I was wondering so long that how can people analyze the trait of each file extension (of course open it in notepad is not readable)
For example, I want to write a program that can read everything from .fla file like timeline, movie clips, position of each MCs or all the motion tween values. And get the image embeded in it. (I'm planning to use flash as IDE for another project.)
(The reason that I tried to read proprietary format is I want to utilize their awesome editor. What I actually want to do is, I want to make an iOS game with cocos2d. There is a code to move things around in cocos2d but there is no decent editor. So I'd like to use Flash as an editor, then convert the motion to objective-C cocos2D code by reading the .fla file.)
If you would like to be able to import timeline animation from flash into cocos2d, this tool might help. More information in this thread.
The grapefrukt-exporter might also help as it can export keyframe data, and various other formats for animation.
Instead of creating the tool yourself, it might be much easier (and time saving) to use one of these and integrate it into your workflow :)
Finally, if none of the above works, how about just exporting the flash animation as an animated GIF or a movie file?
Im assuming you want to write a decompiler, this is possible and there are several available on the internet, price varies.
It is not possible for flash to achieve this, Most programs, software are built on a native language such as C, Native meaning it can independly run in its own with out initially setting up an invironment to support it.
Flash is not independent enough to be available to have this much power.
Try looking at c++ or C# as this would be possible, also these languages are a lot more powerful.
Related
I've created a core mechanic of my game and want to create a level editor for it. my game is not a tile-based one, so my needs are quite specific. Game is written using Swift and Cocos2d-swift, but i dont think i can figure something out with Sprite Builder.
What you can advice me? Can I for example create a level editor with c# and then use it from swift code?
And what data structure is the best?
I mean is it possible to serialize classes on desktop Swift application and then just load them on ios from file or I'll need to use json/xml?
It might be an old question but I ended up with using a .Net powered solution. I choosed as It has all controls that you need for creating a rich user interface and also, it has a lot of built-in and third party solutions for serializing levels in any way you want. And the c# syntax is very similar to the Swift one.
The only problem is that you might run windows to work with it.
My game in development also needed a non-tile level editor. A few months ago I took some time to make my choice.
Since my project still uses cocos2d 2.x, I don't use the whole new 3.x and SB system. After some investigation I found out that it would be too time consuming to adjust my whole project to the new system and adjusting SB to my needs, mainly because my game engine has been in development for quite some time and is close to finished. Further more, I couldn't find the right information to actually make it work for my game (it needed some odd level architecture I guess).
Finally, I didn't find any other good alternative so I decided to create my own level editor. In this way I had full control and I knew exactly how everything worked which was a huge advantage for me.
Right now my level editor has been finished for some time and works like a charm. I still think in my situation I made the right choice. Also because I learned a lot this way, building everything from the ground up. Having said that, for my next game I will probably go with the main stream and use SB from the start. Also for you I advice you to still check out SB and take some time for it before making an alternative choice...
I'll explain how I did mine. Disclaimer: it has some oddity's which only worked in my situation, but hopefully it helps a bit with choosing your own way to go, that's the goal I'm aiming at...
I used:
max/msp
Although it's developed to make music and audio based software, I used max/msp because it's very easy and fast for creating visual and interface based software as well.
More importend: I happened to be very experienced in it, which shortened the development time tremendously.
javascript
Inside the max/msp patch is a javascript file running. This file is like a bridge between the interface and the visual representation of the level being edited, and the database in which the level
is saved in. 70% of the editor development went into this file I think.
sqlite
All the data is written in a sqlite database. Again, this has been mainly the choice because it saved a great amount of development time in my case. I could have used xml files for instance, but my game was already using a sqlite database and because of this I felt comfortable using it, I had no experience in xml. Also all the code was already in place for a big part, which speeded up the whole proces a lot.
I'm very happy with the end result. It does everything I need, it's easy too use and since I made everything myself from the ground up I know exactly how every works.
Good luck with you choices.
I want record screen (by capturing 15 screenshots per second). This part I know how to do. But I don't know how to write this to some popular video format. Best option which I found is write frames to separated PNG files and use commandline Mencoder which can convert them to many output formats. But maybe someone have another idea?
Requirements:
Must be multi-platform solutions (I'm using Free Pascal / Lazarus). Windows, Linux, MacOS
Exists some librarys for that?
Could be complex commandline application which record screen for me too, but I must have possibility to edit frames before converting whole raw data to popular video format
All materials which could give me some idea are appreciated. API, librarys, anything even in other languages than FPC (I would try rewrite it or find some equivalent)
I considered also writting frames to video RAW format and then use Mencoder (he can handle it) or other solution, but can't find any API/doc for video RAW data
Regards
Argalatyr mentioned ffmpeg already.
There are two ways that you can get that to work:
By spawning an new process. All you have to do is prepare the right input (could be a series of jpeg images for example), and the right commandline parameters. After that you just call ffmpeg.exe and wait for it to finish.
ffmpeg makes use of some dll's that do the actual work. You can use those dll's directly from within your Delphi application. It's a bit more work, because it's more low-level, but in the end it'll give you a finer control over what happens, and what you show the user while you're processing.
Here are some solutions to check out:
FFVCL Commercial. Actually looks quite good, but I was too greedy to spend money on this.
Open Source Delphi headers for FFMpeg. I've tried it, but I never managed to get it to work.
I ended up pulling the DLL wrappers from an open source karaoke program (UltraStar Deluxe). I had to remove some dependencies, but in the end it worked like a charm. The relevant (pascal) code can be found here:
http://ultrastardx.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ultrastardx/trunk/src/lib/ffmpeg-0.10/
There was some earlier discussion with a Delphi component here. It's a very simple component that sometimes generates some weird movies. Maybe a start.
My next project will be all about language tools, parsing and such. Because of that reason I've decided to write a simple language which can be used for video editing. So instead of those desktop applications (Sony vegas, Adobe Premiere, ..) it's basically a language where you define the effects and all and it will generate a video for you.
Since I've got no experience in this kind of business I need some help. The goal of the project is to create a simple language which is able to do some basic things (such as text fading in, etc). I am looking for articles/projects/blogs/whatever related with this which could help me writing this language. (Note that I don't need articles about language parsing since I'm pretty familar with that, just the video editing part).
Thanks,
William v. Doorn
I if understand right your goal, you should take a look at Avisynth. I use it -and like it. It's for Windows only, but conceptually it seems to have what you are going after: a script language for non-linear video editing.
I'm having trouble understanding the purpose of writing such code.
If you are intending on creating a tool that a user can use to edit a video by supplying a set of commands, how is forcing the user to write text better than the GUI video editors that are available? Its going to have a pretty low usability in this situation.
If you are looking for a way to automate some kind of editing process, some video editors like VirtualDub already contain tools for batching and plugins to allow them to be automated.
Are you actually looking to make a tool that will be used by someone to edit video or is this for your own intellectual curiosity?
The best starting point can be installing trial version of the common video editing softwares and see what they offer.
When it comes to writing video editing software, I always see ffmpeg mentioned.
From the site:
FFmpeg is a complete, cross-platform solution to record, convert and stream audio and video. It includes libavcodec - the leading audio/video codec library.
What's the best way to draw shapes interactively at run time using Delphi? I need to be able to select, drag and resize the shapes. This will be used to mark up existing images and documents.
This looks like a good starting point, but I'm wondering if there's a more complete library (preferably free) available that will save some time.
Update:
If you're going with a custom solution from scratch, I've seen another example on Delphi Central that might be an even better starting point.
I will recommend you, read some links on my site. Are explained and all the source code is available; You can see and get some usefull for you.
Plugin system in Delphi - Part 2
Not directly what you need, is a plugin system for Delphi. But all the samples are based on a drawing tool that uses Shapes (Creating, selecting, resizing). You can review the code and extract what you need.
Sample manipulating of "Maps and Figures"
Sample of how to create, select and move components at runtime (in this case with TImage).
- Select shapes visually: Shows different ways to select shapes visually.
The web is in Spanish, but you can generate an authomatic translation on the web itself.
Anyway the code is commented.
Regards.
Excuse-me for my bad english.
One freeware option would be TssControlSizer. Just change the "control" property to the control you want to manipulate resize/move.
Not sure if you've moved on now with this Bruce but if you haven't, it might be worth looking at TMS Components Diagram Studio - it's certainly cheap, and looks quite powerful from the demo.
I would use Flex Graphics (commercial, $499 for one developer, with sources, $1500 for site-license, with source code). When I bought it, it was a lot less than that. So I guess, I wouldn't pay that now. It's a lightweight 'drawing/cad' package.
But as I already own it, I could import a page from the original document as an image, perhaps rendered in PNG or WMF, and then mark it up with lines, etc.
You could think of it as a light "cad" package. It has most primitive shapes, and you can easily create your own new objects or shapes in Delphi classes, that could be "smart shapes" like the ones in Visio.
http://www.flex-graphics.com/
Another commercial component set that I have heard only good things about is TRichView. They have a TRichViewEdit that looks like you could emulate a document markup environment easily with it.
Please check here:
TCAD -2d graphics component for delphi
http://www.codeidea.com
wish can help you.
This is a pretty basic question. I am wondering if the Unreal Development Kit can be used for something other than games, specifically a light show simulator and editor. The site says:
Unreal Engine 3 has been used by game developers, researchers, television studios, machinima directors, artists and students. If you have an idea that needs to be brought to life in a game engine, UDK is for you.
But I have the feeling that it is more game oriented. For my hobby project, I would like to be able to create light show simulations with rotating/moving lasers/lights of changing color, synchronized to sound/music. I would also like to develop an GUI editor for this, preferably in C#, but if it's not possible to access the rendering functionality of the engine from C#, then C++/Qt should suffice. The editor would be used to design the simulation, which would then be rendered/played out in real time.
I guess my base, general question is: can the Unreal Development Kit be used for something like this, not necessarily game related? Or should I go with my original option of Ogre3D, which just focuses on rendering and 3D graphics as far as I know.
EDIT: Just saw this page which again mentions:
Can I create any kind of game with UDK?
Absolutely. UDK is the perfect solution for any kind of virtual world you wish to create, from racing games to simulations.
So my question is now simply: Would I be able to access the renderer or other functionality of my resulting code to integrate it into an editor for my simulator? I guess a simpler, more relatable analogy would be, if I wrote a game, would I be able to write my own level/character/etc. editor for it? And how would I do so? Yes, I know that the UDK comes with editors already, but I mean if I want to make my own.
Thanks! I appreciate any answers :)
The UDK only permits you to play with script (Unreal Script) and not with native code (c++). So more complicated projects or integrations are very difficult without the full c++ source code. But if you will re-use the editor (UnrealED) for your project and make you simulation based upon unreal you can do it.
I'm pretty well oriented in what Unreal Engine can do, and answer to your question is yes and no ;)
Yes, you can create your own actors that will be rotating/moving and emitting light. But won't be able to create your own custom editor around UE's rendered. Frankly I don't see why you would need one - Unreal Editor has all the tools needed to design and execute light show simulation (and much more) - all you need to do is to get familiar with those tools.
One thing you could do in external editor (except, of course, for textures, sounds, models, etc) is create some custom setup in saved to text files, and later read in those files in unreal script - it allows it.
"I guess a simpler, more relatable analogy would be, if I wrote a game, would I be able to write my own level/character/etc. editor for it?"
Yes, you can make your own characters and maps. You shouldn't have any need to make your own editor though, the given editor should be enough.
Although you might not have access to the C++ source code, there is a lot that can be done using Unrealscript. Check out all the entries to the Make Something Unreal contest, they were all done using tools available in the UDK.