Wiley Official SWiSHmax Bible 978-0-7645-7563-1 User Manual

hat if you want to have an animated logo to add some punch
to your Web site? Or show your customers your products in

an interactive and attractive way? Or create a photo gallery showing
your vacation pictures? Or build a way for your customers to talk to
you directly online? 

You can use one program to build all of these objects and many 
more. For everyone from beginners to seasoned Web design veterans,
SWiSHmax has something to offer. With SWiSHmax, your imagination,
and some know-how, you can create a wide range of material to use
on your Web site — or even create an entire Web site. You can also
create material to use in a range of other programs from
Dreamweaver to PowerPoint.

Creating simple animations is one of SWiSHmax’s strong features, 
yet it is only the tip of the SWiSHmax iceberg. Throughout this book,
you learn much more about working with different types of files and
effects, using actions to control a movie, and working with SWiSHmax
output in other programs.

First, I am going to take you on a quick stroll through the different
aspects of the program so you can gain an understanding of what can
be accomplished with this remarkable piece of software.

Anyone who has spent any time on the Internet has seen Flash movies
of varying degrees of complexity, interactivity, and skill. Historically,
the movies you saw online were built using Macromedia Flash. In
recent years, a number of other products have been developed that
can produce much of the same output or subsets of the output as the
Flash program does. Most notably among these other programs is
SWiSHmax.

SWiSHmax is a Flash creation tool that can be used for a range of pro-
jects from animation to interactive Flash presentations and Web site
interfaces. The program allows you to control both the appearance
of objects in a movie as well as the timing of objects. Movies are con-
trolled in one of three ways:

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Introduction to
SWiSHmax 

Starting a new
SWiSHmax movie

Importing images for
the movie

Using a sound file 
as a soundtrack

Using text and graphic
elements

Working with effects

Previewing a finished
movie

Exporting a Flash movie
and Web page

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