Adobe Flash CS4: Creating Video For The Web

Description

This Adobe Flash CS4: Creating Video for the Web training course goes beyond the entry-level coverage found in other books to bring you a comprehensive look at what you really need to know to produce, host and distribute Flash-compatible video on the Web, including FLV and AVC/H.264 content.  Real world examples and hands-on projects with sample video files provide the expert training you need with tips and insights that everyone can benefit from.  The DVD-ROM includes complete sample Flash files as shown throughout the book.  More than 2GB of source files are provided, including High Definition (HD) clips, which you can use to perfect your video compression skills.  The source files for each chapter are found in the corresponding Lessons folder on the disc.

Audience

This Adobe course is for developers with extensive experience with Adobe Flash CS3. To take this course, you should:

When you've completed this course, you will have learned:

  • Basic methods, from preproduction through delivery, including...
  • Capturing processing and compressing your video.
  • Production essentials for sharing your footage on the web, including setting up your web page and server for seamless video playback and how to create your own video player.
  • Advanced techniques, including building an index and play list, adding captions and banner ads, and designing a comprehensive video experience for your audience.

Course Length

2-Days

Course Outline

Unit 1: Working Foundations

  • Chapter 1: Pre-production primer
    • Designing the video experience
    • Planning your video shoot
    • Selecting Equipment
  • Chapter 2: Capturing and processing video
    • Capturing video
    • Processing video with Adobe After Effects CS4
  • Chapter 3: Compression and encoding primer
    • Distinguishing source files and their differences
    • Understanding video file bit rates
    • Learning about player versions and codec options
    • Determining your video compression profiles
  • Chapter 4: Delivery and deployment primer
    • File formats: SWF, FLV, H.264 and HTML
    • Protocols: HTTP vs RTMP
    • Delivery: Web Server, Flash Media Server, or CDN?
    • Playback: Live streaming vs prerecorded
    • Budgets: Bandwidth and transfer rates

Unit 2: Production Essentials

  • Chapter 5: Placing Flash Video on a web page
    • Integrating FLV video with Dreamweaver
    • Playing video with Flash CS4 components
    • Gathering files for deployment
  • Chapter 6: Exploring the FLV Playback components
    • Overview of the components
    • Configuring the component
    • Enhancing playback with cue points
    • Dynamically placing video on the stage
    • Modifying skins
    • Building a player with custom UI components
  • Chapter 7: Building your own player
    • Making a connection
    • Building basic playback controls
    • Reading metadata from a video
    • Enabling a full screen mode
  • Chapter 8: Integrating multiple bitrates
    • Knowing when to offer more than one bit rate
    • Determining which bit rates to offer
    • Preparing SMIL files
    • Calculating available bandwidth
    • Enabling dynamic buffering with a real-time stream
    • Using dynamic streaming with Flash Media Server 3.5

Unit 3: Creative Explorations

  • Chapter 9: Building a video index and playlist
    • Making a marker index for video
    • Building a video playlist
    • Playing video ads during a video feature
  • Chapter 10: Constructing banner ads and captioned videos
    • Coding a video banner ad
    • Controlling captions with time text XML
  • Chapter 11: Constructing an interactive video
    • Planning the user interface
    • Producing the video footage
    • Encoding the Flash-Ready video
    • Developing the ActionScript 3.0 code base
  • Chapter 12: Delivering a reliable video experience
    • Creating a deployment plan
    • Encoding the Flash-Ready video
    • Developing the video player
    • Customizing the video experience with HTML and JavaScript

Unit 4: Appendixes