Mac

Windows

New version – 30-day trial

CoffeeCup Firestarter is a fast and inexpensive way to make Flash effects for your Web site. It can create complex text and image effects with only a few clicks of the mouse. Firestarter has more than 50 built-in, ready-to-use effects, including Assemble, Explode, and Fade; a collection of cool MP3 sounds; and an integrated sound editor for fades, echo and reverse. Add text, images, sounds, links, and shapes. Control motion, opacity, layer order, and more. With the HTML code generator, you can copy and paste code right into your Web pages. A handy feature is the ability to import animated GIFs.

Additions in this latest version include: internal movie preview; special effects preview; looping for sound clips; images are now resizeable; fade in/out control for sounds; and colour fade effects for text.

Note: you will need Macromedia Flash Player installed on your system – if you haven't already got it, you'll find it below.

Web link: www.coffeecup.com

Macromedia Flash Player 6 for Netscape

New

Here are the latest versions of the player you will need to enjoy an ever-growing proportion of Web sites. Flash Player will let you view Web site interfaces created with Macromedia's Flash (now Flash MX) program or compatible applications.

The IE version is for use on MS Internet Explorer browsers while the Netscape version will work with Netscape and compatible browsers.

Web link: www.macromedia.com

Swiff Chart
v2.3
(NT/2000/XP)
New evaluation version

Swiff Chart creates great looking Flash format graphs and charts for your site. The slick interface lets you paste or import your spreadsheet data directly from Excel or similar programs. A wizard then walks you through setting up the look and feel for your graph. A large range of plot settings can be set up including line, pie and bar, as well as value, layout and other formatting options. Legends, axis labels ticks and gridlines can all be changed.

As final output is in Flash format, you can animate your chart. The options here are presented in a PowerPoint fashion with various fly-in, slide, rotation and fade effects. Once you're happy with your set up, Swiff Chart outputs the required SWF and HTML files ready for upload.

Web link: www.globfx.com

Shareware – updated version

Easy MP3 Converter converts WAV to MP3 and MP3 to WAV files. Converting your files from WAV to MP3 saves hard disk space, while converting your MP3s to WAV files will let you burn your favourite music on CDs with almost any audio CD-R burning software (or edit them in audio editing software).

Note: there is a five-minute limit per use in this unregistered shareware version.

Web link: www.mediamatrixes.com

15-day trial version

Xara3D is an easy-to-use utility that allows you to apply 3D effects to a string of text. You can modify the text's colour, font, size and 3D extrusion level, as well as apply an image file as a texture. Text can be rotated to any viewpoint, lights can be modified to hit your text from any angle, and lighting intensity and colour can be customised. Antialiased output can be exported to GIF, JPEG, BMP, and PNG formats.

Xara3D allows you to animate text with several preset parameters such as Swing, Rotate and Pulsate, and offers the option to export your animation to an animated GIF or AVI movie. There are many other great features that make this an application well worth a try.

Web link: www.xara.com

Trial version

3D Flash Animator gives you everything you need to create Flash animations and games for Web pages. The program incorporates a rich set of drawing tools with feathering, gradients, textures, 3D effects and shadows. You can create 2D or 3D text with loads of effects and transitions. Indulge in 3D modelling and animation, create interactive animated buttons and menus, and develop games with parallax scrolling, velocity, acceleration and collision detection.

This update features JavaScript, new samples, explosion-generator, improved performance, plus minor enhancements and bug fixes. In the unregistered version a product link appears in animations.

Web link: www.insanetools.com

Mac OS

NOTE: The Mac programs on this CD are mostly in archived 'HQX' (BinHex) files – they can be extracted with several applications, including Stuffit Expander (which is on the CD...). Clicking on the links below should set the process in motion. You may receive a message that the file cannot be loaded into Simple Text — if so, start Stuffit and then open the HQX file you want from within Stuffit.

21-day trial

iView MediaPro lets you manage, organise, find, view, play, print and convert many different types of media files. It works with the most popular digital cameras, including Sony, Olympus, Nikon and Kodak, and you can export as HTML using templates to create Web sites of your media files. Importable media formats include HTML, Quark, Canvas, Painter, Live Picture, Freehand, PageMaker, Illustrator, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, PICT, GX, BMP, Targa, EPS, fonts, sounds, movies, QuickTime VR, animation, MPEG, PNG, Photoshop, MIDI, karaoke, Electric Image, Electronic Arts, CorelDraw, ClarisWorks, AppleWorks, and many others (phew!). There is also a slide show option.

Web link: www.iview-multimedia.com

Macromedia Flash Player 6
(PPC)

New

Here are the latest versions of the player you will need to enjoy an ever-growing proportion of Web sites. Flash Player will let you view Web site interfaces created with Macromedia's Flash (now Flash MX) program or compatible applications.

Web link: www.macromedia.com

20-use trial – recently updated

If you work a lot with graphic or movie files, LetsSee could be a solution to your problems. It opens images in PSD, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, Targa, PNG, MacPaint, Silicon Graphics, QuickTime and BMP format. LetsSee can also open QuickTime movies, Flash (SWF) and MP3 files.

You can modify and batch change file properties such as name, file comment, creator, and visibilty. There is also a slide show option, and you can use it as an MP3 player. There is a thumbnail view that shows pictures, movies, illustrator files, PDFs and other files as a grid of small pictures. This update allows you to create HTML photo galleries.

Web link: www.irony.biz