rec2swf

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 00:11

hi.
Dunno why i decided to show you this project, it's very far from completion. Maybe i'm tired to keep it in myself for almost 2 years.
The very first version was done in october, 2004. Actually there was only a level sliding on traectory from rec.
The next version was completed in december, 2004. There was a level (w/o objects), bike (without susps), wheels, head, body and timer. Also that time i didn't have a nice working algorithm for proper polygon filling so level looked like in internal editor =).
The big problem was swf generation itself. It was very easy to create algorithm (there is official swf file reference so i've got file structure and concept rather fast), but it was too hard to implement it in program, so every change in generating block was very painful and i prefered to think twice before doing smth.
That's why after that version i spent 1.5 years trying to deduce fine algorithm of arms/legs movement.

And finally couple days ago i found some good libraries and rewrote generating block from almost assembler =) to normal high-level language. Also i added polygon filling, objects, removed timer and replaced all graphics with simple vector forms.

So. Here are the samples of rec2swfed recs:
http://id.hoyler.net/pit01lut.swf
http://id.hoyler.net/elp10em.swf
From you i want to hear if i should continue work on the project, and what features i should and shouldn't implement.

Note, these swf are not optimized at all, and Flash graphics depends only on processor, not on video-card. So it could work very slow on some processors. For example on my P4 2.2 both movies in fullscreen work twice slower. Dunno, maybe that's because last winter i occasionally splashed tea on motherboard.

The_BoneLESS · Post by **The_BoneLESS** » 25 Jul 2006, 01:44

I don't know how the hell you did that but, damn it looks sweet!

I don't think it would be a good idea to make the graphics more complex ( adding body, arms, grass, etc... ), the actual graphics looks nice. Would be nice if you'd stabilize the speed of the animation (on my computer, it seemed like a 3/5 of normal speed, some kinda sweet slow-motion ).

As it's a flash animation, i don't really know what you could add to make it better. I thought Flash was limited! You obviously proved me wrong!

PS : I'm sure you don't want to show me your code, or how you did that whole "using a replay file infos to make a flash animation" thing but, i would love you to explain me how the hell you did that!

Very nice project, you should definitly continue working on that...

zworqy · Post by **zworqy** » 25 Jul 2006, 02:10

Fucking nice! All it needs is some colors

It should be easier to tell the difference between apples and flowers.

Memfis · Post by **Memfis** » 25 Jul 2006, 08:41

Oh, coal!And so little size!

wwwDotcoM · Post by **wwwDotcoM** » 25 Jul 2006, 08:49

sweet, very sweet

you should definetely continue developing it

3/5 of speed as boneless said, and don't listen to zworqy (no colors needed)

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 13:27

don't think it would be a good idea to make the graphics more complex ( adding body, arms, grass, etc... ), the actual graphics looks nice.

ye, i like how it looks now but
1. There should be smth to indicate rotations in swf. Arms are most natural for this.
2. In the beginning (when there was no constfps =)) i planned to release the program as movie-creator. You now, import the swf into Macromedia Flash editor, change whatever you want and then export avi. And for this there should be the whole bunch of elma graphics.

Would be nice if you'd stabilize the speed of the animation (on my computer, it seemed like a 3/5 of normal speed, some kinda sweet slow-motion ).

If you play the movie in Adobe (or Macromedia) Flash Player (don't now about other players), fps depend only on your processor perfomance, and cannot exceed the maxfps value (30 in rec2swf). Of course i will try to do smth (maybe splitting big polygons, cutting non-visible objects and so on) but sure the problem would remain on slow computers.

Also i can decrease the maxfps to 15, but it would look ugly then (wheels will rotate strangely, objects will be collected not when they should be, and other bugs tied with low fps).

I thought Flash was limited! You obviously proved me wrong!

2 years ago i thought Flash is unlimited. Now i think i was wrong =)).

I'm sure you don't want to show me your code, or how you did that whole "using a replay file infos to make a flash animation" thing

sorry

but, i would love you to explain me how the hell you did that!

we have replay, we have some knowledge and some guesses about elma, so we just place some objects on proper (or maybe wrong, i've just found head is in wrong position) positions (kinda screenshot) and then flash player makes it move.

It should be easier to tell the difference between apples and flowers.

sure =)

so little size!

These swf are post-edited in Macromedia Flash to add the text and compress them. Actually, both movies are twice bigger (libraries i use don't support the compression). But it's very easy to write it.

no colors needed

maybe some opaque light colors to distinguish apples and killers, i'll work on it.

jonsterion · Post by **jonsterion** » 25 Jul 2006, 15:32

Pretty leet! looks awesome! Is there a way to convert that to a video file? would rox

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 17:09

I've made that objects clipping but can't notice any difference in animation speed =).
But movie now weights 40kb instead of 120 and i think it's good. On the other hand there's nothing to improve in size anymore, so all swfs will be approx. 1,5 times bigger than source rec. Not so bad if remember that swf also includes lev and "maxsimpel" lgr.

Next i plan to implement polygons splitting. In the moment object "level" is the most complex and most big in the whole swf so the most part of frame drawing time is level drawing time. I'll try to divide it in smaller parts. But two problems raises:
1. It's not so easy to do as objects were o_O.
2. swf size depends most on number of objects in a frame, so if i split one big polygon into four small, swf size becomes approx. twice bigger. That's bad but i hope this will help to stabilize animation speed. =)

http://id.hoyler.net/pit01lut_new.swf

Is there a way to convert that to a video file?

import the swf into Macromedia Flash editor, change whatever you want and then export avi

but i don't know what are you planning to convert, because there's no public version yet. =)

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 25 Jul 2006, 17:16

omg this is nice... i love those graphics

looks a bit weird objects aren't there the whole time (objects clipping or what u call it).

else awesome work... and u deffinetly should continue working with this.. don't know what u could improve but ez work more with teh

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 18:17

looks a bit weird objects aren't there the whole time

if you look movie in window mode with "Show all" scale (both labels are exactly in the corners of the window) there should be no problem of objects that suddenly appear =)

kinghias · Post by **kinghias** » 25 Jul 2006, 18:20

this thingie is amazing :O

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 19:32

One more movie, just to show killers =)
http://id.hoyler.net/39stini.swf

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 25 Jul 2006, 19:50

how long time does it take to generate a movie?

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 25 Jul 2006, 19:53

Code: Select all

>Converting elp10em.rec & elvenp10.lev into elp10em.swf
>Files have been converted in 0.774929046631 seconds. Press any key to finish

Code: Select all

>Converting pit01lut.rec & pit01.lev into pit01lut.swf
>Files have been converted in 2.46329307556 seconds. Press any key to finish

Code: Select all

>Converting 39stini.rec & qwquu039.lev into 39stini.swf
>Files have been converted in 4.89240980148 seconds. Press any key to finish

Obviously, generating time depends on replay length and objects number.
Here's a huge level with 52 objects and 5 mins replay on it:

Code: Select all

>Converting rchlp01D.rec & ruschain.lev into 2.swf
>Files have been converted in 70.9307920933 seconds. Press any key to finish

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 25 Jul 2006, 21:42

omg that's very fast

Nice

goofu · Post by **goofu** » 25 Jul 2006, 22:26

Lmao!
cant belive how u done that
Fucking nice

and btw nice ride by luther

Memfis · Post by **Memfis** » 26 Jul 2006, 07:39

cool speed and cool killers and nice recs

Kestas · Post by **Kestas** » 26 Jul 2006, 17:14

impressive work domovoi

very nice, really! cant wait for the final release of that converter and try it out with the sick recs of my levs hehe

A.K.B. · Post by **A.K.B.** » 27 Jul 2006, 09:06

This adds yet another dimension to elma!

goofu · Post by **goofu** » 27 Jul 2006, 17:29

here is a way to make ur fps higher so it doesnt lag so much on fucked computers

simply
right-click on the movie with ur mouse and then choose
Quality ---> Low

this should help a little
at least it helped me

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 27 Jul 2006, 18:55

Fixed head position, added volts indication.

http://www.elmaclub.com/download/?code= ... d4ca7c88f9

Xiphias · Post by **Xiphias** » 27 Jul 2006, 18:59

oh nice

though a bit weird seing those arrows all the time..

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 27 Jul 2006, 19:04

ye, i'm not fully satisfied too.
so any ideas are welcome =)

zworqy · Post by **zworqy** » 27 Jul 2006, 20:48

Domovoy wrote:Fixed head position, added volts indication.

http://www.elmaclub.com/download/?code= ... d4ca7c88f9

Max najs!

It would be cool if you could add a timer too

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 27 Jul 2006, 21:42

Just the idea is cool enough, I really don't understand how you were able to program it, but it's very nice. Looking forward to public version.

kinghias · Post by **kinghias** » 28 Jul 2006, 16:50

in my opinion the arrow-system is brilliant (double arrow for alo <3 <3)

replay control buttons (like on a media player: play, pause, forward, backward) would be great but not too easy to program i assume :p

and yes, timer would be nice too...

RiNSpy · Post by **RiNSpy** » 28 Jul 2006, 17:20

Excellent work Domovoy, looks like you have put a lot of effort in it.

I think, that to get rid of those arrows next to the head that can get a bit annoying, you could get rid of them, but place the images of some of the keyboard buttons (arrows, space, and alovolt), which would be "pressed" when the appropriate action is taking place in the replay.. Or, you could make those arrows next to the head optional.

Looks like it's going to be a great tool when learning/copying various styles!

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 28 Jul 2006, 17:55

It would be cool if you could add a timer too
and yes, timer would be nice too...

timer is very easy to make but for "engine" testing i think swf size is more critical than timer. sure i will add it in public version.

replay control buttons (like on a media player: play, pause, forward, backward) would be great but not too easy to program i assume :p

it's rather easy to make such controls in ActionScript (Flash built-in scripting language) but i don't know how to work with it in my libraries. i'll try to. =)

place the images of some of the keyboard buttons (arrows, space, and alovolt), which would be "pressed" when the appropriate action is taking place in the replay..

yes, i thought about it (and it's much easier to do btw), but the problem is that your look will continually jump from bike to keys, from keys to bike... Such stress =). Anyway i'll try to do it.

Or, you could make those arrows next to the head optional.

sure in public version will be the ability to customize the movie compiling.

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 29 Jul 2006, 19:48

Improved algorithm a bit.
Now big movies are generating ~3 times faster.
Small movies are generating ~0.3sec faster.
Dunno though where's the border between big and small. =)
The main speed-problems are polygons filling, objects placement and swf output. Still a lot to work on

.

kinghias · Post by **kinghias** » 30 Jul 2006, 12:42

Domovoy wrote:
replay control buttons (like on a media player: play, pause, forward, backward) would be great but not too easy to program i assume :p
it's rather easy to make such controls in ActionScript (Flash built-in scripting language) but i don't know how to work with it in my libraries. i'll try to. =)

nice :O

dorTrus · Post by **dorTrus** » 1 Aug 2006, 10:08

Really nice shit, Domy. I could easily agree with A.K.B., that "This adds yet another dimension to elma!"
Nice simple graphics, i guess the lev very quickly. And i feel the lack of teh timer.
Watching this swf - may be good guidebook for young hoylaz, coz they can teach every rotate and brake pressing.
So, good luck to your great project!

Post by **Abula** » 9 Aug 2006, 23:59

Yes, great project. I was it a year ago or something first time (brag) but haven't heard much since. Once it's ready would be mega nice to implement it to new Moposite replays section (whenever it will be ready). Creating flash replays when you don't have Elma nearby.

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 10 Aug 2006, 00:09

Sure we'll discuss it. ^__^

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 10 Aug 2006, 13:34

nice
impsy to use pcx's from LGR?
if you need some help with recognizing position/angles of those PCX from the rec file..
I wanted to do something like that but abu told me you're already doing it
i thought you're already using those PCXs
but looks max:)

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 10 Aug 2006, 20:02

I wanted to do something like that but abu told me you're already doing it

oh shit, i must hurry =))

if you need some help with recognizing position/angles of those PCX from the rec file..

thanks, but definitely at first i want to try to do it myself.

If we use graphics from elma, swf will be at least twice bigger (depends on number of graphic objects in one frame). Add to this the size of graphics itself and we'll receive a quite big file. But rec2swf is most useful for online replay viewing so the output file should be as small as possible. That's why i decided not to implement graphic version yet.
Anyway i'm planning to make it. :]
But only after online.

milagros · Post by **milagros** » 10 Aug 2006, 21:32

i decided not to do it cause you're doing it, it was maybe year ago when i was thinking about doing it
ok, you can do whatever you want

Domovoy · Post by **Domovoy** » 10 Aug 2006, 22:14

sach hard to understand

thx anyway

sierra · Post by **sierra** » 28 Aug 2006, 04:46

Domovoy, either:

- You like Elma far too much, or
- You have a lot of spare time

because, quite simply, to put that much effort and dedication (2 years??!?) into something that isn't going to make you money, is pretty crazy.

You have talents. You have the right attitude. Go out and become a millionaire ffs.

Mawane · Post by **Mawane** » 20 Feb 2010, 00:54

i wanna see! plz reup this too

rec2swf

rec2swf

Re: rec2swf