Review For: LiveSwif Lite 2.0 Site Link: http://www.liveswif.com/ Compatibility: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server Date Reviewed: March 19, 2004 Written By: Webmaster Christopher Beley Rating:

Unfournately, it appears as if Lifeswif is no more. I will look into this and update this article. That's realy too bad, it was a pretty cool program.

LiveSwif is a simple alternative for other programs like Macromedia Flash MX. LifeSwif allows you to create flash animations in an easy to learn environment.

What It Can Do
For free, this can do a lot. You have a pen tool, gradient tool, freeform tool, and everything else you would expect for editing and or creating images. Other than than the image editing tools there are the animation tools. The first type of animation you can do is called "path motion". With this you can draw a "path" with any of the line tools to specify where an object will go within the "canvas". If you want to see an example of this you can click HERE and take a look at the smiley face thing I made in 2 minutes. The other type of animation you can do is called "transform motion". Unfortunately, I can't say too much about this, for I haven't totally figured it out yet.

The Extra Little "Tid-Bits"
What is a editor (of any sort) without pre-made stuff?! Well, actually I use only original stuff made by me, but that is just me;-) Anyways, there are tons of buttons, shapes, and other things that are indescribable to put into your animation. And it is as simple as dragging and dropping the object you want into your "work area".

There Comes the Good...and then the Bad Ruins It...
You hear me right, this program is not perfect (what is...LOL). Let's say you want something animated frame by frame (For Example: You have a 100 pictures that each progress from the original like a flip book)...well you can't do it. You can only use the "path animation" and the "transform animation" options. Additionally, I am quite sure you can't do it in the paid version either, so for most people the $50 price tag isn't worth for what you get.

Final Comments
I do not recommend anybody spending the $50 on the full version because it just isn't that great of a program. Additionally, the only extra thing you get in the full version is the capability to use actionscript (which I doubt many of you know how to do). However, for anyone who wants to get a feel for flash, go and download the free lite version. The lite version is an excellent free program. Finally, before I end this review, I must note that the lite version does not come with any instructions what so ever, so you will have to figure it out on your own:-(