CompuServe Messages

Dave: Video for Windows is sold as a stand-alone product for about $149 at places like Egghead. It allows you to load in FLC files and save them as AVI. For precise timing under Windows, I've found that AAWin works quite well whether you're using Jiffies (where'd they EVER get a name like that?) or FPS. Here's a trick for syncing sound… Quite often, I like to fire up my MIDI rig while working on an animation, to see how the piece might be scored. First, I make a 1/4 screen version of the animation (320 x 240). Then I "stripe" the FLC file with timecode in SMPTE format using TIMECODE.POC (available here on CI$). I now have a "window dub", as it's called in video terminology. Now the fun begins. Using Cakewalk for Windows or Master Tracks Pro, I can look at the timecode and add effects or musical hits which are RIGHT ON THE MONEY, because both sequencing packages are SMPTE-based for accuracy. It's a matter of simply lining up the sequencer timecode numbers with the flic timecode numbers. Cakewalk and MTPro also have MCI hooks, so you can view the animation while playing back the MIDI file. MCI also allows you to add WAV files on top of all this. I hope this helps! -Tom