[wortgames]

Hi everyone, I hope you can help. I have a specific task in mind and I've been told that Flash is the way to do it, but I haven't got any idea where to turn next. I've Googled the subject and had a look through this forum but a lot of it is way over my head so I'd appreciate a helpful pointer or two!

Basically, I have a bunch of models that I want to create looping flash 'animations' for.

My plan is to put each model on a motorised turntable, video it rotating for a complete revolution or so, and then turn the resulting mpeg or avi video into a constantly 'rotating' video image for use in web pages.

I realise there are other options like the VR turntables that use a series of notches and still images, but my main issue is speed and repeatability of process as I have a few hundred models I would ultimately like to do this for. I would happily accept a slightly glitchy edit in return for a fast process.

I have no experience but I learn fast. My 'web' skills are limited to Dreamweaver 4 and tables, but I am happy with what I've been able to create using them. I would like the clip to be about 400 x 300 pixels to slot into some tables that I already use.

So here are some of the questions that I have so far:

Is my plan do-able?
Is it a simple Flash task or cutting-edge stuff that would require years of experience?
Is there a neat software package that can do it for me?
Will I need to edit the video separately (ie, clip length and resize) before creating a flash file, or is it possible to do it all within one application?
Can the flash files easily be uploaded to my web host and incorporated into an HTML file or do they require some sort of back-end structure, scripts etc?
Can I embed a flash 'video' into a table just like a jpeg?

Any input from the wise Flash gurus would be greatly appreciated!