Create CSS3 Animations with Sencha Animator

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 14:55:00 GMT

Enterprise JavaScript framework Sencha has released a preview of Sencha Animator, a tool for creating CSS3-based animations that can be viewed on the latest WebKit browsers and mobile devices. If you need to create cross-platform animations for playback on smart-phones and touch-based mobile devices including Apple iPad, Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry Torch, and Google Android-based devices, Sencha is worth a look.

Since Apple iOS and numerous other mobile devices do not support popular animation platforms like Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight many rich-media animations and ads are blocked from playback. Sencha Animator bypasses the need for rich-media plug-ins by making it easy to create CSS3 animations that will play anywhere as CSS3 is an HTML5 family technology that runs on modern browsers.

Features of Sencha Animator include full CSS3 support (including animations, 2D and 3D transformations, backgrounds, borders, font effects). interactive timeline and intuitive object property controls, the ability to manage sequencing, grouping, easing, and other effects with a familiar timeline manager, the ability to export animations to readable HTML, a drag-and-drop development environment. Sencha Animator is packaged as a desktop application.

SitePal Avatars Next Best Thing to Human

Linc Wonham — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:15:00 GMT

Gaining life through a unique technology called 3-D Photoface, an impressive new lineup of speaking avatars has been introduced by SitePal, a Web communications innovator owned by Oddcast. If one of SitePal’s 250-plus, customizable virtual people isn’t suited to delivering your company’s message or interfacing with customers, build your own talking head by uploading a photo and following a few simple steps.

SitePal is unveiling the avatars as its New Generation, and thanks to 3-D Photoface, they are the most lifelike creations we’ve seen on the Web. The animated speaking characters have strikingly human characteristics, down to their detailed facial expressions and customized voice personalities.

While the technology behind the new avatars may be complex, SitePal has made its implementation process quick and painless. In three easy steps users can design their own avatar or build from one of the hundreds in stock; record a script or use built-in text-to-speech (TTS) in multiple languages, and publish the character to their Web site, Flash application, E-mail, blog, PowerPoint or eBay auction, making it more personal and persuasive.

The four pricing packages range from $9.95 per month ($99.50/year) to $249.95 per month ($2,499.50/year), with the different features including the amount of audio streams and secure domains included, and levels of TTS functionality and lead generation. Advanced features include the SitePal Server API that allows comprehensive programming via secure API calls, and Advanced Asset Management for performing up to thousands of audio and background searches, sorting, filtering and bulk uploading.

'Net Features : animation

Create CSS3 Animations with Sencha Animator

SitePal Avatars Next Best Thing to Human