Import Live DVideo Into A Macromedia Director Projector

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Firstly:
Happy New Year To All The Audio\Visual Massive Worldwide Representing In The 2003!

Im EliteFx : A Producer/Dj/Vj Looking To Make Contacts.
Im Currently Launching My Own Audio/Visual Multimedia Company. Im Real Happy That Ive Found A Place Where I Can Communicate With Like Minded People. Ive Already Learnt Alot From This Site And I Would Really Appreciate Some Information And Feedback To Help Me With My First Project.

I Wanted To Sync My VideoGraphics With LiveMusic.
So...I Built An Incredibly Simple Application In Macromedia Director.
That Works With External Videos And Allows Me To Manually Drop And Crossfade The Videos In Real Time. I Was Trully Amazed With The Result! Many Sleepless Nights Followed As I Experimented Further... I Am Very Happy With The Way My Creation Has Evolved.

The Thing Is...I Now Would Like To
Drop Live Video From A DvCamcorder Into My Mix.
(Preferably Through Firewire Not USB)

Is This Possible? Can It Be Done With Director.
How Can I Call An Live Video Feed Into A Director Projector?
Do I Need A PlugIn? Or Additional Software That Will Save The Live Video Stream To A Local File That Director Can Recognise eg.Quicktime?

Thanx For Taking The Time To Read My Request
Feedback Would Be Greatly Appreciated!
EliteFx - Uk

[Anyone]

Ganga,

You probably need an xtra (plug-in) to do what you need to do.
have a browse through this link:

http://www.macromedia.com/software/xtras/director/

or this

http://www.setpixel.com/

good luck, Ne1

[robotfunk]

I don't know any xtra's that support WDM drivers (all firewire cards I know of have only WDM drivers, not VfW)

The one thing I have yet to test is using a Flash MX member to do camera (flash can use webcams and firewire etc). (only director MX supports flash MX members)
Have not tried this but heard of someone who didn't manage to get this to work.
I do hope this is possible as this would be my main reason to upgrade to MX.

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Thanks For Your Replies!

Originally posted by robotfunk
I don't know any xtra's that support WDM drivers (all firewire cards I know of have only WDM drivers, not VfW)

The one thing I have yet to test is using a Flash MX member to do camera (flash can use webcams and firewire etc). (only director MX supports flash MX members)
Have not tried this but heard of someone who didn't manage to get this to work.
I do hope this is possible as this would be my main reason to upgrade to MX.

Is It Really That Hard To Drop Live Video Into A Director Projector?
Ive Seen It Done Plenty But Maybe Not on Software Designed with Director.

I Just Aquired Director Mx - But I Am Yet To Experiment & Use It.
Before I Do...When Creating A Flash Member, Do I Need Flash Mx Also Or Can I Do It From Within Director?

[Amukidi]

This sounds really interesting - I'd like to know how you get on as I need an app to put together AV sets this year, and Director scares me!!

[robotfunk]

Yes you will need flash (mx) installed to make a flash (mx) castmember in director.

If you dont need WDM driver support ... most webcams and capture cards (except firewire) are supported by one of these:

trackthemcolors

http://www.smoothware.com/track.html


webcamxtra

http://webcamxtra.jtnimoy.com/

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Thanks Again Robotfunk !

So It Looks Like I Completed Part One Of My Mission!
Question Is..
Can I Really Be Lucky Enough To Get My Creative Hands On
Both Of Macromedias Fine Products In ONE Day?!
Im On The Case. Then Once I Obtain A Copy Of Flash I Will Post Again If I Require Assistance (If You Would Be So Kind).

Am I To Believe That My Dream Of A Importing A Live DV Into My Projector Is Actually A Possibity!

Will This Method Of Importing A Flash Mx Castmember Into Director Mx Definately Achieve The Results Im After?

Has Anybody Out There Actually DONE Anything Like This?

Give Me A Shout...Im Desperate To Get My Project FINISHED!!

Elite Fx Integrated Media - Uk

[robotfunk]

ive used other types of capture, not dv in director
so nothing is gonna be 100% sure

please don't ask for copies of software either, thanks

[GanjaSmokingDon]

So : Santa Did Come Early...Ho Ho Ho!
I Got Me Director & Flash Mx.
So My Upgrade To Macromedia Mx Has Been Sucessful.

But...Will I Be Able To Achieve My Mission ??

Now I Sleep And Plan To Get Cracking Tomorrow Or Should I Say Today??!

Thanx For Your Posts Guyz... Again Robotfunk...
But I Think You Got Your Wires Crossed Buddy,
I Wasnt Asking You For Software!!
Anywayz I Appreciated The Feedback.
And Ill Keep You All Posted As To How I Get On.

I Noticed Quite A Few People Read This Post , But Not Many Replied.

IF There Is Anyone Out There Who Has Done Something Along These Lines.. Surely I Cant Be The First.
Would Be Interested In Hearing About It.

Also :
Shout Goes Out To Jaffa ...Thanx For The Interest In My Project.

If U Do Live In Ipswich, I Am Just Round The Corner [Local].
Let Me Know What You Were Thinking Of Doing.
Prehaps We Could Hook Up?
Like I Mentioned In Previous Post Im Just Launching My Company.
Into the 2003...Get Back To Me And You Might Just Get To See My Application In Action!

Laterz! zzzzzzzzzzz!!

[GanjaSmokingDon]

SO :
Ive Got An IDEA...I Got The SOFTWARE TO Make It Happen.
All I Need Now Is ASSISTANCE!

SOMEONE!!!
Please, Please Help Me Complete My First VJ APP!

I Appreciate Feedback Robotfunk U Have Been Mighty Helpful!!

Im Thinking I Have To :
Encode My Live Digital Video (From My MiniDv Cam v.i.a Firewire) Into An *.ASF Stream (Using Netshow)
And Then
Import That *.ASF Into Either FLASH Or DIRECTOR Cast Member.

Is This HOW It Should Be Done???
Should I Use NETSHOW... (Do I Really Need To)
Or Is Any Other Software Available To Make My Life Easy?

Comon Guys I Find It Hard To Believe No ONE Has Done This Or Knows How 2!!

Help A Fellow VJ Complete His First APP!
I Might Just Let You Lot Evaluate My Creation...
If I Ever Get It Finished!!

[robotfunk]

If you do this you will need to search an xtra that can do asf streams (streaming media xtra does this) .. so you wouldnt be one step further.

Your best bet might be to use the VFWWDM wrapper, this should make your (WDM) firewire cam work with VFW.
see http://www.virtualdub.org/docs_vfwwdm on how to do this. This should be enough to make your DV cam work with the xtras I mentioned earlier. (it should show up as
Microsoft VFWWDM wrapper in the capture device list)

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Nice One ROBOTFUNK!!!
Thanx Again. I Shall Try!!

Dammit If I Cant Get It Runnin! Ill Just Get Me A USB Webcam!

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Oh Well No Joy ! S@#T
I Tried Both The Extras.
Track Them Colours.. Looked Like It Might Function
Because I Was Able To View My DV In the included AMCAP.exe
But NOT In HACKTV.exe Which The Readme States That If Your Vid Works In Hacktv It Works In Director Also.
Looks Like Im Gonna Need a Webcam
Slightly Defeats My Mission Objective But Beggars Cant Be Choosers.

If ANYONE out there Is ABLE To View a DV Camera In Director Or Flash Please Let Me Know.
And If It Isnt Possible .....MACROMEDIA sort Ya Life Out

Thanx For Taking The Time Out Reading My Request.
I Imagine I Might Be Asking For Some Help In The Future Should I Come Across Anymore Hurdles In My Project So Until Then...
Keep The Visuals Running !
Laterz..
ELITE (Disapointed But Not DEFEATED!) FX

[jansi]

hi
live dv video can be captured using videoSprite xtra ,
which makes a far better solution than flash Mx because you can get acess to pixel data of the video image. So motion detection and live video manipulation is possible (with imaging lingo)

Dv device has to be on and connected before you run the application, when it turns off , projector crashes(as far as i now)

[GanjaSmokingDon]

Thanx For Help ...But Video Sprite Xtra For Mac NOT Pc!!

So Im Still Looking!

[jansi]

it workz on PC (try videosprite 3.0 )

[WordVirus23]

good luck on your ventures... both the app and the business, nothing quite like starting your own business. I was just saying the other night that I couldn't imagine coding... but as it looks as if I'm about to step into Linux, so much for that whole not coding thing...

I personally don't use flash apps (except for Countdown, thanks J?) but have seen some pretty nice ones... any chance of getting some screen shots or captures of yours? I'm sure we'd all love to drool on a possible new app...

[robotfunk]

who said anything about flash apps?