Zinc projectors vs CS3 projectors

[Dolfan23]

I have used zinc in the past but recently have been distributing my projects on cd using exe files created by Flash. Is there any real reason to shell out the money for zinc when Flash can create exe's so easily?

[CyanBlue]

I guess that's rather a simple question... Your money is worth is if you use any of the extended functionalities provided by the third party projector tools... But if you just want to create an EXE file and distribute, then Flash should be a fine tool...

[demerit]

All I want to do is have one icon in a DVD that people click on.

The 'package' or '.exe' file would contain my main .swf which loads other .swfs and .flvs, the latter of which use cuepoints to trigger changes in the loaded .swf.

Will a 3rd party projector app do this for me?

(And one where the projector will also be Mac compatible?)

[CyanBlue]

Sorry... I don't really understand what you are trying to do... I mean I don't really understand the first part of your question...

Most of the third party projector tools sell Windows and Mac version, so you sometimes have to buy them separately... You might want to check their sites for more information...

[demerit]

Sorry. Lemme get a 'do-over' here.

I have 500+ external .swf and .flv files that get loaded into my main .swf (it's an instructional course).

So, that looks really unprofessional having all those loose files on a DVD.

My assumption about projectors was that you can combine all your files into one projector .exe file...nice 'n' tidy.

Is this incorrect?

[CyanBlue]

I know mProjector lets you put every file into one... but I am sure you can use other ones to do the same...

BUT, I wouldn't really call that unprofessional... You probably are making your user wait for a bigger file to load up everything into the memory in the first place whether they are going to use it or not... If I were to do that, I'd put all the asset files into a sub directory and be done with it because that looks more professional that way at least to me...
Most of those third party projector tools let you use a trial... I suggest you download and find the one you like, and use that to create a projector, burn a DVD and test to see which one gives better user experience... That's my 2 cents...

[northcode]

Flash itself only lets you put one SWF inside the EXE files that it generates and you'll need a tool to replace the icon with one you like, but most of those tools are free.

As Jason pointed out, you can put all the external SWF and FLV files in a subfolder and just change the code that loads then, that will keep the root folder nice and tidy - but it won't keep your external assets safe from people pilfering them (if that's a concern). In that case you might want to consider a third party SWF2EXE tool.

Only the EXE stub should be loaded into memory by the Win32 loader, the payload (usually stored at the end of the EXE file) should just be ignored by the loader. The tool itself might load and process the entire file set depending on the options you select.

For instance, if you tell SWF Studio to AutoExtract all your assets it will rummage through the payload and extract them all. Hey, you told it to. You can tell it not to do that and extract assets only when you need them though, which gives you a much more responsive app. Your mileage may very with other SWF2EXE tools :)

Here's a list of tools you might want to have a look at....

SWF Studio http://www.northcode.com (my baby)
mProjector http://www.screentime.com
SWFKit http://www.swfkit.com
SWiSH Studio http://www.swishzone.com
Jugglor http://www.jugglor.com
Zinc http://www.multidmedia.com

[demerit]

Right on.

@ CyanBlue: I tried out Zinc and I see what you mean about the load time. For a 1.8Gb project, it took around 30-40 seconds to open. Plus, I guess I'm going to have to go back and re-write some of the main .swf's code so that it loads my TreeNavMenu xml and flvs/swfs properly.

@ NorthCode: You guessed it. Can't have assets laying around the place. So it's all gotta be self-contained. I don't know if you were the one I talked to on the phone today about SWF Studio, but it'd be a hard-sell convincing my bosses that their product couldn't run on Macs. Although selective asset extraction sounds intriguing...I'm guessing it would reduce that 30-40 sec start-up time I saw with Zinc?

But yeah, I guess I'll just have to monkey around with them all.

Thanks fellas,

-D

[northcode]

That was me you spoke with ;)

Turning off auto extract in SWF Studio will eliminate any huge startup delays and you can extract assets on demand OR load them right out of the EXE using or ssURLLoader object. The documentation for the Files Tab (http://www.northcode.com/v3/help/index.html?page=User%20Interface_Main%20%20Files%2 0Tab.html) has all the relevant information and links. If you want to extract everything at one (or on demand) then SWF Studio will preserve the folder structure you create in the Files Tab as well.

I thought Zinc allowed you the option NOT to extract everything at startup but I'll be damned if I can find a way to do it. I also read in their forums (in a post by PeterBlaze) that if you have a folder structure Zinc will flatten it on extract. That sucks twice as hard if your project depends on where the files are in relation to each other.

If you NEED Mac support then your next stop is probably mProjector. They don't have as many features as Zinc. Their support is hit and miss. They sometimes go dark on people in the forums and don't reply. They could just be busy, but hey, answer people! They also don't have AS3 support yet (it's only been a year and a half) so that might be a non-starter. I know you can include additional files but a quick tour of their UI didn't show any way to prevent their extractioon (unless that's the default).

[Roller]

All I want to do is have one icon in a DVD that people click on.

The 'package' or '.exe' file would contain my main .swf which loads other .swfs and .flvs, the latter of which use cuepoints to trigger changes in the loaded .swf.

Will a 3rd party projector app do this for me?

(And one where the projector will also be Mac compatible?)

Let me advice you one more third-party projector that you may interesting in:
http://flajector.com
trial also available