Squirlz Morph 2.1

animated gif morph

created with Squirlzmorph

Every now and then I get the urge or the need for a morph and when you need a good, easy to use morph program you don't want to pay a lot for it. So how does free sound? Squirlz Morph 2.1 by Xiberpix is a handy to use morphing tool that is easy and very useful when creating morphs or blended images or warps. You can really do a lot with this useful tool and the learning curve is so easy. I made the above animated gif in 11 minutes. Squirlz gives you reference dots which show point-to-point registration of an image area and where it will morph to, but also allows you to create your own points. So often morph programs have a preset grid of dots which leave you battling a template within the program. Other functions within the interface include single click adjustment of images to equalize size of your pics, basic hue, contrast and brightness adjustments and a few more minor functions. I guess what I really appreciate about Squirlz Morph (aside from the great price) is an easy to use interface. No one wants to lose time learning how to operate something as simple as a morphing program.

Multimedia Builder

 

Interface of Mediachance

Multimedia Builder

For those of you interested in making an interactive, self executing standalone application, my suggestion is to check out Multimedia Builder by Mediachance. When I first viewed this program I was making a comparative analysis between programs like Authorware and Director to see which would be the easiest to learn with enough functionality and flexibility to meet my intended program. Now Director and Authorware are powerful programs that allow you to create a lot of fantastic self running programs, however, they also come with a hefty learning curve. MMB (Multimedia Builder) had me clicking and creating in a matter of moments with an easy to use, WYSIWYG layout format to your items, simplistic parameter adjustment and support to most major formats of visual, audio and electronic coding to help you make great presentations, games...I was amazed at just what all you could create with this wonderful program. The program allows you to gather all your elements on screen and test drive your application before finalizing it. MMB supports text, text buttons, images, rollover images, animation, HTML, Flash, scripting and various little effects to make your presentation come alive-it even allows you to create your own custom GUI (Graphic User Interface). The combination of versatility and ease of use-along with a very reasonable price tag-makes Multimedia Builder a must have. You may want to check out some of the other fine software programs Mediachance offers at their website.