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Are you in a busy office and need to get web design
jobs with complex text effects done immediately? Want
to speed up your productivity but avoid working until
Saturday afternoons breaking up text and hand tweening?
Then, SWiSH, the new standalone tool that creates great
font effects and more by David Mitchie, presented during
the Flash Forward 2000 conference, is for you!.
So what’s new with SWiSH? This tool enables you
to create buttons and banners in the program itself.
You can even create a .SWF for importing into Flash
for fast font effects. The “more” emphasis
earlier is what’s coming up in the future of this
product. Mitchie is hoping to release an update of its
first version in May that will allow the use of images.
These plans for added functionality will give users
more creativity in designing banners and navigation
systems.
There are also future plans being expressed by Mitchie
to support many of the features in Flash today –
this includes scripting, movie clips, audio, vector
images and rollover buttons. Right now, with the first
version, you can use its maximum number of text effects
to the hilt. It will also speed up work productivity.
With SWiSH, you can say good bye to all afternoon of
breaking text up, making key frames and hand tweening
– plenty of hard work but is not anywhere near
our idea of creativity.
Use it by controlling all the various attributes of
each letter and click preview. After installing this
software, in less than five minutes, you can produce
real content for your sites. There may be arguments
about how all the effects just look alike but remember
that there are “industry standard” and “professional
level” considerations on these things, just like
in television and print. Using SWiSH allows you to produce
your sites with that level of standard and expertise.
Currently, SWiSH doesn’t work in Mac but they
are looking into creating a version suitable with the
Mac. Right now, it works on Windows 95+/NT/2000 only.
Still, you can create the files on a PC and use the
.SWFs produced on the Mac, which means that you could
create standard clips for your files and use them in
your libraries. Other system requirements include Pentium
100 or better, 32Mb of RAM, 256 color display or better.
It does not require Flash to be installed, too.
Acquiring and using SWiSH is easy enough. You just
go to the site and download its trial version. Until
you get a key, it will scramble text when you export
to SWF. Currently, SWiSH has a US $30 price tag, with
free minor updates. Major updates would be around US
$10 – a big difference in the price of Flash at
US $275. Need we say more? Try SWiSH and see for yourself!
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About the author:
Lala C. Ballatan is a 26 year-old Communication Arts
graduate, with a major in Journalism. Right after graduating
last 1999, she worked for one year as a clerk then became
a Research, Publication and Documentation Program Director
at a non-government organization, which focuses on the
rights, interests and welfare of workers for about four
years.
Book reading has always been her greatest passion --
mysteries, horrors, psycho-thrillers, historical documentaries
and classics. She got hooked into it way back when she
was but a shy kid.
Her writing prowess began as early as she was 10 years
old in girlish diaries. With writing, she felt freedom
– to express her viewpoints and assert it, to bring
out all concerns -- imagined and observed, to bear witness.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit
http://www.ucreative.com
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