Did you know, in swishmax you don't just have to use the properties to set the length/duration of the effects,
you can drag it on the timeline to the amount of frames you'd like and then add your effect.
Here is how to do that
Step 1: Open up swishmax. New movie.
Step 2: Create an object or something you would like to apply an effect to.
Step 3: On the timeline, drag your right mouse button along the timeline.
Now, let go and it will show the effect menu, choose from this menu & viola, no longer need to edit
the properties to add your customized length/duration