Software Review of:
Corel R.A.V.E. 

RAVE brings to the table the familiarity of the CorelDRAW windows and tools and a relative ease in creating the project. In fact, with the exception of the time-line interface at the bottom of the screen, you’ll think you are working in DRAW. 

RAVE’s compression utility, however, isn’t as good as Flash’s, meaning that files you create with RAVE will require more storage capacity and download time.

In creating animation with RAVE, unless you’ve previously created animated files, the RAVE tutorial is a good place to start. (Additional tutorial material is available online.) A slim user’s manual also comes in the package. 

Intermediate-level DRAW users will find creating an animated project comfortably similar to creating projects with blends and other special effects. You will position your objects on the timeline and drag to determine how long it remains onscreen. As you develop your project (e.g. “create a movie”), you’ll control the frames to control the action of the objects. You can even add objects frame by frame. The timeline, you’ll notice, is familiar because of DRAW’s Object Manager docker.

Two tools that assist you in creating the movie frames are Create Sequence from Group and Create Sequence from Blend. These tools break the images into separate frames. You can then insert keyframes that modify the object in transparency, speed, color and object.

If you’re familiar with DRAW tools, here’s a simple exercise. Open RAVE and choose “create a new movie.” Use the Perfect Shape tool to create a star; fill the object and remove its outline (or make the outline the same color as the fill). Create a second star with a second color and use the interactive blend tool to create a blend.

Select the blend and from the Movie menu, select “Create sequence from blend.” The timeline is extended for each frame of the blend. You have the start of your movie and can choose “Play Movie” from the Movie Control menu.

Now you can begin to enhance your movie by inserting key frames into the movie (Movie, Insert Keyframe). With the insertion of the keyframe, select the object of the blend and modify its appearance, size and location. This will give your movie more animation. Add a couple of keyframes and modifications to the object, and you will see the star bouncing around the screen, shrinking, expanding, and changing color.

The problem with RAVE is that it’s a cute addition to the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, but it doesn’t have much practicality. It’s easier to use than Macromedia’s Flash, but is simplistic in its programmability and effects. Creating the animated portion is only a small aspect of designing a complete Website. And for animation, RAVE is lacking in that its compression capabilities can’t compare to Flash.

With version 1, I doubt that RAVE will become the professional designer’s choice for animated files. For dabblers and home users, it might be fun to create animated e-mail stationary or animated messages for friends. The drawback, again, is the poor compression, resulting in extended downloads. If, however, you simply want to learn more about creating animated files for your own experience or enjoyment, RAVE is a good place to start.