More information about this project will be revealed in the beginning of 2010. Stay tuned! =)

Introduction

I have illustrated my concept for a mobile phone with a touch screen, I imagine that this menu also will work for Flash a video player on a web page controlled by a mouse. The menu in the following draft only has two panels/modes, I believe it could work with up to 4 panels. Either you switch the menu by tapping once the “flip icon” to the right. Or you drag the flip icon upwards to rotate the menu. I’m not sure what works best.

As I already stated, this is just and I idea that I felt like sharing. Perhaps there already is a player out there who works like this one? Interfaces with a back and front that is rotatable/switchable are already available, for instance Apple’s Dashboard Widgets. But I have not seen a video player with this kind of interface. Have you seen one? Please let me know! ;)

A quick mockup of the effect (I have not given much attention to graphic details)

Draft screens with a bit more graphic detail, still needs more work….

Background

Some of the features that are revealed when flipping the menu are explained in my post “The future of Flash video players”. I believe that future video players need give the user more control over video playback, than most current video players do.

The user should be able to pause, and manually step back or forward, frame by frame. And also be able to skip to a certain frame of the video by manually inputting time. I’m also mentioning a bookmark feature in my previous post, which is not included in the concept in this post.

What do you think? Is this a good idea, a bad idea or something else? Shoot me a comment!

The interface of the app is quite frustrating, but once you get the hang of it you can see it’s charm. However, the learning curve is quite steep and I still have a lot to learn…

This first model looks quite cool once it’s rendered, but if you look at the actual mesh it’s messed up. It seems like the best workflow is to build a base mesh in Cinema 4D (or any other 3D package) to sculpt on in Zbrush, instead of trying to create the whole mesh from scratch in Zbrush.

Uselful Zbrush tutorials:

http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/listarticle.jsp?type=tutorial_modeling

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/store/category/171/Free-Tutorials-All

Background

Lately I have been watching a lot of videos tutorials on YouTube, Vimeo and many other sites. And I realized how limited the controls on most Flash video players are. The interface is quite bulky and inaccurate. It’s time for these players to evolve!

It seems to me that most video Flash players were developed for serving short video sequences. However today these players also serve longer videos. Many TV stations are offering video content online, and most of them provide their users with limited “YouTube style players”. Longer videos requires more control, my old VHS player had more features than most Flash video players out there… Well, in some areas at least ;)

Examples of video players:

I’ll give you an example, lets say you are watching your favourite TV show, which is 40 minutes, and you want to skip ahead to 25:33. This seems like a simple task. But it’s almost impossible to move the play back head to the position you want, since the time line is compressed. The longer the video is, the harder it is becomes.

I would like to have more control, especially when looking at video tutorials since you want to see certain steps several times. I would also be able to play a video in double speed, and perhaps even higher speeds. To be able to bookmark a certain frame would also be nice.

My concept

The images below are a proposal for a video player UI which offers more control. I don’t know if all features are possible from a technical point of view, this concept is seen from a user perspective.

Player features

1. Manual frame stepping
Ability to manually step back and forward, frame by frame.

2. Playback speed
The ability to look at the video in higher speed (up to four times the normal speed).
A “slow motion” feature could also be useful.

3. Position play head position with numeric input
Input the time you want the playback head to go to by numbers, instead of scrubbing the time line.

4. Switch between advanced and standard UI
This icon switches between advanced and standard UI. It’s important not to scare users who are not willing to use the advanced controls. And you want to be able to see the video once you made your input, right? =)

5. Bookmark frame (Video bookmarks)
The possibility to bookmark certain frames of a video. Of course this requires the user to be logged in to the site that serves the video.

Conclusion

I have to stress that the UI I have created is just a draft concept. There are several things that I have not taken into consideration, for example what happens if the user adds 30 bookmarks? Well, some kind of scrollbar has to be implemented… and so on.

With these features you will have more control over video playback. It’s about time for the major players like YouTube and Vimeo to start to consider an update of their Flash video players.

Do you agree, or perhaps disagree? Have you got any other ideas? Start commenting! ;)

EDIT: There is something I forgot to mention. Instead of starting from scratch and figuring out a totally new player/skin/ui I based this concept on the classic JW player skin. The purpose of this concept is to discuss possibilities to improve Flash video players, not the actual design.

Right now I’m rendering via Net Render on 4 machines, in HD. Hopefully it won’t take 48 hours like the last render (on one machine). Video will be posted as soon as it’s rendered and edited…

It turned out a kinda cool, but the animation is very messy and you are unable to to see what shape the spheres are forming (my logo).

I made a bad choice in colors… :/ Expect to see a new version soon.

C4D Mograph experiement from Anders Kavcic on Vimeo.

If you like it, promote it at Behance and/or Society 6

iPhone wallpaper v.1:

iPhone wallpaper v.2:

Click on images below to download.

iPhone version (320×480)

Sony Ericsson & Nokia version (240×320)

Sony Ericsson & Nokia version (176×220)