When you double-click an MXP (or ZXP) file, your operating system open your default version of Extension Manager. This may not be the version that you want, however. Suppose you have Flash Pro CS4 and Flash Pro CS5 installed. Your system will (probably) automatically launch Extension Manager CS5 when you attempt to install a new extension. This is okay if you want to install the extension in Flash CS5, but it will not be available in Flash CS4.

There are other issues that crop up when you have versions installed in multiple languages (and in some cases, if your language is not English). Luckily, there’s a simple way ensure that you’re using the correct version of Extension Manager.

1. Launch the version of Flash Pro (or Dreamweaver, or Fireworks) in which you’d like to install the extension.
2. Go to Help > Manage Extensions… and it will launch the matching installation of Extension Manager.

Once you’ve downloaded and installed the new version, you should see a button at the bottom of the SmartMouth panel that says Advanced…

New Advanced Features

The Advanced button will bring up a window with 2 new options.

Looping

Loop settings allow you to control the loop setting applied to the outputted symbol instance(s). This can be applied if you want to animate each mouth shape, rather than use static images.

Keyframe Frequency

Keyframe Frequency allows you to control the frequency of keyframes that are automatically generated (1s – every frame, 2s – every other frame, or 3s – every third frame). You can use this setting to animate your mouth at a frame rate lower than that of the rest of your animation. For example, your animation might be set to 30 fps, but you want your mouth to animate at 15 fps, so that the mouth doesn’t look frantic. In this case, you could select 2s.

The image below demonstrates the different outputs generated by altering the Keyframe Frequency.

These new features are based on user requests. Please let us know what you think!

Dave Logan has a wonderful command called Enter Graphic At Current Frame that resolves this issue. Many Flash animators use graphics symbols  so much that they would prefer “entering at the current frame” to be Flash’s default behavior when they double-click to edit a symbol. A number of these users have sent me requests through the Extension Request Form. So I put together this panel to essentially make “entering at the current frame” the default behavior. The panel simply has to be open for the behavior to work (the Auto jump box is checked by default). There are some extra buttons for some added fanciness.

This is a total freebie, but donations are appreciated (donate button located in the right-hand column).

Download
(Compatibility: Flash 8 & up)
FrameAim.mxp

• Upped the Flash Player timeout limit from 15 to 45 seconds for files that take a long time to process.
• Added a warning for files that exceed Flash Professional’s 16,000 frame limit.
• Fixed an error that was occurring when serial numbers were entered incorrectly.
• Upped to the trial limits to 4 100-frame attempts per document.

These updates should help with issues encountered on larger files, as well as allow for more testing with the trial version. We still plan to release some new features to the extension in the near future.

Also, if you didn’t see the previous post, note that 50% of SmartMouth sales for the rest of this month will be donated to the California State Parks Foundation.

Here are a couple items we’re considering. We’d love to have your feedback so that we can determine where to best apply our resources.

1. Additional languages. This would only apply to the user interface at the moment (and not the help documentation).

2. Keyframe Frequency Control. This would allow you to limit or reduce how many keyframe are produced in Flash Pro by SmartMouth. Some people have noted that by default, SmartMouth outputs a lot of keyframes. This is fine if you’re animating on 1s (24-30 fps), but if you’re animating on 2s (12 fps), the mouths move too quickly in relation to the rest of the animation. In response, we released the Convert to 2s and Convert to Ns extensions to convert keyframes to different frequencies. These extensions can be used with or without SmartMouth. This proposed new feature, however, would be built into SmartMouth and would choose which keyframes to omit based on how unlikely SmartMouth believes they are to a match, rather than just arbitrarily removing keyframes.

It might look something like this:

Update (11/16/2011):
The Keyframe Frequency feature has been added in version 1.1.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Note: When I tested this in Flash CS5 (Mac) it ran perfectly. In CS3, not so much. So use with caution. Same goes for Convert to 2s. I’m not sure where the discrepancy comes from, looks like a Flash bug, but I’ll fix it if I can.

Download
(Compatibility: MX 2004 & up)

Convert to Ns.mxp

I’ve had a few requests for something like this recently. This extension converts selected frames that contain frame-by-frame animation, classic motion tweens, or shape tweens to every-other-keyframe (aka ’2′s). Traditional animation uses 2s for content that doesn’t need to be animated at high speeds. Some animators also employ this technique in Flash.  This extension is similar to ToonMonkey‘s Tween 2 Keys, except that it also converts frame-by-frame animation as well as tweens.

This extension can be used to convert SmartMouth automatic lip sync output to 2s (as requested by a user).

If you want to convert Motion Tweens (in CS4 & up) or Armatures, you’ll need to take one extra step before running this command: right-click on the tween or armature and select Convert to Frame by Frame Animation. I haven’t found a way to script this step yet, but I’ll continue to look into it.

Download
(Compatibility: MX 2004 & up)

Convert to 2s.mxp

Update (11/16/2011):
The Keyframe Frequency feature  is built into SmartMouth as of version 1.1.

Here’s a little sneak preview of a new extension that I’ve been working on:

Short Version

See SmartMouth in action in a matter of seconds…

Full Version (10 min.)

UPDATE (9/6/2010): I’ve added thumbnail previews of the mouth shapes to the SmartMouth extension.

UPDATE (10/22/2010):
Nearly all systems are go. We’ve completed the license docs, the payment system is ready, and SmartMouth is almost ready for release. We were hoping to have it ready for release the week of Adobe MAX, but we still need another week to complete testing, produce user documentation, and make some minor refinements. At this point, we’re hoping to have SmartMouth ready for release during the first week of November. If you’d like to be notified of this release, you can sign up for our newsletter.

In the process of putting together a Flash CS5 animation book with Chris Georgenes, I started looking at new features that could be added to FrameSync based on the updated extensibility layer in Flash Professional CS5. In addition to that, I had a few requests from users about displaying label-less keyframes in the FrameSync panel. While I was under the hood making these changes, I made a few other improvements as well. Hope you enjoy!

New Features!

The new features for version 2.0 are as follows…

Keyframe Mode

This will allow you to see (and utilize) the keyframes within your selected symbol without adding frame labels. You can adjust this settings using the Mode dropdown menu. You can still add frame labels and use Frame Label Mode if that’s your preference.

Audio Playback Frame Navigation for Flash CS5

If you happen to be using FrameSync inside of Flash CS5, you’ll now have a new set of controls as well. These frame controls allow you play audio on the current frame (without scrubbing the playhead), as well as to navigate back and forth on the Timeline. All of your lip-syncing can now be completed from within the FrameSync panel. No jumping around the Flash interface!

Performance Improvements

In addition to the large enhancements, FrameSync is now better at a few of the less obvious tasks, such as updating the selected frame within the panel when you move the playhead.

Download

(compatible with Flash MX 2004 & up)

FrameSync.mxp

More on FrameSync

• You can see these new features in action in this video demo that I posted a couple of weeks ago.
• Refer to the original FrameSync post for more info on the existing features and a video tutorial on how to use the FrameSync extension.
• Check out the new book for a step-by-step guide to lip-syncing with FrameSync
• See Chris Georgenes demo FrameSync in his MAX 2010 Animation session.