This
tutorial explains how to use Flix Pro’s
convenient player functionality to add a player
to an audio only file. This allows listeners
to apply play controls such as mute, volume,
fast forward, rewind, play, pause and stop to
audio only files. You can also use the feature
to add a background image.
Select
an audio only preset or enter the settings you
wish to use in the Video/Audio tab.
Presets:
Video/Audio
tab audio settings:
As
a general rule, we recommend using one of the “Audio
only SWF” presets as opposed to the “Audio
only FLV” presets. The reason for this
is that if you use the SWF output, anyone with
Flash Player 4 or higher will be able to hear
the content (note: Flash player 5 is required
for volume control). If you use FLV audio the
listener will require the Flash 7 player or higher.
Another big benefit to SWF audio is that you
can use any of the features in the SWF tab, such
as “click to play”, preloaders, restrict
to url, load at end, etc. (More on this below.)
There are however a couple of major advantages
to FLV audio that you should consider if you
are creating a very large and/or long duration
audio file. Flix Pro’s FLV output offers
certain advantages over SWF video, such as unlimited
play length and file size. This is because FLV
files do not have the 16,000 frame limit or RAM
consumption issues of SWF files. In addition,
when deploying your audio files on CD you should
use FLV because FLV format offers superior performance
when played from a CD-ROM (or DVD).
As a simple rule, if you are posting your audio
on the Internet and it is larger than 25-30 MB
or longer than 16,000 frames you will want to
use FLV. If you are putting your audio on a CD
and your file is larger than 5-10 MB you should
use FLV. When creating a CD you should use a
Flash player/projector, so the listener will
not need the Flash player and you do not have
to be concerned about the version of the Flash
player the listener has (it should be included
on the CD).
In terms of bitrate, you can get reasonable quality
audio using the 56k or even the 28k presets,
so if you are posting your audio on the Internet,
you should use one of those and save yourself
the trouble of posting the audio at multiple
bitrates (such as dial-up and broadband). However,
if the audio quality is very important (such
as a musical performance) you may want to offer
a broadband version of the audio encoded at a
higher bitrate. You can also encode at a higher
bitrate and use one of the preloader options
for listeners on a slower connection (more on
this below).
Open
the players window and select the player you
wish to use. You can open the Players window
using the players window icon in the toolbar
or the View>Create Player menu option.
Make
sure to check the select the “Export player
while encoding” option.
For the purposes of this tutorial we’ll
use the updated “flixskin5_basic_audio” player
You
can download it here. Just download the
.zip file and extract the included SWF file
into your Flix Pro>Players folder. The zip
file contains both the .swf and the .fla for
this player, so you can adjust it further in
Macromedia Flash if you want. This audio player
allows you to set the height to match the size
of the play controls, so you don’t have
any additional blank space in the player, which
looks sleeker.
Also, if you have the Flix Power Players collection
(http://www.wildform.com/powerpl) we recommend
using one of the “Minimal” players,
again because they have the smallest possible
size.
If
you have selected one of the Flix Pro audio presets,
it will have automatically set the video dimensions
to 0. This will result in the player appearing
at the smallest possible size.
You
can export your audio and player together in
a single file, or you can choose to export them
as two separate files, a player file and the
audio file.
The default is for the audio file and player
file to be output in a single file if you are
using SWF audio.
If you wish to have the player and the audio
file in two separate files select the “Use
Load Movie” option.
Remember
that if you use the Load Movie option you will
have two files – a player .swf and your
output .swf and you will have to have both for
the player to work.
For FLV files you must use the Load Movie option
because FLV files must be loaded into a SWF in
order to play in the Flash player (unless you
are using the Flashcom streaming server).
If
you are using the SWF audio, you can add any
of the features in the SWF tab (you cannot use
these features with FLV output.)
Start of movie options:
Begin automatic playback: When selected
will cause your Flix output to begin playing
as soon as it is launched. This is the default
setting.
Click to begin playback: When selected
will cause your Flix output to begin playing
only when it is clicked by a viewer. This
can be a nice option to use with audio files
when accompanied by a message telling the
listener to “Click to play.”
Wait to begin playback: When selected
will cause your Flix output to have a delay
prior to it playing. You set this delay (in
seconds) in the box below. That box is greyed
out until "Wait to begin playback" is
selected.
STOP action on first frame: When selected
will place a Stop action on the first frame
of your Flix output and will only play once
a Play command has been issued. This can
be a nice option to use with audio files
when accompanied by a message telling the
listener to “Click the play button
to start.”
End of movie options:
Play once and stop: When selected will
cause your Flix output to play once and stop.
The video is still loaded and can be played
again. This is the default setting.
Loop movie: When selected will cause your
Flix output to loop. You can set the number
of times the movie will loop in the box directly
to the right. If you want your movie to loop
infinitely, you should leave the box empty
or enter a "0".
Unload movie at end: When selected will
cause your Flix output to unload from the
Flash Player once it has finished playing.
This returns all system resources used by
the SWF back to the system, but it means
that the SWF file must be loaded again before
it is played.
Load at end: When selected you have two
options for loading an HTML page and/or a
new .swf at the end of a Flix .swf.
HTML: When selected will cause an HTML
page to open once the current .swf has
finished playing.
SWF movie: When selected will cause
a new .swf to be loaded once the current
.swf has finished playing.
You can use this "Load SWF at end" feature
to chain together a series of SWF files. "Load SWF at end" notes:
To use the "Load SWF at end" function
with the automatic player function,
you will need to use the load movie
option for the players output.
While you may browse to any SWF
on your computer using the "Browse" function,
it will not automatically fill in
the path to that SWF. If the file
that you are attempting to load is
in a different directory, the "load
new SWF at end" function will
not work unless you manually specify
the correct path. This is done to
ensure that you do not browse to
a file that your video does not have
access to when it is played. The
best way to avoid a problem is to
ensure that the original video and
the video to be loaded are in the
same directory. However, you may
manually enter any directory or url
path that you would like to use.
SWF options:
Preload: Flix has 2 options for automatically
outputting your video with built-in preloaders.
These preload a specified amount of the file
before playing begins and display a "__%
loaded" indicator. To use the preloader
option, check the box next to "Preload".
You must then select one of the two built
in preloaders.
Fixed: The fixed preloader loads a
fixed amount of the video (determined
as a percentage of file size) before
the video begins to play. You may enter
in a value from 1-100.
Adaptive: The adaptive preloader loads
a variable amount of the video that is
based on calculating the viewer's connection
speed to determine how much of the video
needs to be loaded to allow for uninterrupted
play once the video begins playing. The
buffer factor can be a number from 0
- 2 in increments of 0.1
Include Preloader Text: If you want to
include a "__% loaded" indicator
check this box. You can then select the font
and font attributes you wish to assign to
this text.
Insert frame at start: Not applicable to
audio only files.
Create importable SWF: Not applicable
to audio only files because you can’t
import SWF files with audio into Flash.
Restrict to URL: Selecting this option
will cause the SWF generated by Flix to play
only from the specified url. This is a way
to add security to your SWF output.
Compress: Not applicable to audio only
files.
Custom Variables: Selecting this button
will open the Custom Variables Window where
you can enter additional variables for your
Flix output, such as title, date and copyright
information. To add a variable, type in the
name and value of the variable in the Name
and Value fields, and then click the "Add" button.
This will add the variable you have entered
to the variable list. To edit a variable,
simply click on the variable in the list
and then change the name and/or value in
the Name and Value fields, and then click
the "Update" button. To delete
a variable, simply click on the variable
in the list you wish to delete and then click
the "Delete" button.
Linking options:
To make your SWF output link to a webpage or
another SWF file, check the "Link" box.
Then you will need to select either "Open
HTML page" or "Load SWF Movie",
and enter a URL or address in the text field.
If you want your audio only SWF to link, you
will need to make the SWF dimensions (video/audio
tab) larger than 0 (as large as you want the
clickable area to be).
You
can use Flix Pro’s overlay feature to add
a background image to your audio file. This can
be useful as a way to provide a graphic for the
audio and/or to provide instructions for the
listener, such as “Click play to start”.
To add a background image open the Overlay window
using the overlay icon in the toolbar or the
View>Overlay menu option. You can use any
of the image formats supported by Flix Pro (.bmp,
.gif, .png, .bmp, .psd, .tif, .pic, .tga, .jpg).
You
can browse to locate the image file you want
on your computer. For this example we’ll
use an audio clip from John F. Kennedy and I’ll
add a “STOP action” to first frame
in the SWF tab (by doing this, the audio will
pause until the listener starts it). So I will
use an image of JFK with the instruction to “Select
the play button to start.”
Make sure to check the “Enable overlay” box.
De-select the “Background color” option.
You use this option for video files if you want
to make a portion of the image transparent to
use as an overlay. Since we are using the overlay
as a background image we don’t want to
make a portion of the image transparent.
Make sure to set the video dimensions in the
Video/Audio tab to the dimensions of the image
you are using.
For
existing audio only SWF and FLV files you can
use the Existing SWF/FLV tab of Flix Pro to add
a player. (You will not be able to add a background
image this way.)
Instructions
for using the Existing SWF/FLV tab are pretty
much the same. You can use the "Browse" button
to find the audio .swf or .flv file on your computer.
You then select the player you want. You can
choose to export the swf audio and player together
or check the “Use Load Movie” checkbox
and export them as separate files (for FLV you
must use this option). You can also add a preloader
(if you have selected the load movie option).
And finally, there are all the export options.
If
you want to combine multiple audio files into
a jukebox, you can use the methods described
in this tutorial in conjunction with Linx and
Wild FX to create jukeboxes as described in this
tutorial.
