SWF Output

Hi Guys
I made a website banner in AE and exported to SWF. It is not a complex composition. It has two people (PS imports) that slide onto the banner; one from the left and one from the right end. One of them is animated by the puppet tool to move an arm down. One word of text is animated using the transporter preset effect.
On export to SWF (medium setting), the animations work fine... but the file is 8+mb. To try and reduce the file size I exported using "low" setting but the image quality was poor. I then tried exporting in medium quality again but "ignoring" rasterisation. The image quality was good but the overall result messy. I could live with a ropey looking transporter effect. But only one person appears and the arm is not animated (don't know why the 2nd person disappeared entirely) .
Has anyone any tips on how to export a decent quality, low size swf or can anyone tell me why one of the images should just disappear? Should I import Alpha files into my comp, such as png, from PS instead of a full PS file?
Regards,
Graham

If it disappeared and you ignored rasterization, then there was some effect or layer style that would have required rasterization... Other than that there isn't really much you can do to massage file size vs. features. It's very much a "Love it or leave it" thing. If you wanted more control, you'd have to use Flash proper or at least Flash Catalyst based ony our PSD files. Should you have acces to these tools, you could also use the XFL export or render a PNG sequence to be compiled in Flash or FC. This also usually yields much more efficient results...
Mylenium

Similar Messages

A single .swf output file?

I import my captivate simulations into my Authorware
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file. Can this be done? Anyone have a work-around...
Thanks,
kshasmith

Hi there kshasmith
So you want to eat all that cake and still have some to take
with you, eh?
I think you would be able to accomplish this the old
fashioned way. That is, the way we did it in Captivate 1. Notice
that if you DE-select the borders check box, you STILL end up with
the playback controls. They are just plopped on top of the bottom
of the movie. Sooooo, if you click Project > Resize Project...
you can increase the height of the movie to make room for the
playback controls.
Steps:
Click Project > Resize Project...
DE-select the "Maintain Aspect Ratio" check box
Add 35 pixels or so to the value in the Height field
Choose the option to Keep project the same size and fill the
background with color
Choose the color your skin would have provided
Click the drop-down and position the project in the Top
Center
Click the Finish button
This should result in a single .SWF movie that is basically
identical to a skinned Captivate movie using two .SWFs.
Give that a go and see how you fare.
Cheers... Rick

Tutorials in SWF output format prompted "Do you trust this content to connect to the Internet?" when opening another SWF file

Please help.
I have a tutorial with in the output format of SWF and HTM. I have click boxes that On Success will open another tutorial (SWF file). When I click on the click box, I get prompted “Do you trust this content to connect to the Internet?” by the Adobe Flash Player. I can click “Yes” and continue, however I don’t want the user to get prompted for every click box with this action (there is one for every tutorial and navigation buttons to each tutorial). I also think that SCORM can't handle the prompt, because when I run the tutorial from the LMS the click boxes do not work at all.
I have tried selecting “Always allow” in the Global Security Settings panel as per the instruction on this website: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager04.htm l.
Any ideas?

Hi,
I wanted to add on a question to this posting.... I believe Rod's instructions must be followed on a per-PC basis, correct? Is there any way to disable this globally when/after I publish the files rather than telling 1000 users across the globe that they have to change their security settings? I don't think so from the article (very thorough) but just hoping there's something I can do?!
Thank you!
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Javascript not working in swf output

I am working on a project where the quiz requirements are quite unique and not all that logical, but it's what the client requires...
I have a lot of courses ("lessons") for this project. I'm using a fully custom quiz for each lesson. Because of the sheer number of courses, and the unique requirements, I am trying to leverage javascript for this project as much as possible.
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So for each quiz question slide I have smartshapes which are acting as clickable text captions, like this:
Question text....
A. Answer choice a
B. Answer choice b
C. Answer choice c
D. Answer choice d
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CORRECT_ANSWER = 'q1b';
ANSWER_CHOICE = (event.target) ? event.target.id : event.srcElement.id;
evaluate_answer(ANSWER_CHOICE, CORRECT_ANSWER);
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*********** quiz.js *************
var evaluate_answer = function (answerChoice, correctAnswer) {
var answerChoice = window.cpAPIInterface.getVariableValue("ANSWER_CHOICE");
var correctAnswer = window.cpAPIInterface.getVariableValue("CORRECT_ANSWER");
if (answerChoice == correctAnswer) {
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} else {
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*********** END quiz.js *************
The above works great in HTML5 output but not in the swf version. It looks like the swf version can't handle/pass the event.target, but that's just a guess.
Any ideas?

Hey again all,
The specific code importing the username isn't actually all that important, it's more of test to make sure that Javascript will actually work. I have a lot more code that needs to be processed as well, I'm using this as an example before I tackle the actual interworkings of the script. Therefore, I can't use a workaround, such as a system variable in the hyperlink, to pass the username.
I've now tried countless variations of methods of trying to run the JavaScript so far, including the ways that all of you have recommended. The only way the script will run is by my saving the file as a .htm and including an alert within the script in either the .htm file or in the .js file and calling from within the .htm. I haven't been able to get the process to run at all by including as an On Enter page action or as a .swf or by excluding the alert(). Can any of you get a Captivate 8 project with JavaScript to work as .swf alone on your server? Why does that alert have to before the setVariable in order for it to work in htm? I've changed the global security for Flash; is there another setting that I'm maybe missing?
Thank you all again for help. I'm completely stumped by this one!

Viewing Camtasia SWF output in Robohelp 10

Is it possible to view SWF videos created using Camtasia in Robohelp 10?
I imported the video files into my Baggage folder but the video is still not viewable, even after publishing the project. I assume this has something to do with the additional files Camtasia generates?
I've seen earlier posts indicating that Camtasia created flash videos didn't work in previous versions of Robohelp. I'm hoping this isn't the case anymore. If anyone knows of a way to make it work, I'd appreciate the help.

Okay, I've sorted making it work. Here are the notes.
First, it's worth noting that while a SWF is in the mix of Camtasia created files, it's not the main file. It's just a supporting file among many others. The main file appears to be a file with .mp4 as the file extension. (I said that because with video content, the extension is really more of a container or wrapper than anything else. So other than knowing it's got an extension of .mp4, you really don't know for certain what's inside.)
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Alternatively, you may omit the steps of copying the iframe code from the Camtasia file and simply import the Camtasia HTML file and link to it so it opens as any other topic would and completely fill the topic pane.
Hope this helps... Rick

Why does the published swf output from Presenter 10 fail to play when the zip output is uploaded to my LMS?

On Win 7, using Presenter 10 the published output .swf (and associated files in the .zip collection) produces only a blank browser frame (both IE10 and Chrome) on upload and launch from the LMS. The index.html file is referencing two .js files that do not exist...
<script src="./data/html/Project.js"></script>
<script src="./data/resources/ha/wr_/OpenAjaxManagedHub-all.js"></script>
Also, seem to be missing a presenter.css file in ./data/html I think the presenter.libs.js file is referencing.
Are these files required for playback and correspondingly that's why only a blank browser frame is presented on the LMS launch?
Is it possible that when I publish to my local these files are not being populated in the output .zip for some reason?
Any help isolating the cause is much appreciated!
-Ken

@Willam I am wondering if the first problem has not been properly described. When viewing generated help if you right click and select View Source, as you know, you will get the HTML for the tripane window. I think Rtrown wants to see the code for the default topic. If so, that is something like View this frame.
Turning to the last paragraph, there is also some confusion there.
When this first happened, I wondered if the project was corrupted, and I tried a technique I picked up a while ago, involving removing the xpj and cpd files from Windows Explorer, and attempting to restore from the *.FPJ file. However, I get a message saying 'This file is not an HPJ file. Please select an HPJ file to open'. The project does not have an HPJ file! So I had to rebuild the project.
First, you should only delete the CPD file in most scenarios. See Opening Projects on my site. Deleting the XPJ should not be done other than in a few situations. Secondly, you then restore from the HHP file, not the FPJ file. Not sure how you would do that. Finally an HPJ file is related to RoboHelp for Word and is its equivalent of the XPJ file in RoboHelp HTML.
See www.grainge.org for RoboHelp and Authoring tips
@petergrainge

Publish SWF Output Options Export HTML

I have a number of projects that display the Export HTML,
Output Option of Publish SWF as checked and disabled. When I
publish the project the htm file is not generated. All of these
projects have SCORM Reporting selected and should be producing the
swf file, htm file and scorm_support folder, but all I get is the
swf file. Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Raymond Sugel Sr

IThis is an aside but would be good for other newbies to
know:
what I learned and maybe you already know this is that when I
published (having htm selected) it generated an output folder on
its own!!! Lorn behold my htm, swf, and a file named js (?), I
think was in that folder. I would have never gone looking for
another folder but happened to see that was where I had placed by
1st cp project days earlier.

Corrupt SWF output?

Hi all,
For some reason when I publish my project, the produced SWF
has strange random red or grey boxes appearing in the output. I can
preview the output in the browser and it looks fine.
This is happening on more than one project. I can partly
clear it by importing into a new project but even that is not
reliable.
I never had this sort of problem with V1. I'm currently using
V3 which seems really flaky in comparison.
Any help much appreciated as it's driving me mad.
Thanks
CD

Hi CD
I don't know if this will help or not, but I have seen quite
a few posts relating to the Red Screen scenario and the major
impact seems to be as a result of extensive usage of Full Motion
Recording, which seems to eat up available memory on playback until
the computer freezes up. The main fix, if this is the case, is to
reduce project size by creating smaller projects that daisy chain
into each other and/or to replace some of the FMR with static
screen shots.
Cheers
Andrew

Smart object image has jaggies in swf output

We are using smart objects for buttons in a Captivate 8 project. The objects have images for the fill. When we publish a swf file, the default images have jaggies. The rollover or down images look fine. The html5 output looks fine. If I do a preview in the browser the image is fine.
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Thanks
John

And how I control to obtain the same result?
You don’t.
At least with many possible combinations of transparencies and Blend Modes it is impossible to obtain the same result in CMYK as in RGB while maintaing the original Layer structure.
Placed a linked file has a different color result too.
Different from embedded Smart Objects or just different from the flattened image?
To be blunt you probably don’t fully comprehend the principal difference between additive and subtractive colors.
Also are you sure your CMYK space conforms to the specific print process?

Video breaking up in MP4 and SWF output

Hi,
I just started having a new problem in Captivate 6 (64 bit) output. I do final output to MP4, but output to SWF while I am testing. The problem has appeard in both.
The video breaks up in certain places, and I see random colors, blocks, and partial after images from previous slides.
I first saw this last week after getting a fatal error that caused Captivate to shut down. The error came when I tried to convert typing to a text animation. I assumed the video problem was due to file corruption affecting certain slides. I was able to fix it by replacing these slides and the output looked okay.
Today, I saw the same issue appear in an MP4 generated by a different Captivate project. I set the Preferences > 'SWF size and Quality' to High and removed the SWF compression. This improved but did not fix the problem.
I thought it might be my video driver, so I copied the project to a different computer (computer 2) and re-published it. The MP4 looked fine. I then viewed the new MP4 on the original computer (computer 1) and again, it shows clean. I tried viewing the problem MP4 on computer 2, and it ALSO looks fine.
I don't think it's the video driver on computer 1, since I haven't seen the issue with other MP4 that I am testing randomly. Is it possible the Captive instance on computer 1 is corrupted? Should I reinstall it? Other thoughts?
Thanks very much.
Corbin

If you care to upload a clip, I can check it here.
https://www.depositfiles.com/uploader_flash.html

Question about AE CS3 swf output

I'm curious about something... I know that obviously using bitmap elements within a scene will not convert to vectors (so, for each bitmap you use in a scene, you lose out on the file size efficiency that vectors give you).
However, I'm confused and curious about what/how AE creates swf files from your scene.
Text, made in AE, will obviously convert fine (stay vectors)...
Beyond that, I'm not sure what things convert fine to the swf vectors, and what becomes bitmapped (or, for whatever reason, become detrimental to the efficiency of the swf file.
1) Could someone outline what does and doesn't maintain it's efficient vector format when converted to an swf in AE CS3?
2) What about illustrator files brought into AE? Are they treated the same as vectors created in Flash (keeping their vector form even when animated and the scene is exported as an swf)?
3) If I use a bitmapped background, but all foreground elements are vectors, does the swf just store the bg once (adds to the file size), but then has no other detrimental effect to the file size?
Any other words of wisdom on the subject would also be appreciated!
Thanks...

>1) Could someone outline what does and doesn't maintain it's efficient >vector format when converted to an swf in AE CS3?
Masks on solids; text layers; Radio Waves, Path Text, Audio Waveform, and Audio Spectrum effects; Illustrator files
>2) What about illustrator files brought into AE? Are they treated the
>same as vectors created in Flash (keeping their vector form even when
>animated and the scene is exported as an swf)?
Under the right conditions - yes.
>3) If I use a bitmapped background, but all foreground elements are
>vectors, does the swf just store the bg once (adds to the file
>size), but then has no other detrimental effect to the file size?
If the bg is a static image, it should.
For more info check here:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/AfterEffects/9.0/WS3878526689cb91655866c1103a4f2dff7-79caa.htm l
Mylenium

HELP! FLV doesnt appear in swf output

I created a very nice frame for a flv file where a curtain
opens allowing a flv movie to play in between the opened curtain.
It was created in Flash CS4. When I test the file it looks great.
But when I publish the swf file or export it as a movie, the flv is
missing when the curtain opens. In Dreamweaver, the same thing
occurs. The curtain opens and it's blank as if the flv wasn't in
the time line. How do I export my Flash CS4 curtain-video timeline
for inclusion on a webpage in Dreamweaver so that the flash video
is part of the swf?
Would really appreciate some quick help!
Will

Thank you Pete. I'm still confused as to where to specify the
path for the flv file. Is that something I do in flash before I
export or publish the swf, or do I make the link to the source flv
in dreamweaver. Please forgive my ignorance and tell me where in
either of those programs I specify the path.
Thank you!
Will

Sizing Issue from SWF output?

Sorry to flood the forum with questions. I'm in the first of
what will likely be a number of late nights as my first major
captivate project went from green light to red light status in
about 15 minutes when I had my first demo.
Ok - our company standard (as defined by the one other person
here who has developed Captivate elearning) is to size
presentations at 1014 X 713 . When published as an executable, our
standard practice, this fits nicely in a 1024x768 resolution screen
while allowing access to the start menu and the window bar in
Windows.
A customer requested a SCORM compliant presentation for
integration with their LMS. I can only publish SWF if I'm SCORM
compliant. Even though I removed the margin in the skin settings,
whenever I publish in SWF and open the html file with Internet
explorer, there's a border/margin around the player and the screen
now requires scrolling. I did notice that if I open the SWF file
directly with internet explorer, it seems to automatically resize
to the IE window, which hurts the image quality.
I've been troubleshooting and testing for several hours and I
can't seem to find any way around this issue other than to just
resize the whole thing and spend hours more fixing all the text
that's affected or start over. If SCORM compliance stays a
deliverable, do I have any other options?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can share!
Andrew

Hi Andrew
Normally I don't recommend resizing Captivate movies -- but
in your case, having put a lot of work into completing the movie at
1014 X 713, it's probably your only option for a quick fix. Rather
than rescale the slides (which will inevitably result in loss of
image quality) I recommend that you choose the Crop option (beneath
"If new size is smaller"). Also deselect the
Maintain aspect ratio option to ensure that you don't end up
unnecessarily reducing the height of the movie too. Hopefully you
won't lose any critical information at the sides of your movie as a
result of the crop -- you will need to test carefully for this.
Best regards,
-Matthew

Flash CS3, Captivate 4 Single File SWF output- playback problems

Hello,
I am trying to upload a swf file that I created to a website. I am doing this because that it the only format the site editor will allow me to do.
I tried following the steps in the tutorial on how to embed a swf into a pdf. (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/articles/movieclip_to_pdf.html)
-The File started as a flv, I opened that it Flash Pro CS3, then exported the file to a SWF (Actionscript3).
                    -I then created a new Captivate project, and inserted a "Animation" to put in the SWF video.
                      (I did this because when I tried inserting the flv it only showed it as 3 seconds, when the video is                                     about 40, and it had no audio)
-I chose the option to not show the borders, but show the player skin (Play,pause, etc.) in Captivate.
-I then exported it to a SWF file (It also created the html, etc.)
There was a standalone SWF file created, that when I played with Flash Player, played not a problem, all of the player controls on the skin worked just fine.
However, when I uploaded the swf to the site, only the player conrols showed, and when I tried clicking on the buttons, nothing happened.   When I clicked on the slider, it just showed where the video was supposed to be "2/1"
Any help would be appreciated a lot, as I am not a flash or captivate expert. (I just started using a couple of days ago)
Thank you,
Chev

Hi there
That's sure a convoluted approach!
chevtony wrote:
Hello,
I am trying to upload a swf file that I created to a website. I am doing this because that it the only format the site editor will allow me to do.
I tried following the steps in the tutorial on how to embed a swf into a pdf. (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/articles/movieclip_to_pdf.html)
Uhhh, if you want the SWF on the web site, why are you following information for inserting SWF into PDF?
-The File started as a flv, I opened that it Flash Pro CS3, then exported the file to a SWF (Actionscript3).
                    -I then created a new Captivate project, and inserted a "Animation" to put in the SWF video.
                      (I did this because when I tried inserting the flv it only showed it as 3 seconds, when the video is                                     about 40, and it had no audio)
What you don't realize is that if you insert a 40 second video into a 3 second slide, there is no need to adjust the slide play time. There is an option that is automatically set that keeps the slide from moving on until the video completes playing.
-I then exported it to a SWF file (It also created the html, etc.)
That's normal Captivate behavior. You get a few different files. The intent is to upload them all and point the user to the HTML file. It then loads and plays the SWF.
There was a standalone SWF file created, that when I played with Flash Player, played not a problem, all of the player controls on the skin worked just fine.
However, when I uploaded the swf to the site, only the player conrols showed, and when I tried clicking on the buttons, nothing happened.   When I clicked on the slider, it just showed where the video was supposed to be "2/1"
Thank you,
Chev
When you insert FLV you also have to upload the FLV. Captivate plays it by referencing it externally. It is not embedded into the SWF and remains as a separate file to deal with.
Cheers... Rick
Helpful and Handy Links
Captivate Wish Form/Bug Reporting Form
Adobe Certified Captivate Training
SorcerStone Blog
Captivate eBooks

In Captivate 4 swf output, box borders break up. How can I prevent that?

I'm working in Captivate 4. If I capture a screen that includes a box with a thin border, the border sometimes breaks up in the published swf. Parts of the border are missing, and lines display where they shouldn't. (See included image.) Anyone know how I can prevent that?
-Stuart

I'd suggest going into Edit - Preferences - SWF Size and Quality. Try de-selecting the Advanced project compression check box.
Then re-publish.

Help with inserting a Captivate published SWF output into another master Captivate project

Can I insert a SWF (which is a Try It created and published using Captivate) into a master Captivate project such that the master Captivate project can access variables in the Try-It and do stuff depending on the value? (I'm using Captivate 6)

Hi Lilybiri,
The things is that for the Try-It, I'd like to use the playbar but for the main project that houses the SWF, I don't want to have a playbar. If i insert the Try It as slides in the main project (instead of insert a SWF), the the playbar becomes global to the whole project.
Also, I would have a lot ot slides in the main project file since there are going to be at least 7-8 Try Its, which if inserted as SWFs sound management but if I insert the slides for each of them, my main project will have way too many slides.
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SWF Output

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