If you've felt overwhelmed trying to use Flash files or if you
just want a way to make the whole process easier this is it.
Flash Designer takes a lot of the guesswork out of using Flash
and at a price that won't break you.
Looking at many programs used to produce Flash files, one gets the idea that they are somewhat complicated — and some of them are. At that point, users may wish for a program that simplifies and speeds the creation of Flash elements.
If that is the case, they need look no further than Selteco's
Flash Designer 1.5, a program that provides many predefined
animation effects and makes the rest of the processes extremely
easy.
A number of those animation effects are involved in the
appearance and departure of elements within a file. Among the
options are: fades, a variety of rotations, squeezes, pumps, fly
ins, a variety of zooms, flips, shifts, peeks and hides, covers
and uncovers, and stretches.
The ease of the program comes in how those animations are
applied to elements. For example, users can import a graphic,
select it and while it remains selected, choose an entry
animation to be applied to it. While still selected, choose an
exit animation. As the song says, that's all there is.
Animations can have backgrounds with user-chosen colors, and
imported graphics can be made transparent from within Flash
Designer.
Additionally, items can be given certain behaviors for on click,
on over, on out, and on up actions, making it easy to make Flash
buttons.
In addition to providing drawing tools (including rectangles,
circles, and polygons, with the ability to apply flood fills and
varying line widths to each), the program enables users to
import the dominant graphic web formats — .jpg, .gif, .bmp, and
animated .gifs.
Flash Designer also allows users to zoom in and zoom out on
objects for more precise work. It gives users the ability to
place items in exact x-y positions, resize them, move them
backward and forward, group, ungroup, and align multiple items.
Flash Designer also provides a list of frames used in the
animations so that users can re-order them if desired or vary
the delay between each in an animation. This feature makes the
creation of animated banners a snap.
One nice feature related to frames is the ability to create a
Master Frame, which can contain elements that remain in an
animation throughout. Rather than have to recreate those
elements in subsequent frames, users can simply add or subtract
items to/from the Master Frame elements to create the later
frames.
Once the user has completed the animation, it can then be saved
in the program's native .sfd format and exported to the Flash
.swf format. The HTML for the animation can also be exported,
then cut and pasted into the target document. All that is left
for users to do is to make sure the .swf file is in the same
directory as the HTML document.
Because of its versatility and ease of use, Flash Designer is
definitely worth considering if you want to add Flash to your
web site. And, for $39, it's a pretty inexpensive way to get the
job done, too.
In addition to providing drawing tools (including rectangles,
circles, and polygons, with the ability to apply flood fills and
varying line widths to each), the program enables users to
import the dominant graphic web formats — .jpg, .gif, .bmp, and
animated .gifs.