14 replies to this topic

[Pax]

Hey all, this is my "Final Project" for my college course, I present the website on March 3rd to my teachers, peers and some industry reps. I'm looking for some feedback on how things work, the design, and anything else you can think of.

Just some notes:
1. There are no pre-loaders *yet*
2. Total file size of all the .swfs is ~30kb
3. Going to attach a border around the .swf.
4. The background is made in actionscript, and changes every time the movie is played, I can make it "draw" the background for 10-15 seconds as the user surfs around, but when it gets close to the end, it really bogs down the playback of the movie.
5. I find the playback a little slow...does anyone else? If yes, any ideas to fix that?
6. There is a little jump shortly after you clikc on the Enter orb/button thing, thats just a change in the .swfs that are being played, and will be fixed later (a pre-loader will go between these anyways)

I think thats all the things I should let everyone know about. I'm also wondering about the font/font colour, does it look alright?

Here is the url:
Portfolio Website

Thanks everyone!

[SimplicityDesigns]

To get the playback unchoppy, change the frame per second (FPS) count to something around 30. That's by the place where you change the page size.

-BBHD

[Pax]

Right now I have it set to 24 fps, which looks great when I run it locally, but when I upload it and run it from the net, its slow, and it really varies in speed from computer to computer.

[SimplicityDesigns]

Yea, I'd up it to 30+. My site, www.jeffphilibin.com, uses 35 and it runs fine. If the computer is older/lags, then that's probably why it is choppier.

-BBHD

[Tirus]

Right now I have it set to 24 fps, which looks great when I run it locally, but when I upload it and run it from the net, its slow, and it really varies in speed from computer to computer.

definitely increase the fps, when i first saw it i thought it was at the default 12 fps setting. try to get a less choppy effect on the site.

[SimplicityDesigns]

Just a few more suggestions...center the swf on the middle of the page (I think this can be done in Publish Settings).

It's probably just the choppiness, but the text on the menu takes too long to appear. One of the worst things about multimedia is when I have to wait to read the text because it hasn't finished its animation.

None of the links work for me...

I'd make the home appear after clicking the "MC" button at the start.

-BBHD

[Pax]

Just a few more suggestions...center the swf on the middle of the page (I think this can be done in Publish Settings).

It will be centered once it is complete, just getting the basics done right now.

It's probably just the choppiness, but the text on the menu takes too long to appear. One of the worst things about multimedia is when I have to wait to read the text because it hasn't finished its animation.

Yeah, when I run it locally, it takes about 1 second to load the text in (which is much much faster than online), so it's just the choppyness.

None of the links work for me...

There are no links yet, there are just invisible buttons over the movieclips so that when I need to, I can add the links in.
Thanks for the responses, I'll have more updates ready on the site later on today.

[SimplicityDesigns]

Why don't you just use actionscript on the buttons?

on (release) }
gotoAndPlay(1);
}

-I think that's it...

-BBHD

[Pax]

Site is back up again, should be working. Let me know if its still slow and choppy with the preloaders, thanks all!

Edited by Pax, 23 February 2006 - 12:15 PM.

[Pax]

Ok, I've added some more to the website, the portfolio section works now, but it is still painfully slow. Things run nicely on my computer, but when I go to the url to view it, its all slow and choppy...anyone know why? I have it at 30fps, and like I said, runs great on my computer when I test the movie. Could it have anything to do with my actionscripting?

Any help would be really appreciated. Btw, in the portfolio section, you cant click on any of the "images" yet.

[funkysoul]

for how long is the background drawing script running? does it stop somewhen? That could be a reason why it's being so slow.
If you developing in Flash 8, use the new BitmapCache Function that will help the performance a lot.

tbh. I've never used more then 25fps on my flashmovies, and I've done a lot of them.. every draw that is being generated by flash which involves a lot of information will bring the CPU down to the knees.

[Pax]

for how long is the background drawing script running? does it stop somewhen?

Its about 20 lines of code, and it runs in a while loop 300 times, then stops. If you want to see the code, I'll pm it to you. It obviously uses alot of math.Random()'s. It draws the shapes with 3 points, 4 if you count going back to the origin, and gives them a fill with 5% alpha.

[funkysoul]

300 times on 3 to 4 points is a lot mathematic calculations for the flash player and as mentioned before, if you're not using the bitmapcache function it will bring almost every computer down to their knees.. This is a old "bug" in flash, that is being or has been fixed with the new function or even improved when AS 3 is officially released.

[Pax]

Ah, wonderful! The bitmap cahce worked amazingly!
Thanks so much funkysoul!

btw, added more to the portfolio section of the website...it has some real thumbs now, will be adding the descriptions and the fullsize images later.

How are the transitions? Hopefully not too long now, or too crazy.

[SimplicityDesigns]

The menu text still takes too long.

-BBHD