FrameSync 2.0 Now Available

FrameSync is a Flash extension, originally released nearly 2 years ago, that allows you rapidly lip-sync your characters with an audio track. With this newest release, you can sync your characters even faster and easier than before.

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.zip

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.

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  1. I’m fascinated at the thought of being able to play back the audio one frame at a time. Can you reveal how you pull that off? Do you have to load in the whole audio clip into your tool panel via actionscript, or is there some fancy new api that I haven’t discovered yet that lets you play a portion of the audio that’s on the timeline?

  2. Justin says:

    Hi David, that’s a good question. It’s relatively simple with the addition of timeline.startPlayback (and stopPlayback) to the API in Flash CS5. In Windows, it’s sufficient start playback and immediately stop it, but this does not work in the Mac OS. Since there’s no interval or timeout functions in JSFL, I handle that in the ActionScript, allowing playback for a duration equal to the length of a frame. The playhead position and selection is then reset after playback.

  3. Luis Sosa says:

    I hope these extension speed my work flow but I don’t now why
    I having problems to got it every time I try to download it
    I get these message: “Sorry, no posts matched your criteria.”

  4. Justin says:

    Sorry about that, Luis. The link has been fixed. Thanks for letting me know!

  5. Luis Sosa says:

    Now It’s good,I’ll tell you a full review in a couple of days .

    Thanks!!!!!!!!!

  6. Justin says:

    Great, Luis. I’d love to hear what you think!

  7. william says:

    As an animator I have a sugestion: you could also have it display thumbnails, but only where there’s a label identifying it. Not in every keyframe.

    Thanks for sharing the extensions! I already use some of them in my animations!

  8. Justin says:

    Thanks for the suggestion, William! I’ll see what I can do to include that feature.

  9. teaful says:

    Now It’s good,I’ll tell you a full review in a couple of days

  10. Serkan Buldan says:

    Hi this is a very good extension but i can not use it in flash cs5 (with some other good stuff of you) it says it has been installed but i can not see them in command menu or window/other panels. Thanks for sharing your effort with the public.

  11. Justin says:

    Hi, Serkan. If you want to install the extension in Flash CS5, you need to make sure that you’re using Extension Manager CS5 (and not an older version) to install it. Then restart Flash before attempting to access the extension.

  12. Serkan Buldan says:

    Thanks for your kind reply, i double checked the version of Extension manager, its CS5.

    Mysteriously i have frame edit command from David Wolfe, i can see it in the commands list and it works but i cannot use your extensions or commands.

    I was searching the net, if i would find other extensions similar to your extensions. I found some from Dave Logan but also they dont work.

    Your extension, Dave Logan’s and David Wolfe’s all installed in extension manager CS5 but only David Wolfe’s is working.

    I’m very frustrated because at least i would like to use the command, which sets the graphics frame equal to timeline.

    Can you, suggest some good article for creating JSFL commands, i’m familiar with AS3 and it doesnt look very far from JSFL.

  13. Justin says:

    Serkan, the other thing that may be a factor in the target language of the application. Check these 2 threads:
    http://forums.adobe.com/thread/33295
    http://forums.adobe.com/message/3362097

    The first thread suggests accessing Extension Manager directly from Flash, Help > Manage Extensions… That definitely seems worth a shot.

    Re: JSFL tutorials…I recently did a video tutorial for ActiveTuts on JSFL. They’ve got a few other JSFL tutorials worth checking out.

    Lee Brimelow used to have a great tutorial on creating a SWF Panel, but it looks like it’s been taken down. I’ll try to put together some JSFL tutorials in the near future. Check back on this blog.

    The Animation with Scripting book that I co-authored with Chris Georgenes has a chapter dedicated to JSFL. The Extending Flash book is also a fantastic resource.

  14. Serkan Buldan says:

    Wow, 7 Star Customer Support for none paying customers. 🙂 And also thanks for the articles, You are fastest replying, most helpful blogger.

    For the others may have the same problem, Extension manager copies the files into system language folder (in my case tr_TR), but flash looks for in english. Solution is after you installed the extension, copying the files from this directory

    C:\Users\”user name”\AppData\Local\Adobe\Flash CS5\tr_TR

    to this directory

    C:\Users\”user name”\AppData\Local\Adobe\Flash CS5\en_US

    thanks alot again.

  15. Justin says:

    Thanks, Serkan. I’m so glad you were able to resolve the issue. Enjoy the extensions!

  16. Justin says:

    Serkan,
    I’ve now posted the first in a new series of JSFL tutorials.

  17. Malk says:

    This extensions here : http://blog.cloudkid.com/keyframe-caddy/ is MUCH better than the one you have made my friend……

  18. Justin says:

    Hi Malk, that is a nice looking extension. It doesn’t have all of the same features, but it’s probably the best UI design for a thumbnail-based extension that I’ve seen so far.

  19. Pro TR says:

    How do you install this, when i tried it, and lead it into my flash folder, it said sorry this directory could not be verified and sorry no compatible versions of Flash/Animate were found

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