Not all Flash projects have to be monstrous productions befitting
a Hollywood producer. Some can be used to simply add life or
interest to a page or Web site, and that's where a program such
as SWiSH 1.5 can be most useful.
That isn't to say that SWiSH could not be used to make
productions just short of the most complex possible, but its ease
of use seems made-to-order for smaller, quicker results.
Areas in which SWiSH stands out are in creating text animations,
interactive menus, and Web site introductions. Further, because
it exports files in the same format as
Macromedia Flash™, most viewers can see the end product
of SWiSH without any additional plug-ins.
Building a Flash presentation is
not very difficult — easy enough that most people could
create a simple project such as that pictured here without even
looking at the instructions.
To begin, the general features of the project — dimensions,
background, number of frames per second, looping — are
chosen.
The next tab in the rather pleasant interface is the content tab,
which speaks for itself. Users can import text, bitmaps, sounds,
links, and buttons into a presentation, or they can place the
text on screen as they go.
Next comes the timeline tab, and it is easy enough to operate. As
the user inserts items into the presentation, an entry is created
for them in the timeline. The user can then select the amount of
time they wish for that object to appear on screen, right click
on the item's timeline, and then select an effect to use on that
object.
Among the effects are a variety of entry and exit motions, and,
if the object is text, a number of text-specific effects that can
be applied. These effects include explode, squeeze, typewriter,
wave, 3D spin, vortex, and character effects such as scaling,
alternating, and reverting.
The image tab allows the user to align the graphic as desired,
see its dimensions, and make any adjustments if needed. Next
comes the "Actions" tab, where users can apply effects such as
rollovers and other mouse-click events.
Finally comes the export tab. From there users can copy the HTML
coding to the clipboard, choose the window mode, and the movie's
quality and looping instructions. This is also where the user can
export the file to an .SWF format or save it in the program's
native format.
The program also comes with a few sample files, including a
preloader for those projects that could take a few seconds to get
started on site.
An upgrade to version 1.5 — SWiSH 2.0 — is imminent
and will require a $14.95 upgrade price.
The ease of use, the simplicity of getting to more complex
features, and the fact that the projects can easily be placed on
a Web site make SWiSH well worth considering, particularly for
those who find other Flash-producing programs anything but easy
to use.
That isn't to say that SWiSH could not be used to make
productions just short of the most complex possible, but its ease
of use seems made-to-order for smaller, quicker results.
Next comes the timeline tab, and it is easy enough to operate. As
the user inserts items into the presentation, an entry is created
for them in the timeline. The user can then select the amount of
time they wish for that object to appear on screen, right click
on the item's timeline, and then select an effect to use on that
object.