The 'Effect Settings' Panel is displayed when you create an Effect. It can also be displayed by double-clicking on an Effect in the Timeline, or right-clicking on an Effect. Below is part of the 'Effect Settings' panel, which is common to all Effects.

 

You can save and reuse Effect Settings. See Saving Effects for more information.

 

Name (e.g. "Fade In")

Specifies the name of the Effect. This name appears on the Timeline.

 

Duration (e.g. "20")

Specifies the duration of the Effect as a number of Frames. For some Effects, the duration is either preset (e.g. the Remove Effect is always a single Frame), or calculated depending on the Effect Settings (e.g. the Typewriter Effect). In these cases, you cannot directly edit the duration.

 

Load

Loads predefined Effect Settings from the corresponding Effect folder on disk.

 

Save

Saves the current Effect Settings to the corresponding Effect folder on disk. See Saving Effects for more information.

 

Preview Effect

Previews the current Effect.

 

Stop (toggle state of 'Preview Effect' above)

Stops previewing the current Effect.

 

More/Less Options

Selecting this option lets you define whether to show the 'Start At', 'Motion' and 'Easing' tabs and the 'Reset comp.' and 'Continue from/previous' effect options. By default Less Options is selected, meaning these tabs and options will not be shown.

 

Reset comp. (Reset components to original Transforms)

If the previous Effect was a Complex Effect that transformed the component positions, then ticking this checkbox will reset the components back to their original positions before the next Effect starts. Otherwise, the components are left in whatever state they were in at the end of the previous Effect. To demonstrate the effect apply the core effects 'Explode' and then '3D Spin' to some text. Set the 'Reset Comp' setting of 3D Spin effect and the position after the previous effect is reset to the original placement.

 

Continue from previous (Continue from previous effect)

This option tells SWiSH Max to apply the Effect starting with the Object as it was at the end of the previous Effect. If you want to specify a different starting condition for the Effect (or want to reset the elements of the Object to their initial positions), turn this option off. SWiSH Max will then add the Start At tab that lets you change the starting Transforms for the Effect.

 

Author

This option allows you to access the Effects Authoring options. These additional options allow you to build your own SWiSH Max Effects. See Effects Authoring for more details.

 

 
Note: The Author option is only available in the Effect Settings Panel if the 'Allow effect authoring' checkbox is checked in the 'Tools | Preferences | Effects' dialog box.

 

There are a number of Effect sheet tabs that are common to two or more Effects. These are as follows:

 

 

The other tabs are described in the corresponding Effects.