Whether you’ve mastered the art of Flash or you’re a beginner/intermediate, finding a good program to work with is essential to making something look great.
If you have access, of course, the program that is best is still Adobe Flash CS3 (previously from Macromedia and plenty of previous versions to play with), but there are less expensive programs out there that are pretty simple to use and most have free trials (we like free trials).
SWiSH presents two programs that have features based on the user level – SWiSH Max2 and SWiSH miniMax2. They also offer SWiSH Studio2 which allows you to make programs and screensavers with Flash.
Express Animator for Windows is really made for quick cheap videos to be made but also has some features that might appeal to the higher end user.
Another list of free source Flash programs can be found at SourceForge.
No matter what, play with it and read the documentation. Try the trials and if you like – buy it! You owe it to yourself to buy something decent and many of the programs (especially compared to the price of Flash CS3) aren’t badly priced and you won’t be saving as long. If you are on a campus or have other access to them, use the programs on the campus computers or ones at your local public library to do what you need to do.
Expect to spend a few hours there though – it’s not going to go quickly!
HarriMac enjoys a well lived life with a large serving of soul. Her special feature, Welcome to Soulville, appears every Thursday.
Jonny Nguyen on August 24th, 2008
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