Combining Flash Animation with Video Possible?

[newsteve]

Hi,

Im wondering if its possible to combine flash animation over a background of live action video using Flash? I'm looking for an effect similar to the movie Roger Rabbit...

I have done some experimenting, and I realize that its possible to import a live action video into flash and then do some animation on another layer and then publish it - but with this method its essentially impossible to guess the timing of the live action video...

Does anyone know if its possible to import a live action video into flash and actually see the timing /frames of the video within the Flash IDE? Or should I be using something like after effects? (I'd much rather use flash!!!)

Thanks!

[cjx3711]

Well, premiere CS4 allows you to import flash animations. So you can use that instead. but it is entirely possible to recreate the effect you are looking for.

When you import some live action footage, embed it into the timeline. Then you should be able to see a live preview of the video. It may lag though.

[kkbbcute]

Well, to approximate the timing, there is always another way, open up both Premiere and Flash at the same time, that way, you can have two timeline that are exactly in sync, so your synchronization problems are instantly solved. On the down side, this would only be convenient if you have a dual screen setup.

[newsteve]

Thanks for the replies... but Im just curious on how you actually embed video into the timeline?
Is this even possible in CS3, or is it a CS4 thing?

Thanks

[kkbbcute]

You just drag the video onto the stage, a prompt will come up and you tell it to embed the video onto the timeline and expand frames as needed to fill up the timeline. ;)

Both CS3 and 4 support this. I'm not sure about older versions of Flash though as I don't use them.

[BikutaHo]

Well, If you want the background is a video , so all you have to do is make a Layer for the background/video and make sure its under the animation layer so then the animation will be appeared infront of the video.

[kkbbcute]

One more thing: Don't scale the video even if you need it to be larger, Flash does a terrible job of it, use Premiere or After Effects CS4/3 instead, they are much better at scaling videos.