Flash Templates

facingwest · Post by **facingwest** » Monday Oct 06, 2003

I just wanted to see if anyone knew where to get any decent Flash Templates? Also, I'm trying to find a freeware flash program. For the heck of it, I called macromedia and about fell out of my chair when they told me their software costs $499.

Eric618 · Post by **Eric618** » Wednesday Oct 29, 2003

Swish makes a program that does Flash animation. It is kinda like Dreamweaver WYSIWYG for flash. The default settings are very cheesey, but if you tinker and stray from the defaults, you can get some very "Macromedia-ish" results, for a TON less money. I have to admit that I have used it for some smaller projects, but in terms of ability and functionality, Macromedia Flash kicks it's ass. BUT, Macromedia is MUCH more difficult to use, and is MUCH more expensive.

Just an opinion...
Eric
www.KnuckleheadDesigns.com

facingwest · Post by **facingwest** » Saturday Nov 01, 2003

I downloaded Swish 2.0 and SwishMax. The only difference I seen between the two is SwishMax offers more features and options. The problem I'm having is trying to understand how to get swish to do what I want. What I'd like to do with the templates is try to get an understanding of how flash works and what makes it work. As it stands, I'm still clueless to most of the features in it. I really don't want the site I'm trying to build look cheesy.

Eric618 · Post by **Eric618** » Sunday Nov 02, 2003

I haven't tinkered with SwishMax yet. The best way to get a ground level understanding of what's goin' on "behind the scenes" is to play the example clips, then take them apart piece by piece and see how it affects the overall movie. You need to understand that learning Swish will not help your learning curve in learning actual Macromedia Flash, however.
Swish is one of those programs where the more you learn, the easier it all becomes and fits together. You can design what you want with the default settings, then save it, and tear it apart, making crazy changes to see how it affects the overall. The default is still saved, so you won't lose anything.

Good luck!

JimmySkinny · Post by **JimmySkinny** » Sunday Nov 02, 2003

i would think that there should be a trial version of flash, another choice would be this.

Macromedia Flash MX2004 is coming out soon, if not already, so you may be able to buy Flash 5 or MX on ebay for cheap.

here is 5 currently for $81
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=46326