by Don
Herion (1)
(2) Animation with Style
Another great time saver
in 'Live Motion' is the power to apply 'styles' to objects. A style is an effect
like drop shadows, animation fades, rollovers, filters and more. These 'styles'
can be edited and even created from scratch for use later. Simply select a 'style'
from its palette and drag it onto any object on the canvas. 'Live
Motion' Library
Like Flash, 'Live Motion' uses a library to store all
objects with their various attributes. To save an object, simply drag it into
the library and give it a name. Now you can drag the object (with its animation)
into the existing project or into a new project. The object appears in the timeline
with every attribute included. This works very much like 'symbols' in Flash. You
can join a number of objects, group them and save them to your library. Unlike
Flash however you cannot create multiple libraries or share them with other designers.
Making your Animation Behave
To add interactivity
to your animations you use 'behaviors.' Behaviors can play and stop an animation,
download a movie and call a JavaScript function. In Flash these are called 'frame
actions.' Unfortunately, the number, flexibility and power of behaviors does not
equal those found in Flash.
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| Behaviors add interactivity to your animations |
| Export animation palette |
Export to the Web
Once completed you can preview
your animation in IE and Netscape in whatever format you choose. 'Live Motion'
will export Flash .swf, animated .gif, Html/JavaScript, .mp3, and several image
formats. However you cannot export QuickTime or Windows media. When previewing
your animation in a browser there is a text link that takes you to a full report
on the file. This report gives you detailed info on the file size, the download
and streaming times with different modem speeds, and the resources used within
the file. This is very helpful in locating problem areas in your animation and
make appropriate fixes. Summary
So, how does 'Live
Motion' stack up against 'Flash?' I found the program very intuitive for Adobe
users and it is well integrated with Photoshop, Go Live and Illustrator. It's
object creating tools are very robust and in some ways superior to Flash. I particularly
liked the 'Combine' toolset. The 'object-based timeline' feature is something
I'll have to get used to since I have more experience with Flash and its layer/frame
based time-line. But I do love the power to animate every attribute individually
and edit them. Here I think 'Live Motion' beats Flash. 'Live Motions' major shortcoming
however is its lack of real programming power, depth of development features and
path based animation capability when compared to 'Flash.' These are not minor
quibbles. On the other hand this is a first release and if 'Adobe' can build on
'Live Motions' strengths it can become a major player in the web-based animation
field. But for fans of Photoshop, Go Live and Illustrator 'Live Motion' can be
a very valuable tool right now.
Adobe
Website
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