Problem with a Flash animation

[shmokes]

I'm trying to make an e-learning type video with Flash that consists of a combination of video of me explaining stuff, and animation with voiceover.  I'm having a big problem, though, with the video and audio losing their sync when I embed them into the Flash animation.  Can anyone give me any suggestions?  It's really frustrating. 

[jbox]

Apologise to your wife about whatever it was you said and/or did that means she wont help you? 

[lcddream]

i haven't used flash in awhile...but i think it has something to do with how you have the sound defined as event or streaming.

preloading the content will surely help as well.
you might need to have the sound fully encompassed by frames also...not just in one keyframe.
i found this for ya an example fla with sound synched

http://www.flashkit.com/movies/Sound/Synched_-Matt_Ped-367/index.php

hope this helps

edit: re-reading your post i think i see what you mean.
you have a complete audio/video file that loses synch in the flash player.
you might want to separate the audio and video and line them up manually in flash by importing them individually....like i said it's been awhile.

also http://www.were-here.com/forum/ is a great flash resource, and friendly community.

[Dartful Dodger]

The audio should be on the main time line, and like lcddream said, set Properties > Sync > Stream.

What version of Flash are you using?

Make sure all the files being imported are the same frame rate as the fla.

If you can, The video should be converted to an flv.

[RayB]

OK here's the deal, if the audio is in the video, then convert it to FLV and all will be well when you stream it through the FLVPlayback component (which is a youtube style simple player that comes free with Flash Professional and maybe even Basic)

Option 2, if the video has sound and you feel you MUST embed it into the main Flash movie (perhaps you have no way to convert to FLV), do this:

1. Determine what the frame rate of the video file is. Typical rates are 30fps, or 15fps and sometimes other.

2. Set the Flash movie properties to the SAME FRAME RATE.

3. Now import your video file. The sound will stay in sync.

Option 3: If the video has no sound and you are adding it seperately, you must put the sound file into a keyframe in the timeline, and in the Properties panel you must set the sync option to "STREAM". Anything else will not keep it in sync.

[shmokes]

Thanks a lot guys.  I'm almost possitive the problem is solved thanks to you (thought we haven't tried it yet).  My wife made the animation 15 FPS, but I know that I captured the video at 29.97 FPS or something.  It sounds like that is definitely the problem. 

If possible I'd like to embed the video because when I started capturing myself I always let the camera run a couple of seconds before I got all animated and then when I was done talking I'd sit there looking at the camera for a few seconds before turning to the keyboard to stop the capture.  My wife covered up these things with fades in Flash, keeping me from having to pull the videos into an editing app and chopping off the ends (not that that'd be hard, but the fades look nice and I'd just as soon not have to mess with the videos at this point if I don't have to).

BTW, it's Flash 8.  FWIW, I'm pretty sure that my wife has access to a program called Squeeze, or something to that effect, at work that can convert to FLV.  Is there any reason for her to do that as opposed to letting Flash do all the encoding, etc., for her?

[Dartful Dodger]

We use Squeeze too.  It can crop and cut off the heads and tails of the video for you.  When working with Squeeze don't set the compressions to low. It drops the audio if you try to create something for a 56k modem.

If you're happy with the video file there should have been a Flash Encoder installed when you installed Flash 8:

C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash 8 Video Encoder\Flash 8 Video Encoder.exe

This program will create an flv in the same folder the video file was in, with the same name *.flv

Add... > select the movie file
Setting... > select your settings
Start Queue

There are more options and they are all self explanatory.


You can import the video right into Flash too.
We use to work this way it's a lot easier, but it's very bulky to work with, and you don't have as many options when it comes to importing or compressing it.  Once you get your head around the flv components you'll see it's the better way to work with video.

[RayB]

I use Squeeze as well, with linked external .FLV files. Though I have also worked with embedded FLVs converted to SWFs.