is because
when you load a SWF file (the “child” SWF)
into another SWF file (the “parent” SWF)
the child SWF will play at the speed (SWF framerate)
of the parent SWF |
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| Encode
your video |
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Encode
your video into a SWF. (Remember that 1. this
method won’t work with FLV files, and 2.
to use this method you will need video without
audio.)
I will use the MX SWF 512K preset in Flix Pro
to encode the video. This sets the SWF and video
framerates to 30. |
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| To
encode without audio uncheck the export audio
box. |
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| Import
the video into Linx |
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| If
your SWF video has audio, you can remove the
audio in Linx by selecting the “Remove
audio” option in the SWF properties window. |
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| Choosing
your play mode |
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Set
the video to either the “Main timeline”,
the “Play independently (sprite)” or “Play
with Load Movie” play mode. For the purposes
of this tutorial I will set the video to the “Main
timeline” play mode which will work nicely
(in the “main timeline” play mode
the video will start to play immediately). The
change in speed will work with any of the three
play modes. However, there are different properties
associated with each play mode, so make sure
to use the play mode that is appropriate for
your needs. The way the different play modes
work is discussed fully in the Linx help file,
but in a nutshell here is the breakdown:
- Play on main timeline: This
option will cause imported files to be played
on the main timeline (the "main timeline" represents
the internal timeline of the SWF file you
are creating and it is not the same thing
as the physical timeline that appears at
the top of the Main window). Files played
on the main timeline will play immediately
when posted on the Web (this is not an issue
for files played locally). Files played on
the main timeline are incorporated into the
SWF file you are creating (they are not external).
- Play independently (sprite): This
option will cause imported files to be played
independently in what is known as a sprite.
Files played in a sprite are incorporated
into the SWF file you are creating (they
are not external). You should be aware that
files played independently in a sprite do
not play immediately when posted on the Web,
they preload - which means they must download
completely before they begin to play (this
is not an issue for files played locally).
- Play with LoadMovie: This
option will cause imported files to be played
using LoadMovie. This method can be used
to load external SWFs into your project.
Files played using LoadMovie will play immediately
when posted on the Web (this is not an issue
for files played locally). Files played with
LoadMovie are not included in your Linx output
itself, so you need to remember to have those
other files available in the directory you
specified, when you want to play your output.
Note on using Load Movie
If you use the Load Movie mode you won’t
be able to remove the audio in Linx. Also, remember
that if you use the Load movie play mode you
will have 2 files when you are done: your video
SWF and the Linx placeholder SWF you create and
you will need both files to play your video.
Set the image dimensions of your Linx project
to match the source video SWF. If you’re
not sure what the dimensions are they are listed
in the SWF properties window. |
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| Slowing
down your video |
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| To
make the video slow down reduce the SWF framerate
of your Linx project so that it is lower than
the framerate of your video. Since the video
in this example was encoded at 30fps, you can
set the speed to anything under that (i.e., 29
or less). However, you will get the smoothest
results if you use a framerate that is a factor
of (i.e., divides evenly by) the SWF framerate.
In this case that would be a framerate of 15,
10, 5 or 1. |
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| Speeding
up your video |
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To
make the video speed up increase the SWF framerate
of your Linx project so that it is higher than
the framerate of your video. Since this video
was encoded at 30fps, you can set the speed to
anything higher than that (i.e., 31 or more).
However, you will get the smoothest results if
you use a framerate that is a factor of (i.e.,
divides evenly by) the SWF framerate. In this
case that would be 60 which is the highest speed
you can set in Linx.
NOTE: When you want to speed up video you are
better off starting with a slower SWF framerate
(e.g. 10 or 15). That gives you more options
to increase the speed. |
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