.SWF FILE HELP!!!!!

H.G. DaGr8One · Post by **H.G. DaGr8One** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:30 pm

I made a cartoon in .swf file format. But when i watch it on my .swf player it looks distorted, ex: scenes blending in with each other, lines coming off of my characters, different colored blocks in the background. The sound even sounds bad it's like choppy. I've watched it on several different players and it's the same thing...DISTORTION!!!!

But when i look at a preview/render of the individual scenes on ASP they look good. When i play the cartoon on ASP everything looks good even the audio is good. My files are optimized everything seems good. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??

I'm trying to submit my cartoon to a flash based site (Newgrounds.com) but i can't fix the...glitches...on it. I SERIOUSLY NEED HELP, PLZ.

Genete · Post by **Genete** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 10:42 pm

Read the built in help ->Reference ->Flash tips. There you can find:

What Can be Exported
What Can't be Exported
How to Create Efficient Flash Files
What to Avoid

Probably it would explain your problems.
-G

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Sun Aug 31, 2008 11:39 pm

In the meantime, you could try this:

1. Get Riva FLV encoder (Google for it -- it's free)
2. Export your movie as an AVI file
3. Convert it to FLV format with Riva
4. Open Flash, and Import the FLV file
5. Export your SWF file

The bad news is, this will be a LOT bigger than an optimised SWF file. But then, AS Pro never produces optimised SWF files anyway. At least your work won't be wasted, assuming the end result isn't too large...

Hope this helps,
J

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 12:24 am

Before you try the FLV option you better check the requirements for submissions and make sure they accept FLV video. That site is a BIG Flash site, I could be wrong but FLV might not be what they want.

I would make sure first. I couldn't find any guidelines or submission requirements.

-vern

Samb · Post by **Samb** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:44 am

if you don't use flash then you shouldn't submit your movies to newgrounds.. anime studio is one of the worst programs for flash animation. I don't even know why it got an swf export...
maybe for the advertisment?

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:38 am

Granted AS doesn't have full support for Flash but used correctly it can be effective in Flash production. It should be used along with Flash rather than as a replacement. In certain styles of animation, specifically "cut-out", AS works very well with Flash.

My main use for Flash export is for print. I can export to SWF from AS and use it for print media in Adobe Illustrator. I've done several posters using AS this way.

-vern

H.G. DaGr8One · Post by **H.G. DaGr8One** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:50 am

Genete wrote:Read the built in help ->Reference ->Flash tips. There you can find:

What Can be Exported

What Can't be Exported

How to Create Efficient Flash Files

What to Avoid
Probably it would explain your problems.
-G

Yeah, I followed that to a "T". And made sure it was good to go. But still getting distortion. What do i do??

H.G. DaGr8One · Post by **H.G. DaGr8One** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:52 am

heyvern wrote:Before you try the FLV option you better check the requirements for submissions and make sure they accept FLV video. That site is a BIG Flash site, I could be wrong but FLV might not be what they want.

I would make sure first. I couldn't find any guidelines or submission requirements.

-vern

Yeah, Newgrounds only takes .SWF files. And they have to be 10MB. I may just submit it all messed up looking. But i won't be pleased.

synthsin75 · Post by **synthsin75** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:54 am

I'd bet something isn't optimized. But with such a shotgun description of the problem, I'm thinking you'll need to share a sample so we can determine your exact issues. There's just no way to guess at what could cause everything you describe.

H.G. DaGr8One · Post by **H.G. DaGr8One** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 3:57 am

Samb wrote:if you don't use flash then you shouldn't submit your movies to newgrounds.. anime studio is one of the worst programs for flash animation. I don't even know why it got an swf export...
maybe for the advertisment?

I guess i should of got Macromedia Flash. Dat' sux to hear. Do you know of any sites like Newgrounds that take the files that ASP puts out?... besides SWF. I'm trying to get this cartoon out here but keep running into little bumps.

DK · Post by DK » Mon Sep 01, 2008 4:18 am

I use AS to output swf files all the time...I also import them into Flash and they are fine....Like Genete says in his previous post...check the do's and don't for swf export. Things like using images, brushes and masking in AS will not export to swf. The best rule of thumb for sfw export is to keep to simple vector based animation.

Cheers
D.K

chucky · Post by **chucky** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:45 am

I remember having a bit of a turn when I first played with exporting SWF's.
The main thing is to try get that little red dot on your layers indicating that it IS good for swf export, this isn't completely neccesssary but it will definitely get you closer to a good output.
As a rule if you should limit point animation, but really you don't have to go too overboard.
You will actually be surprised at how much anime will push past its own recommended limits to get out the swf, try turning off layers to find the major culprits, a little experience with this swf experimenting will go a long way to get your results.

jahnocli · Post by **jahnocli** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:58 am

heyvern wrote:Before you try the FLV option you better check the requirements for submissions and make sure they accept FLV video. That site is a BIG Flash site, I could be wrong but FLV might not be what they want.

I would make sure first. I couldn't find any guidelines or submission requirements.

-vern

You're not listening:

jahnocli wrote:4. Open Flash, and Import the FLV file
5. Export your SWF file

jhbmw007 · Post by **jhbmw007** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 8:25 pm

It would still be flv video though just embedded as part of a swf- actually I think you would still need to upload the flv to a remote site for the swf to read from...

I think Newsgrounds is a site for animations that were actually created in Flash. SWF used to be great circa 1990 when you wanted to display cartoon animations on the web- but nowadays streaming video is such high quality that swf only makes sense if you want interactivity or to make a flash game. Flash is such a PITA to animate in I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 9:10 pm

jhbmw007 wrote:It would still be flv video though just embedded as part of a swf

Exactly. FLV is NOT "Flash"... it is video. Newgrounds I think is very much a pro-flash site. Since FLV is just "ordinary" video it could be from any source it could be done with anything, even high end 3D software. Plus FLV files are much larger. The fast download is due to streaming, it still takes up much more space than an SWF. A Flash oriented site wouldn't be saving much bandwidth or space if they accepted FLV video.

Flash is such a PITA to animate in I'm not sure why anyone would want to do it.

Because they spend a lot of effort and time learning how to do it. Kind of stuck. I started trying to do 2D character animation with Flash right before finding Moho. I had just started... yikes. If I hadn't found Moho I might still be hacking away with Flash.

-vern