Getting started with video.Maru

Need to create a custom video interface? If you are a designer or a developer looking to create a custom video interface then consider using video.Maru. It's designed to offer maximum functionality with a minimum of effort. Others who have used it before compare it to magical. Which is a pretty high bar to aim for when creating a Flash component.

by Dan Florio Here's main reasons you might consider using video.Maru.

1. To use video.Maru you don't need to know anything more complex than how to give a MovieClip an instance name. No coding necessary.
2. It is infinitly skinable.
3. You don't need the latest version of Flash.
4. It will save you time.
5. It's free.

You want to see how easy it is? Just watch the video below. From an empty FLA to building a fully functional video player in 90 seconds.

To view this Flash movie, you will need to enable Javascript in your bowser

Here's how video.Maru works: you drag a SWC into your Flash file off the stage - you don't need anyone to see the SWC. Then you start adding the controls for your video player.

• You want a play button? Make a MovieClip, any design you wish, then give it an instance name of play_btn. You're done.
• You want a timeline and playhead? Same deal. Just draw some shapes, convert to MovieClip and give them instance names of timeline and playhead and you'll have a dragable playhead to display the progress of the video.

Okay, you're thinking that's great and all but you need to have a lot more than just a few player controls for your design.

• You need volume controls - done, vertical or horizontal orientations.
• You need to display time remaining and time played - done.
• You need the controls to fade when the user doesn't move the mouse - done.

And all that with no coding at all. But wait, there's more.

• You need buttons to navigate to other videos - done.
• You need to create a reflection of the video - done.
• Full screen support - done.
• You need to mask the video - done.

And still, no coding necessary.

Okay, lets get insane with this. You need to load an XML file that describes a list of videos, and dynamically create buttons for each video for the user to navigate with. Oh, and you want titles and descriptions of the videos to be displayed. And while were at it how about captions to be displayed as the video plays.

video.Maru does all that and you still don't need to write any code. Okay, you do have to create your own XML files. video.Maru doesn't read minds. :-)

But what if you want to do something like time an animation to start when the video ends or, I don't know, something crazy like have the video window grow dynamically as the video plays. You can do that to because video.Maru has a complete API so that you can reach in and press it's buttons, so to speak.

Plus there are nearly 2 hours of training videos available that cover almost every aspect of video.Maru. If you don't believe me then just read what others have to say after using it.

This article is written by the author of the Video.maru component. We usually don't allow people push their own products on Flashmagazine, but Video.maru really is a briliant, non-commercial component that designers will love and it really is super-easy to use! Dan also recently posted a nice list of current video.Maru users

 

 

Comments

No comments for this page.

Submit a comment

Only registered members can comment. Click here to login or here to register