WebDeveloper.com ® Review: Microsoft's Liquid Motion, Part 2

Microsoft's Liquid Motion, Part 2

Full-featured multimedia banners and buttons for all!

Like many other Microsoft products, Liquid Motion utilizes templates in order to give developers a headstart on the design process. There are over fifty templates, ranging from banners, to buttons, to "extras," which are generally more banners and buttons. As you open a template within the Liquid Motion interface, the animation is visible, but not running, in the lower right window area (See Figure 1).

Figure 1 The Liquid Motion interface

Each area of the animation may be selected by clicking on that section within the "scene tree" to the left of the animation. Double-clicking on that same section brings up a properties window for that section, allowing the developer to add or change the properties. Every aspect of the animation may be edited using the scene tree including the individual frames within the animation, timing, colors, text, etc. As a section is chosen from the scene tree, the selection is highlighted on the timeline. The animations may be previewed at any stage of development by clicking on the appropriate VCR-style buttons above the scene tree.

Liquid Motion supports the standard Web-ready image formats (.jpg, .gif) and audio, (.au, .aux, .wav and .mid.) and also features several "AutoEffects" which can instantly be added to any animation, including:

Sparkles

Twirlers

Bubbles

Filled Bubbles

Drifting clouds

Billowing Smoke

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