Review: LiveMotion 2.0

If Web animation appeals to you then this software could be the bee's knees, writes Dave Cook

Product	LiveMotion 2.0
Company	Adobe
Web	www.adobe.com
Price	£175
We like	Powerful, good scripting capabilities, cheaper than Flash
We don't like	Scripts are more complex
Rating	8/10
Requirements

When creating a Web site, one of your primary concerns has to be bandwidth. The UK may have the world's fourth largest economy, but when it comes to the Internet Superhighway and Broadband, this country is distinctly Third World.

Packing Web sites with animation, therefore, is a sure-fire way to annoy a good percentage of visitors. And yet, when used in moderation, there can be little doubt that a certain amount of interactive content can turn even the blandest of sites into something worth coming back to - again and again.

Spoilt For Choice

Among the various high-end multimedia Web-design tools, Macromedia's Flash is almost certainly the most used. There are, however, some excellent substitutes including LiveMotion 2.0 from Adobe.

As the names suggests, you can use LiveMotion to bring your compositions to life as animated movies, QuickTime movies (QuickTime 5 is included) and even Flash (SWF) files.

There's support for all the most popular sound formats including MP3, WAV, AIFF, and AU, while streaming MP3 audio can be exported to synchronise sound with animations. In addition, you can place (import) and export all the usual graphic file formats such as animated GIF, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, and so forth.

If it's speed you're after, you can simply drag ready-made Photoshop PSD and Illustrator Al files into your work. Multi-layered files can be converted to individual objects, groups, or sequences, and any manipulation carried out in LiveMotion will also automatically update the original files.

Integration is improved further with the ability to use LiveMotion templates in GoLive, Adobe's Web creation package. Just remember to go easy on the animation since, on average, LiveMotion files tend to be slightly larger than those created with Macromedia Flash.

Timeline

Old hands will no doubt be pleased that the popular Timeline has been retained. Even novice users should find creating a movie clips a doddle with using the Timeline, especially now that it has been improved to include AfterEffects controls and shortcuts for even greater efficiency. For example, it's now possible to cut and paste AfterEffects keyframes into LiveMotion, and even open files saved in AMX format.

You also have the ability to time-stretch effects or, indeed, entire animations. To adjust all the keyframes, you simply press the Alt key and then drag the duration bar to its desired position.

Scripting

More powerful scripting options are by far the biggest enhancement to this new version. LiveMotion scripting is object-orientated and uses JavaScript as the programming language.

Basically, there are two types of scripting: ActionScript is a set of instructions imbedded in a LiveMotion composition; the Automation script on the other hand lets you perform repetitive or complex tasks automatically. A range of ready-made scripts are also supplied.

LiveMotion scripts can be tremendously powerful. Unfortunately, some of the new features tend to make scripting slightly more complex than it possibly needs to be. It may seem obvious, but taking time out to learn the language will improve your scripting abilities enormously. To help you on your way, two impressively-comprehensive user and scripting guides are included.

Verdict

If you're new to the concept of high-end online animation then LiveMotion 2.0 will be up for all your needs. While arguably not quite as powerful as Flash MX, Macromedia's latest offering, LiveMotion 2.0 still packs quite a punch. It's also cheaper and generally easier to use.

 

Dave Cook