In this page we outline all the design tips and guidelines about MV template design. You will learn the basic concepts here and keep on to the next topic smoothly. For advanced users who are familiar with Flash authoring, this guideline covers everything you need to know about MV template design, so after reading this page, you can skip the rest of the tutorials and begin to design your template straight away as far as you feel comfortable.
Introduction on flash components for MV template design
We have installed following 4 components to your Flash program in the previous page:
- uCard_begin component: This is the XML parser and external assets preloader. This component must be placed in a keyframe of main timeline. And the timeline length of the keyframe must cover all frames of all layers on the stage.
- uCard_end component: This is used to notify the endpoint for MV converter. Please place this component at the ending frame of your movie.
- uCard_image component: This is the container for user image in MV movie. Please set default image and other parameters in Component Inspector. And convert this component to Movie Clip for further authoring.
- uCard_text01 component: This is the container for user text in MV movie. Please set default text and other parameters in Component Inspector. And convert this component to Movie Clip for further authoring.
Fast track to MV template design
Tip 1: When you create a new file for template design in Flash, be sure to choose ActionScript 2.0 in document type and set the document properties with the dimensions: 320 x 240 pixels, and frame rate: 24 fps.
Tip 2: MV template is a Flash movie that allow users to change images and edit text in a movie. Designing a MV template is very similar to traditional Flash authoring. The major difference is that you only need to use the movie clip containing image component (uCard_image) instead of static images and use the movie clip containing text component (uCard_text01) instead of static text field. After the template is completed and uploaded to YouVivid website as for use, the image components in the template will become the placeholders that allow users to snap in personal images. Plus the text components in the template will become the placeholders that allow users to edit personal messages.
Tip 3: Whenever you want to add a new image component (or text component) into your flash movie, be sure to drag uCard_image (or uCard_text01) components from the Components Window and drop it to the stage. DO NOT simply duplicate the component by using copy/paste from the component or movie clip that are already on the stage unless you want the new component always host the same image as the old component. Also remember to convert the uCard image and text components on the stage to Movie Clips before further authoring.
Tip 4: The first frame in the main timeline is used to design MV's cover page. DO NOT place any of visual components (image or text) into the first frame of the main timeline. And movie clips in the first frame of main time line SHOULD NOT contain any image or text componant. Also please add a "stop();" actionscript command in this frame to ensure the MV movie pauses at the cover page before users hit the Play button.
Tip 5: Every MV template must contain these 2 control components: uCard_begin and uCard_end. Since the control components don't have any visual part, they should be placed on the stage that are outside the visible area. Please note that uCard_begin component must exist on main timeline and the keyframe that contain the component MUST cover across whole timeline from the first frame to last frames on the stage.
Tip 6: When sending a MV to a mobile, the MV Converter in the YouVivid server will convert the MV to video files that are suitable for mobile devices. And the uCard_end component in the template is used to denote the last frame for MV converter to stop here. So please place this component at the end frame of your movie. It can be placed at either the last frame of your movie or the frame that you want the mobile clip of the MV to end with.
Tip 7 : When you have completed the template design with Adobe Flash CS3, please click on the menu [Command] > [uCard Export] to export your template to file (file_name.ucd). Then you can login to the YouVivid website and enter [My templates] to upload the file to the server for test and use.
If you have read and understood the design tips above, then you may skip the rest of the tutorials to go ahead with your MV template design, or you may continue the tutorial below which will guide you step by step.
Next: Design cover page for MV template
