OT: Flash for the masses

vitalforce wrote on 10/26/2006, 9:43 AM
I'm a V7+DVDA3 user, but mainly a writer/director, and just purchased a little Flash program called MotionArtist 3.0, $50. It will do complex image and text motion, highly customizable, without any knowledge of code or scripting, and will construct multiple pages with elements that can be linked to each other and to URLs, so as to set up an entire Flash website. E-Frontier sells it and though it won't work with video, it will output a .swf file that is usable in other flash UIs and NLEs that take .swf files.

I mention this because I had sat down to outline a web design for my Vegas-edited DV film project, and this was the only program that, instead of me scratching my head going through how-to manuals for a whole weekend, allowed me to set up the opening Flash page in about 45 minutes. I'm now on page 3 of the site.
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Comments

TheHappyFriar wrote on 10/26/2006, 10:48 AM
Flash for the masses == A-Bomb! :D

j/k!

That sounds like a cool little program. Got a linky?

Hey, you wouldn't happen to know of a small program that does what Shockwave does, would ya? I always liked that better then powerpoint (although flash is cool too).
DavidSinger wrote on 10/26/2006, 10:57 AM
Instead of PowerPoint, use OpenOffice 2.04 -
Absolutely compatible with any Microsoft product,
including PowerPoint.
Get OpenOffice 2.04 free here (about 90mb download)

Link to MotionArtist 3.0 source

Link to MotionArtist 3.0 tucows review/buy
rs170a wrote on 10/26/2006, 11:54 AM
Got a linky?

Motion Artist store

Price: $19.99
Regularly $49.99 - Save $30 Through October 31, 2006!

Mike
Steve Mann wrote on 10/26/2006, 1:51 PM
That link doesn't work.
DavidSinger wrote on 10/26/2006, 2:31 PM
Click on the link I gave (previous post) for "source" and then click on the store, click on MotionArtist3 and you'll be able to buy at $19.99 downloaded (can't get a boxed version at this price).
DavidSinger wrote on 10/26/2006, 2:36 PM
VITALFORCE!

FF3D, we meet still again...

Hey, I've been making an animated red-digit digital HH:MM:SS:hh "race clock". It occured to me that somebody must have done this before!

But if not, I'll be making "clocks" that tick up the "SS:hh" time from various HH:MM settings (as I need them displayed throughout the movie, expecially at the start and finish of the race).

This is proving to be cheaper than buying a digital clock with hundredths-seconds, and it allows me to "start" the clock at whatever time I want.

Thanks!
vitalforce wrote on 10/27/2006, 2:50 PM
Hey David, ah yes FrameForge3D, that masterfully easy storyboarding program. I got the free downloads of DAZ Studio and the time-limited free Poser 5 in late Sept., then got a detailed DAZ human skeleton in a recent issue of 3D World, so I'm all set for a key storyboard segment for FF3D where an emotionally bereft soldier digs up the grave of a loved one. By now I have a danged interesting toolset for a non-techie. V7, MotionArtist, Poser, FF3D, it's all beginning to swirl together into--Life!

But this MotionArtist program is so severely cool that I don't even mind that I saw & bought it at CompUSA and missed the $30 online discount.

Of course, I already sent in some product suggestions--like being able to morph one of the available geometric forms into another, or to change color over time.

Just imagine how powerful this little bugger would be if it could render video into Flash.
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DavidSinger wrote on 10/28/2006, 5:19 PM
Interesting direction you are taking. I agree with your approach. For instance, we've got a 4-bot robotic band (developed in Art of Illusion and ported to FF3D) that we'll animate in FF3D (V2.5 makes tween shots now - did I see your name on the BT list?). 43 songs have been written to make up their repetoire, each original.

Yes, I can envision Vegas + MotionArtist + FF3D being the trimvirate that opens doors to all sorts of directions.