Re: FLASH: Preloader (URGENT!!!!!)

[Marc Hoffman, Poison Dart Frog Media]

At 08:51 AM 1/21/00 , you wrote:


>I need to do the following (urgently!)

>

>I have a scene with a preloader set up. Further down the

>timeline I have keyframes with instanced movies in them.

>

>Problem. How do I make the preloader wait for the length

>of frames inside the instanced movies?


Your preloader should not be gauged to the number of frames in the movie 

clips. It should use If Frame Is Loaded to allow enough of the movie to 

load so that once it starts to stream it will not hang up waiting for 

content over the internet.  You can use Test Movie with Bandwidth Profiler, 

plus Generate Size Report (a feature of Export Movie) to figure out how 

much preload you need. If targeting 28.8kbaud modem users, for instance, 

you want to figure your movie will load at a rate that may drop as low as 

2k per second (typical Internet traffic conditions determine this figure). 

By determining how many kilobytes each of your frames requires, you can 

figure out if it will stream without a preloader, or how much preloader is 

needed. the Size Report is very helpful since it shows you how much content 

is added in each frame, and what the total movie size is at any given frame 

number.


Also, it's helpful to know that whan a frame contains a movie clip, the 

entire clip must load before the frame will play. So if you use If Frame Is 

Loaded to target a frame with a movie clip, it will automatically allow for 

the length of the clip. Again, we're really concerned with kilobytes 

loaded. But we target frames loaded (hmmm, it might be nice if Flash had a 

"kilobytes loaded" feature).


"If Frame Is Loaded" is used in a loop, and usually is placed a couple of 

frames into the movie, for example:


Frame 3:

         If Frame Is Loaded (frame label: main action)

                 Go to and Play (frame label: main action)

         End If

Frame 4:

         Go to and Play (frame 3)


This keeps the movie looping from frame 4 to frame 3 until the frame you've 

labeled "main action" is loaded. Then it jumps to "main action" and plays.


Marc Hoffman


Poison Dart Frog Media: Specializing in Flash Animation and Digital Audio 

Production

Our latest Flash job is on display at <http://www.dartfrogmedia.com/rickfrnd>

See our Flash portfolio at <http://www.dartfrogmedia.com/sampler>

(featured in Flash 3 Web Animation, by Ken Milburn)




flasher is generously supported by...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Streaming Media WEST '99 Conference & Exhibition

  "The Worlds largest Internet Audio & Video Event"

 December 7 - 9, San Jose Convention Center, California


Reserve your space today at http://www.streamingmedia.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  To unsubscribe or change your list settings go to

http://www.chinwag.com/flasher or email

helpchinwag [dot] com