CD-ROM Video
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- del_razor
hey everyone..
designing an interface for a CD Rom i'm about to start developing..
company insists i create it in Director (ugh!) however i've done all i could to convince them otherwise and still no go..
anyway.. this CD will be very Video intensive, as we are a film company and will be shooting lots of footage for it..
my question is.. what size video (resolution) is average for something like this .. done in director.. cross platform.. for mid level machines and up..
they are saying they want like 320x240 as the largest video size.. and then "maybe stretch it"
i'm thinking we can go a lot larger than this .. i wanna go 800x200 (long panoramic videos)
anyone with advice.. greatly appreciated..
i just don't wanna do the standard "here's the dinky video window" crap.. yah know?
i really wish i could push them to use flash.. as i hate director and am very novice in it.. (no movieclips.. etc.. so interaction is crap for me)
thanks in advance..
- del_razor0
*bump
Anyone?
- Meeklo0
Actually Director IS way better for this kind of stuff. Yes it can be done in flash too, but I woulden't reccomend it, It's a hassle. Director is designed to make Cd roms, while flash is more for web. Flash works different depending on what computer is being played, so you need to do a lot of testing on good and bad computers, macs and pc's. etc
- brandelec0
i like the idea for the video size, i had cd-rom project and not sure now, but back then, i went mpeg (needed a plugin to import)
i agree with the CD-rom + director positives, can't really go wrong, especially with mac + pc
- Meeklo0
On the other hand, if you are like me, and have no clue about director, and can't find anyone to help you on this through this project.
I will say, get Sorenson Squueze, and exporrt video at 480 x 360. and then strech it a bit to make it bigger.
- bighorn0
as much of a hassle as it is, director is still the way to go for cd roms. i haven't seen an all flash cd rom that works well and making a true hybrid is nearly possible without director.
your format sounds doable but before you build the whole thing, do some preliminary testing on different system configurations and operating systems. and test a lot during production. fortunately, one thing director does well is handle quicktime, but do your best to manage memory and purge unneeded cast members.
you probably know that you can embed flash in a director movie and you can write lingo in your actionscript so that your flash members can talk to director members. i've used a lot of flash to supplement director movies in the form of complex buttons, menus and spot animations. if you use flash, however, things can get ugly when you have an interface that contains both flash and quicktime. if anything overlaps, you're going to have flashing in your quicktime movie so don't build any flash interface elements that will touch your quicktime.
good luck.
- terlizzi0
Check out this link:
http://www.computer-training-sof…
a few good videos on the basics of director
- dsc0
Yeah, Director is way more solid for cdroms in my opinion.
Recently, I've been importing quicktime files into Flash MX 2004 and then embedding the resulting swf file into Director. It cuts out the need for any plugins or any of that bollocks.
- del_razor0
thanks for the responses guys..
actually last summer i created an all flash CD that was perfecly hybrid and everything.. it was SO much easier workin in flash..as i had everything modulized and used loadMovie for my sections and stuff, along with the videos being "loadMovie"'d as well..
i even found a way to tell Laptops to keep the cd-rom spinning so there wouldn't be a delay to spin up and read video before spinning back down again..
i'll see if i can incorporate some flash into this puppy.. i was just more concerned about being able to have a very dynamic / interactive interface without having to learn how to ride a bike all over again (we mainly want to use director because of "memory problems with other computers" and "flash's video looks crappy compared to mpeg1 xtra stuff"
thanks again though.. will brave through this ;)
- del_razor0
btw... we only have Director MX here.. not the 2004 version... can i still import an FLV file (flash video) or a SWF file (some interface elements) into director MX?
thnx
- Meeklo0
"as much of a hassle as it is, director is still the way to go for cd roms. i haven't seen an all flash cd rom that works well and making a true hybrid is nearly possible without director. "
Actually, There is no Hassle with director, the hassle is if he makes the CD with flash.
- del_razor0
meeklo.. i see your point however.. being a designer / animator.. with not much of a mind for coding.. flash is MUCH easier for me to develop in than director.. considering the timeline style (movieclips, timelines within timelines, and externam loaded movies) as compared to director's linear.. code what you need instead of animating it seperately, stance..
- Meeklo0
You can export FLV (Flash Video) from Sorenson Squeeze, and I had better results exporting quicktime video than Mpeg. Just a thought
- Meeklo0
Del Razor:
Im a designer animator myself, and I have done, cd roms in flash, (like I said before I dont know how to use director) so Im on the same position as you are, I dont know any codig either, yes, flash is easier than director to me too, I agree on everything, but when it comes to CD roms, the right tool is Director. Flash can be used inside director with no problems. that beign said:I have done all Flash CD roms, before, it is possible yes. just as you can do a website using microsoft word. My advice is get Sorenson squeeze, is the best video optimization tool for flash, although you have more space, you want to make the video as light as possible because of flash might not be as stable as director to handle this kind of stuff, if you embeed the video as FLV, the user doesn't need any plug ins, wich can be a plus if you want to convice your client than to do it in flash.