Flash :: Problem Making Gifs In Flash 8 They Are A Mess

Making GIFs
Alright, I've successfully made some animated GIFs in flash. They work, sort of, but they look like crap.

I have Production Premium CS3.... is there a better way I could be making animated GIFs? Does Illustrator do them? After Effects? Who can tell me the best way to make the highest quality GIFs with the widest web compatibility? I would really appreciate it.

Alright, that's my main question. If you answer that, I'd really appreciate it. However, if you want a gold star from Bazman, Inc, feel free to read the rest, and see if you can't figure this one out...

my girlfriend used a web site to make an animated gif. You basically upload a picture to this site called www.fotline.com. Once uploaded, it adds a shimmering water effect, and makes an animated GIF out of it. You can then copy the link, and post it as image code... OR... you can right-click on the picture, and do "Save As GIF picture."

Once she had it, she uploaded it to her "my photos" on myspace.com. It worked fine, still uploads and animates perfectly via their photo upload server.
Here's the problem. She doesn't want their little link-emblem thing on (which they automatically embed on the bottom of the GIF). So I took her picture, imported it into flash, put a black bar over the bottom, and exported it as an animated GIF. Unfortunately, when I try to upload it to myspace, it says "uncompatible file has not been uploaded." So for some reason, before importing it into Flash, the picture uploads and works on myspace. But after running it through Flash and re-exporting it as an animated GIF, it no longer is compatible with myspace. I unchecked "interlace, smoothing, etc." in Flash's GIF encoder. What else can I do?

Making Gifs The Same Size
I use flash to make headings etc. The problem I'm having however is that I've got 7 headings and they are all different sizes. I've made them all 50pt in size but they come out different heights when I view them outside flash. Is it something in flash that's caused this? IE: movie height and width, etc? Hope that made sense and that someone can help.

Making .gifs Static Through A Movie?
I reworded the subject, and wanted to bump the thread anyway.

I'm trying to put a 800x200 size psp thing that i did into a flash movie and put small anims over it. However, when I try to resize the movie/stage whatever I'm trying to do, it just doesn't stay that way. I'm a little lost. How can I make a .gif static through the whole movie, and keep the movie the same pixel w/h as the psp file?

Making Animated .gifs (for Banners)
i'm making these banners for a band and i'm having trouble keeping the quality of the pictures the same as the original pictures...

here's what i'm doing:
In photoshop i make the different scenes then save them as high-quality .jpegs

then once finished with them there, i import the jpegs that i want sequenced in the library in flash mx and once i add them into the timeline and import it as an animated .gif

once i do that it looks grainy and the color is weird. any suggestions or better ways to do this? thanks in advance

Flash/PHP/XML Mess
So I'm new here, and have found tons of useful info thus far, but I'm having a few issues getting something to work. Basically, I'm trying to make an app where the user can drag and drop thumbnails onto a 'timeline' to arrange them, then press a button that creates XML associated with the different values for the thumbnails in order for another .swf to read and populate from. I'm having trouble getting a variable (XML string) to pass from flash to php. regular variables that are simple string (not formatted XML) pass fine. Here's my code thus far; any suggestions? Sorry for the excessive comments, it helps me to keep track of what I've tried and what has not worked.

[php]<?php

$string = $_POST['string'];
$name = $_POST['fName']." ".$_POST['lName'];

function dom_to_simple_array($domnode, &$array) {
$array_ptr = &$array;
$domnode = $domnode->firstChild;
while (!is_null($domnode)) {
if (! (trim($domnode->nodeValue) == "") ) {
switch ($domnode->nodeType) {
case XML_TEXT_NODE: {
$array_ptr['cdata'] = $domnode->nodeValue;
break;
}
case XML_ELEMENT_NODE: {
$array_ptr = &$array[$domnode->nodeName][];
if ($domnode->hasAttributes() ) {
$attributes = $domnode->attributes;
if (!is_array ($attributes)) {
break;
}
foreach ($attributes as $index => $domobj) {
$array_ptr[$index] = $array_ptr[$domobj->name] = $domobj->value;
}
}
break;
}
}
if ( $domnode->hasChildNodes() ) {
dom_to_simple_array($domnode, $array_ptr);
}
}
$domnode = $domnode->nextSibling;
}
}

# now, let's make a sample string containing some XML
$strXMLData = "<contacts>
<contact>
<name>John Doe</name>
<phone>123-456-7890</phone>
</contact>
<contact>
<name>Mary Smiley</name>
<phone>567-890-1234</phone>
</contact>
</contacts>";

# create a DOM tree xml object (hierarchical array) from
# this XML string
$domdoc = new DOMDocument;

//$domdoc->loadXML($string);

$domdoc->loadXML($string);

# now simplify the DOM array into a very simple array structure

# first, create an empty array to be filled with your
# simplified array result..
$aData = array();

# now, pass the dom document and your empty array to the
# converter function.
dom_to_simple_array($domdoc, $aData);

# now $aData contains your simplified array, so print it out

print $name." ";
print "PHP VAR: ".$string;
?>

<html>
<body>
there are
<?
echo count($aData['presentation'][0]['section'].length);
?>
slides

the second slide's x value is <? echo $aData['presentation'][0]['section'].nodeValue; ?>

Here is the raw array structure:
<pre>
<? print ($aData); ?>
</pre>
</body>
</html>

Flash Mess-up Site
I made a flash menu with drop-down menus for html site , since I need a place for the drop-downs, the flash is transparent (wmode=transparent) but it covers the web page, so although not seen it prevent selection of text from pages and prevent the use of form (u can't select a text field to type in)
Is there any solution for the habit of flash being always on top

Seperate Swf Preload Mad Mess Flash Mx
seperate swf preload mad mess in flash mx

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hi all dont really know how forums work but ima give it a go because i cant figure this preloader out...
i have built a website and i load each section in with a different movie clip or seperate swf in to a container on the main time line.
now my problem is once
you click a section to load the movie clip in to the container it races past
the preloader an the hole screen goes blank
until all the content comes up on to the screen which takes quite a while i have change all the code from _root. to _parent. but it still doe sthe same thing
could anyone please try help me out

code on first frame of preloader:

loadpercent = "0%";
loadBytes = "0 of " + Math.round((_parent.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb";

code on 2nd frame of preloader:

loadPercent = (Math.floor (_parent.getBytesLoaded() / _parent.getBytesTotal() * 100) + "%");
loadBytes = (Math.round((_parent.getBytesLoaded() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb of " + Math.round((_parent.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb total Loaded.");

if (_parent.getBytesLoaded() == _parent.getBytesTotal()){
loadPercent = "100%";
loadBytes = (Math.round((_parent.getBytesLoaded() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb of " + Math.round((_parent.getBytesTotal() / 1024) * 1000) / 1000 + " Kb total Loaded.");

gotoAndPlay("Button"); loaded
}

.................................................. .................................................. .......
dont know if this will help just post it to save sum time

Preloader-skipingIntro-flash-complete MESS
Hi there.. thanks for checking my problem put..

ok. so i have to do flash intro stupid and ugly as can be.. that finishes with a static scene.. that has some buttons leading to some html pages.. bla bla.. anyway.. this intro.. someone said should have a preloader[that's easy] but that's s.o. olso said it should have a button letting the good old USER skip it and jump directly to that final static flash scene i mentioned before..

I've tried different stupid ways to do all this.. working and real.. and i came finaly somewhere round here:

i have 2 swf-s each with 2 scenes
1. main.swf[scenes: preloader,grand_finali]
2. intro.swf[scenes: preloader,intro]

i start from main.swf loading the final static scene[grand_finali so that i can jumo to it if and when i want..after i load it i jumo to preloading the intro.. where that agly skip intro button.. appears.. what i have in that button?

on (release) {
_root.skipIntro = 1;
loadMovieNum ("main.swf", 0, "GET");
}

i've added that variable.. couse i thought it'd help me now i come from loading the intro so.. i can go directly to grand finali without loading it.. again.. and jjumping back to loading the intro from which i actualy came..

anyway i don't think i manage to make these variables work.. maybe i'm not sending them, recieving them or defining them as it's supposed to be done. or maybe all this is a big smelly bull ****t that i've created.. i'm not quite sure..
but i was thinking that YOU having survived reading this to the end.. might probably.. wanna give me a hand.. or help me in some way..

thank you in advance..

Didko.

P.S. after i'v talked to a friend 'bout all this he suggested that i should use.. movieclip object in which i should start loading my intro movie and stop loading it or sth,, when i want to.. skip it all.. anyway i kind'a tryed sth like that but things got even uglier.. actually..
so once again... if there's someone out there willing to give some advice, help or suggestion how.. to make this goddamned PRELOADER.. that'll be so great..
thanks for reading this to the real end.. respeq!

Does Flash Like Gifs
Okay i'm pretty new to flash but what I have picked up so far tells me I want to know more. If I wanted to include an animated gif within my movie would it have to be on an independent layer or do gifs and flash even like each other..i'm sure its a simple question, nevertheless one I need to understand. Thanks for any input you could provide.

No Gifs In Flash But What If I...
I know you can only use loadmovie fopr swf's and jpg's
but if I wanted to bring in animated .gif's could I create a web page with them on, then import that?

Gifs In Flash
hi,

how can i improve the quality of gifs imported to flash? they are all getting a bit rough around the edges and look really ugly. unmarking 'allow smoothing' does not help.....

any suggestions?

thanks

Transparent .gifs In Flash 5
I have imported several 'transparent' gifs into a Flash movie, but when I play the movie, you can clearly see the areas that i've made transparent in PhotoShop. Is there a special function I should be using to save these for use in Flash? I know PS gives many options (i.e. adaptive, perceptual, selective, etc. and then the 'dither' or 'no dither' options).

Thanks,

Mark

Animated Gifs In Flash?
can you have animated gifs in flash files?
dumb question I know, but hey : )

Distorted Gifs In Flash
hi,
please can anyone help me... I'm stumped!

I know that Flash isn't always a big fan of imported gifs, but does anyone know any tricks for stopping a gif getting pixelated? The image I imported had been 'saved for web' in Photoshop, but I didn't compress it much, and I've tried it with the uncompressed image as well but it still looks rubbish! The image is 100% in the movie so that's not what's distorting it.
Any ideas?
thanks

Flash And Transparent Gifs...
I'm trying to make an animated gif with MX and can't seem to make the background transparent. Can MX do this or am I wasting my time?

Thanks

Gifs In Flash - Anyone Notice This?
i was working on a side project last night when i noticed a peculiarity in flash. when importing gifs into flash i noticed that flash blurs gifs or something, it doesn't look indexed anymore.
i took up-close screen shots of:

the original gif w/ transparency

the gif as displayed in flash

and the gif as exported from flash

as you can see in the final export from flash, the background color changes slightly leaving a box around the character (you might recognize the little fella from some obscure game ) can anyone tell me why this happens, or even better, is there a fix?

Flash / Animated Gifs
Hi all,
I am currently redesigning a website for someone, but they are not too keen on the use of Flash. This includes external company banners, as well as nav etc on their own site.

Except for the nav side of things, is there anyway that a Flash banner can be automatically replaced by an animated gif, if the user does not have the Flash player.

I am looking for a way that this can be done without A) The user being redirected to a pure HTML version of the site, as it is not a full Flash site to begin with , and B) without the user getting prompted to download Flash Player.

Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated . . . . .

cheers

Animated Gifs Into Flash?
Hey all,
I was wondering if we can load animated gifs dynamically using the .loadMovie or anyother method?

Replies Appreciated

Thanks
Regards,
Vasanth

Animated Gifs In Flash MX Question....
Hello. I need to know how to use an entire animated gif as if it were a symbol, in order to make it move around without ending up using only the first frame of the gif. I've been trying to figure it out several times, but I can't seem to get it. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Rendering Gifs From Flash Movies?
in mx, is it possible to allow the visitor to render a particular scene in a flash movie to gif (or some image format) which the user can then either post on the site or download or send via email?

for example a flash movie that allows visitors to draw over an image or add text or something to that extent. when the visitor is modifying the original object, that visitor can then render his/her creation as their own.

i got the manipulation part down but i cant figure out how i would go about rendering it to a useable file.

thanks.

yjk

Problems With Gifs On My Flash Page...
OK, I just started using Flash5, and wanted to be able to use Graphics with transparent backgrounds. So I created alot of Gifs with their backgrounds Tranparent. I put the Gifs in my timelines, with music etc... If I hit Rewind then play the movie plays perfect. But when I preview publish in flash, or publish a .swf, my gifs do not show up. They all imported fine, and show up fine, and play right on my working file? Is there something I am missing?
Side Note, I am using a very old 2D program to create the gifs... Any help would be greatly Appreciated.

The Real NDNChief........

Moving Animated Gifs In Flash
Hello everyone,

I'm having trouble with an imported animated gif. As long as it stays in one place, the animation plays just fine, but if I move its location and size via a motion tween, the movement and resizing works fine but the gif animation freezes. Any suggestions on how I can keep the gif's animation going while it's being moved and resized? I'm using MX 2004. Thanks in advance for any help!

Animated Gifs In Flash Mx 2004
Although I do most animations in Flash, I have a few animated gifs that I would like to import into a flash file from time to time. I have had no luck inserting them according to the few directions I can find. Any tips?

Flash Created Gifs Not Working Right
that about covers it. the main problem im having is the text goes NUTS. I have no idea why its doing this. Im using flash 8 pro and i tried it with standard text, a text symbol, symbol with a glow effect. Nothing seems to work. I messed with every combonation i could think of in the publish settings and nothing its all the same. My background does fine and it has motion tweens and fades on them and they even fade into each other. But the text is completly broken on top of it.

I included a sample gif and the corresponding fla. Its supposed to say "Is your business". Just a quick something to show the problem.

What I dont understand is i just made a 3d log cabin in swift and it works fine as a gif and its small. Anything with text messes up.

HELP ME before i KILL SOMEONE.

[F8] Can I Add Animated .Gifs To My Flash Movie
hi i am creating a flash site is it possiable to add some animated .Gifs i have to my site so that the pictures on it change/fade in and out ect

or is there another way it can be done within flash

thanks for any help you can give

Lee Walker

How Do You Add Annimated Gifs To A Flash Site.
I want to post banners of other bands on my website, but I dont know how to get the gifs to animate. I have tried to import them, but it only gives me a still picture. Thanks for the help.

Load Animated Gifs Into Flash ?
I was wondering if we can load animated gifs dynamically using the .loadMovie or anyother method?

Thanks

Gifs Dont Display Properly In Flash
Ive been messing around in flash with some pixel art (GIF) and noticed the SWF had the images misplaced.

Here is how it looked like in Flash MX.

but when I published it was like this.

Here is the .swf file so you can see whats wrong.
http://www.julestm.net/1/dudemaker.html

Importing Animated GIFs In Flash MX 2004?
Ok, it's late and I'm confused. I have what others may see as an easy or brilliantly challenged question:

What doesn't my imported GIF animation animate after it goes into Flash? Obviously, I'm missing something and I can't see it.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Help Needed. Importing Gifs Into Flash. Re:positioning
Hi,

Can someone please tell me, when you import a .gif into flash 5, and it imports as multiple frames, making an animation; How do you make the .gif import into the position on the page that you want.

I'm importing a gif and want it to appear in a certain place on the page, but it wont. And all I can do is move each frame individually into the correct position, which can take a very long time for large framed gifs!

Please help me!

thanks!

Flash Buttons, Gifs & Logos In An HTML Webpage
Hi, I'm new to the community and would like some advice on how I can make my buttons, gifs and logos in flash and use them in my html coded webpage as part of my webpage. I saw a cool site http://www.totallyradio.com implementing this technique and would like to do the same, however I do not know how to go about this? Is there a conversion process I have to perform on my flash buttons, gifs & logos before I implement them into my website? Any help is appreciated : )

Dynamic Saving/export Of Gifs From Flash Movie
Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on how this might be done, I can't seem to get my mind around it.

I want to build a face generator that will allow users to create a face and then save it out of flash to a gif file.

So, let's say that I understand how to make the face generator... Well, I can imagine, and think I can pull it off. It is just the saving of the file that I don't know how to do.

The gifs will be used as avatars for members of the site after they are created.

The site is on a coldfusionMX server and the version of flash is MX as well.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Flash Causing Animated Gifs To Stop Moving?
check out this page: http://www.twice-as-nice.co.uk/index.phtml

Now when viewed in firefox that animated gif at the top seems perfectly happy and keeps moving.

But when viewed in IE once the flash loads the gif stops moving.

anybody seen this happen before?

badly need a solution

Flash Movie Causing Animated Gifs In Same Page To Freeze
check out this page: http://www.twice-as-nice.co.uk/index.phtml

Now when viewed in firefox that animated gif at the top seems perfectly happy and keeps moving.

But when viewed in IE once the flash loads the gif stops moving.

anybody seen this happen before?

badly need a solution

Flash GetURL Call To Js, Freezes Animated .gifs On Html?
Anybody ever noticed (on IE specificly at least...), that a getURL call to a js function, within the html in which the movie is embedded, will freeze all animated .gifs on that html?

I've found (with help on the javascript forum) a workaround to re-start them up within the called function, but they re-start from their beginning rather than where they were at when the function was called, which is a bit annoying...

Would anyone have an explanation as to why the getURL call would cause this on animated .gifs?

Thanks for any thoughts or other workarounds!

Regards. Affiliate Program - Web Hosting - Web Design

Very Simple Flash-type Software To Create Animated Text Gifs
Hi

I was wondering whether anyone could recommend a Swish-type package that I can use to create simple animated text gifs. Let me explain more.

I want to send out animated text messages (which also include two static gifs) on emails to my customers to promote my Company.

I presumed that Swish would let me do that but you can't seem to export to gif so I wonder whether anyone here can recommend an alternative.

The package would need to be:-

1 - VERY easy
2 - Allow to export to gif
3 - Allow fancy animated text effects
4 - & also two static gifs either side of the text.

All suggestions welcome please.

Thanks

A

Sorry About The Mess.... :-)
It's early morning and I pressed the wrong button TWICE...

sorry people

Bit Of A Mess
I've been trying to modify some old actionscript I did a couple of years ago. I've attached the fla file and as you can see when you drag the slider tight across the page, when you let go of it, it jumps back into a position and I can't work out how to fix this. I think I need to move some actionscript around, because the movie clip of invisible sun underneath the star slider is not needed but the code on it is, and I can't work out where to move it to? Can someone help me please?

Thanks

Is It Just Me, Or Is This All Becoming A Mess?
Cryptic title eh, I'm begining to get my head around OOP and AS2.0, but on the latest project I'm working on i've ended up doing a combination of AS1.0 and AS2.0, but for time purposes.

And its led me to thinking, that the whole current development situation with Flash is a bit of mess. Simply because theres so many ways to do things. I know some might say its good because it allows people to approach projects in different ways but for me its just a pain, because I know there are "best" ways to do things, and then theres the other 100 ways to acheive the same result but are not as good, so why can't there just be a standard way to program Flash and then we all subscribe to that, its got to be better for development in Flash.

I wonder what others think?

AN XML MESS
Hello,

thanks to everyone for all the help. you guys have been a big help! I have another problem. I'm very new to this, and I'm trying to work with an .XML playlist. I actually need it to do a lot of things that I can't figure out how to do.. I'm sure there are tons of you out there who know exactly what to do..

http://www.kirupa.com/web/xml/examples/MP3playlist.htm

I'm tried this, and it works, only I can't load album artwork using this. I also want to add a few other data fields, I would like when you click on the song title to play the audio track, but also show the Artist name, the song title, the artist record label, a link to the artists website and a short section for comments from the artist about the song. Is it possible to do something like this, using this tutorial?

again, I'm so new that I can't figure this out.. I'd appreciate the help!

thanks

<song title="song" artist="artist" src="mp3s/song.mp3" />

How would I add an image to this? I want to display album artwork in the audio player.

It's A Mess
Help,

I'm a newbie to Flash 5, in fact such a newbie that I have created
a new measurement for time. When they ask me how long a projects going to take, I say about 8 -10 packs of cigarettes.
Anyways, I'm building a address book in flash 5 and I'm having a
problem with the user being able to update the address book and save the update for future reference. I have bought 2 books in which have no refeence to this actionscript. Seems like a simple
task,however I have spent hours on the net trying to find some reference to this but have come up empty handed. I fhave anyone can help you'd be saving me a lung and prbably a hair transplant.

OlliebeGollie

The Sound Mess
Hello everyone!!!!!
I m messed up using the sound object!!!!!! Can any one here could help me get out this mess
I had made a movie , which contains a m.c with instance name “main” ,this movie clip further two another m.c with instance names “sonia” and “joshi” . The m.c “Sonia” contains two attached sounds namely “a” and “b” which had been attached using the code
a = new sound();
a.attachsound(1); {1 being the identifier}
a.start();
and a similar code had been attached with “b”.
Now I came into the clip “main” and created a function
Function stopmysound()
{
sonia.a.stop(1);
sonia.b.stop(2);
}
now on press of a button created in the same clip i.e “main” I called the function stopmysound(); and then send the control to some other clip with other sounds.

Here starts the problem … I was expecting which ever sound “a” or “b” is playing currently should stop playing as soon as the button is pressed , but what happens is the sound which soever was playing stops only after playing its full length and does not stops at the instance when the function is evoked . One more thing that cofused me was that if the button is pressed when sound “a” is playing ,the sound stops after playing the sound”a”completely but it does not starts on with the sound “b”.This action made me feel that the function is working, which I thought was not working when the sound did not stop on the press of button.
What is the mistake im making????????
I m not getting it out .
Please help me out asap

Problem Making Gifs In Flash 8 They Are A Mess

hi i used to make gifs in flash but now in 8 they seem to often get messy with big black blobs is this due to twieening or text or whathas anyone experienced this any ideas how to avoid thisfaithfaithcopeland@yahoo.com