Using Imported Artwork and Video > Importing video > Importing video clips as embedded files |  |

Importing video clips as embedded files

You can embed a video clip when importing it into Flash. The video clip becomes part of the movie, like an imported bitmap or vector artwork file. You can publish a movie with embedded video as a Flash movie.

You can import any supported video file format as an embedded video.

You can synchronize the frame rate of an embedded video to match the frame rate of the main movie Timeline. You can also adjust the ratio of the video frame rate to the main Timeline frame rate, to drop frames from the imported video during playback.

There are situations in which you may not want to synchronize the embedded video with the Flash movie. Some examples are the following:

| You want to prevent frames in the embedded video from being dropped or duplicated. Deselecting the Synchronize option accomplishes this. For example, suppose you want to import a video that has a slightly different frame rate than the Flash movie (such as an NTSC video clip with a frame rate of 29.97 fps imported into a Flash movie with a frame rate of 30 fps). Deselecting the Synchronize option prevents frames from being dropped in the embedded video and prevents the hiccup effect that this causes during playback.
| You want to drop frames from a video that has a lower frame rate than the Flash movie. If you synchronize this video, the option for dropping frames is disabled. You must deselect the Synchronize option in order to drop frames.

You can update an imported video that you have edited in an external application, or import another video to replace an embedded video. You can also assign a different symbol to an instance of a video clip. Assigning a different symbol to an instance displays a different instance on the Stage but leaves all the original instance properties (such as color, rotation, and so on) intact. You can also export an embedded video as a Macromedia Flash Video (FLV) file, which retains the compression settings you applied when you imported the original clip.

You can create a video object on the Stage by dragging an instance of an imported video clip from the Library panel onto the Stage. As with symbols, you can create multiple instances of an imported video clip without adding to the Flash movie file size.

To import a video as an embedded clip:

1 | Do one of the following:
| To import the video clip directly to the Stage in the current Flash document, choose File > Import.
| To import the video clip into the library for the current Flash document, choose File > Import to Library.
2 | In the Import Video dialog box, select Embed Video in Macromedia Flash Movie.
3 | In the Import Video Settings dialog box, drag the slider or enter a value for Quality to control the amount of compression applied to the video clip. A lower Quality setting produces a smaller file size but may reduce image integrity.
4 | Drag the slider or enter a value for Keyframe Interval to control the frequency of keyframes (frames with complete data) in the video clip. For example, a keyframe interval of 30 stores a complete frame at every 30 frames in the clip. Frames between intervals store only the data that changes from the preceding frame. A smaller interval stores more complete frames. This enables faster seeking in the video but yields a larger file size.
| Note: A keyframe interval of 1 stores a complete frame for each frame of the video. This setting is recommended only for very small video files.
5 | Drag the slider or enter a value for Scale to reduce the pixel dimensions of the video. A smaller pixel size reduces file size and can improve playback performance.
| For example, a Digital Video (DV) file can be 640 x 480 pixels. Reducing the scale of this file to 25% would improve the performance of the video in the Flash movie.
6 | Select Synchronize Video to Macromedia Flash Movie Frame Rate to match the playback speed of the imported video to the playback speed of the main Flash movie Timeline.
| Deselect this option to prevent frame rate synchronization.
7 | Select a value for Number of Video Frames to Encode Per Number of Flash Frames to specify the ratio of imported video frames to main Flash Timeline frames. For example, to play one imported video frame per one main Flash Timeline frame, choose 1:1; to play one imported video frame per every two main Timeline frames, choose 1:2; and so on.
| Dropping frames from the imported video does not slow down the motion of the video. Instead, it displays fewer frames per second, so that the video appears more choppy in playback.
8 | Select Import Audio to include the audio track (if present) in the imported video clip.
| Deselect this option to omit the audio track from the imported video clip.
| Note: If the audio codec used in the audio track is not supported on your system, Flash displays a warning in the Import Video Settings dialog box. You can continue the procedure and import the video without sound, or return to the video authoring application and resave the video with an audio codec that is supported on your system.
9 | Click OK.
10 | If you import the video clip directly to the Stage in step 1, a warning appears if the imported clip contains more frames than the span in which you are placing it in the current Flash document. Do one of the following:
| Click Yes to extend the span the required number of frames.
| Click No to keep the span at its current size. Frames in the imported clip that exceed the frames in the span will not be displayed unless you subsequently add frames to the span.

To update an embedded video clip after editing it in an external editor:

1 | Select the video clip in the Library panel.
2 | In the options menu in the upper right corner of the Library panel, choose Properties.
3 | In the Embedded Video Properties dialog box, click Update.
| The embedded video clip is updated with the edited file. The compression settings you chose when you first imported the video are reapplied to the updated clip.

To replace an embedded video clip with another video clip:

1 | In the Library panel, select the embedded video clip that you want to replace.
2 | In the Library options menu, choose Properties.
3 | In the Embedded Video Properties dialog box, click Import.
4 | In the Import dialog box, select a video clip to replace the embedded clip in the Library panel.

To export an embedded video clip as an FLV file:

1 | In the Library panel, select the embedded video clip that you want to export.
2 | In the Library options menu, choose Properties.
3 | In the Embedded Video Properties dialog box, click Export.
4 | In the Export dialog box, type the name of the FLV file you want to export.