Overview

The Dragon FlicPlayer System consists of a pair of 32-bit components for Borland Delphi versions 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, which replicate and extend the functionality of the 16-bit AAPLAY.DLL flic-playing DLL provided by Autodesk Inc. for the playback of animation files produced with Autodesk Animator, Animator Pro and Animator Studio.

The Dragon FlicPlayer32 is a non-visual component which acts as the flic-rendering engine for the system. This allows flics to be played back onto any window, or direct to the desktop.

The Dragon FlicPanel is a visual component which acts as a "wrapper" for the FlicPlayer32 component. It provides its own canvas for displaying animations, but can also play back animations transparently to other windows and direct to the Desktop.

The FlicPanelX ActiveX control is derived directly from the Delphi FlicPanel component, and offers the same facilities to users of systems such as Visual Basic and Visual C++.

The AAPLAY32.DLL provides a dynamic array of FlicPlayer32 components for users of systems such as Visual Basic and Visual C++, and is 99% compatible with the original 16-bit AAPLAY.DLL.

The latest version of the software extends the possibilities of flic-file animation by adding the facilities of sprite-based transparent rendering (including playback direct to the Desktop) and pre-rendering of animations for maximum playback speed.

Flic-file animations are ideal for rendering the "cartoon" style of animations which are used extensively in Computer Based Training and multimedia applications. They can also be used in place of animated GIF images, where they typically result in a file size which is 50% - 70% of the GIF version of an animation.

The components are written in pure 32-bit Delphi, and use a combination of Device Independent Bitmaps (DIBs), ImageLists, dynamic arrays, streams and multi-threading for optimal performance.

Distribution Licences

Under the terms of the distribution licence, use of the registered and source code versions of the Delphi components, ActiveX control and DLL is limited to the company which has purchased the registration, and up to a maximum of 50 users. For the development of applications which are to be shipped on to clients, offered for sale or deployed across more than 50 users, it is necessary to purchase a one-off Unlimited Distribution Licence. Each holder of such a licence will be supplied with a "stamped" version of the code, containing their company name and licencing information - the normal registered version will be stamped "not for distribution".

Educational institutions and charities will not be required to purchase Distribution Licences should they wish to distribute the system beyond the limits specified for a simple registration fee.

Versions

The Delphi components are supplied in the following versions:

Unregistered DCUs for FlicPlayer32 and FlicPanel with "about screen" for Delphi 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
A set of registered DCUs for Delphi 2, 3, 4 and 5. Use limited to the purchasing company, educational institution or charity.
Source code for both components. Use limited to the purchasing company, educational institution or charity.
Unlimited Distribution Licence for sale outside the enterprise or deployments of more than 50 users.

The ActiveX control and DLL are supplied in the following versions:

Unregistered shareware version with "about screen".
Registered version of OCX or DLL. Use limited to the purchasing company, educational institution or charity.
Unlimited Distribution Licence for sale outside the enterprise or deployments of more than 50 users.

The original Dragon FlicPlayer component for Delphi 1, which requires AAPLAY.DLL, is also still available for download.

Latest Developments...