Flash movie using LSVG

[dogthief]

First time on here so not sure how this works yet. Anyway, I promised Dmitry that I would show him how an LSVG fractal could be turned into a Flash movie when I had some free time so here goes...

http://www.geocities.com/dogthief_texas/

The file to click on is lsvg.html. It is 1.1 megs and there is no preloader so be patient while the file loads.

My GeoCities site is a free site so it may be down occasionally if the bandwidth is exceeded.

Richard

[dogthief]

First time on here so not sure how this works yet. Anyway, I promised Dmitry that I would show him how an LSVG fractal could be turned into a Flash movie when I had some free time so here goes...

http://www.geocities.com/dogthief_texas/

The file to click on is lsvg.html. It is 1.1 megs and there is no preloader so be patient while the file loads.

My GeoCities site is a free site so it may be down occasionally if the bandwidth is exceeded.

Richard

[amoore]

Oh my, what a trip! <g>

Is that a canned effect or did you script it?

[dogthief]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Allison Moore:
Oh my, what a trip! <g>

Is that a canned effect or did you script it?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes and no.

SwishMax contains numerous core or built-in effects some of which are very basic. However, the user can modify many of the parameters and also chain effects which is what I did.

SwishMax will also import the static .swf files that Xara creates which can then be animated.

Using Dmitry's LSVG program with SwishMax is a breeze because all you have to do is drag the fractal into the program. At that point, SwishMax will ask you if you want to group the fractal or import each of the elements. In this case, I chose to leave the elements ungrouped so that the applied effects would modify each of the elements rather than the whole. The end result is totally different when you group the elements.

Haven't had a chance to experiment yet but I'm fairly certain that LSVG will also work with XARA 3d5, allowing the user to create animated fractal screen savers.

Xara 3d5 will also import .wmf files. The program also contains a slew of core effects which can be infinitely modified by the user.

[dogthief]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JohnR:
Hello Richard,

It would have been a much much smaller swf without the soundtrack...

http://www.draginet.com/dragon.gif
_John/DOT_<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I could have also reduced the screen size, reduced the size of the animated graphic and rendered the music as monophonic using an AM quality setting but I'm primarily a musician which is why I didn't choose to create a "silent movie".

1.1 megs isn't bad for a flash file with CD quality stereo music. The typical 3 minute stereo mp3's I create are about 3.5 megs with a 128kbps setting. I can get produce smaller file sizes using the .wma format but SwishMax doesn't import .wma files and even if it did, the sound quality of .wma files isn't as good as .mp3 files.

[dogthief]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JohnR:
Hello Dogthief,

Your movie is good. Do not get me wrong. The point I was trying to make was, the swf without the soundtrack is probably 75% to 90% smaller.

Thus the soundtrack is the prime media of the site. The vector shapes do not change in time with the music even. it is as if they were an afterthought.

http://www.draginet.com/dragon.gif
_John/DOT_<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Good evening, John-

Thank you for your compliment on my movie. Yes, I fully agree with you that the swf sans music could have been significantly smaller but my goal was to create something that was visually and aurally entertaining rather than something that was optimized or synchronized.

I believe that there are few rules when it comes to the creation of music or art. I am what people used to term a non-conformist and while what I do typically defies convention and is not always correctly executed from a technical standpoint, it is always original work. Hey, my dog loves what I do which is all that really matters to me.

Richard

[Simon Beck]

Nice animation; cool organ sound! Do you by any chance need a bass player? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[dogthief]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Simon Beck:
Nice animation; cool organ sound! Do you by any chance need a bass player? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sure Simon. When can you come by? http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Yep, the organ is tres cool. I play keyboard but in this case, it's not me playing. In fact, I'm not playing any of the instruments on the track. It's all "smoke and mirrors". Did it by cutting and pasting sound loops in Acid Pro 4.0.

I'm not a big proponent of using prerecorded sound loops but try and get five guys together who work and have families. Acid Pro has its uses. You can quickly create original background music for multimedia use. You can also use it to rerender recordings at different bit rates, remix recordings, change file formats and output recordings to CD. It's my main musical software tool.

I just knocked out two music files this afternoon and uploaded them to GeoCities in case you are interested. One is Jerry Lee Lewis' original recording of Mathilda. The other is a remix I did. I added sax and some blues guitar riffs. Also increased the speed of the recording slightly and reequalized it to make it sound more contemporary. I think this particular version was probably recorded in the sixties.

If you post a .wav file somewhere of you playing bass accompaniment to the music in my flash file, I'll try my hand at remixing the music to incorporate your track. I can also work with.mp3, .wma, .aif, .ogg and .asf music files but .wav files are best even though they are much larger.

44,100Hz, 16 bit mono, 86 kB/s is a good recording setting to use in Windows Sound Recorder providing you can mike your bass and record without distortion. I doubt that you can do a line input to your sound card without getting a distorted signal even if you use a direct box but I could be wrong. I've got a Fender strat with a direct box to my Mackie analog mixer but I've never tried a line connection to my sound card.

In order to make this work though, you'll need to keep the sound level of my original track as low as you possibly can since I have no way of filtering it out. I'm game to try if you are.

Richard
http://www.geocities.com/dogthief_texas/dt_avatar.jpg