Check out this new post on this topic! (8/31/06)

So back in March I created a blog posting about using FLV video at the slide level and have been getting a lot of positive feedback on the topic and I am beginning to see more and more people incorporate video into their Articulate presentations (Flash Video in a Slide).

Well the example is great and all, but the it doesn't help anyone who does not have access to the Flash authoring environment. So I have been trying to think of ways to allow users to take advantage of using FLV video at the slide level without having to go purchase Flash, or learn the Flash authoring environment, because after all, who really wants to, or has time to learn Flash, right?

Well here is what I have done. I have created a SWF that can be inserted into Articulate Presenter that will read in an XML file that will tell the SWF which FLV to play, and where to position the FLV on the slide. This is great because it allows anyone to take advantage of using Flash video at the slide level without having to use, or know Flash.

Quick Instructions for use (the zip file contains more detailed instructions via a readme.txt):

1. Download and unzip the zip file from:
   http://www.mozealous.com/downloads/dwmslidevideo.zip (830 kb)
2. Insert the slidevideo.swf in Articulate using Articulate>Insert Flash Movie menu item
3. Set the Flash Movie to 'Play Flash movie after slide has begun' when prompted
4. Publish your project
5. Navigate to the directory you published to
6. Copy the flv.xml file contained in the zip file downloaded in step 1 into the output directory
7. Open the flv.xml file in notepad
8. Change the video.flv file to the name of your FLV
9. Change the x-location tag to the location that you would like your FLV to appear on the x-axis
10. Change the y-location tag to the location that you would like your FLV to appear on the y-axis (note: upper left hand corner is x-location=0 y-location=0)
11. Copy your FLV into the player folder
12. Launch the player.html file

Your presentation should now launch and your FLV will play in the slide, and you didn't even need to touch flash to do so!

Limitations

Although this example works well, there are some things that currently just don't work in this example. Below is a partial list of known issues/limitations.

• Articulate Player playack controls don't control FLV
• Only works in Flash Player 7 or later
• Slide must be set 'Play Flash movie after slide has begun'
• Doesn't support On2 VP 6 codec since that is only supported in Flash Player 8

Additional Questions?

If you have any addtional question on this example please feel free to either leave a comment on the blog, or email me via the email address provided in the zip file. But please read all instructions carefully.

Hope this helps everyone out!

Labels: FLV, Presenter

Someone asked me today what the Optimal Dimensions were for an FLV video used in the presenter panel of Articulate Presenter. I thought I would post it here, in case anyone else wanted to know. Technically, there isn't really an optimal dimension for an FLV video since Articulate Presenter will scale anything that is too large to fit in the presenter panel...but if you wanted to know at which size it would start to scale, that size is 233 pixels wide. So anything that is larger than 233 pixels wide will be scaled down to 233 pixels, and the aspect ratio will be maintained.

Labels: FLV, Presenter