FITC 2005 Presentations - Keynote

Keynote

Mike Downey & Mike Chambers

FITC 2005

-> Nectarine animation OMG :)

-> Flash video / mobile / future of flash

-> Adoption curve (faster adoption each version)

-> Basement Factory (Toyota site) Flash developers

Dynamic audio
Majesta brand
Music changes based on user interaction
Adds instruments with each addition to car
EQ expands with each audio add as well
Allows download of file after creation

-> TJ MAXX

Shopping Cart Flash app
HTML for rest of site but flash for cart
No page refesh
Accordian pane
Flex application
"Web design agency Molecular developed the single-screen checkout function on the Macromedia Flex platform. Molecular spent six months researching the causes of cart abandonment and another six months developing the application, which sells (including customization and integration) for about $300,000."

-> Mappr (Flikr based app)

Ties image search to geographic location
Position Map ???
Uses open Web Services

-> NY Times

Interactive app for services in Vatican City
Look at his history and travels
Created a template that allows reporters to manage and create content without the developers input

-> Video on the Web

Users currently have to "solve a puzzle" to decide download type

-> CNET uses Flash video for features

Look into slide effect on homepage
Is it like b-page? (Flash)
CNET uses Web Services

-> Odopod in SF

Red Bull Air Race
Uses Flash video
Nice 3D integration
Progressive download of an flv
Race uses 7 simul streams synched together using FlashCom
Switch camera angles on the fly
Dynamic bandwidth adjustment so user does not have to worry about it
Server does this for you (for free)

-> Pennsylvania tourism office

Groundhog chasing it's shadow vid (funny)
Groundhogchase.com
Nice
One episode per week
All up online now

-> Adidas eCommerce

Use video of models to show off products instead of static bitmap
Video is totally integrated into the site

-> "Play means play" (no "choose connection speed")

-> www.macromedia.com/go/flashvideo

-> Mobile

Non-Flash devices
Car navigation devices
Nokia & Samsung liscensed Flash tech
Finally have hardware in the states with the Flash player pre-installed

-> IndiaGames Mobile games

-> Justin Everett Church won best FlashLite content last Nov.

Traffic App
Live dynamic traffic data and image
FlashLite exchange to download content up online now

-> Samsung in South Korea has entire user interface in Flash

-> www.macromedia.com/mobile/

-> The Future of Flash

-> Mike Chambers (Maelstrom demo FP8)

In Alpha stage
Improved rendering
Expressive creative focus
Blending modes and blurred filters
Gives the effect of depth (Grant Skinner's amazing demo)
Dynamic candle flame looks like bitmap but all filtered vector (Peter Hall)
**** Shit!
Bitmap caching tells the player that the vector objects are actually bitmaps which Flash can draw much much faster
Drop shadows / Blurs / Bevels
No 3D this release :(
Works on animated objects and can be applied to any asset in Flash including video
Blur video on the fly
Color matrix control on video as well as any other assets
Convolution effects as well
Text (Saffron software)
Renders the text incredibly well
Much much clearer type
Alpha channel (8 bit) support fot video
Overlay video on top of video

-> Bigspaceship example (No URL)

Amazing alpha support

-> Great new codec with much better quality for video

-> 8-Ball

Document classes shown in prop inspector
Filters panel in prop as well
Library drop down menu in panel
Improved library workflow
Panels allow pinning to fla file
Panel management now consistent with DW and FW (tabbed panels)
Panel groups can be named
Control caps and join in prop inspector with drawing tools stroke
Gradient support on a stroke
Toggle object drawing which allows shapes to be drawn on the same layer without taking a bite out of one another
Add filters in the authoring environment as well as through code
Stack multiple filters
Even input text fields can be filtered
Hide object but leave filter on objects (he made a quick wicked animated reflection of an animated dog)
Save filter stacks as a preset to use even in other files
Blend modes for mcs :)
Under color effect panel there is now a blend mode drop down (Hard Light, etc.) all dynamic
None of this adds any filesize to the file
All built into the player

FITC 2005 Presentations - Six Advanced Flash Video Techniques

Six Advanced Flash Video Techniques

Kevin Towes - [www.newyyz.com]

FITC 2005

-> newYYZ

Sync
Scrub
Captionate (Alpha Preview allows you to enter captions right in the flv itself)
Video Trans
Bandwidth scaling
Rock star video encoding

-> Flash video development course

-> Video 101

Stream content to over 42% more users than available to Quicktime
Progressive download in FP7
VitalStream, Akamai, etc. (offer FlashCom based streaming services)

-> Slide mode cue points

Have to be in slides mode
Cue Points is in the component inspector at the bottom

-> Non slide mode cue points

Cue Points controlled through actionscript
mx.controls.MediaDisplay
Add slides to AddCuePoint array
Use for loop to pull data dynamically if need be
Create slide mc and enter frame labels to control "slides"
Time is entered in the AddCuePoint array object as well for each slide
Listener created can also be used for progress bar???
Monitor timecode
Fire events to make display react
Grab code from his Website
He made custom monitorStream function to control progress bar
Uses setInterval
You can build your own cue point event handlers in there for closed captioning

-> Scrub bar

Need total duration - (grab from metaData :: .duration property :: spit out from Sorenson)
(You could also use a Meta Data Injector :: Google to find)
Need current time - ()
Store the meta data duration in the NetStream object
Progress calc = 100 * (ns.time / ns.duration)
Then reposition along a progress track
currPos = posDelta / endPos * 100
seekTo = (currPos / 100) * streamDuration
*** Ask about why seeking sometimes jumps ***
Must use ns["duration"] quotes and square brackets to add properties to strong datatyped pre-existing objects, could not use dot notation here
Very nice to add these to the netStream object, real clean
Also must use quote and bracket to reference these dynamic props
Some of the jumps may be caused by lack of a keyframe being on that exact frame
Is there a way to encode the file to assist in this issue???
Must stop interval when you grab handle
Set the onMouseMove to call a seek function
Code will be available to everyone from Website

-> Captionate

Manitu Group
They created the FLV MetaData Injector
beta@captionate.com 2 join beta
FLV Embedded
Closed Captioned
Cue Points
Currently the way we do it is using xml data (like RSSC video)
This allows us to embed the meta data for the captions right within the FLV in multiple languages
Also lets you embed cue points so you do not have to use AS if you dont want to
The CC files not can stay with the video
You can use this with progressive download as well as FlashCom
You can do this with 3 lines of code (and onCaption event)
ns["onCaption"]
Allows you to export a data only flv file or the XML
You can also edit the timeline of your FLV
Nice authoring environment
You can video preview within the FLV environment (nice)
Build markers on the timeline
It adds to list on the bottom
You can also tweak timecodes manually
Edit speakers as well (multiple speakers, etc.)
All it does is save the same flv file with the metadata instantly
Embeds it as an AMF packet
Get this!!!

-> FlashCom allows you to seek forward progressive will not

-> Video transitions

Tween class and transition class
Use tween classes to fade form one video to another
This could work with CC room
Nice fade instead of harsh switch, you cannot do this in any other media player
He will provide code for this as well
He builds an array of movieclips and an array of netStreams and binds them together
Uses a dissolve video function that takes two targets and crossfades them using Tween class (very easy)
Use the onMotionFinished to kill the old netStream object and delete the object
You could also extend this to also to crossfade the sounds using the Tween class as well

-> Negotiating Bandwidth

This really only applies to FlashCom

-> Encoding rockstar video

Currently two codecs and another coming soon
Two audio codecs coming as well
Bandwidth calculations he has in slides, download from site
Better to drop frame size than frame rate
Look at the motion in the video
Try to use files that have no pre-compression (Very important)
He also has examples of how Sorenson compresses the video on slides
The Flash player has a 4 megabit limit both in and out

FITC 2005 Presentations - Motion For Designers

Motion For Designers

Erik Falat - [www.deepplay.tv]

FITC 2005

-> DeepPlayTV

Allied Works Architecture
nab becomes content breaking down the separation
Bonfire Snowboarding (Older site)
Incorporated AE for rollover nav
3 ways of navigation
Provide many roots and avenues

-> New Allied site

Going live currently
They did Contemporary Art Museum STL
Very little copy
Motion experience
Projects are represented as glyphs
Very simple graphical navigation
Nice bold text shows first then copy fades in
Nice template for work showcase (NG?)
Easing scrubber in video section (Very nice) as you slide it eases into place

-> Motion graphics and industrial design will drive future design in Flash

Interactive was originally based in print
Old questions ::
How will it look?
How does it work?
New questions ::
How will the user experience the site?

-> David Carson

"Intuition is the instrument of invention"
Motion graphics are a way to tap those resources

-> Everything is shifting more towards interactive

The hardware is shifting as well towards traditional computers

-> Seamless integration into Flash is much better than component usage

"Current components are a good first take"

-> Interactive will penetrate all mediums

No longer just Websites

-> Matt Owens www.volumeone.com

Re-uses assets across multiple platforms
Uses AE
Elements recurring on multiple platforms

-> ResFest

2 day motion graphics digital film festival
By design segments
Example clip uses photoshop, AE, and a Nikon digital cam
Syndrome studios
Could almost all be done in Flash
Narrative structure
Utilitize that kind of production quality and integrate it into interactive and give use control over it
Possibility of using more AE effects in Flash

-> After Effects

Export direct to swf
Currently bandwidth will be a bit large
The bridge between video editing and Flash is getting thinner and thinner

-> Industrial Design

Heuristics
Adhering to conventions to make everyone learn something will not work
You cannot take one definition of what is usable and apply it to everything
Learning through interaction (Heuristics)
The Magic 8 Ball
It informs you at every step of the way that it interacts with you
You can infer something about what is inside of it
Might feel or see the window
You would infer that something is inside and you will want to see it (curious)
Point it up at yourself and you see the message
Don Norman analogy to explain heuristics
Navigation and content does not need to be limited
"Users CAN learn"

-> Practical advice

Motion in Flash is too easy to be learned the wrong way
Stupid intros
Do not use the properties of Flash without providing information to the user
Do not use sounds for no reason
Start checking out video motion graphics stuff
Get started in video editing
Use sound discreetly
See & Hear (only have access to 2 senses) on the Internet
Use Zigos Tween class (very easy to use)
or Transitions
Zigos is so fast and so smooth better to use