Discreet combustion 3: version 3 is worthy of attention.

Discreet's Combustion is a robust, efficient 2D and 3D compositing tool with a host of capabilities that set it apart from the crowd. Among them are intensely cool 2D particle effects, industry-leading color correction and keying, real-time playback, integration with 3ds max, and nondestructive vector paint tools that preserve your ability to tweak and transform each shape and brush stroke. The most recent version, Combustion 3, adds animation using JavaScript functions, output to the Flash file format (SWF), morphing and warping, basic nonlinear editing, timeline markers, and a stained glass effect for 3D composites that allows you to use one object like a gel to project light patterns on another object.

Animation using JavaScript functions (called Expressions in Combustion) is a feature with huge potential. Complex geometric animation paths often can be implemented in a few lines of relatively straightforward JavaScript, for example. Version 3 also provides a visual interface to a set of pre-built functions.

The largest block of code is a single JavaScript function, which controls a single channel. A channel, in turn, controls a property--position, rotation, scale, speed, or transparency--in a layer or operator. It is also possible to use one channel to control another channel. Scripted animation can be converted to keyframes (but not vice versa). Expressions can be exported and imported, making it easy to share them. The scripting capability is powerful and welcome, yet limited in comparison with other environments, including Discreet 3ds max, where MAXScript enables you to script almost every aspect of the program's use, in addition to creating new tools and modifying the user interface. Discreet has only scratched the surface of what scripting can do in Combustion.

Artists creating Macromedia Flash content benefit from SWF output, saving time by eliminating the need to render to an intermediate format. It maintains paint objects as vector graphics in SWF, so they remain crisp and sharp at any resolution. Artists importing Combustion SWFs into other environments, such as the Flash MX authoring tool or ToonBoom Studio, can continue to transform and animate each vector graphic as a separate object.

Bitmaps do not export to SWF by default. This means that anything you do with the paint bucket, eraser, magic wand, or text-selection tool will ...