Object2VR - Output - Flash

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Object2VR - Help

Contents 1 Outputting a Flash Movie 1.1 Flash Settings 1.2 Advanced Settings 1.3 HTML Settings

Outputting a Flash Movie

The following will explain how to output an interactive object movie in Adobe's Flash format. For a more complete tutorial, please see the Getting Started tutorial.

Flash Settings

1. In the Output section, choose Flash as the new output format by selecting it from the menu and then clicking Add. The Flash parameters window will appear.
2. Starting with the Image Settings, set the width of the image or select auto to use to the original width of the image.
   

   • Choose the JPEG quality from the Image Quality slider or dial it in.
     A quality setting of 90 is almost lossless, while a quality of 10 will very clearly show artifacts. See a comparison.
   • If your sequence contains empty images - or images that hold no photographic content - check this box to repeat the previous image.

3. Next, in the Display section, define the size of the window in which the movie will play.
   

   • Notice that when you enter in one value the other value will automatically update. This is because Keep aspect ratio is selected.
   • Set the Frame Rate of the movie.
     The default is set to 50 frames per second which should be OK for many projects. However, you may find this rate too fast for your object movie. For comparison, rotate this output with the buttons. It has 10 columns so it has 10 images to create the full circle. The movie was outputted to play at a frame rate of 50 and an auto rotation speed of 1.00.
     For comparison, rotate this movie which was made with 10fps and 1.00 rotation speed.
     Note: Some browsers may not be able to play back the full 50 frames per second. Lower this to 30 fps if this is an issue for you.
     Note: The total rotation speed also depends on the auto rotate speed. To find the right combination for your movie, you'll have to play a bit.
   • The next option, Scaling, lets you choose how you want your movie to scale within the movie window. Choose With Window, for example, so the movie maintains its aspect ratio when the movie window's size changes. This example uses With Window.

4. If you want your movie to rotate automatically or Auto Play, set Mode to either Rotate or Ping-Pong.
   

   • Set the speed at which the movie will rotate.
     1.00 is the default. Finding the right speed is dependent on your column amount, frame rate and personal taste. However, most might agree that a movie with 10 columns, playing at 50 f/s and with a speed of 1.00 may be too fast. For a slower rotation a speed setting of 0.05 may be better. See for yourself.

5. To make the movie zoom-able, select Enable Zoom to turn on the Zoom parameters. Keep everything at their defaults or adjust the following:
   

   • Keep the Default zoom level at 1.00 (100%) or if you would like the movie to already be zoomed-in once it is opened, then set this to a higher percentage.
   • Choose the Maximum level of zoom.
     Don't forget to think about clarity when zooming in. If you want the user to zoom in with good quality at the maximum zoom level, be sure that, 1) your image width is larger than the window width, and 2) the quality of the image is high to begin with.
   • Adjust the center of the zoom.

6. Next, you can add a pre-loaded skin from the Skin menu in the Skin/Controller section, and then click Edit; or if you would like to build your skin from scratch, simply click Edit (making sure the skin menu is empty). This will open the Skin Editor.

   • Or choose, File to pick a saved skin.

7. Whether you have chosen a pre-loaded skin or are starting from scratch, start by saving the skin. Go to File > Save As. Give your new skin a name and save it in the skins folder.

   • Now you are ready to make changes to your skin.
     (This link takes you to our video tutorial page. Scroll down to find the Skin Editor tutorials. They were built using Pano2VR, but the same editing rules apply.)
   • When you are finished editing your skin, click, OK. Object2VR asks to save changes. Choose Save.

8. In the Output section, choose a Flash format: Flash 8 or Flash 9/10.

   • Choose Open, next to the Output File field, to make sure your movie file will be saved where you wish. You can also change the name of the output file here.
   • Keep in mind that it is best practice to keep all files in the same folder.

Advanced Settings

In this tab, you can set up how the movie will look while downloading, customize the hotspot text box, plus a few administrative options.

1. Starting with the Download/Preview section, define how the movie should look when it is downloading.
   

   • Choose from a few types of download versions. Gray scale is the default and shows your image as a black and white image.
   • Decide if your preview image's (during download) quality should be low or high.
   • Next, choose how clear the preview image should be. A resolution of 1:4 gives a blurry but somewhat recognizable preview image. If the resolution is set to 1:2, the image will be almost as clear as the original. A resolution of 1:8 will be very blurry.
   • See some examples here.

2. Customize the Hotspot Text Box. If you added hotspots without a skin, you can make some changes to the text boxes (or tool tips) of the hotspots.
   

   • Adjust the size of the text box or just select Auto to have the size automatically fit the text.
   • Change the text color. And choose to have the words wrap within the text box.
   • Don't forget to choose whether or not to have a background and border and then choose their colors if they are visible (visible when Visible is selected).
     Note: Click on the color squares to bring up the color picker.

3. In the next section, Control, choose to hide the About Object2VR menu item that appears in the right-click context menu in the flash movie.
   Note: This option is only available with a company license.
   

   • Select, Allow network access, for Local Security to give the Flash player permission to communicate to another website, but will deny access to the local disk.

4. Finally, make some administrative actions.
   

   • Choose to lock playback of the movie to only certain domains and/or add an expiration date to the panoramas.

We're almost done!

HTML Settings

Exporting an HTML page with the project is helpful in many ways; particularly for embedding your object movie on a website. You can later customize the template to your liking.

1. In the Flash Output window, go the HTML tab and enable the HTML file by selecting, Enable HTML file.
2. There is only one template to choose from here: normal.ggt.
3. In the Template Parameters, you can customize several things:

   • The first section allows you to change the text and background color of the page.
     
   • If you want to include the information you entered in the User Data section, select Include Userdata Table.
   • Next, you can change the Border, Text, and Background colors of the User Data Table if you wish.
   • Select Use DevalVR if you plan to use the DevalVR player.
     
   • In the next section, embed a sound file by choosing Open and pick your sound file and give it title in the Sound Title field.
     Note:MP3 files only!
     
   • The Advanced Options allow you to enable a JavaScript Interface, for all you JavaScript coders!

4. Next, in the Output section choose the format of the HTML page: either .html or .htm and then choose Open to save the HTML template.
   Tip: Save your HTML template in the same folder as your movie file.
5. Finally, click OK to output the movie. Object2VR will ask you if the output file should be created now. Click, Yes to output the movie, or No to return to the main project window and continue working.