Xlash

[Jenny]

This is probably going to sound stupid, but here it is anyway. I love Xara, and have been using it for about eight years. I also enjoyed building webpages using Dreamweaver, and making animations using various gif animators. When Flash first came out I bought the program, but could never really get into it. It just seemed so awkward compared to Xara. Each year I would upgrade to the next Flash, always intending to learn it properly, but its clunky, awkward nature always annoyed me, and I never did learn it. After using Xara, using Flash was . . . well, it was like getting out of a Porsche and into a Lada. I couldn’t stand it.

For some years now I’ve been telling myself that either one or two things will happen. Either Flash will undergo a giant makeover and be overhauled, or Xara will come up with web vector animation softward that not only rivals Flash but surpasses it.

Has this happened yet?

[Wayne Randall]

Jenny,
That's a great Idea...is there such a thing in the works? Or anything even close to the ease of use as Xara in the Flash world ?

[Scotty]

jenny there is another alrnative to Flash which is must easier to grasp it is SwishMax..I play with it (I say play as I am not graphic inclined) but Xara Export to SWf which Swishmax can Import. You might try looking at Swish instead of Flash.
Jim

[Egg Bramhill]

...Xara will come up with web vector animation software that not only rivals Flash but surpasses it.

Jenny,

This will never happen.

Xara is an excellent vector drawing program which excels in one thing, producing vector drawings.

Flash on the other hand has sucseeded to produce a platform to deliver vector graphics on the Web. (Xara had an excellent vector plug-in but it never achieved critical mass). Flash also goes a lot further by allowing scripting via ActionScript. This has become a very powerfull programing language in it's own right.

...but its clunky, awkward nature always annoyed me...

I couldn't agree more. I never even draw a straight line in Flash, I import it from Xara!

Flash has a very complicated user interface. But to be fair if your working with a timeline the interface is going to get a bit cluttered.

It's difficult to explain, but this is why I love working with Xara. The programers have deliberately sat back and decided to keep the 'working space' to a maximum, the 'tool space' to a minimum. I can apply a multi transparency just by dragging my mouse across a shape. No other windows (galleries) open! It would be great if more software producers followed this example.

You say you use Dreamweaver to produce your web sites. Dreamweaver is almost as cluttered as Flash! My opinion is 'Why create a graphic in vector then convert it to bitmap?' This is why I always have Xara & Flash open on my computer. I create my graphics in Xara and produce my web site in Flash.

[rpc9943]

hey guys,

is swishmax a viable alternative to flash?
does it import xara vectors nicely?

Thanks

RoNC

[Scotty]

Egg Bramhill is the Swish export man to comment on Xara and Extreme. But I find that most things do..and what I do is set up inXtreme using layers, then export each layer as SWf file..importing to SwishMax...then 'tweaking'...I find they work prety good together...and SwishMax has built in effects...
Jim

[RTK]

is swishmax a viable alternative to flash?
does it import xara vectors nicely?

Thanks

RoNC

"Viable" option? No... If it was, there would be no Flash. Swishmax is barebones/trout bones Flash, with a lot of neat/pre-scripted effects and funtions.

Your own thread here: http://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

It's been a looong time since I even opened either - but as far as I remember, whatever Flash opens - Swishmax will open.

Swishmax is a neat little program, but if you have the skills and the imagination - why let the tool stop you?

[jens g.r. benthien]

Either Flash will undergo a giant makeover and be overhauled

What do you expect from Adobe? It'll never happen.

[jamesmc]

"Viable" option? No... If it was, there would be no Flash. Swishmax is barebones/trout bones Flash, with a lot of neat/pre-scripted effects and funtions.

Your own thread here: http://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdisplay.php?f=30

It's been a looong time since I even opened either - but as far as I remember, whatever Flash opens - Swishmax will open.

Swishmax is a neat little program, but if you have the skills and the imagination - why let the tool stop you?

You can write action scripts in SwishMax if you wish to do so. It has some import limitations on some formats, but it is a less complicated program that Macromedia's.