Support for Interactive Flash and SWF Updates

Starting with Broadcaster version 1.01106.1502 Beta 4 RC1 , interactive flash is supported, meaning you can add your SWF files to the Broadcaster stage and those files will now respond to client interaction such as mouse clicks, mouse movements, and keyboard inputs. This means that you can even add a flash game and play it inside the Broadcaster stage.

To accomodate a user request and to make a simple showcase for the new interactive flash feature we have launched a new SWF plugin called “Whiteboard Overlay”. In this context we have released updated versions of the Video Playlist and  Image Slideshow plug-ins. The latter is now also able to support IPhone style dragging for image progression.

In this blog entry, we are going to discuss each of the flash plugins that now ships with XSplit.

Whiteboard Overlay

This one is the newest member of the team, the latest addition to our SWF plug-ins family. Some users wanted to have the ability to make annotations and this is what the Whiteboard Overlay is for. Basically, this will allow you to do freehand writing in your stage just as if you were writing on a whiteboard using a marker.

To use it, go to the “File” menu, click on “Add SWF plugin”, then select “WhiteboardOverlay.swf” file on the “Select a SWF Plugin” dialog. You typically add this plug-in over another item on your stage which you want to “write” into, and then you have to make sure that you have this overlay locked in its position so you can start writing in it. To write in it, all you have to do is drag your mouse pointer inside the whiteboard overlay.

Writing to the “Whiteboard Overlay” shows you that SWFs are able to receive mouse events even while on the Broadcaster stage, and to show that it can also receive keyboard events, you can use the following hotkeys for testing and also for maximizing your “Whiteboard Overlay”

• Press “C” to show or hide the color picker, the color picker value corresponds to the pen color which is white by default.
• Press “A” to increase pen size
• Press “S” to decrease pen size
• Press “Esc” to clear whiteboardTip: You can lock the position of a source added to the Broadcaster stage by right clicking on it; this will show up the “Source Properties” dialog. Go to the “Position” tab, then make sure that the “Lock Position” checkbox is checked.

Image Slideshow

The “Image Slideshow” plug-in is used to create slideshow of images, supported image file types are JPEG, GIF, and PNG. To use it, go to the “File” menu, click on “Add SWF plugin”, then select “ImageSlideshow.swf” file on the “Select a SWF Plugin” dialog. It will add a blank element in your stage that you can configure to add a set of images and show them on your stage. To configure it, right click on the element then click on “Configure” button. A small window will appear. Here’s a screenshot and a brief explanation of each buttons

• “Insert” button allows you to add images into your “Images” list
• “Remove” button removes selected items from the “Images” list
• “Move Up” button moves the selected image(s) one step upward relative to the position of the highest-positioned selected item
• “Move Down” button moves the selected image(s) one step downward relative to the position of the lowest-positioned selected item.

For stage functionalities or the functionality of the Image Slideshow flash file added into the Broadcaster stage, you can press “P” to play or pause the slideshow. Double clicking the image while in “Slideshow” view will show the thumbnails, while double clicking on a thumbnail will show the image in a bigger size; you can also resume the slideshow by pressing “P” at that point.

While on “Thumbnails” view, you can browse all the loaded images by either using the scroll wheel of your mouse or dragging the thumbnail strip. Note that in order for the latter one to work, you need to lock the position of the Image Slideshow plug-in.

Video Playlist

The “Video Playlist” plug-in works similarly with the image slideshow plug-in except that it’s for videos.

The configuration window buttons work the same wa with the image slideshow plug-in’s configuration window. Once you have your videos added to your stage, you can press “P” to play or pause the said movie, “F” to play the next item in the playlist and “B” to play previous item in the playlist.

Again please note that the Video Playlist uses the FLVPlayback flash component and so only supports a limited number of file types.

That’s it! We certainly hope that you find these 3 new updates for our SWF plugins useful. What are you waiting for? Try it for yourself and see it in action!