Frame Rate

[Gerebeto]

Hello,

i have a flash web site which .swf file is 105Kb. I changed the fps from 12 frames per second to 20 frames per second. I thought the size of .swf would increase but it's the same. Is this normal?
And if it is not normal should it increase a lot?
I am using Flash MX.

Thanks,
Miguel

[Mortimer Jazz]

Completely normal. It's the size of your content , not the frame rate, that determines the size of the movie.

If you are watching a DVD and you decide to watch the whole thing in fast-forward mode then the movie properties don't change. It's still the same length and the movie still has the same number of frames and filesize will still be the same, but you are just seeing it play faster - the same with Flash movies. Speeding up the fla may make the swf slightly more processor intensive though.

FRAME RATES
PAL (UK Television) is 30fps and NTSC (US TV) is 29.97fps - this should give you some idea.
Common Flash frame rates that i've seen used a lot include 12,24,25,30
If the user's computer can't keep up with your chosen frame rate then the flash player may drop frames (ie ignore them) whilst trying to keep up.
Choosing your frame rate depends on what you want to do and who your target audience is (ie how much bandwidth does the "baseline user" have and how good is their computer).

*the lowest user-specs you need to design for.

[Gerebeto]

Well,

i was using 12 fps....however i wanted to include some simple flash games in my web site so i decided to put up the fps to 20.

Do u think that's to much for a normal user?

Thanks,
Miguel

[Mortimer Jazz]

should be

[red penguin]

My standard is 30 fps.

[CyanBlue]

One more vote for 30...

[Gerebeto]

Hi,

isn't 30 to much. What do u think that is the standart in most good web sites out there. I'm asking this as i've been seing really nice smooth web sites but i also see not so smooth web sites.

Thanks,
Miguel

[red penguin]

<ramble>
Depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Personally speaking, I use 30 cause it works for me. But then, I rarely use any tweens or anything comp intensive. It's all script. The things I do are not dependent on fps. Except for the gadget pieces I have done where it is purely for my enjoyment, I rarely need to even bother with it.

So....then I have one word for you.

TEST

Test on different machines/platforms/connections/etc...

And then it comes down to you. If you settle on 24 or 30 or whatever, keep it that way for the project. Scope the project.
</ramble>

[Gerebeto]

Well...

i use actionscript most of the time...do u mean that fps doesn't affect actionscript? I though somehow even the actionscript commands were dependeble of fps.

Anyway, i use 20 for fps especially for some games i have in my web site...they use frames so it's better that way.

Thanks,
Miguel

[Mortimer Jazz]

I'm sure that frames with actionscript on will be given priority by the player and not skipped.
I use 30fps as well, but as for work I'll tailor the movie-speed to my client's target audience, so I've used 12 and 24 and 60 before (60fps for an offline demo running on a pre-spec'd machine).
30 fps has never given me any fps related issues that I'm aware of. Hope this helps.