Swishmax capabilities

Before I splash out...

[ronin]

I want to do something very specific on my website.
Flash seems the obvious tool but flash is way to expensive to invest in just for this (and I won't need it for anything else).

I have searched and searched for some cheaper / free alternative to Flash and the only one I can find is Swish. (What?! Is Flash that complex/clever that no-one in the open source community can figure out how to emulate it?)

So before I go and buy swish max, I need to ask if it can do the following (or is it best used for dancing letter effects)?

I want to have a diagram with several different nodes. When the mouse hovers over one node, I need lines to extend out of the node to other related nodes on the diagram.

I know it sounds simple, but I am relatively unclear on what Swish Max can and can't do. Can it do this? Are there any better / simpler / cheaper tools which can also do this?

Many thanks in advance.

[bakedjake]

What about SVG?

[adobe.com...]
[w3.org...]
[xml.apache.org...]

[ronin]

Thanks bakedjake. I checked out Scalable Vector Graphics - this would be my preferred solution since it's DOM compliant - but w3schools says that:

The major drawback of SVG at the moment is that no browser fully supports SVG... To view SVG files today, you will have to install a plug-in such as the Adobe SVG Viewer.

Which puts me off a little.

[Leosghost]

Ive got Flash and Swish max ..just tried what I think you mean to do ( sort of like the node growing straight tentacles to the other nodes? as a result of mouse hover )in Swish max ..worked OK ..

Check out the samples that are on the Swish max site made by users ( particularly the gamers and music clip stuff ..that should give you the best idea of it's capabilities )..

[ronin]

Thanks for that.

I found a book on Swish max in Waterstones on Bond Street this afternoon and flicked through it, but I still couldn't ascertain whether it was exactly the right tool or not.

I'll have a look at the showcase site.

[punisa]

Hi Ronin,
you can do this with no problem with swishmax. Actually you can do almost anything you would do with Adobe Flash. Yes, Swish will present itself as a great tool for quickly doing simple tasks, but from experience you can do huge complex tasks with it as well. I have personally made article viewers (PHP, mysql connectivity), on-line carts with mailing functions, games and many more. Swishscript is very similar to actionscript, once mastering Swishmax it will be much easier to get a hold on Flash as well.
Good luck

[LollyD]

I should have read ahead - I have a Swish Max 2 question (apologies for double posting)

I want to use a flash template designed by someone else for our website splash page. Have instructions on how to edit, but need to be able to edit the text and I do not have Flash.

Same story - don't want to buy Flash just to edit the text in a file already designed if something else will do that for me.

Is Swish Max2 what I need to do this? If so, I save at least $550 - woo hoo!

Thanks!
LollyD