View transparent movie on top of another application

[LouiseG]

Hi,

I need to create a transparent flash movie that can be viewed/ sit on top of a any application as well as Internet Explorer. E.g. Similar to that annoying office assistant paper clip that appears in Microsoft Word.

Does anyone know if this is possible. This doesn't have to be created with Flash, it's more the effect I am after.
Thanks in advance

Lou

[ramprage]

Flash supports opacity but I'm not sure if you can use it on video clips. Try turning your external video into a movie clip, then go to the effects panel (if I remember right) and advanced. You should be able to change the opacity to make it semi or fully transparent

[hotnuts21]

Yeah i wouldnt mind knowing how to do that thing like the paperclip, it would be really helpfull to have on my site!

[flux]

this is a company that created a software package to create this kind of apps

http://www.flashants.com/root/iceplayer.shtml

hope this helps

[creole]

That's nice...too bad you have to have that annoying little popup window to go along with the items. The ladybug was really nice.

[hotnuts21]

I think I have an alternate way of doing things but please do point out any glaringingly obviously mistakes.

Basically, do a litte animated gif of whatever you want then use this little script I foundhere
then make the link a pop up with the menu or help or whatever in. You could make the pop up dynamic, so that it was featureless or chromeless as i think they call it.

It would need a bit of tweaking but the idea is there it just needs working on. The gif would of course have to be transparent, to a degree at least!

[flux]

yes, but then you either have jagged edges or ugly edge pixels...

[flux]

I think there is another appliction that lets you create the same thing without the need of installing that extra player, but I can't seem to find it anymore...

[israel_sioson]

If any of you would like to have that effect in your website we can help. We provide it as a service, but we provide it as a advertising medium. You can check out this URL for a demo www.ad-blazer.com/inq7.html. Our website is www.ad-blazer.com (The design is crap, we're in the process of replacing it so don't bother telling us it's crap!)

[hotnuts21]

There Good, But I feel there probably gonna be way out of my budget

[Roxy]

just tested: http://www.multidmedia.com/products_fls.htm their tool called FlashStudio has "always on the top" option for Flash projectors.

[flux]

If you need it only to play on top of your webpage, you could just use DHTML layers and create a transparent flash...the problem is that this only works for IE (no Netscape/opera)

[hotnuts21]

just tested: http://www.multidmedia.com/products_fls.htm their tool called FlashStudio has "always on the top" option for Flash projectors.

For free, that is an excellent tool, and after playing if I want to include it on my website for commercial use, then the commercial licence is very reasonable. I need to delve deeper but looks good

oh yeah and I also need to find out how the hell to use flash

[Roxy]

I want to include it on my website

the tool outputs flash projectors (.exe files) for offline use mainly. Moreover, it adds about 1 meg to an original .swf file. If you plan some offline/cd-rom app, it's ok, but for web - draw your conclusion.