Flash Video and sub-titling

You probably already have your project completed by now, but just in case . . . Captionate software (captionate.com) is a good resource that allows you to inject captions into .flv files and supports Flash 8. The code suggestions that are given by "David Stiller are similar to what is provided in the Captionate help files.

I've been able to get the captions working fine, but I'm having trouble adding the controller.
If you successfully managed the subtitles using cue points directly in Flash and you were able to use the FLV playback component, could you provide a sample code? I'm sure many would benefit from your hard work and experience . THANKS!-

b_pandey,

> Just like to know, if anyone has done any project with
> flash video with subtitling.

I haven't, but I've done projects in which video had to be synchronized
with other events.

> I have around 20 videos of 5 mins each, I have to put
> the subtitling on the videos, the text for the sub titling is
> available in Excel sheets, I also have the time point for
> the subtitling.

Excellent; you're all set!

> Is that possible to load the text dynamically from the
> excel sheet or any other format at the given time point
> in the flash video.

Not from an Excel sheet, no. But Flash can load text files and Flash
can interact with databases via PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion, and the like. Given
the time-sensitive nature of your project, however, I would put the
subtitles right into the SWF itself.

> Any tutorial available for the above topic? please
> provide me the link.

You'll want to read about "cue points" in the documentation and online.
Here are two tutorials I found by Googling the terms "Flash video cue
points" ...

http://www.mediacollege.com/flash/video/cuepoints.html
http://www.actionscript4designers.com/wmg3/cuepoints_briefly.html

The second one involves screens, which you probably don't need, but the
*concept* is, of course, the more important part. The first tutorial is
more likely to help you.

I would put all the subtitles into an array and use the cuePoint event,
as described in tutorial #1, to populate the same dynamic text field over
and over again based on strings in the array.

What this means is that you'll want to familiarize yourself with the
Array class. Start small, at first. Start a new FLA altogether and create
nothing in it but an array.

var subtitles:Array = new Array();

Then push items into the array.

subtitles.push("Hello, Ginger.");
subtitles.push("Why, hello, Fred.");
subtitles.push("Care to dance, Ginger?");
subtitles.push("Oh, yes! Let's do!");

Then use trace() to test your understanding of how to pull information
again from the array.

trace(subtitles[0]); // zero is the first element
trace(subtitles[1]);
trace(subtitles[2]);
// etc.

A for() loop can retrieve them all. Just substitute the numbers for a
variable that represents numbers.

for (n=0; n<subtitles.length; n++) {
trace(subtitles);
}

And so on. Looking up the "Array class" entry of the ActionScript
Language Reference will teach you about the Array.length property used in
the above sample. All class entries show the properties, methods, and
events available to a given class. Properties are characteristics of the
object, methods are things the object can do, and events are things the
object can react to.

Once you understand arrays, look up the FLVPlayback in the documentation
and/or follow along in the above tutorials. Just realize that you'll use
the concepts described to meet your own needs. If you prefer not to use the
FLVPlayback Component -- and you may not -- look up the Video class, and
also the NetStream and NetConnection classes to learn how to load FLVs
without a Component (the NetStream class features an onCuePoint event). See
also ...

http://www.quip.net/blog/2006/flash/how-to-load-external-video


David
stiller (at) quip (dot) net
Dev essays: http://www.quip.net/blog/
"Luck is the residue of good design."