How can I load a swf in ActionScript 3 with a higher fps than the instance doing the loading with Loader?
Thanks!
I see this question quite a bit,
Unfortunately I have to tell you there is no way to play an externally loaded SWF at a different frame rate than the one doing the loading. There is only ever one stage instance (the one in the parent SWF). When you load another external SWF it is treated like any other MovieClip in the display list.
Tyler.
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I have a flex application which loads the swf files using SWFLoader and i have set the frame rate of the application 60.When i load a swf file it is playing vary fast,I think this is happening for the application frame rate.I want the frame rate of application to be 60 and the swf which i have loaded must be at lower frame rate. Is it possible?
No it's not possible, there can be only one framerate at all time for the whole app and any loaded swf will use that same framerate. You can change the framerate for playing those swf and restore the normal framerate when done or you can create a class that will play those swf in time based framerate.
I have a MovieClip in Flash with 100 frames. Each frame contains a certain icon I need to use in a project. I create instances of this icon MovieClip wherever I need an icon to appear, and gotoAndStop to a certain frame to display that icon.
Will storing a 100 icons in a single movieclip cause every single icon to be created in memory whenever I create an instance of the MovieClip? If I stored each icon in the library and attached only the icon that is needed, would that consume less memory than creating this MovieClip that has all the icons in it?
To answer your question: When you go to a frame with an icon on it, Flash will create a new instance of that icon. When you leave that frame, Flash will make that icon eligible for garbage collection, unless you force it to hold the instance in memory somehow, such as using addEvenListener where the method that is the listener is the icon or somewhere inside it.
I think the memory usage is likely to be higher for the goToAndStop vs. the new instance. If you are not experiencing problems with goToAndStop(), you are unlikely to experience additional issues by instantiating a new icon each time you switch from one icon to another. The other people who have answered are quite right that you will use fewer CPU cycles by instantiating all the icons only once (by whatever method), and then simply using the same one every time you use that icon. However, your overall memory footprint will be higher, because you will have all of the icons (even ones you are not currently using) in memory all the time.
If you want to go the route of only instantiating each on once, I'd suggest you go with Lazy Loading, where you only instantiate each icon when it is first used. One way to do this is to use what you already have and visit the frame the first time you want to use a specific icon, then store the BitmapData or a reference to the icon itself after that and reuse it. Another way is to build a swc and use a similar pattern.
None of this requires a static variable BTW, since it sounds like you're not using tons of different copies of your icon MC. Even if you are, it's probably better to handle referencing the icons you have through dependency injection.
I think you are probably asking about file size, however, vs. actual memory usage. The answer to that questions is that all assets that are used by your fla get compiled into the swf, regardless of whether they are in a MovieClip, a SWC, or in the library with Export for Actionscript in Frame N checked.
I get it, I've got boobs, I'm guessing
Try this, to verify my "guess."
Create a swf that has a keyframe on frame 1.
Draw a circle there.
Put another keyframe on frame 10. Draw a square.
In Publish Settings, check "Generate size report."
Now, you know (or you should know) that this swf can display the circle on frame 1, even if the assets compiled on frame 10 have not yet been downloaded. So, is there any possible way that the square could be loaded into memory before Frame 10 has been downloaded? Hint: the answer is no.
Now ask yourself this: Do you think Macromedia wrote a special version of MC that is incapable of lazy loading that the MC that is the main Document Class that Flash generated for the movie you made above so obviously handles so well?
The Macromedia engineers did a lot of things that in hindsight look pretty stupid, but they're not that incompetent.
If each icon that goes into the 100 frames MovieClip is an image you can easily enough export that image for actionscript and access only the image you need.
Another idea is to create a static class that stores each icon frame as a symbol in a static array(if you want to access the icon by index) or Dictionary(if you want to retrieve it by name).
e.g.
package{
import flash.display.Bitmap;
public class Icons{
public static const assets:Vector.<Bitmap> = Vector.<Bitmap>([new Icon01ASExportName(),//instance bitmaps once
new Icon02ASExportName(),//reuse them later multiple times
...
new Icon99ASExportName()]);
}
}
Yet another is to generate a SpriteSheet, either once and save it as a file, either at runtime, then copyPixels() to paste the icon from the right rectangle of the main spritesheet. You've got multiple tools available for generating the spritesheet:
Zoë
SWFSheet
Flash CS6
TexturePacker (if you have movieclips, you can export them as an image sequence to drop into the software)
There are also ways to generate a spritesheet at runtime.
For some nicely explained video tutorials on spritesheets and BitmapData by Lee Brimelow: Sprite Sheets and Blitting - Part 1,2 and 3.
If your icons are Bitmaps then each movieclip will share the same data - the only memory increase will be due to more movieclips, rather than their contents (which shouldnt be a problem).
If your icons are not Bitmaps (other movieclips, shapes, buttons etc), then everything gets duplicated, so memory usage will increase a lot faster as more movieclips are added.
Another consideration is that lots of movieclips on screen will have more of an effect on FPS than simpler objects so you may want to consider adding the icon itself rather than the movieclip even if you are using Bitmaps.
I need to create a single SWF with no external files, so I'm trying to add an internal preloader to my Flash project which has [embed] assets. I know [embed] causes problems with preloaders because it puts the assets on frame 1. I have tried the solutions recommended in these posts, where you set the document class to your preloader class:
Preloader for SWF with embed bytearray
How to create Preloader in AS3
I can get it to work, but ONLY if I comment out any lines of code that involve the stage, otherwise I get an "Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference." Those lines are essential though, so does anyone know how to fix those errors with the stage?
You haven't posted your code or your fla, so all I can do is share what works for me.
First, I wouldn't use Embed. Instead, use a swc. I have found that Embed can be unreliable as far as actually getting the entire asset in there (at least when publishing with Flash Builder + Flash Pro, which is my workflow).
Once you have your assets in a swc, try the following steps:
Set your export frame to Frame 10 (or any frame other than 1--I like frame 10 because then you can read the label that says "Preloader")
Put your actual content on frame 11. You can structure this a lot of ways. Since I program to Interfaces, I give whatever is on frame 11 an instance name and then use a setter to determine that my "first thing" has been placed on stage. I can get away with this because my main Document Class just knows the definition of the Interface, not the full implementation of the Class, so the Class does not need to load for the main Document Class to work. You probably aren't truly using the timeline and probably didn't program to interfaces, so you'll probably just set the base class of the symbol that's on frame 11 to the main logic of whatever you're trying to do.
Put your preloader graphics in Frame 1. I'm not sure why your stage references are so important. I, personally, don't use any logic in the preloader. Instead, I use a spinner that spans frames 1-10 (plus the word "Loading...". The spinner just spins while the classes load. The embed frame acts as a temporary "stop" that just holds the timeline back until those classes have been loaded. Once the classes have been loaded, the timeline will act like you called play() on it. So it really can be that simple. If you need it to be more complicated, give one of your preloader graphics an instance name and set up a getter/setter pair for it, then use the setter to trigger your logic that accesses the stage. You are pretty much guaranteed to have a valid stage at that point.
Word of warning: if you did make use of the timelime, you will get strange results if you try to jump to a frame that isn't loaded yet, so make sure to check to see if a given frame is loaded if it's near the end of your main timeline and your main timeline is heavy with assets before calling goToAndPlay() or goToAndStop().
Some references that might help you further:
Preloaders vs as 3 (I'd recommend you read the entire series this is part of. This is an amazing series I wish I'd found 3 years ago)
Solving the Frame 2 Problem Presentation and code
Combining the Timeline with OOP The example code for that is here (long story)
I have a lot of graphics and sounds in my library that are exported for Actionscript in Frame 1. I believe that because of the exported graphics, my preloader will not work. All I get is a white frame while the movie loads.
How can you preload graphics that are exported for Actionscript?
When you export for Actionscript in Frame 1, everything that is exported must be loaded before any content is visible. I usually uncheck this button, and then everything is exported to the first frame where it's referenced. For more details on this approach, check out http://www.developria.com/2010/04/combining-the-timeline-with-oo.html . Howwever, if you're like most developers, you probably reference everything from your main document Class, so this may not do you much good. It does offer the possibility that you can avoid a preloader altogether, though, because loading is spread across different frames.
If your movie is structured like normal, check out http://www.8bitrocket.com/2008/4/22/Tutorial-Preloading-Actionscript-3-AS3-Games-in-Flash-CS3/ .
It is not applicable on every case, but maybe you can preloader in separate file, which loads your main swf.
You can see detailed how to in this tutorial: http://www.gotoandlearn.com/play.php?id=85
Is it possible to get and set seek position of a swf file (either in ActionScript 2/3 or ActiveX API of Flash Player) ?
I tried to use frame number at first (to determine which part of the movie is being played) however sometimes whole animation has 2 frames and it does not help.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
if your loaded SWF contains all animation on the stage timeline ( i mean the top level ) then the progress you are seeking is:
var progress:Number = swf.currentFrame / swf.totalFrames;
if you want to set seek:
swf.gotoAndPlay ( progress * swf.totalFrames )
Also it can be that the all animation is not on the top level, but in the movieClip, which address you know, i mean stage.getChildByName ( 'something ).getChildeByName ('something )...
but if you have an swf where are multiple movieclips, and they are playing independantly, then nothing i can help....
Not without coding something in to the SWF as far as I know. Because animations in Flash can be in embedded MovieClips, or entirely scripted in a single frame, there is no easy way to detect the total playing time or how far an animation has progressed. Any get/seek functionality, or even a progress broadcast, would have to be scripted in the SWF and accessed through ExternalInterface.
Please be more specific about your problem. If your swf file is only 2 frames, then what is it that you are trying to seek through? Does your swf load a video, for example, and this is what you are trying to seek through? (In which case you can get properties of a video object's playback position and state).
Without more information, it's hard to provide a clear answer.