The Flash vCam

Any good animation changes camera angles from time to time. Unfortunately these is no easy way to do this in Flash… by itself.

However, a fellow named Sham Bhangal wrote a little application using actionscript that allows us to have a virtual camera that can be animated within scenes.

There is also a fairly in-depth article (regarding v-Cam use and more so: the code) here. If you’re handy with actionscript and are looking for a little more detail on the vCam, you may prefer to start there.

But if you’d like a quick start with the vCam then download the this file and continue reading.

Set the vCam to Your Stage Size

  1. Open vcam.fla that you downloaded from the link above.
  2. Copy the vcam movieclip symbol and paste it into your movie on a new layer (this layer should always remain the first layer).

    3. Note: All the code the vCam needs to function is within itself. Whenever the vCam is on the stage it takes affect, and when it’s removed flash will treat it like it was never there.

  3. It’s important that you set the initial size of the vCam to the size your of your stage. Vote4Oz is a 640×480 movie so you’ll notice if you downloaded the file above that the vCam’s dimensions are 640×480. If this is not done, your movie may appear distorted when running through the vCam.
  4. Panning: Apply a normal motion tween to the vCam. Whatever the vCam passes is over will be what’s shown on screen.

    5. Note: You can move the vCam off the stage itself, and it will still work. Keep this is mind.

  5. Zooming: Tween the vCam smaller to zoom in, larger to zoom out.
February 27, 2008 | Filed Under Animation, Flash 

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