Slide level FLV without Flash 2.0
14 Comments Dave blogged on Wednesday, August 30, 2006 at 10:11 PM.
Hello again!
Sorry for the delay in posting...I have had a serious case of bloggers block and wasn't able to think of anything to blog about. Well, I was reading a post on the forums today and something someone posted gave me some ideas how I could improve upon the post I made a couple of months ago about adding Slide Level FLV in Articulate Presenter without the use of Flash (Want slide level FLV but don't have Flash). So I went ahead and made some changes to the files to add some additional functionality based on feedback I have recieved from the previous posting. The new version of these files I am posting allows you to do several things:
Sorry for the delay in posting...I have had a serious case of bloggers block and wasn't able to think of anything to blog about. Well, I was reading a post on the forums today and something someone posted gave me some ideas how I could improve upon the post I made a couple of months ago about adding Slide Level FLV in Articulate Presenter without the use of Flash (Want slide level FLV but don't have Flash). So I went ahead and made some changes to the files to add some additional functionality based on feedback I have recieved from the previous posting. The new version of these files I am posting allows you to do several things:
- Add an FLV video to a slide in Articulate Presenter without using or knowing Flash
- Allows the playback controller on the Articulate Presenter player to pause the FLV
- Allows the volume controller on the Articulate Presenter player to control the audio of the FLV
I was able to make these changes and by using the Articulate Presenter SDK. If you have not heard of the SDK, and want to find out more, check out the blog post on the Articulate Presenter SDK.
Instructions for use
- Download slidevideo20.zip
(35 KB) - Open up PowerPoint
- Select slide where you want the FLV video
- Select Articulate>Insert Flash Movie
- Select 'Display in slide'
- Click Next
- Select Browse
- Browse to and select 'slidevideo_wpause_sound.swf'
- Select Next
- Select 'Play Flash movie and slide in sync'
- Select 'Move to next slide when user clicks next'
- Click Next
- Click Finish
- Select Articulate>Publish and publish your presentation
- Navigate to the dirctory that you published to
- In the root level of your output foler (root level will also contain the player.html file) copy the flv.xml file contained in this zip
- Open up the FLV.xml in any text editor such as notepad
- Change the source file to match the name of your FLV file
- Change the x-location to the position you want the FLV to appear on the X axis. The upper left hand corner of the slide is considered to be an x-position of 0. The farthest right x-position is 720.
- Change the y-location to the position you want the FLV to appear on the y axis. The upper left hand corner is a y-position of 0. The farthest botttom y-position is 540.
- Save the file so the name matches the slide number name (i.e. if the video is on slide 1 it would be 1.xml)
- Copy your FLV into the 'player' folder in the output folder
- View the output
Your presentation should now launch and your FLV will play in the slide.
Limitations
- Only works in Flash Player 8 or later
- Slide must be set to 'Play Flash movie after slide has begun'
Additional Questions?
My email address is posted in the readme file in the download. Please let me know if you have any questions.
If you would like access to the source of the SWF that I have used I can send you the source as long as you are a member of the Articulate Platinum Membership plan. Sorry, can't send it out to everyone as it exposes a bit of the Articulate API.
Labels: FLV
AICC
Articulate Presenter SDK (2:03)
Articulate
I really like this!
I have a question for you on this too. Is it possible for you to create a player that can play multiple FLA movies on multiple slides.
ie. I'd like to have a movie on slide 3, 5 and 7
thanks
dave
Hello Dave,
Actually this should allow you to do that. You will just need to insert the SWF on whatever slide you want to include the FLV on. As long as you add a new XML file for each slide you should be ok. So in your example insert the swf on slides 3, 5, and 7, then you will need to create a 3.xml, 5.xml, and 7.xml for each one of those slides.
Cool, thanks can't wait to try this.
Thanks for the info and work on developing this!
dave
Hi Dave
Thanks for the post. It helps solve some of the problems we had.
I can control the volume but NOT pause or stop the Video. :-(
I do have select Play Flash movie after slide has begun, Start Flash Movie after 0 Second and bot enabled
allow Player... and Set this...
Also i find out, that articulate presenter (i have 5.05 installed) delete the folder. So if you put an "flv" file in it, it will be deleted when you republish the presentation.
Another Question, if you don't mind. Can this same technique work with articulate presenter pro 4?
I'm thinking that the folder stucture would be a little different though, right?
thanks!
Hey Phil,
You were right. Don't know what happend but I guess I zipped up the wrong SWF. I have uploaded a new zip file that corrects the issue, so it should now work as expected. Try downloading the files again and see if it works now.
Let me know if you have any problems.
P.S. Phil, I like your website. I especially like the thumbnail pic of the Aritculate Player. Cool way of making links to AP presentations look more engaging.
Hey Dave,
Actually not sure if it will work or not in AP 4. My thinking is that it might, but it has been so long since I used AP4 I can't tell you for sure either way. Try it out and let us know.
Hi Dave
Thanks.
It works know as expected.
P.S.
We are selling Articulate Products and Services in Switzerland. See our blog in German http://www.rapid-eLearning.ch
Dave,
This is great - it will come to great use as I don't have Flash, but have FLV videos I need to incorporate.
Following up on Phil's post a while back - is there a "fix" for not having to redo the xml files and recopy the FLV files into the Player folder each time you republish?
Thanks,
Leslie
Hello Leslie,
Unfortunately I don't have any fix for that. Whenever you publish from Articulate Presenter it will clear the output folder, so based on the current version of Articulate Presenter I can't do anything to change that functionality.
Sorry :-(
No big deal - I'm just glad I can use the files without Flash...
Another question - in your instructions, in step 10 you say to select "Play Flash movie and slide in sync", but then under Limitations, you put that the Slide must be set to "Play Flash movie after slide has begun". Which one is it?
WHen I choose to play it with the slide in sync, it plays but the seekbar goes for 5 seconds and then says to click next to continue (even though the movie is still playing. When I choose to Play the Flash movie after the slide has begun, the movie starts to play, but then stops when the seek bar gets to the end 5(5 seconds).
What am I doing wrong?
Hello Leslie,
Actually, I can't quite remember what I selected when I created this. I think either should work.
What you can do to correct the slide time problem is insert silent audio via the Timeline Audio Editor, and insert enough silence to make the slide time match that of the inserted movie.
When it is set to "play it with the slide in sync" does it not automatically advance after the movie is done?
Eight 5 minutes Videos...any design tips?
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Design Tips &/or Examples Appreciated
I am about to begin working on a WBT to deliver the 8 five minute videos using Articulate/Engage. The videos will be FLV files.
Any design tips or examples for good layouts, navigation etc.?
Requirements:
Users must view all videos to be consider "Complete"
User must be able to exit after 2 videos and return to complete the remaining videos therefore, perhaps bookmarking may be used
.
Any advice will be helpful!