Liveswif

Infobox Software

caption = Screenshot.


developer = LiveSwif Team
operating system = Windows 98 + (Compatibility setting required to run on Windows XP)
released = March 19th 2004
status = LiveSwif Discontinued, OpenSwif under construction
license = freeware
website = [http://www.liveswif.tevlar.net LiveSwif site] [http://www.liveswifers.org LiveSwif Community]

LiveSwif is a freeware animation program designed by the LiveSwif team on March 19th 2004. LiveSwif supports key frame animation and vector drawing. The program can be described as a Adobe Flash type program with most of the same interface from Macromedia Flash 5.LiveSwif was created so that people can add and make animations at $40, but due to an unknown flaw in the business it was put on the web as freeware.

History

The project started development between 2003 and 2004 (The exact date is unknown). It was intended to a low-cost alternative to Adobe Flash so that that people can have the opportunity of creating Flash animations at an affordable price, but this was all shortlived after the company scrapped the project and disappeared, but the program itself stayed on the web as freeware. It has led to the creation of a small community forum known as LiveSwifers [http://liveswifers.org] , which aims to help users of LiveSwif. Another aim was to contact the original development team in order to acquire the source code, but this has since given way to the development of OpenSwif from scratch. This community also offers a full working version of Liveswif for download.

ActionScript

LivewSwif 2.2 - LiveSwif has the power to use ActionScript to add interactivity to Flash animations to enhance the user experience, but LiveSwif only supports ActionScript 1.0, (Flash 5 standard, LiveSwif also handles some Flash 6 scripts). LiveSwif also does not allow the user to script dynamic text boxes without having to produce one manually. However, LiveSwif has a function so that there is little need to type code manually, i.e.

onClipEvent(enterFrame){}

The functions can be selected from a drop down menu to save time from writing them.An example is shown below:

Tools

The LiveSwif toolbar is very basic compared to that of Adobe Flash. However, most of its tools are arranged into separate categories (i.e. the rectangle represents the Shape tools, etc.). In order to reveal these tools, the user must click and drag on a category and release the mouse on the tool he or she intends to use. The tool properties can also be modified by a toolbar which appears above the colour palette when a tool is selected.

*Line tool - draws a straight line

*Magnify Tool - Zooms in/out

*Circle Tool - Draws a circle

*Rectangle Tool - Draws a Rectangle

*Star Tool - Draws a star shape.

*Polygon Tool - Draws a polygon shape.

*"Supershape" Tool - Draws a "supershape" whose properties (number of points, size of points, etc.) can be modified before the shape is created by modifying the tool settings which appear above the Colour Palette.

*Fill Tool - Fills a shape/object with colour, a gradient or an image.

*Path Motion - This is exactly the same as a motion tween from Adobe Flash, except the path taken by the tween is dictated by a line, which has to be selected in conjunction with the shape the user intends to tween.

*Transform Motion - Automatically animates an object stretch and rotate. This is the same as a motion tween in Adobe Flash.

*Text Tool - Allows the user to insert and modify text.

*Spline Tool - Draws a curved line based on points created by the user by clicking in different places within the working area.

*Contour and Deformation Tools - allow the user to bend and distort the shape. Does not work on grouped objects or images.

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Timeline

LiveSwif uses a very similar timeline to the Adobe Flash timeline in both layout and buttons, but they do have a few differences.

There are many similarities between the two timelines. They both include:
*New Layer Button
*Edit Layer Buttons
*Delete Layers
*Fps
*Movie Length
*Frame NumberButtons only on the liveSwif tool bar:
*New scene
*New Sprite (MovieClip in Macromedia/Abode Flash)
*New Button (Flash doesn't include a button maker) Buttons only on Flash
*Onion skinning tools
*Timeline button
*Zoom percentageFeatures only on Flash
*Image cutting (transparency)
*Dynamic Textboxes

Bugs And How To Fix Them

LiveSwif has quite a few bugs in the program but the user can still work around them fairly easily. Known bugs are:
*Line bug -When the animation is played, huge black lines appear. This happens because there is an incomplete shape in the animation.Solution - Complete the shape by connecting lines together.
*Timeline freezes - The timeline will sometimes freeze and it appears the user has done nothing.Drag/increase/decrease the size of the timeline whenever it freezes as shown above.
*Windows Xp Start-up - LiveSwif will not load sometimes on Windows XP.Solution 1 - Hold shift when loading LiveSwif (Note: This may take several attempts to work.)
Solution 2 - Run the program in capability mode with Windows 98 setting.
*LiveSwif closes - LiveSwif occasionally closes without warning or display an error that it has to close.Solution - It is recommended that the user regularly saves in order to avoid loss of data.

OpenSwif

OpenSwif is intended to be LiveSwif version 3.0 (the successor to LiveSwif). The program is being created by the online community of liveswifers.org [http://liveswifers.org] , with none of the previous members of the LiveSwif team helping. The program will feature many different features close to the features found on Adobe Flash, except when it is released the program will be FOSS [cite web|url=http://www.pryjon.com/liveswifers/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3|title=LIVESWIFERS.org download page|last=shanep|date=Oct 28, 2005|language=English|accessdate=2008-09-17] .