Corel Rave 2

You've probably heard of Flash and almost certainly seen it in action. It's the program used to create the complex animations and special effects seen on many web pages. It's a complicated and expensive piece of software that's best suited to professional web designers. There is a little-known alternative, though, called Rave. Originally hidden in the depths of Corel's expensive Graphics Suite, Rave 2 has recently been released on its own and at a very affordable price.

Rave works in much the same way as Flash but its animation tools have been simplified to allow even beginners to create impressive animations. Launching the application presents you with a blank workspace called the 'stage'. This is the area where you assemble the graphics or text that you want to work with. Rave has a useful set of drawing tools so you can create your own graphics from scratch. Alternatively, you can import graphics from other programs or clip-art collections.

Beneath the stage is another window called the 'timeline'. This runs horizontally across the screen and provides a frame-by-frame representation of your animation sequence.

Like Flash, Rave allows you to use a powerful technique called 'tweening' to create animations. Put simply, you can create a shape in the first frame of your animation and then change that shape in later frames, rotating it or changing its size or colour, for example. Rave will then 'tween' the shape for you, automatically calculating its appearance in all the 'in-between' frames so that it appears to change size or colour as the sequence progresses. The best thing about it, is that the 'tweening' tools are extremely versatile, allowing you to animate all sorts of effects, such as transparency, colour blends and 3D perspective effects.

The manual is dull and plodding but the program is good fun to experiment with and you should be up and running with simple animations in a matter of minutes. At just £30, Rave really is a bargain for anyone who wants an easy introduction to animation.

Contact: Corel 01628 589894
www.corel.co.uk