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Read this entire page - Updated July 16th 2008.

Many experts have spent months scouring the internet searching for these answers and wasted a lot of time and money researching and purchasing software that did not do what they needed it to do before finally discovering this package contained all the answers they were searching for laid out simply here...

I recommend taking the time to read this entire page.

Important info regarding Adobe Software, new CS3 versions, old versions, and free trials: Notice: In July 2007 Adobe discontinued Ultra 2 and released Ultra CS3 which is now only available in Adobe CS3 Production Premium. Dreamweaver 8 and Flash 8 pro were also discontinued and have now been replaced with CS3. Please use the information in this grey box to suppliment the rest of the package as it will guide you on how to obtain the tools you will need. You can get a fully functional 30 day Ultra CS3 trial on DVD which is the new version of Ultra that adobe is selling which is currently only available for windows and only as part of the CS3 Production Premium suite. This trial is currently only available as a dvd set from Adobe. If you get the fully functional 30 day trial dvd set for CS3 Production Premium you will have the ability to produce alpha channel transparent videos using the trial software for 30 days until it expires. For those individuals or companies who are simply looking to produce the transparent effect a limited number of times without having to lay down the extra expense of purchasing the license to CS3 Production Premium a good option is to take advantage of that fully functional 30 day trial and only install it when you are ready to use the software to produce your effects. For those looking to use the tools long term (beyond the 30 day trial) Adobe CS3 Production Premium or Adobe CS3 Master Series is a must. Too many people make the mistake thinking that they will find a cheaper solution. Adobe is the best source for All the tools to fully accomplish this effect. There is no better or easier solution. In this package I also provide video tutorials on how to simulate the effect which requires less tools and can be done with free downloadable trial software from Sony. Other options include searching on Ebay for used copies of Ultra 2 under the name "Serious Magic" but they are very scarce because literally hundreds of other people are looking for it as well. Ultra 2 and Ultra CS3 are identical except that Adobe is now the sole distributor of Ultra and renamed it. This news came out in July 2007. To get the free fully functional free trials of Flash CS3, Dreamweaver CS3 etc from adobe. You must either already have an Adobe user account and login or create a free user account both of which you can do by clicking here. Once you have logged into or created your account and logged into adobe using this link you will be directed to a page where you can download both the Dreamweaver and Flash pro CS3 trials. Don't forget that to get the 30 day fully functional free tials of Adobe products like Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3 pro you can register for a free account at Adobe by clicking here There are pros and cons to Adobe's new pricing strategy which literally tripled the cost necessary to get access to the Ultra software as of July 2007... The con is that because they have a monopoly on this technology they can and do charge as much as they want for the software. The pro only applies to those who know the value of this effect. For those companies that know the real value of being able to produce this effect both for their own websites and for the websites of clients they will have a unique advantage. Because of the cost of doing the true transparent effect there will not be as many companies employing it so the impact will remain viable with less cometition for those producing it and those using it. However, for those who are unable or unwilling to invest in the tools necessary to achieve the transparency effect there is still the "simulation alternative" to the real effect that I explain on this page: http://www.totalwebvideo.com/hacktrap/sim/index.html That strategy will not produce transparent videos but will show you how you can simulate them. To accomplish the real "Transparent Effect" following the instructions I provide in this package you will need either the fully functional 30 day trial versions or full licensed versions of the following software: 1. Ultra CS3 (now only available as part of CS3 Production Premium). 2. Flash CS3 Pro with Flash Video Encoder. Or 1. The older version of Ultra called Ultra 2 from Serious Magic (now owned by adobe). 2. Flash 8 Pro with Flash Video encoder from Macromedia (now owned by adobe). The information in this package is still the most current and complete available anywhere on the net for how to create the "Greatest Web Video Effect Ever."

First I want to orient you on the tools and or free trial software you will need to select from to achieve your goal for the video project you have in mind.

The first is Sony Vegas Movie Platinum edition (for editing video). The second piece of software you will need is something to convert your video to flash so that you can embed it in your site with the player template I provide. I recommend you download the free 30 day trial of Flash Pro which comes with Flash CS3 Pro video encoder (best video compression and encoding you can get).

All products from Adobe which are available on Adobe's downloads page offer fully functional 30 day free trials.

If you want to create invisible popins with embedded transparent videos with various effects like the one I show in my sample here or here or here where the popin video follows the visitor as they scroll down the page you will need to get dhtml popup pro which I explain how to use on the "Greatest Web Video Effect Ever" video tutorial page and in the code notes.

Special Note:

On2 Flix 8 pro supposedly (I have worked with it for years and never found any documentation or abilities to accomplish this list) can do the following functions:

1. Take out the background of your chromakey video (keying)

2. Set and preserve alpha channels

3. Encode and compress to Flash 8 flv video

4. Generate the code and players you need to embed video into your web page including invisible buttonless players.

Now having said that I must point out in my personal tests Flix 8 pro is extremely difficult to key your background with (I will show how easy Serious Magic is for this and other things in my vid tutorials) and I have yet to figure out how to set alpha channels in Flix 8 and make the transparent videos.

In fact it appears that even the people at On2 do not know how to use their own software to create Alpha channel video because there is no info in the software help files on it and if you look at the forum posts asking for help doing Alpha Channel encoding with Flix pro there is no qualified answers from even their tech documentation guy.

I noticed that I know two of the companies who posted there seeking help months ago and I know they never got an answer because they contacted me this week saying they still were looking for an answer for their clients and wanted to promote my package.

If Flix 8 pro was easier and worked better it would be a great alternative. The truth is that it simply is not a good alternative. I have tested it over and over and it has just failed to prove itself viable.

It is a good flash 8 video encoder though. But I would personally never use it for anything more.

If you are adventurous you can try Flix 8 Pro.

One more thing to realize... Adobe licensed the Flash 8 VP6 video compression codec from On2. Even Adobe knows how to use it better than On2. On2 purchased the flix product line about a year ago from a company called Wildform which is probably why On2 has not improved the Flix software much.

Special Note: I recommend you wait to install any of software trials until you have 30 days during which you are willing to dedicate some time to using the products and getting the most out of your trial and making money with what you produce and then using that money to invest in the most important tools once you decide you cannot live without them.

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Alternatives - Warning! To Accomplish the Transparent Effect You Should Use the Software Recommended Above in the Top Part of This Page.

The resources below are only alternatives for those of you who like to experiement provided for your reference:

ZS4 - Afree video editor

ZS4 includes chromakey features and has been used by some for creating alpha channel (transparency) video.

I cannot vouch for its effectiveness as I have only seen examples using it. I will test this out more fully on my own later but for now this looks like a good free alternative for those who need it:

http://www.zs4.net/download - Free download page

http://www.zs4.net/book/print/203 - Step by step mini tutorial for chromakeying with ZS4

http://www.zs4.net/tutorials-beginner - More tutorials on using the ZS4 focused on the beginner

http://www.zs4.net/tutorials - A directory of links to tutorials for beginner, intermediate, and advanced users of ZS4.

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The following are my personal recommendations for the best, easiest, fastest and the most affordable solutions for encoding and embedding plain flash video for your websites:

Flash Video Encoding:

Click here to download the free FLV producer light

FLV Producer Full version is one of my most favorite software solutions. I simply would not want to be without it. You can click here to read all about what it does. I have tested literally thousands of dollars in flash video and web video creation software. The most expensive I tested cost me $1000 and the least was free. There simply is no alternative to FLV producer. There are many software solutions that do some of the things flv producer does but there is no solution that does all the things it does and no solution that is as easy to use and creates as professional looking a collection of players as FLV Producer provides.

There is probably not that many people who have tested as many solutions as I have here is a list:

Wildform Flix pro, Wildform Flix light, Wildform Flix engine On2 Flix pro, On2 flix 8, Sorensen Squeeze, Riva encoder, Webmaster Media Maker, Easy Flv, Turbine encoder, Camtasia studio, CamsStudio, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Flash 8 video encoder, and a few more that I just cannot recall right now.

FLV producer is the best in every area when matched against all other solutions except in one area... that is that it does not have the new flash 8 compression capabilities for encoding video. This is not important except that you cannot encode alpha channels without flash 8 video encoding or the VP6 video encoding from On2.com which is what Adobe Flash 8 uses.

So since FLV producer provides all the other features I need for using web video in my marketing online and since only Adobe Flash CS3 or Flash 8 Pro with Flash video encoder or On2 Flix 8 offer the highest quality flash compression which is required to encode alpha channels (transparency) then I at the very least must have FLV producer and Flash CS3 Pro or FLV producer and On2 Flix 8.

You can get away with not having FLV producer if you want to just use the few built in web site video player options that Macromedia provides but here are the reasons I have to have FLV producer:

1. It provides a collection of some of the best looking video players available anywhere.
2. It has built in javascript include output option to immunize your flash video objects against the disabling features of the IE active x update due to the Eolas patent dispute (click here for more info).
3. The players automatically resize to fit the dimensions of your video.
4. The players offer me auto load and non auto load options so that all the media on my page is not forced to download the minute my visitor arrives slowing down the whole site.
5. I get to set the amount of video that buffers as well as whether the video auto plays or not.
6. I can redirect my visitor at the end of the video to another site if I choose.
7. It has a player that is completely invisible without any visible controls that I can use for special playerless auto play video effects.