movie clip vs graphic vs compiled clip vs frustration
Hi,
I'm having multiple problems with my new animation, and have been searching for a solution for days now.
First a bit of background:
I tried to be all slick and make a movie clip of a mock debate with my whole animation in it, and then move that around in my main timeline to give the appearance of a camera panning, changing angles, and zooming in and out.
First part of the problem:
The main movie clip has audience noises in it, which are impossible to synch up with the characters' dialogue as the lip synching occurs in movie clips of the characters' heads. (So I've got movie clips inside a movie clip inside my main movie.) I understand that I can see the motion when I make them graphics and must change them back to movie clips to get the audio to work when publishing. That doesn't help me get the speech to synch up well with the audience noises though. I need sound to propagate. I tried compiling the movie clip but that didn't help.
Second part of the problem:
I put the main movie clip on my main timeline and create a motion tween to move it around (see background info above). However, I can't see the motion in the main clip if I don't set it to behave as a graphic (and even then, I can't see the motion of the movies within that clip). The problem is that there are a ton of keyframes and every time I want to preview or publish (to really see all the motion) I have to swich them all back individually to behave as movie clips. This is very time consuming.
AM I MISSING SOMETHING???
Flash can't possibly be this difficult to work with...
Is there no way at all to edit with sound from embedded objects? No components available or anything?
Is there a better way to accomplish my "camera angles" task without having to individually switch every key frame from movie to graphic and then back again?
BTW, I tried to compile the main movie clip first, but since the reference point is in the center, MX 2004 cuts off everything but the bottom right quadrant. It doesn't seem to show movement anyway so I guess that's a moot point. I have no idea how to move the reference point either without moving every single frame in my clip.
Thanks to anyone who even read this whole thing. Any suggestions would be very welcomed.
hi,
i'm not sure i understand all this but here's one thing : you don't have to switch symbols from mc's to graphic. probably this is what's causing the problem in the first place.
as a rule use movieclips for animations and use graphic symbols for static images such as static backgrounds.
while editig your movie you won't be able to see the content of a movieclip unless you're actually inside it, otherwise you'll only see it's first frame.
That's my main problem. You see, when editing I need to see what's going on in the movie clip so I can move it around on my main timeline, giving the effect of a camera panning across the screen, zooming in and out, etc... That's why I have to switch it to a graphic... unless there is some other way to see what's going on inside the movie clip from the parent timeline...
hi,
look at it the other way round : you can see what's on the main timeline when you're inside the movieclip, so you can adjust the animation that you have within the movieclip in relation to the main stage. to preview the whole thing just test the movie (ctrl+enter)
Thank you, but the problem there is that the movieclip has like 9 layers to it, including background and foreground components. I'd need them all to tween proportionally to get the same effect, and that would be a. Isn't there some other way?
Maybe there is a way to do a macro in the flash editing environment? Does anyone know how to run a macro to change all instances of a symbol from a movie clip to a graphic and vice versa? That would be at least 1/2 of a solution...
a graphic symbol does not have a seperate timeline so if you have a graphic symbol with, say 100 frames you'll have to extend it on a 100 frames on the main timeline. not very efficient. right?
But I'm not talking about moving the contents of the symbol to the main timeline. I'm just talking about changing the behavior of the instances of the symbol from movie clip to graphic so I can preview the motion while editing. Then switching every keyframe in the tween (still on the main timeline) back to movie clips so the sound will be present when publishing.
Originally posted by dtocci But I'm not talking about moving the contents of the symbol to the main timeline.
neither was i...
what i meant is to explain the difference between the graphic symbol and the movieclip and to show you that movieclips are your best option. no need to convert them to graphics and then back again.
One of us is confused here...
i suggest you look up some tutorials. maybe start with reading the Flash help - the types of symbols section. i'd also recommend that you see how other people built up their animations to get an idea of how it's done.
i'll look up some examples and post them here .
cheers
I understand symbols. I still don't think you understand the complexity here.
Imagine making a full animation with many layers. In this case, it's a debate. I've got bush on one side, and kerry on the other, with the host walking back and forth. I've animated the whole thing inside a movie clip symbol.
Now I want to zoom in on parts of the animation on my main scene timeline. For example, when kerry speaks, I may want to zoom in on him. When the host walks from one podium to the other, I may want to follow him while zoomed in. This necessitates a tween on the layer that solely includes the movie clip.
If I leave the movie clip as a movie clip, I can't see the action to know what to zoom in on. If I change it to a graphic, I can, but then I get no sound when publishing the file.
Do you understand that movie clips do not allow you to see motion when editing, nor sound, but allow both to appear in the published swf files? On the other hand, graphics allow you to see motion when editing, but only motion appears in the published swf file and no sound.
I appreciate your help but I still think you are not understanding the situation fully.
ok. so you have bush, kerry and the host in one movieclip, each on his own layer. right?
why don't you scale up kerry when he speaks instead of scaling up the whole movieclip?
Do you understand that movie clips do not allow you to see motion when editing, nor sound, but allow both to appear in the published swf files? On the other hand, graphics allow you to see motion when editing, but only motion appears in the published swf file and no sound.
this isn't exactly the difference between them. you might call it a "side effect"
Use graphic symbols for static images and to create reusable pieces of animation that are tied to the main Timeline. Graphic symbols operate in sync with the main Timeline. Interactive controls and sounds won’t work in a graphic symbol’s animation sequence.
Use movie clip symbols to create reusable pieces of animation.Movie clips have their own multiframe Timeline that is independent from the main Timeline—think of them as nested inside a main Timeline that can contain interactive controls, sounds, and even other movie clip instances. You can also place movie clip instances inside the Timeline of a button symbol to create animated buttons.
ok. so you have bush, kerry and the host in one movieclip, each on his own layer. right?
It's not that simple. I've got layers for the podiums in front of multiple layers for the characters in front of a layer for a nice background with a curtain etc... Zooming in would require tweening all of these layers. That would be horribly complicated. It's much easier to have the whole action taking place on a movie clip from a fixed perspective, and then move that movie clip around in the main timeline.
Whether it is a "side effect" of symbol behavior or not, it is the way it is and that is causing my problem.
if you have each of your characters in a seperate movieclip life will be a lot easier for you. this way you'll be able to animate each character as one item.
what i suggest is that you put each character in it's own movieclip including all animations you might have for that character (head - hand - eyes ....) so that when you want to zoom in or pan or whatever you'll be doing it on one symbol including all its parts.
what i suggest is that you put each character in it's own movieclip including all animations you might have for that character (head - hand - eyes ....) so that when you want to zoom in or pan or whatever you'll be doing it on one symbol including all its parts.
That doesn't make sense because
1. The background would have to zoom in as well. It is common to all three characters and is not uniform. You can't just zoom in on a character and ignore the other things visible on the screen.
2. I would not be able to zoom in on kerry for instance, and then pan over to the host. In that case, both would have to be zoomed in equivalently as well as their shared background.
I really appreciate you taking the time to create an example file. I believe I fully understand what you are saying. The problem comes into play when there are multiple characters and a non-uniform background shared by all.
I have attached an updated sample file. It includes a simple example of the effect I'm looking for in text boxes at the top. (far shot, zoom in on man1, follow host in a pan, zoom in on man2, far shot)
Perhaps you can show me how to do this using your proposed method.
Next I will put together a version the way I'm trying to accomplish this.
Here's a crude example, based on the same file, of the way I'm accomplishing what I need.
You will see that the top level timeline has many keyframes already. You will also see that I have made the behavior into a graphic so I can see what's going on as I edit. If I left it as a movie clip, I wouldn't be able to see any motion.
Luckily this example doesn't have sound. If it did, I'd have to modify every single keyframe in the main timeline to convert the symbol back into a movie in order to properly preview/test.
Now imagine this animation is much, much longer with many more keyframes.
I see what you've done. It's basically what I do, but your way requires tweens on all layers in the movie clip. Theoretically, if you're going to tween all the layers equally, why not just tween the entire parent object once?
I think tweening all the levels as you have done could cause problems if they've already got tweens in them. Maybe not if I get it right the first time, but making adjustments to the underlying animation after doing the camera angle thing could cause problems, no? Untangling the tweens in order to make a change?
The way I've done it seems more elegant. It's more "object oriented" at least... Unfortunately flash does not seem to be able to handle it. Because of the "side effects" of movie clips, I can't inspect what's going on on each keyframe.
With your method, there doesn't seem to be much of a point to having the entire animation in a movie clip symbol in the first place. All those layers might as well be on the main timeline.
Unless there is some way to run a macro during editing time, or set a master behavior property for all instance of my main symbol, it appears as if I'm stuck with either the monumental task of undoing what I have done or switching each individual keyframe's instance back and forth from graphics to movie clips to track my "camera" as I go.
If you or anyone else has any other suggestions, please let me know. Otherwise, thank you very much for your time and effort on this question.
you're right. there's absolutely no reason why i should have the entire movie inside a movieclip. i did it just as an example of how to arrange things - assuming there is a static background on the main timeline. my fault. should've made it more clear. sorry.
and i don't think i can help you on this anymore, so good luck with it.
cheers
Reply With Quote
