"You can get software that's far simpler than Macromedia and you can get it for anywhere from fifty dollars to two hundred bucks!"

Back in the day, a bit of Flash animation on a porn site was the kiss of death. That’s because back in the day, the majority of surfers were on dial-up connections and looking at the web on machines with slower CPUs and way less RAM. We needed our pages to load quickly so we could make the sale because the price of bandwidth was ridiculous compared to today.

Flash was for splash pages on loser mainstream sites.

In addition, the surfer often times had to download the Flash plugin in order to see the animation. More than likely that surfer also had to figure out how to install the darned thing so it would load from their browser. Flash was time-consuming and a big old bother. Back in the day.

Today, the popularity of Flash animation is bigger than ever.

Flash survived the early times and has risen to the top as a standard for animation on the Internet in both adult and non-adult. The times finally caught up with Macromedia’s product and now almost everybody surfs the net on a Flash-enabled browser.

It doesn’t hurt that more than half the people with a web connection are on the net via broadband. It doesn’t hurt that Macromedia streamlined and perfected its product so that Flash files are so minimal, they’re almost Zen.

Whether you need to give your site a little pizzazz or you want to create a whole interactive presentation, you can do it with Flash. The result will be crisp, fabulous looking imagery. Nothing looks as good on the web as Flash. Not streaming video, not Windows Media files, not Quicktime. In fact, Flash is so awesome that Television Networks and the film industry have begun to use the medium.

There are two problems with Macromedia Flash. One, the software is as hard to master as rocket science. Two, the newest full-version release costs about five hundred bucks.

For the beginning adult webmaster as well as the newbie Flash creator, those are pretty big drawbacks. Why spend the rent money on a software program that’s hard as a bitch to figure out? It’s true.

Animated banners work better than static and a little Flash sure can spiffy up a webpage. But five hundred bucks? Sheesh!

What is the forward-thinking smutmaster to do? Is it possible that there might be other programs out there that are easier to work with? Would it be too much to expect those programs to cost way less than the Macromedia product?

You’re in luck. There are other programs where you can create Flash buttons, banners, web interfaces, games and interactive charts. You can get software that’s far simpler than Macromedia and you can get it for anywhere from fifty dollars to two hundred bucks! These various programs have great tutorials and work in a visual setting. They save in Flash format and only a Flash guru can tell the difference!

Here’s just of few of these great programs:

SWISH Max
(http://www.swishzone.com/index.php)
Arguably the most well-known of the Flash animators. You can own it for $99.99

3D Flash Animator
(http://www.3dfa.com)
Great tutorial. Make games, buttons or whatever. Fifty dollars.

SWIFT.3D
(http://www.erain.com)
Macromedia Flash is vector based. This program has the best vector graphics of the bunch. $189.00

SWiff
(http://www.globfx.com/products)
Do you need interactive charts? This is your animator.

If this is insulting to the Flash masters, I apologize. Granted, the above programs can’t possibly do as much as actual Macromedia software. Nevertheless, not all of us are Flash masters. Most of us just want to make some banners and some fancy menu buttons. Many of us will learn how to use the real Flash by mastering one or two of these other programs. I would never insult your Flash magnanimity.

I love Flash. I think it’s the best-looking stuff on the whole web. Better than pics. Better than vids. Better than live streaming.

Your surfers are ready for Flash. You don’t have to go crazy and build a whole site with it. You can start small. Maybe a button or menu. With easy, affordable software like I mentioned above plus your efforts, you can catch up to today’s web in a Flash!