ConnectCode Animator

ConnectCode Animator is an approachable and accessible software utility designed to offer an easy method of creating interactive and entertaining animated vectors using various effects, text and images that can be embed in websites.

In order for the program to run .NET Framework and Microsoft Silverlight need to be present on the hard drive. It doesn't require any graphic knowledge, as the app is wrapped in a clean and modern interface offering a simple ribbon menu and an editor. The supported image formats are JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF.

There are two options to add a project, by opening an existing CCPRJ type project, or creating a new one from scratch. The canvas dimensions can be easily modified from the menu, by inputting the desired width and height values, along with the background color or image. A tree structure is displayed on the left side of the panel, showing the project name, under it is the canvas length, and the items in the added order.

The "Home" tab offers all the necessary tools to design animations. One of them is the vector insertion, with two types of shapes, ellipse and rectangle, which can be brought to the front or send to the back, and whose background color can be changed to solid or more a more transparent tint.

A properties window is displayed when you double-click on an item that lets you modify the border thickness and color, along with the dialog dimension parameters (e.g. left, right, width, height). When entering text, all you can do is customize its font type, size and color, as well as align it left, right or center. Unfortunately, there is no option to position the word to a specific location, or add different styles.

The only way to edit the content is to click outside the box until a selector appears. The app lets you enter effects to all objects, some of them being slide to various positions, fade in and out, and rotate to different angles. The X and Y scale values can be changed along with the start frame, and duration. Plus, you can zoom in and out, display the grid, and play, pause and stop the animation.

Taking everything into account, ConnectCode Animator is a straightforward and user-friendly application that comes in handy when you want to design multiple animations with the help of vectors, images and text and apply various transition effects.