Yam Computers in Radiology • Computers

Scrollable Movie Loops

An Alternative for Presenting

Interactive Dynamic Data Sets
in Electronic Presentations:
A Scrollable Flash Movie Loop
Chun-Shan Yam1 OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article is to describe an alternative for creating scrollable
movie loops for electronic presentations including PowerPoint.
Yam CS CONCLUSION. The alternative provided in this article enables academic radiologists to
present scrollable movie loops in PowerPoint. The scrolling capability is created using Flash
ActionScript. A Flash template with the required ActionScript code is provided. Users can sim-
ply download the template and follow the step-by-step demonstration to create scrollable movie
loops. No previous ActionScript programming knowledge is necessary.

ith recent advancements in Instead, presenters can use Adobe Flash

W computing power and imaging

Keywords: ActionScript, electronic presentation, Flash,
movie clip, PowerPoint, scrollable movie loop
DOI:10.2214/AJR.07.2197
Received February 10, 2007; accepted after revision
June 7, 2007.
1Department of Radiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical
Center and Harvard Medical School, WCC, Room 306,
330 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215. Address
correspondence to C. S. Yam.
WEB
This is a Web exclusive article.
AJR 2007; 189:W295–W300
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© American Roentgen Ray Society
technology (e.g., submillimeter
MDCT scanners), many func-
tional and dynamic studies such as cardiac CT
angiography that could not be performed eas-
ily in the past are now routine protocols in
many radiology settings. As a result, more
and more dynamic data sets from these types
of studies are being presented in today’s radi-
ology conferences. The traditional approach
for presenting dynamic data sets is the use of
a movie clip, such as QuickTime (Apple) and
AVI (Microsoft) in Microsoft PowerPoint
presentations. Although movie clips are ade-
quate for showing an image sequence as a
continuous movie loop, they do not provide
user interactivity for controlling the image
display (i.e., the image scrolling function).
Previously, in 2002 and 2004, two differ-
ent methods were proposed for enabling im-
age scrolling in PowerPoint [1, 2]. However,
both these methods require the installation
of third-party software or PowerPoint com-
ponents (add-ins or plug-ins) on the presen-
tation computer and therefore may not be
compatible with the newly established elec-
tronic presentation (e-presentation) format
in today’s radiologic society meetings such
as the American Roentgen Ray Society
(ARRS) and the Radiological Society of
North America (RSNA). For instance, at the
RSNA 2005 and 2006 annual meetings,
PowerPoint transitions, animations, and
other plug-ins could not be supported by the
e-presentation system.
(.swf) for animations in their e-presentations.
Besides the capability of creating animations,
Flash can also be used to create PowerPoint-
style presentations. For instance, since 2005,
presenters at the ARRS annual meetings have
had the ability to choose between PowerPoint
and Flash as their presentation format [3, 4].
Although Flash is a useful alternative for
creating interactive content for e-presenta-
tions, it is still unfamiliar to many academic ra-
diologists. To help radiologists explore the po-
tential of this new technology, basic concepts
and tutorials for Flash have been provided in
two recent articles [5, 6]. In the first article [5],
an introduction was provided including basic
terminologies, screen tools, and function pan-
els. Essential steps for creating simple Power-
Point-style presentations were also discussed.
In the second article [6], step-by-step tutorials
for converting common movie clips (e.g., AVI
and QuickTime) into Flash movies were
shown. Detailed information for embedding
Flash movies into PowerPoint was also pro-
vided. This current article provides the essen-
tial techniques for creating interactive content
using Flash ActionScript (i.e., a scrollable
movie loop for PowerPoint presentations).
ActionScript is a common programming
language used by many Flash developers to
create interactive Web-based applications.
Depending on the complexity of the applica-
tion, programming ActionScript can be com-
plicated and may require certain software de-
velopment skills and experience. However,
for a simple scrollable movie loop, the re-

AJR:189, November 2007 W295


Fig. 1—Screen capture
of Adobe Flash shows
layout of template
“ScrollableCine.fla” (all
files are in supplemental
material, Fig. S1) in Flash
8 Pro (one screen “Scene
1” [top left circle]). Select
“Fit in Window” option to
maximize workspace.
Adjust screen
dimensions and frame
rate at Properties panel
(bottom left circle) (i.e.,
Select “Window →
Properties” from top
menu to open Properties
panel). Double-click on
Actions panel title bar to
view source code.
(Adobe product screen
shot reprinted with
permission from Adobe
Systems Incorporated)
quired coding is rather standard. An anno-
tated version of this code is provided in Ap-
pendix 1. For demonstration, a Flash template
containing this code has been prepared for
this article (Fig. S1 in the supplemental data).
Users can simply download the template and
follow the demonstration to create scrollable
movie loops (no coding is required).
Supplemental Data Download
To begin, users must download the supple-
mental data file from the supplemental data for
this article (Fig. S1). This is a self-extracting
zipped file created using WinZip 11.1 (Win-
Zip.com). Double-click the downloaded file,
click “Browse” and select a common location
(e.g., desktop) for unzipping the data, and then
click “Unzip.” A folder “\desktop\Supplemental
Data” will be created containing six files and one
subfolder: ScrollableCine.fla (Flash template for
Flash 8 or Flash 9), ScrollableCine_MX.fla
(Flash template for Flash 7), JPEGImages
(folder of 50 JPEG images), CT.avi (sample
movie clip), CT_1.swf (Flash movie), CT_2.swf
(Flash movie), and SWF_Into_PPT.ppt (Power-
Point macro for inserting Flash).
Software Requirements
Although Flash Player is freeware required
for viewing Flash movies on Web pages or
PowerPoint (i.e., a preinstalled component in
W296
Yam
many new operating systems for both Mac
[Apple] and PC), Flash Professional (or Flash
Pro) is a commercial product for creating
Flash movies. At the time of this writing, the
latest version of Flash Pro is 9 (or Adobe Cre-
ative Suite 3/CS3 ($699, $199 upgrade, and
$123 academic) [7]. To use the Flash template
provided in this article, users will need to
have Flash Pro installed on their computers. A
30-day trial of this application is available
at the Adobe Website (www.adobe.com/
products/flash/). Academic institutions may
purchase this application for educational use.
Although Flash 8 Pro and Microsoft Win-
dows XP Pro are used for this article, the es-
sential steps described in the following dem-
onstration can be used in other systems (e.g.,
Mac OS 10.3.9 and Windows 2000; Flash
7/MX2004 and Flash 9).
Demonstration
Launching the Template
To begin, in the supplemental folder
(Fig. S1), double-click on the file “Scrolla-
bleCine.fla” to launch the template (Fig. 1).
Depending on software settings, the screen
layout may be different from the one shown in
Figure 1. Closing all the panels except for
Properties can maximize the workspace.
Also, use the “Fit in Window” option to en-
sure the entire screen is visible (Fig. 1).
The template dimensions are preset at
550 × 600 pixels (width × height) with a dis-
play rate of 10 frames per second (fps). This
setting is most appropriate for presenting
movie loops of CT, MR, and sonography im-
ages for PowerPoint and e-presentations.
However, users can modify this setting at the
Properties panel as needed (Fig. 1).
The template contains one screen, two but-
tons (Play and Stop), and one text box. When
the Play button is clicked, the movie loop will
advance automatically at the preset frame rate
(in this case, 10 fps). If the Stop button is
clicked, the movie loop will pause, and users
can scroll the images manually (i.e., click and
drag the computer mouse in up–down direc-
tions). The text box at the top of the screen in-
dicates the current frame (e.g., 1/20, 2/20,
etc.). As mentioned, this scrolling function is
preprogrammed using ActionScript. For ad-
vanced users, the source code can be viewed
at the Actions panel (Fig. 1).
The next step is to import the source data.
For demonstration, the sample image se-
quence (i.e., the 50 JPEG images provided in
the supplemental data) will be used.
When preparing an image sequence, images
must be named sequentially (e.g., CT001.jpg,
CT002.jpg, and so on) and placed in a single
folder before importing the images. See
Table 1 for supported image formats.
Importing the Source Data
While the Flash template “Scrollable-
Cine.fla” is open, import the sample image
sequence with the following steps. Select “In-
sert → New Symbol” from the top menu,
choose the “Movie clip” option (Fig. 2A), and
then click “OK.” Select “File → Import →
Import to Stage” from the top menu, navigate
the file location to the sample image folder
(“\desktop\Supplemental Data\JPEGImages\”),
click the first image (CT01.jpg), and then
click “Open” (Fig. 2B). Click “Yes” to accept
loading all the images (Fig. 2C). Immedi-
ately, click the “Scene 1” icon to return to the
main screen (Fig. 2D), and then drag the
“Symbol 1” icon from the Library onto the
Screen (Fig. 2D). (If the Library panel is
closed, select “Window → Library” to open
it.). Enter “cine” (lowercase) for the Instance
Name at the Properties panel (Fig. 2E). As an
option, users can position and resize the im-
ages as needed (Fig. 2E). Select “File → Ex-
port → Export Movie” from the top menu,
navigate the file location to desktop and enter
the filename “CT_1.swf,” then click “Save.”
Select “80%” for JPEG quality, and then click
AJR:189, November 2007
 Scrollable Movie Loops

TABLE 1: Image and Movie Formats Supported by Adobe Flash Professional, Besides using an image sequence, users
Version 8 can also choose movie clips as the source data
File Format Manufacturer File Extensions (Table 1). The process for importing movie
FreeHand Adobe .fh, .ft clips into Flash has been discussed in a previ-
ous article [6]. However, for demonstration,
PostScript Adobe .Al, .pdf, .eps
the essential steps for importing a sample
PNG Freeware .png
movie clip into the Flash template are pro-
Illustrator Adobe .eps,.ai vided in Appendix 2.
AutoCAD DXF Autodesk .dxf)
Bitmap Freeware .bmp, .dib Using Flash Movies in Electronic Presentations
Enhanced metafile Freeware .emf
There are two options for using Flash mov-
ies in an e-presentation. Flash movies can be
Flash movie Adobe .swf, .spl
used as standalone presentations without the
GIF image Freeware .gif need of PowerPoint, or they can be embedded
JPEG image Freeware .jpg into PowerPoint. Nonetheless, because e-pre-
Microsoft Windows metafile Freeware .wmf sentation is still in its emerging period, the
Macintosh PICT image Apple .pct presenting mechanism among radiology soci-
eties varies, especially for file uploading. For
MacPaint image Apple .pntg
instance, for RSNA annual meetings, Flash
Photoshop image Adobe .psd movies and PowerPoint presentations must be
QuickTime image Apple .qtif uploaded to the presentation server sepa-
Silicon Graphics image SGI .sgi rately, whereas the ARRS allows Flash to be
TGA image Freeware .tga uploaded as either a standalone presentation
TIFF image Freeware .tif, .tiff
or within PowerPoint. Users should always
follow the submission guidelines.
WAV sound Freeware .wav
MP3 sound Winamp .mp3 Limitations
AIFF sound Freeware .aif The alternative provided in this article re-
Sun AU Sun Microsystems .au quires the software application Flash. Al-
QuickTime movie Apple .mov though some academic radiologists can obtain
this application from their institution, many
Video for Windows Microsoft .avi
may need to purchase it at their own expense.
MPEG movie Motion Picture Experts’ Group .mpg, .mpeg
Although users do not need to have pro-
Digital video Freeware .dv, .dvi gramming skills to use the Flash template to
Note—PNG = portable network graphics; CAD = computer-aided design; DXF = drawing interchange format; create scrollable movie loops, coding in Ac-
GIF = graphics interchange format; JPEG = Joint Photographic Experts’ Group; PICT = PICTure; tionScript may not be an easy task for many ac-
TGA = truevision graphics adaptor; TIFF = tagged image file format; MP3 = MPEG (Motion Picture Experts’
Group) 1, audio layer 3; AIFF = audio interchange file format. ademic radiologists. For advanced users, an
annotated version of the source code is pro-
vided for the development of other Flash appli-
“OK” to finish (Fig. 3). Press the Ctrl + Enter Point macro SWF_Into_PPT.ppt has been de- cations (Appendix 1). Practical examples and
keys to play the movie, and then press veloped [8] and is included in the supplemental basic programming tutorials on Flash and Ac-
Ctrl + W keys to end. Select “File → Exit” material. As mentioned, the macro security tionScript are also available at the official
from the top menu to quit. Click “No” to fin- must be set to Medium before running this Pow- Adobe support Website (www.adobe.com/
ish. This will keep the Flash template un- erPoint template (i.e., in PowerPoint, select support/flash/) and many other Internet resources
changed for future use. “Tools → Macro → Security” from the top such as www.actionscripts.org/tutorials.shtml
The size of this Flash movie loop (i.e., menu, choose “Medium,” and then click “OK”). and www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ActionScript.
“\desktop\CT_1.swf”) is 1.62 MB. This Flash Use the following steps to insert the sample Because this article focuses on the use of
movie is now ready for use in e-presentation Flash movie. Double-click the PowerPoint the Flash template to create scrollable movie
or PowerPoint format. template “SWF_Into_PPT.ppt.” Select “En- loops, it does not provide detailed informa-
able Macros.” Press the Alt + F8 keys to- tion for collecting teaching images from
Inserting a Flash Movie into PowerPoint gether. Choose “Insert Flash” and click PACS. Although some of today’s new work-
Unlike movie clips that must be linked to “Run.” Select a Flash movie (e.g., CT_1.swf) stations or PACS viewers enable academic ra-
PowerPoint as external data, Flash movies can and click “Open.” If the “Enable Macros” op- diologists to export teaching images directly
be embedded into PowerPoint as part of the pre- tion does not show when launching the tem- to external media such as a USB drive, some
sentation file. Unfortunately, the standard plate, change the security setting to “Me- clinical settings may not have this function.
method for importing Flash into PowerPoint as dium” as described and restart PowerPoint. However, general mechanisms for exporting
documented by Microsoft is complicated. To More detailed information for using this teaching images from PACS (either as DI-
simplify this cumbersome process, a Power- macro is available in a previous article [8]. COM files, JPEG images, or AVI movies)

AJR:189, November 2007 W297

 Yam

Fig. 2—Process for importing source data (all files are

in supplemental material, Fig. S1). (Adobe product
screen shots reprinted with permission from Adobe
Systems Incorporated)
A, Screen capture of Create New Symbol window
shows parameters for creating new movie clip symbol
(circle). By default, name is “Symbol 1.”
B, Screen capture of Import window shows
parameters for selecting image sequence. In this
example, first image (CT01.jpg) is selected at folder
JPEGImages for loading sample images (n = 50). Click
“Open” button to start loading images.
C, Screen capture of Adobe Flash shows options for
importing entire image sequence. For this example,
select “Yes” to continue.
D, Screen capture of Adobe Flash shows drag-and-
drop of the movie clip (Symbol 1) from Library onto
Screen. (Note: Select “Window → Library” or press
Ctrl + L keys to open Library panel.)
E, Screen capture of Flash shows template with movie
clip (Symbol 1) added. While Symbol is selected, enter
“cine” (in lowercase) as Instance Name parameter
(circle). Click and drag symbol to location that best fits
screen. Users can also resize and rotate movie clip as A B
needed (i.e., select “Modify → Transform → Free
Transform” from top menu, then drag corners).

D E

have been discussed previously [9, 10]. Users
should refer to these references for more de-
tailed information.
Discussion
The solution provided in the article enables
academic radiologists to create Flash movies
with image scrolling capability that can be
used in today’s e-presentation systems, in-
cluding PowerPoint, at major radiology meet-
ings. Users without ActionScript program-
ming experience can follow the step-by-step
instructions with the provided Flash template
to create scrollable movie loops.
Although this interactive feature is useful
for enhancing presentations and education
purposes, it may not be a necessary require-
ment for some academic radiologists. For pre-
senting simple movie loops in e-presentations
(i.e., without this image scrolling feature), the
animated GIF is already a compatible and ad-
equate solution. A simple method for convert-
ing common movie clips, such as AVI, Quick-
Time, and MPEG (Motion Picture Experts’
Group) movies, into animated GIFs using
Adobe Photoshop has been discussed in a
separate article [11].
In addition to e-presentation, Flash movies
can also be used in Web pages, especially for
Web-based digital teaching files. Flash has

W298 AJR:189, November 2007

 Scrollable Movie Loops

Fig. 3—Screen capture of Export (Adobe) Flash Player
window shows parameters for exporting Flash movie.
(Adobe product screen shot reprinted with permission
from Adobe Systems Incorporated)
A B
Fig. 4—Parameters for importing video (all files are in supplemental material, Fig. S1). (Adobe product screen
shots reprinted with permission from Adobe Systems Incorporated)
A, Screen capture of Import Video–Embedding window shows parameters used for importing video file as movie
clip symbol. (Note: It is important to select “Movie clip” option in this step.)
B, Screen capture of Import Video–Encoding window shows parameters used for importing video file at best image
quality. (Note: It is important to set parameters as shown and, in particular, to select a high data rate of 7000 kbps
for best image quality.)

built-in functions for generating HTML pages
specifically for this purpose. Select “File →
Publish Settings” to open the Publish Settings
window. Under the “Formats” tab, select both
“Flash” and “HTML” as the output options.
Click on the “Publish” button to generate the
Web document. Note: Flash can also be em-
bedded into other types of digital documents
such as PDF (portable document format,
Adobe Acrobat).
References
1. Daffner RH. On improvement of scientific presen-
tations: using PowerPoint. AJR 2003; 181:47–49
2. Gniadek TJ, Desjardins B. Interactive display of
stacks of images in scientific presentations with
PowerPoint. AJR 2004; 183:859–861
3. American Roentgen Ray Society Web site. ARRS
2008 abstract submission instructions. ab-
stracts.arrs.org/instructions.cfm. Accessed August
1, 2007
4. American Roentgen Ray Society Web site. ARRS
2008 guidelines for preparing an electronic exhibit.
abstracts.arrs.org/pdfs/prelimExhGuidelines.pdf.
Accessed August 1, 2007
5. Yam C-S. Using Macromedia Flash for electronic
presentations: a new alternative. AJR 2006;
187:584; [web]W209–W217
6. Yam C-S. A solution for using dynamic data sets in
electronic presentations. AJR 2006; 187:584;
[web]W218–W226
7. Flash CS3 Pro EDU. www.adobe.com/
aboutadobe/openoptions/?promoid=BIPB.Ac-
cessed August 23, 2007
8. Yam C-S. A simple method for inserting Flash mov-
ies into PowerPoint. AJR 2007; 188:1151;
[web]W374–W378
9. Browne RFJ, Torreggiani WC. Capturing PACS im-
ages. AJR 2003; 180:285
10. Kamauu AW, DuVall SL, Robison RJ, Liimatta AP,
Wiggins RH 3rd, Avrin DE. Informatics in radiol-
ogy (infoRAD): vendor-neutral case input into a
server-based digital teaching file system. Radio-
Graphics 2006; 26:1877–1885
11. Yam C-S, Kruskal J, Larson M. Creating animated
GIF files for electronic presentations using Photo-
shop. AJR 2007; 188:1422; [web]W485–W490

Appendixes appear on next page

AJR:189, November 2007 W299

 Yam

APPENDIX 1: Annotated ActionScript (ActionScript, Inc.) for Image Scrolling

//Variable Definitions //(Mouse Action -3) – When the mouse is scrolled

var CurrentFrame, LastFrame, TotalFrames, Lastymouse, timeint; onMouseMove = function() {
var ymouse = _ymouse;
//Variable Initializations var dFrame = 0;
timeint=setInterval(timer,100); if(MouseDown>0) {
TotalFrames=_root.cine._totalframes; // name of Movie Clip dFrame=int((ymouse-Lastymouse)/5);//Calculate the increment of
object = “cine” (all lowercase) changes
CurrentFrame=1; LastFrame=1; CurrentFrame=LastFrame + dFrame; //Update the current image po-
sition
//Updating the Image Number if (CurrentFrame<1) {
function timer() { CurrentFrame=TotalFrames;
ImageNo.text = _root.cine._currentframe + “/” + TotalFrames; Lastymouse = _ymouse;LastFrame=CurrentFrame;
} }
if (CurrentFrame>TotalFrames) {
//(Mouse Action 1) – When the mouse is pressed CurrentFrame=1; Lastymouse = _ymouse; LastFrame=1;
onMouseDown = function() { }
LastFrame=_root.cine._currentframe; _root.cine.gotoAndStop(CurrentFrame);//Update the image display
Lastymouse = _ymouse; }
MouseDown = 1; }
} //As default, image scrolling is in up-down mouse direction. For left-
right scrolling, change //the word “ymouse” to “xmouse” globally
//(Mouse Action 2) – When the mouse is released (in 10 places) before exporting the Flash movie.
onMouseUp = function() {
MouseDown = 0;
LastFrame=CurrentFrame;
}

APPENDIX 2: Importing the Sample Movie Clip into the Adobe Flash Template

Unlike an image sequence, which must be imported via a Symbol,
movie clips such as Microsoft AVI (audiovideo interleaved) and Apple
QuickTime can be imported directly onto the screen. To begin, double-
click the file “ScrollableCine.fla” (Fig. S1 in supplemental data) to
launch the Flash template. While the template is opened, use the fol-
lowing steps to import the sample movie clip (CT.avi), also provided
in the supplemental data.
Select “File → Import → Import Video” from the top menu.
Click “Browse,” select the movie (CT.avi), click “Open,” and then
click “Next.”
Select “Embed video in SWF and play in timeline,” and then
click “Next.”
Select “Movie clip” and accept the default options, and then click
“Next” (Fig. 4A).
Select “Flash 8 – High Quality.” In the “Advanced Settings” tab,
select the “On2 VP6” codec, “Same as source” frame rate, “Cus-
tom” quality, and “7000” kbps data rate. Click “Next,” and then click
“Finish.” See Figure 4B for detailed settings.
------The following steps are the same as the image sequence exam-
ple-----
Enter “cine” (lowercase) for the Instance Name at the Properties
panel (Fig. 2E). As an option, users can position and resize the images
as needed (Fig. 2E).
Select “File → Export → Export Movie” from the top menu, nav-
igate the file location to desktop and enter the filename “CT_2.swf,”
and then click “Save.”
Select “80” for JPEG quality, then click “OK” to finish (Fig. 3).
Press the Ctrl + Enter keys to play the movie, and then Ctrl + W
keys to end.
Select “File → Exit” from the top menu to quit. Click “No” to finish.
In this case, the size of this Flash movie loop (i.e., \desk-
top\CT_2.swf) is 2.31 MB.

F O R YO U R I N F O R M AT I O N

The data supplement accompanying this Web exclusive article can be viewed from
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W300 AJR:189, November 2007