Flash animation query

rmg1

Hi guys

I've done a bit of animation in Flash for a friend but it goes a bit jerky in places.
I've noticed that the FPS setting changes on some frames.
It's set to 25 for the document, but drops to 15 in places.
Anyone know a way around this?

Any help greatfully accepted, but be warned, I'm a Flash newby so expect some dumb responses.

rmg1

Anyone?
Please?

nickmack

rmg1 wrote: »

I've done a bit of animation in Flash for a friend but it goes a bit jerky in places.
I've noticed that the FPS setting changes on some frames.
It's set to 25 for the document, but drops to 15 in places.
Anyone know a way around this?

Is it jerky in playback on your PC also? (Not within flash, but in the external player) If the size is quite big, your friends PC may not be fast enough to cope.

rmg1

If I do a test run in Flash it's jerky on my PC.
If I export it as an AVI file, it's just as bad, even if I put on the Smooth Video option.
I've even tried not compressing it when I export it, but it's just as bad.
Watching the frame rate when running the test in Flas, most of it runs at 25FPS, but in places it drops to 15FPS for no apparent reason.

I've set the overall frame rate to 25FPS for the entire docucment, but that doesn't seem to help.
I've got a 2.4Ghz AMD processor with 768MB RAM if that helps.

nickmack

rmg1 wrote: »

I've even tried not compressing it when I export it, but it's just as bad.

What resolution is the animation?

rmg1

It's only small - it's on 320 x 400 (I think), and it's not really designed to fill the screen, but it does.

nickmack

rmg1 wrote: »

It's only small - it's on 320 x 400 (I think), and it's not really designed to fill the screen, but it does.

If you're running it maximised it probably will drop frames, if you run it at the designed resolution it should not.

GarethM_2

To make videos less jumpy:

1. Make sure that any images you imported are actually reduced to the size you are going to use in the Flash movie in another graphics editing program BEFORE you import. Otherwise you end up with a really large image, and all the overhead of processing that large image, made small.

2. Try to run the same video on different computers with different types of processors and setups. Often jumpiness is just because of lack of processing power of a particular PC.

3. Avoid using changing alpha (transparency) as a part of your animation as this is one of the most processor intensive animations on graphics images and is not always necessary.

Thos are just some quick ones to try and help. If your still having problems let us know.

rmg1

I haven't imported any images.
All I've done is to create some text on a black background that appears to spin towards you.
When the image is inverted, it's as smooth as you like and runs at a nice 25FPS, it's only when it's the right way up does it go jerky. It's also here when the FPS rate drops.

I've just realised I've got several text boxes converted to a symbol to make up the image. Would it help just to have one large text box containing all the text I need?

I won't be using any other graphics on this, just some pink (don't ask) text.

GarethM_2

rmg1 wrote: »

I've just realised I've got several text boxes converted to a symbol to make up the image. Would it help just to have one large text box containing all the text I need?

Yes. The less you have for the Flash to do the less processing it needs to do and the less likely it is going to be jumpy but it sounds like you don't have that much going on anyways. Try looking at your timeline and deleting frames and even layers that you do not actually have. For example if something goes invisible at one point you might as well delete those frames as they are not required.

Also, try using the Publish command to Publish your flash as a Projector (.exe) format. This is often far more less intense on the processor and has the benefit that people don't need extra software installed on their PC's to see your Flash.

rmg1

I only have the one layer (as far as I can see) and nothing goes invisible.

This is the basic scenario:-

1. The frame starts off about 2 inches (about 5 cms for people who work in new money) square
2. The frame gets smaller again down to a thin line.
3. It flips over (done manually as a new peice of animation to follow on) and gets bigger again the other way up (i.e. from the right way up to upside down or vice versa).
4. repeat steps 2 and 3 until the frame fills the screen the right way up.

So, as you said, nothing complicated, but I'll try it with one text box only with all the text in it and see what happens.

BTW, I'm exporting it as an AVI as it will be used as part of a DVD I'm creating for my neices wedding.