Tut : Perfect swf > .avi Conversion

[Depredation]

Perfect .swf to .avi Conversion
Requires Camstudio(free), a .swf, and a few minutes

This is a question regularly asked amongst the flash forum, 'how can i turn my .swf into a .avi file?'. Well this tutorial should help you do just that, with almost perfect quality and movieclips included. Anyway, on with the tut...

Once you've downloaded Camstudio, don't run it, but export your desired .swf file to somewhere convenient, eg, desktop. Then, open CamStudio.

You'll have to fiddle around with a few things in Camstudio. Here's what you'll need to do.

[#] - Make sure the lack rectangle in the top right corner of the window says 'record to avi' and not 'record to swf'. To change it, press the button just above it that says swf, it will switch between the two options.

[#] - Make sure Options>'Record Audio from Speakers' is ticked. This will give your .avi the same music and dialog as the .swf. Make sure no other music is playing!! eg, from Media Player.

[#]- Finally, go to region>fixed region and click on it. This'll open a window. In that window, press 'select' and drag a rectangle around the area your .swf file will be. If you want to be accurate, open the .swf, drag the rectangle, then close it and record.

Then, after your all set up, open your swf and quickly hit the red circle (record) button on Camstudio. Once your swf is finished playing, press the blue stop button in Camstudio.

It will immediately open a window. Select the folder you want to export your now .avi to and press save. Then it will convert it to an .avi and put it on your selected folder, that may take a while depending on the length of your recorded file.

The quality is near perfect and the audio is synced well, it will also include Movieclips, which is something exporting directly from flash won't do.

So play around with that, it may take a few tries to get it right, but it is probably the cheapest (FREE) and most effective way of converting your .swfs to avi. But maybe not the most convenient :D.

I'll post an Example in a few minutes :)

if you have any questions, post them, i'll help as much as i can.

[fenix]

very convinient for people who make projects in flash and need them on dvd, like me, who have lots of trouble trying to make it avi
thanks

[Depredation]

At 1/11/07 03:42 PM, fenix wrote: very convinient for people who make projects in flash and need them on dvd, like me, who have lots of trouble trying to make it avi

No problem, although the file size is it's biggest downfall it's still pretty handy.

Example File

I didn't make that .swf, I've got heRetik to thanks for that, it was just a quick example.

[EKublai]

Definitely Useful Though I don't really have anything to transfer to DVD really

[AustinBreed]

Watch out for movieclips. Animation inside movieclips will NOT show up in the .avi file, for those of you who are new to flash. Either will any actionscript take effect.

[AustinBreed]

Excuse my above post, I read the topic wrong. I'll have to try this out for myself sometime.

[Disarray-yarrasiD]

that is useful, thanks.
the last time I used the built in AVI converter, the file was over 4gb.

[Depredation]

At 1/11/07 04:06 PM, Disarray-yarrasiD wrote: the last time I used the built in AVI converter, the file was over 4gb.

It should be smaller than that :P.

[Rathanos]

The main problem with that is employing gradiants, transparancies, etc... if the computer makes the SWF lag, it will show up in the final camtasia AVI, as opposed to exporting with Flash, in which case it is the raw animation and will not have the same lag problem.

[Luis]

At 1/11/07 05:34 PM, Rathanos wrote: The main problem with that is employing gradiants, transparancies, etc... if the computer makes the SWF lag, it will show up in the final camtasia AVI, as opposed to exporting with Flash, in which case it is the raw animation and will not have the same lag problem.

It will have the same lag problem.. possibly worse because it takes more rendering power to run an avi. Encountered that in a client project and now i always keep that in mind.

[iAnimate]

At 1/11/07 04:46 PM, Depredation wrote:

At 1/11/07 04:06 PM, Disarray-yarrasiD wrote: the last time I used the built in AVI converter, the file was over 4gb.

It should be smaller than that :P.

4mb would be understandable... 4 gb, well that's like a small iPod

[Arby]

At 1/11/07 09:50 PM, iAnimate wrote: that's like a large iPod

fixed

[Depredation]

At 1/11/07 08:59 PM, Chaz wrote: example wouldn't work but bokmarked anyways ;p

I didn't notice that, thanks, I'll post a new one shortly, keep the comments coming please :).

[Jimtopia]

Awesomely sweet! Thx!

[Maxxor]

Great, I bookmarked this. Might come handy in the future. Thanks!

[Depredation]

At 1/12/07 01:29 PM, Maxxor wrote: Great, I bookmarked this. Might come handy in the future. Thanks!

No problem, i'll get that example soon, just give me an hour or so, I'm very busy :D.

[Wonchop]

I tried recording a couple of my stuff but the sound wasn't picking up well. The actual flash sound was very quiet and the rest was noise coming from The Simpsons in the other room.

[enquencle]

i had a problem with the sound, when i go to options and select record audio from speakers it says "WaveoutGetSelectControl() failed" and in the .avi file there's no sound at all, can anyone tell me how to fix it?

[Depredation]

At 1/12/07 03:46 PM, enquencle wrote: i had a problem with the sound, when i go to options and select record audio from speakers it says "WaveoutGetSelectControl() failed" and in the .avi file there's no sound at all, can anyone tell me how to fix it?

Sounds like a problem with your speakers more than the program, does the same thing happen with 'Get audio from mic'? Post a screenshot and i'll try and help.

At 1/12/07 03:29 PM, Wonchop wrote: I tried recording a couple of my stuff but the sound wasn't picking up well. The actual flash sound was very quiet and the rest was noise coming from The Simpsons in the other room.

Make sure you pressed 'get sound from Speakers' not from microphone, that sounds like your problem :P.

[WolfAkela]

Same problem as enquencle. :/ "WaveoutGetSelectControl() failed" Tried the record from mic, still nothing.

"CamStudio is unable to detected the line on your system for recording sound from your speakers. You may want to try manual configuration in Audio options."

The funny thing is that I can use my Creative Recorder (supplied with the soundcard) to record sounds. I don't want that, because that'll mean I'll have to put them together with Windows Movie Maker then publish it, which leads to further deterioration of overall quality.

[Wonchop]

At 1/12/07 05:40 PM, Depredation wrote:

At 1/12/07 03:29 PM, Wonchop wrote: I tried recording a couple of my stuff but the sound wasn't picking up well. The actual flash sound was very quiet and the rest was noise coming from The Simpsons in the other room.

Make sure you pressed 'get sound from Speakers' not from microphone, that sounds like your problem :P.

Yeah I made sure. I got that WaveSoundthingy failed thing too.
Might be cos I'm using USB headphones and microphone.

[Luis]

At 1/13/07 08:43 AM, Wonchop wrote: Yeah I made sure. I got that WaveSoundthingy failed thing too.
Might be cos I'm using USB headphones and microphone.

If anyone gets his problem resolved post in this thread, id be interested in using this technique if the sound reproduction is semi faithful. As of right now its a royal pain in the ass working sound into avi's .... id like to not have to use after effects if at all possible.

-L

[s1nt3ch]

At 1/13/07 09:08 AM, Luis wrote:

At 1/13/07 08:43 AM, Wonchop wrote: Yeah I made sure. I got that WaveSoundthingy failed thing too.
Might be cos I'm using USB headphones and microphone.

If anyone gets his problem resolved post in this thread, id be interested in using this technique if the sound reproduction is semi faithful. As of right now its a royal pain in the ass working sound into avi's .... id like to not have to use after effects if at all possible.

-L

hey luis i vaguely remember being able to use quicktime pro to watch swf's and in class one time i think i remember exporting the audio from within quicktime window and i was able to add it back to an animation later

[III-D]

At 1/11/07 10:08 PM, Arby wrote:

At 1/11/07 09:50 PM, iAnimate wrote: that's like a large iPod

fixed

No a large iPod is 30gb or 60gb 4gb is a nano

[Luis]

At 1/13/07 09:54 AM, s1nt3ch wrote: hey luis i vaguely remember being able to use quicktime pro to watch swf's and in class one time i think i remember exporting the audio from within quicktime window and i was able to add it back to an animation later

Yea for some odd reason though quicktime is distancing itself from macromedia/adobe because its actually not really welcoming exporting swfs in recent versions... i had recently upgraded and begun using RADtools (which is awesome when it works) but as soon as i upgraded it kept giving me error messages saying my version of quicktime no longer supports it and like i literally had to download an old version of quicktime to reestablish my ability to do it... and its still a pain.

-L

[SpaceAndTime]

There's tons more on:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lis t_of_screen_recording_software&action=edit
It inclues several for mac and linux as well as PC.

[SpaceAndTime]

My bad, wrong link. Anyway, here's the huge list of screen recording software:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screen_r ecording_software

[patu1]

nice tut bookmarked

[Depredation]

At 1/13/07 09:08 AM, Luis wrote: If anyone gets his problem resolved post in this thread, id be interested in using this technique if the sound reproduction is semi faithful. As of right now its a royal pain in the ass working sound into avi's .... id like to not have to use after effects if at all possible.

I'll go through the Camstudio help pages, and try and find something that could help. Could someone post a video they created as an example please, my Putfile account won't work, sorry :(.

At 1/13/07 06:31 AM, KingScar wrote: "CamStudio is unable to detected the line on your system for recording sound from your speakers. You may want to try manual configuration in Audio options."

Sorry, i can't really help you, you could try re installing if you think its worth it, but don't spend hours trying if you'll only use it once.

At 1/13/07 08:43 AM, Wonchop wrote: Yeah I made sure. I got that WaveSoundthingy failed thing too.
Might be cos I'm using USB headphones and microphone.

Did you try unplugging them and doing it again? i did that with mine and it worked fine. I'll look into it :).

[WolfAkela]

bump