Audio/Video Simple Chat via Comm Server With the release of Director MX we will be supporting access to Flash Communication Servers via the Flash Asset Xtra. This movie is a simple demonstration file that shows basic audio/video chat between two users via a Comm Server. This demonstration comes in two varieties, the first uses an embedded SWF file that contains all the necessary ActionScript, the second uses a simple SWF with only a named video clip instance on stage and all the necessary coding is done in Lingo using the new Flash objects from scripting functionality. Demo files created by Tom Higgins.

Peekaboo, I see you!
Flash Communication Servers allow client movies on different physical machines to communicate with each other as well as share data in a number of ways. This demo attempts to show an example case where two users can chat between each other using installed system microphones and web-cams (USB or FireWire/IEEE394). The movie doesn't excercies the full breadth and depth of functionality available though, rather it focuses on just showing the most basic of audio/video chat capabilities. Not used in this example are features that allow control over the size and quality of the video (bandwidth usage) as well as user specific features like microphone sensitivity and echo suppression. To allow access to some of these elements I've provided a button on stage that allows you to invoke the Flash player's Settings dialog box.

Instructions
First you should make sure that you have at least a microphone installed on your machine, that way you can still chat even without sharing your video image. Beyond that it's a bonus to have a web-cam installed so that your chat partner gets a visual image of you to go along with the audio they will hear.

Load either of the demo movies and you'll be presented with a screen that allows you to enter your name along with the name of another user, you need to be carefull and enter this information correctly. Say your name is "Beavis" and your friend's name is "Butthead", you need to enter those correctly as your name and the other name respectively. Your friend on the other hand would need to reverse them and enter "Butthead" as their name and "Beavis" as the other name. Once you've entered the information click on the "connect" button. When you click on the "connect" button you should be presented with a dialog box asking you for your permission to access the camera/microphone, make sure to give permission or this demo is pretty much useless. Once you've done this just wait for your friend and away you go!

While the movie is playing you can control things like echo suppression, mic sensitivity, etc. by clicking the blue "S" button in the upper-right portion of the stage. Doing this will open the Flash player's Settings dialog box thus allowing you access to a wide variety of controls.

Click here to see the demo that uses an embeded Flash movie with the necessary ActionScript.
Click here to see the demo that uses an embeded Flash movie and the necessary scripting done in Lingo.

Source Files

simplechat.dir
simplechat.fla

simplechat_lingo.dir
simplevideo.fla

page last updated 11-Dec-2002 | tom higgins - thiggins@macromedia.com