Flash

How to get started

[KG2RG]

I would like to make flash banner ads and web sites. What program do I need to do it and can I do it with out spending money on programs?

[knighty]

You need Macromedia Flash - latest version is 5 but if you only want it for banner ads you could get away with 4 maybe even 3.

Dreamweaver 4 has allows simple flash creation or you could probbably find some 3rd party software that just does banners.

[KG2RG]

Thanks for the come back,

I was at the Macromedia site and they had a program to generate flash for a few hundred bucks, is it worth the price? Not sure if I can afford it. I'm just an experimenter. I would like to play with flash but it looks like its not with in the play budget. Thanks, and I'll keep looking around.

[john316]

You can get a free trial to experiment with swish, it is not full blown flash, but you can get your "feet wet" so to speak.

[swishzone.com...]

[TallTroll]

I can endorse the Swish thing. We got hold of it, and are learning to use it. We now have a Flash movie on our homepage, which took about 2 - 3 hours to write. Its nothing special but it was quick.

Unless you want to get really serious, it'll probably do you

[mivox]

I've heard good things about Adobe LiveMotion... but that'probably also out of your range if you can't afford a copy of Flash.

One option to consider is taking a computer design course or two at a local community college or technical school, and buying software with an educational discount. It can be much cheaper that way, and taking a class may be just the thing to get you started.

[hasbeen]

Swish is probably your best bet for now. It's much less expensive than Flash, but does the same things (more or less). IMHO, trial versions are the best way to go for now. With Flash you'll get 30 days and with Swish you'll get 15. At the end of both, buy Swish!