Trying to fade smoothly from one bitmap to another

[jclements]

Anyway to accomplish this?

1st file uses PNGs with alpha.


2nd file uses PNGs without alpha and with flat transparencies.

[Soquili]

Hi John,

I only had time to look at one of your files.

For a smooth fade from one to the other I put a copy of each bitmap on two frames. Frame 1 has the bitmap with the roof with no transparency and the other bitmap fully transparent. Frame two has reverses the transparency. Bitmap with roof is 100% transparent and the one without roof is not transparent. Both frames set to display for 5 seconds so the transition is slow and smooth. Frame 3 has the same settings as Frame1 but displays for 0 seconds, this allow the transition from Frame 2 back to Frame1 without a sudden jump from Frame 2 back to Frame1.

[jclements]

ohhhhhh, Mr. Billllll:

:-}

You may have just saved the day.

Thanks alot.

Regards, John

[jclements]

Bill, I copied your .SWF and .XAR files to my desktop.

I double-click on the your .SWF and it runs beautifully.

I open your .XAR. I change the timing of frames 1 and 2 to analyse how it affects the animation and save those changes to another .SWF. When I double-click on MY .SWF, it now bleeps me if I want to block the execution of the .SWF. Also, when in PowerPoint, PowerPoint warns that it has a macro embedded when the .PPT is first opened.

What didn't I do properly when saving? I looked for a checkbox option in the Frame Gallery, but did not see any.

J

[Soquili]

John, I also get a warning asking for permission to run .swf files from my local hard drive. It is a browser security setting that I haven't taken the time to research. I get it in IE 7.0 and FireFox 2.0 browser. I don't recall getting the message from FireFox until there was a security advisory about Flash Player 8.0.

I haven't used PowerPoint, but I suspect it is also a security setting causing the warning.

[jclements]

But what puzzles me is that your .SWF did not give the warning and mine did. Do you think the process of posting it to this forum's server changed anything?

I am going to embed yours in my PowerPoint file and see if it warns me about a macro.

*********************************

By the way, here is the procedure for playing a flash file in PowerPoint

"THIS TEXT FROM: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/po...CL100626991033
If you have an animated graphic that was created with Macromedia Flash® and saved as a Shockwave® file (.swf file extension), you should be able to play it in a PowerPoint presentation using a specific ActiveX control and the Macromedia Flash Player. To run the Flash file, you add an ActiveX control to the PowerPoint slide and create a link from it to the Flash file. You also have the option of embedding the file in the presentation.
Important
The ActiveX control, called Shockwave Flash Object, must be "registered" on your computer for you to play the Flash file within PowerPoint. If it is registered, it will appear in the list of controls opened from the Control Toolbox (detailed in the steps below). If it is not registered, download the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player from the Macromedia Web site; this will register the control on your computer.
Older versions of the Shockwave Flash Object may be registered on your computer. To guarantee that complex animations run properly, we recommend that you install the latest version of the Macromedia Flash Player.
To play a Flash file in your presentation, follow these steps:
Install the Macromedia Flash Player on your computer.

In normal view in PowerPoint, display the slide on which you want to play the animation.

On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Control Toolbox.

In the Control Toolbox, click More Controls (the button with the hammer and wrench icon).

In the list, scroll down and click Shockwave Flash Object, then drag on the slide to draw the control. You can resize the control at any point by dragging the sizing handles if you need to adjust it to the size of the animation.
Right-click the Shockwave Flash Object, and then click Properties.
On the Alphabetic tab, click the Movie property.
In the value column (the blank cell next to Movie), type the full drive path including the file name (for example, C\:My Documents\MyFile.swf) or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) to the Flash file that you want to play.
To set specific options for how the animation plays, do the following, and when you're done, close the Properties dialog box:
Make sure the Playing property is set to True. This plays the file automatically when the slide is displayed. If the Flash file has a Start/Rewind control built into it, the Playing setting can be set to False.
If you don't want the animation to play repeatedly, in the Loop property, select False (click the cell to get a down arrow, click the arrow, and select False).
To embed the Flash file so you can pass this presentation on to others, in the EmbedMovie property, click True. (In order for the Flash file to run, however, the Shockwave Flash Object control must be registered on any computer that runs this presentation.)
To run the animation: With the slide displayed in normal view, click the Slide Show button in the lower left of the PowerPoint window (or press F5, or, on the Slide Show menu, click View Show).
To exit the slide show and return to normal view, press ESC. "

[jclements]

Bill:

When I look at your I download and the one I created their properties are different. I am running XP with IE6.0.2900.2180.

[Soquili]

John I've downloaded several .swf files from the forum and they all present the warning and asking permission to unblock. I'm not sure why you were able to run the one I post without the message.

Egg knows more about Flash than I do, he may know why they behave differently.

[jclements]

Thanks for you help anyway.

Kind of big, but here's the .SWF with all five floors fading in and out. Probably should have done this from the bottom up.

Those last couple of frames gave me the most problems ... its like, "get that hammer and pound me on the head".

If you see anyplace that it can be improved ....

Thanks again for your sample.

J

[amoore]

J, I see some fading and a lot of disappearing in your swf. Are some things supposed to just vanish?