Flash Sites and Games Made Easier

very good
key review info
application features
  • Painting
  • (3 more, see all...)

No matter if it stands under the Macromedia, Adobe, or any other flag, I am sure that the Flash technology has still a long road ahead before being eclipsed by a superior one, the same way it happened to the animated GIFs.

There is a huge amount of Flash sites and games available on the Internet, and the programs designed to help you build such content try to keep up with the rhythm. Of course that you can get the mother application from Adobe, but this can hit your budget pretty bad, and you also may get a lot of features that you won't ever use. The good part is that I got a cheap tool that proves to be extremely useful for building Flash content and also easy enough to use!

Today's flash tool is called 3D Flash Animator, its current version is numbered 4.6 and I must tell you that its name doesn't say it all, because there's much more to it than just animation. The installation kit has 4.6MB in size and comes as a shareware version that will cease to save files after 14 days. In other words, you have two weeks to take full advantage of this program, so let's start with the interface part, as usual...

Finally, I get to see a different interface again. Even better, it's "different" in a positive way. Unfortunately, you don't have any built in color themes, but you can customize the color of every interface element, and the fonts can also be changed. The icons are well done and the entire workspace can be organized as you like. I can't say that this program is incredibly easy to use, but getting lost inside it is also an event less likely to occur. To arms now!

3D Flash Animator has the ability to perform three major tasks: painting, animation and scripting. This triad makes our application here extremely useful for Flash website and game development, but you can also use it to create static images. The only limit is your imagination.

First of all, let's talk about painting. The workflow is easy to follow - File>New Bitmap>choose your settings>get busy. There are a lot of tools to play with, you can use transparency, layers, and draw using a multitude of brushes that include 3D effects and automatic shadows. Your work done as a painter can be saved into five file formats: BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG and TGA.

The animation and game development go well together, and the workflow is similar, only that this time you have to choose New Animation from the File menu. Hear this - although Flash doesn't support 3D directly, with 3D Flash Animator you can import 3D models to use here and then export your work as Flash files! Path animation, key framing, morphing and motion blur are all here to stand at your side, and it doesn't end here, because we still have...

...scripting! What would be Flash without Action Script's power? The program provides you wizards and debugging tools within an easy to use programming interface, while the language has been streamlined to better suit its purpose here - development of interactive animations and games.

If you want to create arcade games, than you have full support here. Complex properties as velocity and acceleration are supported, as well as collision detection and keyboard interactivity make this program a wise choice for game development.

XML database connections over the Internet are also supported, and this can prove extremely useful when creating front ends for Web pages or for saving best scores for your games.

I am sure that you'll dedicate more time than I did to this program and also get much more satisfaction. My short meeting with this program was a real pleasure, but now it's time for the conclusions...

The Good

3D Flash Animator is an incredibly small program when put next to the things it does. This application should also be easy enough to use for most people, its features are outstanding and the price looks just great from my point of view.

The Bad

I would like to see more formats available for static image saving, at least PSD, for the beginning. Since the interface looks the way it does (I repeat myself here - it looks great), skinning would be the next logical step. The Truth

3D Flash Animator is a program worth trying, and in my opinion it is worth buying too, but you should give it a try before everything else. The truth is that I got much more than expected, and this is a great feeling that I don't get each day. Don't wait any longer; unleash your inner painter, animator and game developer with 3D Flash Animator!

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 3
pricing / value 4


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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