Chapter 6: Producing Animation

RealFlash makes it easy to put animation on the World Wide Web. Combining the power of Macromedia Flash with the clarity of RealNetwork's RealAudio, RealFlash produces visually arresting animations with superb sound. This chapter explains how to create RealFlash content for different bandwidths. It also provides tips for streaming RealFlash clips.

Introducing RealFlash

RealFlash is well-suited for linear presentations that have continuous audio and images synchronized along a timeline, including:

 

• full-length, television-like cartoons for entertainment and education,

   

• Internet or intranet demonstrations, training courses, and product overviews,

   

• product advertisements,

   

• movie trailers,

   

• and Karaoke.

   

Tools for Creating RealFlash

You need the following tools to create and stream RealFlash:

 

• Macromedia Flash 2.0 or 3.0

  You use Flash to create animations and import sound, synchronizing the two to a single timeline. This chapter provides tips for optimizing streaming animations, but you need to refer to the Flash documentation from Macromedia for information about using Flash.

   

  	Additional Information
  	For information on Flash, visit http:// www.macromedia.com.

   

  	Warning
  	RealFlash supports Flash 2.0 but does not fully support the features introduced in Flash 3.0, such as morphing and transparency. If you are using Flash 3.0, limit your RealFlash clip to the 2.0 feature set. Support for Flash 3.0 features will be added at a later date.

   

• Sound capture and editing tools

  You should use professional hardware and software to capture and process the sound file you will encode as RealAudio.

   

  	Additional Information
  	For more on audio production, see Chapter 4.

   

• RealNetworks Production Tools

  To encode your sound file as RealAudio, use a RealNetworks tool available from http://www.real.com.

   

• RealFlash Tuner and Spreadsheet

  The RealFlash Bit Rate Calculation Spreadsheet and the RealFlash Bandwidth Tuner help you create and optimize your clip. They are included in the utils directory of this manual. You will need Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel to use the spreadsheet.

   

• RealServer G2 and RealPlayer G2

  RealServer is required to deliver your RealFlash clip. Web users view your clip through RealPlayer. Free RealPlayer downloads are available from RealNetworks at http://www.real.com.

Preparing a RealFlash Clip

A RealFlash clip consists of two separate files streamed together, a Flash animation file and a RealAudio soundtrack. To create these components, you develop animation in Flash and synchronize it with an imported sound file, such as a WAV or AIFF file. You then export a Shockwave Flash file that contains the animation and generate a RealAudio file from the soundtrack. RealServer streams the clip to RealPlayer, ensuring that animation and sound stay synchronized.