Flash Video and sub-titling

Question

Hi Guys,
Just like to know, if anyone has done any project with flash
video with subtitling.
I have around 20 videos of 5 mins each, I have to put the
subtitling on the videos, the text for the sub titling is available
in Excel sheets, I also have the time point for the subtitling.
Is that possible to load the text dynamically from the excel
sheet or any other format at the given time point in the flash
video.
Any tutorial available for the above topic? please provide me
the link.
Thanks in advance
regards

Answer 1

b_pandey,
> Just like to know, if anyone has done any project with
> flash video with subtitling.
I haven't, but I've done projects in which video had to be
synchronized
with other events.
> I have around 20 videos of 5 mins each, I have to put
> the subtitling on the videos, the text for the sub
titling is
> available in Excel sheets, I also have the time point
for
> the subtitling.
Excellent; you're all set!
> Is that possible to load the text dynamically from the
> excel sheet or any other format at the given time point
> in the flash video.
Not from an Excel sheet, no. But Flash can load text files
and Flash
can interact with databases via PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, and
the like. Given
the time-sensitive nature of your project, however, I would
put the
subtitles right into the SWF itself.
> Any tutorial available for the above topic? please
> provide me the link.
You'll want to read about "cue points" in the documentation
and online.
Here are two tutorials I found by Googling the terms "Flash
video cue
points" ...
http://www.mediacollege.com/flash/video/cuepoints.html
http://www.actionscript4designers.com/wmg3/cuepoints_briefly.html
The second one involves screens, which you probably don't
need, but the
*concept* is, of course, the more important part. The first
tutorial is
more likely to help you.
I would put all the subtitles into an array and use the
cuePoint event,
as described in tutorial #1, to populate the same dynamic
text field over
and over again based on strings in the array.
What this means is that you'll want to familiarize yourself
with the
Array class. Start small, at first. Start a new FLA
altogether and create
nothing in it but an array.
var subtitles:Array = new Array();
Then push items into the array.
subtitles.push("Hello, Ginger.");
subtitles.push("Why, hello, Fred.");
subtitles.push("Care to dance, Ginger?");
subtitles.push("Oh, yes! Let's do!");
Then use trace() to test your understanding of how to pull
information
again from the array.
trace(subtitles[0]); // zero is the first element
trace(subtitles[1]);
trace(subtitles[2]);
// etc.
A for() loop can retrieve them all. Just substitute the
numbers for a
variable that represents numbers.
for (n=0; n<subtitles.length; n++) {
trace(subtitles[n]);
And so on. Looking up the "Array class" entry of the
ActionScript
Language Reference will teach you about the Array.length
property used in
the above sample. All class entries show the properties,
methods, and
events available to a given class. Properties are
characteristics of the
object, methods are things the object can do, and events are
things the
object can react to.
Once you understand arrays, look up the FLVPlayback in the
documentation
and/or follow along in the above tutorials. Just realize that
you'll use
the concepts described to meet your own needs. If you prefer
not to use the
FLVPlayback Component -- and you may not -- look up the Video
class, and
also the NetStream and NetConnection classes to learn how to
load FLVs
without a Component (the NetStream class features an
onCuePoint event). See
also ...
http://www.quip.net/blog/2006/flash/how-to-load-external-video
David
stiller (at) quip (dot) net
Dev essays:
http://www.quip.net/blog/
"Luck is the residue of good design."