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  1. #1
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    Default Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    When I put a SWF into Powerpoint as an Active X control, I can get the movie to play, but there is no transparent background.

    Does anyone have any experience/knowledge on how to get a transparent SWF created in Xara 3D to display properly?

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Acitive X instructions:

    FTHIS TEXT FROM: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/po...CL100626991033
    FIf 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.
    FImportant
    FThe 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.
    FOlder 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.
    FTo play a Flash file in your presentation, follow these steps:
    FInstall the Macromedia Flash Player on your computer.
    FIn normal view in PowerPoint, display the slide on which you want to play the animation.
    FOn the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Control Toolbox.
    FIn the ControlToolbox, click More Controls (the button with the hammer and wrench icon).
    FIn 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.
    FRight-click the Shockwave Flash Object, and then click Properties.
    FOn the Alphabetic tab, click the Movie property.
    FIn 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.
    FTo 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.)
    FTo 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).
    FTo exit the slide show and return to normal view, press ESC.
    Last edited by jclements; 06 February 2007 at 02:17 AM.
    IP

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    I've been using a lot of Flash in my PowerPoint stuff lately. I find that if you select your background, then use flat 100% transparency, then convert to Flash. This works pretty well, especially if the background is roughly similar to the one on which it will be going. (Transparent black on a white background sometimes looks like a wall that needs to be cleaned.)

    Of course this only works when you make your own Flash...LOL

    I have also tried using the same background for my animation that I am using for the PowerPoint slide, making it appear virtually seamless.

    My third option is to simply put a decorative frame around the animation. Sometimes, you need a particular background for the animtion to work with the theme, but you might not want this to cover the whole screen!
    ---
    Will
    IP

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    Will, 100% transparent background; that is one I have'nt thought of. I will give'r a try. Thanks.

    By the way in the PowerPoint Shockwave Control properties, there is a "background" field. I tried change the default digit have been able to alter the background display of the flash movie BUT I didn't find a value for transparency. Have you messed with this at all?
    IP

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    "Messed with it" is about right. I've found it to be easier to do it the other way around. The function in PowerPoint is OK for animations made by others, since you can't control the source.

    Since I use almost exclusively my own animations, it is easier to do up front.
    ---
    Will
    IP

  5. #5

    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    Sorry guys for not viewing this thread until now. To have swf objects play with a transparent background setup in PP you do in the same manner as with html coding. It's the attribute WMode that controls background transparency.

    In PP toolbox Shockwave Flash Object set WMode to Transparent. Leave the attribute Background empty.

    Hope it helps!

    Cheers, Anders
    IP

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    THANK YOU, ANDERS.

    I will give this a try.

    Sincerely, John
    IP

  7. #7

    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    I thought I was very late on this one and that you had got to it by now. Well, better late than never, as they say.

    Perhaps I ought to add a little bit more about the attributes and the control parameter values for you.

    Possible values for flash player ActiveX control parameters: Play (True, False); Loop (True, False); Quality (Best, High, AutoHigh, AutoLow, Low); BgColor (nnnnnn - the RGB color in hexadecimal form); Scale (ShowAll, NoBorder, ExactFit); Salign (l, t, r, b, tl, tr, bl, br); Base ( . or base directory or URL); Menu (True, False); WMode (Window, Opaque /=no WMode=default/, Transparent);

    The "Opaque" mode is set by default (=no WMode). In this mode, DHTML flyouts (like menu bars, ad banners, whatever) can be placed on top of the Flash element.

    The regular WMode "Window" does not support this and would place the Flash clip on top of the DHTML elements unasked. This mode might playback your Flash clip slightly faster.

    The "Transparent" mode requires Flash Player 6 or later (minimum "6,0,0,0" as version string by default). This will result in a slower playback, but it looks great as you can place your Flash elements virtually over every (D)HTML background. -- Since summer 2006, this is working for virtually any reasonably modern browser in Windows and MacOS (MSIE 5.5+, Mozilla 1+, of course all Firefox's, Opera 8+, as well as Safari). However I have not yet been able to get transparent mode work in any Linux browser (Mozilla, Firefox, Konqueror or Opera). I am not certain of which versions of PowerPoint that fully support the Transparent WMode.

    Ciao, Anders
    Last edited by Anders 205; 22 February 2007 at 09:38 PM.
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  8. #8

    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    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
    IP

  9. #9

    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    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
    Last edited by Anders 205; 23 February 2007 at 08:29 AM.
    IP

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Flash Movies with a Trasparent Background that work in PowerPoint?

    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
    IP

 

 

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