WildPresenter Lite

Reviewed by Geetesh Bajaj, October 6th 2006

Introduction
About WildPresenter Lite
Download and Installation
Using WildPresenter Lite
Pricing and Support
Conclusion

Introduction

In a separate review, I looked at WildPresenter which is actually a suite of applications that includes capture, an editing environment, and PowerPoint to Flash export options. Wildform, the company that creates WildPresenter recognizes that many users don't need all those options -- so they created a scaled down version called WildPresenter Lite that limits the abilities to the editing environment only -- so that you can create your own content with shapes, text, images, etc.

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About WildPresenter

WildPresenter Lite is from Wildform, a company based in Los Angeles, USA. Their other products include WildFx, WildPresenter and a stock video library. You can learn more about these products and download a free demo version of WildPresenter Lite from their site...

WildPresenter Lite works more or less like WildPresenter -- the editing environment is similar. Unlike other Flash programs, WildPresenter Lite does not use a frame and scene metaphor -- rather it uses a slide metaphor. It even includes a Slide Master -- so that PowerPoint users are comfortable with the program.

My contact at WildPresenter Lite for this review was Leonard Dumanovsky - thank you, Leonard.

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Download and Installation

Download the installer from the link given above, run the setup routine and follow the instructions. You'll end up with an WildForm WildPresenter Lite program group in your Windows Start menu (see Figure 1 below).


Figure 1: WildPresenter Lite Start menu Group

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Using WildPresenter Lite

Follow these steps to start working with WildPresenter Lite:

1. Go to your Windows Start menu and choose All Programs | WildForm WildPresenter Lite | WildPresenter Lite (see Figure 1 above).
   
   
2. This launches the WildPresenter Lite interface. When the application opens for the first time, you'll be shown a dialog box with various options (see Figure 2).
   
   
   Figure 2: WildPresenter Lite Interface
   
   
3. Rather than selecting any provided options, choose Cancel -- this will open another dialog box where a name and location can be given to the new WildPresenter Lite project (see Figure 3).
   
   
   Figure 3: The Create Project dialog box
   
   
4. Once you have named your project, you get back to the WildPresenter Lite interface See Figure 4 that contains one Slide and one Slide Master.
   
   
   Figure 4: WildPresenter Lite Interface
   
   WildPresenter Lite works exactly like WildPresenter but without importing a PowerPoint presentation. You can import images, Flash SWF files, text, audio, clip art,etc.
   
   
5. Select a slide and choose File | Import File -- and insert images or Flash SWFs.
   
   If you are selecting a image, WildPresenter Lite Import Image dialog box will open (see Figure 5 ) -- you can now set the quality of the images being imported -- and the same parameters can be applied to multiple images by choosing Apply To All.
   
   
   Figure 5: Import Image
   
   
6. Once the import process is done, you'll see WildPresenter Lite editing environment -- It has two pane interface
   
   
   Figure 6: WildPresenter Lite Interface
   
   The interface is explained below:
   
   
   1. There is a slide pane on the left which shows thumbnails of the slides and Slide Masters -- if there are more slides than what you can see, just use the scrollbar to see them all.
   2. In the middle of the interface is the stage, you'll find the actual slide. Just like PowerPoint, you can select any object and make changes such as move, scale, crop, color, etc. -- all on the slide.
   3. At the bottom of the stage are the play controls that can be used to preview the presentation.
   4. The timeline is at the bottom of the interface -- this is where the imported files are placed into your project -- the animations are shown here as well. If you have used Macromedia (or Adobe) Flash, you'll feel at home here.
      
   5. There is Shape ToolBox Pane at the left side which has basic geometric shapes, banners, callouts, action Buttons, etc. These components can be used to created a presentation.
   6. There are some other tabs on the right side -- these are just like PowerPoint's task panes:
      
      Project Setting has four tabs which includes properties for exporting the presentation into SWF, projector, PDF, HTML etc.
      
      Object Setting is where you can adjust settings for objects on your WildPresenter Lite timeline, it has four tabs for manipulating the play, appearance, mouse events, and animation options.
      
      Slide Setting allows you to make changes associated with a selected slide -- it displays the slide name, transition, background color etc.
      
      
7. Now you can preview your presentation, and make edits or enhancements as required. We are not covering these edits here but suffice to say that the edits are easy and logical -- and plenty of help is available from the help menu and the tutorials on the Wildform site.
   
   
8. When all tweaks are in place as required, set the output parameters in the Project Settings task pane as you can see in Figure 7 .
   
   
   Figure 7: Output Options
   
   As you can see above, Project Setting has properties for exporting the presentation into different formats. Use Browse to save the presentation and click Export. A message will prompt you to confirm if you want to export all the slides -- click the Yes option, and WildPresenter Lite will export all the slides to a Flash SWF file.

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Pricing and Support

WildPresenter Lite is available at $99.00.

Support options are extensive and include email support, a searchable knowledge base, online training, and web tutorials.

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Conclusion

For $99, WildPresenter Lite provides you with a nice Flash editing environment that can create quick animated movies and intros for you -- these can then be shown as complete presentations, or even inserted in a PowerPoint presentation.

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