Proof of concept: Manipulating flash video (FF, rewind, slow motion)

An item came up in the Figgyleaf Flashcom list of how to manipulate a flash video to allow for slow motion and fast forwarding/rewinding.

Now I can understand how you'd want to do it all in flash/FCS with one video but forcing the player to seek to certain points in the video to simulate the speed/direction you want the video to go at seems a bit rough.

"When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail". I got this saying from a book a while back and it stuck with me, and I think that is what is happening in this instance too. You may be able to hammer in a screw, but it's not going to work as well if you went through the effort of actually screwing it in right?

Anyways, all I did was bring the video into After Effects and manipulate the speed/direction and then encode all the videos (4 in all) to flv.

The proof of concept example I made doesn't take advantage of FCS's streaming abilities but is instead using progressive streaming. This means that the videos need to be slightly preloaded to be a smooth transition. In other words, when you play this example, it'll work better the second time around :)

Proof of concept Flash Video manipulation example

Not to say this is the best way of doing things (especially for long big movies), but it feels better to me in the long run. Not only that, the code can be reused.. just need the 4 vids to play.

*Update (the next day..)*
FCS version works much better. I'd post the example but it's pretty much the same just faster and not quite worth the risk of having my FCS server jacked by somebody. If you want to see it, you most likely know how to contact me so do so with an email and I'll send a link.

Posted by Graeme at July 31, 2005 07:02 AM