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(right) LiveMotion lets you create interactive buttons effortlessly No Flash in the Pan simply by dragging and dropping objects and assigning an effect. Web Animation Software Adobe LiveMotion 1.0 is even possible to define be- by Bob Connolly haviors that trigger sounds, con- When ’s Flash software was trol a variety of animations, and launch released, vector-based graphics and anima- complex interactivity. tion brought the Web to life. Small Flash With a library of audio, images and files which were fast to download, along preset effect templates, such as Javascript with the addition of some MP3 audio, rollovers, animation commands, and Pho- meant websites were no longer limited to toshop filters, even the most inexperienced still pictures and text. web site designer can easily create an in- Although Flash was able to produce teractive web site. Drag-and-drop an object stunning results, the interface was unor- from the Library of images onto the work ganized and difficult to work with. After area, then select the preset effect of your several versions, we could only pray for choice from the Styles palette that has a Macromedia to reconstruct the program’s rollover characteristic, and an interactive interface and release a user-friendly ver- button has just been created. sion. Fortunately, Adobe has answered Adding audio is also very simple. First, our prayers (yet again) and has released select the “Over” the newest member of the Adobe family state (each layer of solutions, Adobe LiveMotion. represents a State value) in the Roll- LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT over palette and I fell in love with LiveMotion the minute select the desired it launched. The interface incorporates sound effect from ADOBE LIVEMOTION 1.0 the classic Adobe tool sets, menus and the Sounds pal- windows consistent with Illustrator and ette. By dragging SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Photoshop. The timeline has its own win- and dropping the Make a mouseover sound Macintosh dow and looks similar to the one in After- by simply dropping a sound onto the PowerPC CPU and higher Effects. It has the Web page creation fea- sound onto an object. image in the OS 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.6, 9.0 tures of ImageReady (it creates HTML “Over” state, the sound will be played 64 MB RAM recommended (48 MB minimum) pages), and its greatest value is the ability when the mouse is placed over the image. 100 MB disk space to export Macromedia’s Shockwave (SWF) Animating objects over time is simple CD-ROM drive files for the Web, like Flash. with the familiar Adobe AfterEffects- Windows LiveMotion comes equipped with its styled Timeline. Just set keyframes in the Pentium II CPU and higher own library of Photoshop filters, and in Timeline to easily animate each attribute Windows 98, 2000, NT 4.0 SP4 the future more add-on fil- of an object independently. If you change 64 MB RAM recommended (48 MB minimum) ters will be available, just as your mind, there’s no need to start over 100 MB disk space with Photoshop. — the LiveMotion object-oriented archi- CD-ROM drive Dynamic behaviors, such tecture makes it simple to edit attributes as rollovers, can easily be at any point in time during the design PRICING AND AVAILABILITY Shipping Now created to enhance the look process. US$299 and feel of your graphics. It EDITING IS SEAMLESS Anyone familiar with Adobe LiveMotion even gives you control over Adobe Canada products will have no difficulty the quality and file size of each individual Telephone 416-538-0100 catching on to LiveMotion’s tool palettes, which are modelled on object with Per-Object Compression, Web www.adobe.com Illustrator and Photoshop. while Active Preview provides a live pre-

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Animate objects in LiveMotion using a timeline dialog box which closely resembles Adobe Definitive AfterEffects, and edit your work at any time.

view of the optimization results. for Place and Photoshop files directly in Live- Source Motion, and then edit the images in their native application with the “Edit Original” command. Any changes made with Il- F lustrator or Photoshop will automatically update the image U within LiveMotion. Layered Illustrator or Photoshop files can even be used as keyframe sequences for animation, as compos- L ite objects, or as a series of independent objects. One edge which Flash currently has over LiveMotion is the L ability to im- VISIT OUR port and ex- WEB SITE FOR BROCHURES port using the FULL DETAILS QuickTime format. How- ever the up- 5,000 coming release of Adobe GoLive 5 will include a new internal FOR ONLY advanced QuickTime editor that allows for incorporating Flash files, so you will be able to capitalize on using interactive video 00 with synchronized Flash animations. $ With all these features and capabilities, plus lots more bun- dled into Adobe LiveMotion, Macromedia Flash has some tough competition to deal with (and to see how the two prod- YOU SUPPLY695 “PRINT-READY” ARTWORK ON DISK ucts stack up against each other, see Adobe’s comparison chart 100# PREMIUM WEIGHT COATED GLOSS PAPER at www.adobe.com/products/livemotion/lvmvsflash.html). 8 1/2” x 11” • PRINTED 2 SIDES • FULL IMAGE BLEED If you are contemplating producing Flash files for your Web CMYK 4-COLOR PROCESS • 150 LINE SCREEN • 2,560 DPI site, LiveMotion is a very good bet, especially if you have a background in video production special effects and are well- versed with Adobe AfterEffects. Adobe LiveMotion 1.0, priced at US$299, is shipping now. Mississauga, ON Go to www.adobe./products/livemotion/main.html to get addition- Canada L4Z 3K8 al information. Phone: 416-410-3321 Toll Free: 1-877-410-3321 Web site: www.akkrum.com E-mail: mail @ akkrum.com