Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

[Anders 205]

I fail to get wmode transparency to process in PowerPoint. I think that a Flash movie's transparency is done in the HTML that embeds it in the page rather than the SWF itself, so you may struggle to take it into PowerPoint.

I'd like to check it out how (and if!!!) the Flash Ready Power Plugs have made it. There's a hefty price tag on those Power Plugs but I'll try to, one way or the other, sneek in under their hoods to find out. This Flash transparency wmode option in PowerPoint (available in parameter properties, but not working) is intriguing me now! Read about those PowerPlugs at PowerPlugs for PowerPoint.

Anders

[Anders 205]

Hiya guys! I have put up the question to Microsoft MVPs about the non functional transparency mode for SWG objects in PowerPoint. I have a couple of minutes ago received a response from MVP Shyam Pillai, saying, "The transparency mode is not supported in PowerPoint."

On my question if it wouldn't be appropriate that PowerPoint developers removed the WMode "Transparent" parameter option in SchockwaveFlash properties > Custom > Property Pages > Window Mode for the reason that the presence of this option creates nothing but confusion for PowerPoint document producers, the answer is that the transparency mode option is to be removed in PowerPoint upgrades. (My personal view: why not instead supporting it in upgrades?). In HTML the SWG object transparency mode works intentionally.

Please pardon me, guys, for earlier have been giving awry advice on the subject.

Cheers, Anders

[jclements]

Anders,

Thanks for all the background investigation. I should have thought Shyam.

I met him a few years back at a PowerPoint Live conference. He is one smart individual. I use his Animation Carbon plugin for PowerPoint.

Regards, John

[Anders 205]

Nothing at all, John! I feel it to be an obligation to dig into the subject when my suggestion was failing to comply, mislead by the transparency window mode parameter option present and readily available for SWF objects in PowerPoint. Imagine all flashers' (oops!) confusion in their PowerPoint deployments, well aware that *.png alpha channel and *.gif transparenices being flawlessly supported. I am not prepared to give it up, quite yet. I intend to try with scripted HTML off-line solutions, alternatively with iframe coding.

I have not had the priviledge to, so far, personally meet with Shyam Pillai, the MS MVP with renowned expertise in PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and more, applications. You are familiar with his plug-ins, actually called add-ins in the PowerPoint environment, but perhaps other PowerPoint fans would like to make themselves acquainted with them at PowerPoint add-ins. His Flashback Rewind add-in is a must-have!

Thank you for bringing up the subject, John. Have a good day!

Cheers, Anders

[Anders 205]

Transparent SWF objects in PowerPoint!

Hi John, and you other Flash cats! I have experimented a bit with having transparent SWF objects in PowerPoint. I have put a little something together for simple demo purpose.

This PowerPoint Show demo, attached, is rendering a HTML embedded SWF object with transparent background. The SWF object contains exclusively vector text shapes without background and is rendered on top of a bitmapped image.

The HTML can be placed locally for off-line presentations or server-side located for on-line presentations. In the demo the HTML is ftp'd to the server to avoid attaching all containing files in this thread. You can open the source to see the coding (it's IE6 optimized) by right-clicking the HTML file (outside the SWF object) and select "View Source".

I will intend to streamline the coding/scripting for exclusive PowerPoint usage. The result is anyhow that, for sure, transparent SWF objetcs can play in PowerPoint Show off-line and on-line! With a HTML workaround.

Have fun! Cheers, Anders
(Uh-oh! The .pps file will not attach in this thread!)
I will try to url it here:
SWFTransparencyHTMLRemote.pps
It's available. Right-click and select "Save Target As..." to your HD and play the .pps in your PowerPoint Viewer.

[Xhris]

Transparent SWF objects in PowerPoint!

Hi John, and you other Flash cats! I have experimented a bit with having transparent SWF objects in PowerPoint. I have put a little something together for simple demo purpose.

This PowerPoint Show demo, attached, is rendering a HTML embedded SWF object with transparent background. The SWF object contains exclusively vector text shapes without background and is rendered on top of a bitmapped image.

The HTML can be placed locally for off-line presentations or server-side located for on-line presentations. In the demo the HTML is ftp'd to the server to avoid attaching all containing files in this thread. You can open the source to see the coding (it's IE6 optimized) by right-clicking the HTML file (outside the SWF object) and select "View Source".

I will intend to streamline the coding/scripting for exclusive PowerPoint usage. The result is anyhow that, for sure, transparent SWF objetcs can play in PowerPoint Show off-line and on-line! With a HTML workaround.

Have fun! Cheers, Anders
(Uh-oh! The .pps file will not attach in this thread!)
I will try to url it here:
SWFTransparencyHTMLRemote.pps
It's available. Right-click and select "Save Target As..." to your HD and play the .pps in your PowerPoint Viewer.

Unfortunately, the pps file shows nothing of value on the second page (just a white background with orange horizontal stripes across the top and bottom). Please could you be more specific (e.g. provide a step-by-step recipe) for allowing the html transparent swf workaround?

[Anders 205]

Please excuse me, Xhris, for not being able to respond to your queries earlier. To proceed I need to ask you a couple of questions about your resources available.

1. Which is your standard browser? (The demo html setup is optimized for IE6+.)
2. Is "Allow ActiveX content to run on this computer" enabled in your Advanced IE settings?
3. Is "Run ActiveX controls and plugin programs" enabled in your IE Security settings?
4. Is "Run scripts on ActiveX controls" enabled in your IE Security settings?
5. Is "Allow windows to display by script without restrictions" in your IE Security settings?

Anders

[lintbox]

Nothing at all, John! I feel it to be an obligation to dig into the subject when my suggestion was failing to comply, mislead by the transparency window mode parameter option present and readily available for SWF objects in PowerPoint. Imagine all flashers' (oops!) confusion in their PowerPoint deployments, well aware that *.png alpha channel and *.gif transparenices being flawlessly supported. I am not prepared to give it up, quite yet. I intend to try with scripted HTML off-line solutions, alternatively with iframe coding.

I have not had the priviledge to, so far, personally meet with Shyam Pillai, the MS MVP with renowned expertise in PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and more, applications. You are familiar with his plug-ins, actually called add-ins in the PowerPoint environment, but perhaps other PowerPoint fans would like to make themselves acquainted with them at PowerPoint add-ins. His Flashback Rewind add-in is a must-have!

Thank you for bringing up the subject, John. Have a good day!

Cheers, Anders

Hello Xhris -
Did you everstreamline the coding for exclusive PowerPoint for a transparent SWF objetcs to play in PowerPoint without the HTML workaround?

[Xhris]

I don't think anyone ever got true transparent swfs working in powerpoint; PP just doesn't support it. I make use of multi-level Flash animations if necessary to have one flash animation play over and independently of another (these are outlined in my Flash tutorial on my website (link in my signature)). Hopefully PP will allow transparent flash animations like html in the future.

[lintbox]

Thanks. I'll check it out.