LiveFX

I have been totally amazed from the first time I set eyes on this software. LiveFX is a multimedia type of software that allows you to create dynamic interactive web pages and it's easy to use. You won't need to offer a plug-in to viewers of your LiveFX pages. The reason? Because LiveFX creates a JAVA applet and projects created in LiveFX can be viewed by anyone who has a JAVA capable browser, with JAVA enabled of course!

"Oh no", you say, "not another applet!" Well, you haven't seen an applet like this. At least I don't think you have. LiveFX creates a very stable applet and that loads fairly quickly.

With LiveFX you can create interactive multimedia projects. You can create menus, presentations, and almost anything else you want.

Above is the LiveFX interface where you create your project. The white square that you see is actually your canvas. It can be sized simply by clicking on it and dragging it to the size you want. Down the right side of the interface are the options available for creating your projects.

To create a shape you only need to click on its button, enter a name, decide whether it should be filled or an outline, and decide whether you want it start out being visible. You can also assign actions to your shapes.  When you choose an action to associate with your shape or object, you have more options for timing and how your shape will perform that action. You also have the options to load another project or load a web page.

You can assign actions for mouse events and the state of the shape or object at the start of the applet.

The properties dialog box allows you to set your background color or image.

You can assign pretty much as many points to your polygons as you like, and then arrange those points almost any way you like to get just the right shape.

But that's not all, you can also create a separate object. For instance, let's say you want to create a button object. You would click on the "add object" button and another screen comes up that looks somewhat similar to your main canvas. On this screen you would create your button shape and add the button text to it. You can assign actions to the shape and the text separately and once you have that completed, close the screen and your object now shows up on your main canvas with all its associated actions.

You can create simple small projects, or create many projects and link them all together. It's all up to you.

When you're finished creating your project and save it, there are several files created for you. One is a .html file with all the applet coding already completed. It can't get much easier than that. There are a couple of requirements that go along with creating your projects. Your project must be in the same directory as the LiveFx applet viewer and you must upload all the pieces for the applet to work. All your images, sounds, project files and the applet viewer must reside in the same directory. To make this easier to keep track of, when you save a project a text file is automatically created that lists all the components of your project. You just have to make sure all the components listed in the text file reside in the same directory either for viewing in a browser offline or viewing from the web.

I am simply amazed by the power and ease of use of LiveFX. If you are viewing with a JAVA enabled browser, and optimally at 800x600 screen resolution, you may want to take a look at a very simple project created with LiveFX. But before you go take a look, read further to find out the system requirements, a recap of the projects that are possible with LiveFX, and the cost. When you're done viewing the example you have the option of returning here or heading on over to LiveFX to pick up a trial copy. If you want to replay the example, click reload/refresh while holding down the shift key and it will play again for you.

I strongly recommend this application for those of you who are looking to create multimedia type presentations but are not sure whether you want to lay out the big bucks. And why lay out the big bucks when you can get the power of LiveFX without the big cost.

Recap of projects you can create with LiveFX:

• navigation controls
• ad banners
• animated logos
• animated presentations
• tutorials
• training aids
• entertainment
• and much more

Estimated Street Price
$29.95 (US) Average Selling Price shipping (More than worth it!)

System Requirements
Windows 95/98 or NT

NOTE: The editor is a Java application and will run on any platform that supports Java. However, the install program only supports Windows at this time. If you would like to run LiveFx on another platform you can email the application developer.

Copyright Vikki Olds, All Rights Reserved