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Contents

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2 Introduction 3 xRes 3.0 5 PaintShop Pro 3.0 7 PaintShop Pro 4.0 9 PhotoDeluxe 1.0 11 Photo-Paint 5.0 13 Photo-Paint 6.0 15 Photo-Paint 7.0 17 Picture Publisher 5.0 18 Picture Publisher 6.0 20 Painter 4.0 23 Live Picture 2.5 26 PhotoShop 4.0 29 Effects Plug-ins

A review of IBM PC - and Macintosh -compatible Image Manipulation software

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Intr oduction

This software review was com-missioned by the Advisory Group onComputer Graphics who requested awritten report on ‘image editing’ soft-ware. The broad range of softwaresubsequently reviewed was secured byChris Whitaker of the Combined HigherEducation Software Team (CHEST).

Powerful workstations, both net-worked and ‘standalone’, have become in-creasingly accessible to university staffand students in recent years. Current ‘en-try level’ personal computers, as often pur-chased by students, are now capable ofrunning relatively sophisticated graphics-intensive software. Consequently thereare many programs available which aresuitable for image manipulation and whichcater for a wide range of budgets and in-tended purpose.

During recent months this soft-ware review has been referred to as anevaluation of ‘image editing’, ‘imagemanipulation’ and even ‘image analysis’software. In actual fact this apparentconfusion simply reflects the broadrange of applications for which many ofthe products tested are commonly usedand none of the aforementioned descrip-tions is wholly innaccurate. For thepurpose of the following report thedescription ‘image manipulation’ soft-ware seems most appropriate.

Some of the software tested, mostnotably Adobe PhotoShop, provides acomprehensive range of tools which willmeet the needs of most forms of digitalimage manipulation. However suchsoftware usually comes at a price, bothwith regards to initial purchase and anysubsequent upgrading but also with

respect to specific hardware require-ments (actual and more importantlyrecommended minimum). In contrast,some of the software tested is bestsuited to particular applications, forexample creative ‘painting’ as opposedto the editing of existing images, webpage design or graphics file conversion,and hence may be more affordable andtolerant of host machine specification.

Two members of university staffperformed the software evaluation andcompiled this report. Thus the reportaims only to provide an brief review ofdifferent programs which facilitate themanipulation of digital images - we havelargely avoided comparing applicationson a value-for-money basis, since somany additional factors, including thosementioned above, are likely to influencepurchase decisions. The authors con-tribute the benefits of quite different, butcomplementary, backgrounds. BrianBoullier began this review as a lecturerin Cellular Pathology. However herecently became the Learning Technol-ogy Manager in the Computer Centre atthe University of Bradford. He hasacquired a working familiarity with awide range of software and hardwareessential to the development and imple-mentation of computer-aided learningmaterials, which includes image manipu-lation software such as reviewed here.In contrast Sue Gollifer is a practisingartist and researcher whose work isexhibited regularly in the UK andabroad. She is a Senior Lecturer in FineArt, and Subject Leader in Printmaking,in the Faculty of Art, Design and Hu-manities, at the University of Brighton,and recently became Art Co-ordinatorfor the recently established CTI in Art &Design. She has been using Apple Mac-

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intosh computers for the last eightyears, both in her own work and as amedium for teaching.

The authors also have complimen-tary experience with regards to preferredcomputer platforms. Brian Boullier evalu-ated the software on a IBM-compatiblePCs with either a 166 MHz Pentium (non-MMX) processor or 200MHz Pentium Proprocessor, both with 64MB of RAM anda 4MB Matrox Millennium display adapterproviding 32bit colour density at a screenresolution of 1024 X 768. Sue Golliferused a Power Macintosh 7200/90 MHzMac, with 32MB of RAM.

We hope that this report will pro-vide useful information to those in HigherEducation seeking to invest in new imagemanipulation software, and perhaps theprerequisite hardware. However any rec-ommendations, implied or otherwise,must be considered in the context of indi-vidual circumstance. Factors such as in-tended purpose, budget constraints andspecial pricing, available hardware etc.will often have a major effect on the cor-rect choice.

Macromedia xRes 3.0

Brian Boullier

When first using Macromedia’sxRes 3.0 one is struck by the similarityin interface design to several other appli-cations, most notably AdobePhotoShop as well as some characteris-tic elements of Fractal Design Painter.This is not to imply that functionally theapplications is inherently the same, butrather that by a process of evolution, towhich Adobe might claim the ancestralthrone, the main tool palettes of com-

petitive applications have become re-markably similar. Such similarities arenot necessarily a bad thing as the digitalartist can more quickly adapt to eachproduct if and when necessary. It isinteresting to note that Macromediahave preferred to market xRes as acompanion program to Photoshoprather than as a direct competitor. xRes3.0 mixes many of the powerful image-editing features of PhotoShop withsome of the natural media tools ofFractal Design Painter. This combina-tion of features will undoubtedly endearthis program to many users.

Photoshop-compliant plugins arerapidly becoming the standard amongstimage editing programs and xRes is noexception, indeed like before, xResincludes a special edition of Kai’sPower Tools. Other notable featuresinclude layered xRes ‘objects’ whichinclude their own undo and channelinformation, and batch conversion ofimage files to any 1 of 12 formats.XRes supports web file formats such asGIF89, Progressive JPEG and PNG.More notable is the facility to optimisecolour palettes for selected web brows-ers and ease at which client-side imagemaps can be created within the applica-tion. When used in conjunction withMacromedia Shockwave, xRes 3.0represents a powerful image creationand editing tool for the web(Shockwave represents one of the fewwidely accepted web plug-ins for ‘mul-timedia’ delivery). The painting toolsinclude a full suite of artistic brushes,textures and filters – like Fractal DesignPainter this program gives it’s bestwhen used with a graphics tablet. Re-finements to previous versions includevarious ‘productivity enhancements’

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Macromedia xRes 3.0 is a very capable image manipulation program which combines some ofthe best elements of it’s competitors: 1) main tool palette, 2) brush palette, 3) RGB colourpicker, 4) object layers palette, 5) comprehensive image information.

such as easily re-configurable tools –anti-aliasing can be turned off in all toolsby one simple step for example.

Perhaps the most notable featureof xRres is it’s superior ability to workwith high resolution images (hence,incidentally, the reason for the applica-tion’s unusual name). This bitmap edit-ing program operates in two differentmodes: ‘direct mode’ which is recom-mended for images under 10-20MB insize containing less than ten independ-ently-editable objects, and xRes modefor images requiring more than 10-20MB and/or containing more than 10objects (presumably as personal com-puters become more powerful the rec-ommended limit on file size for direct

mode will also increase). Like LivePicture, xRes permits very large imagefiles to be manipulated using machineswith only moderate amounts of RAM(16 – 48MB). Macromedia now marketthe vector based illustration program‘Freehand 7.02’ as a companion pack-age to xRes 3.0, and the two programsare now more fully integrated in terms ofdesign and purpose. There is no doubtthat Macromedia are targeting web de-velopers with their products.

In direct mode xRes functions inessentially the same way as other bitmapeditors and acts in real time on all thecomponent pixels of the image beingmanipulated. Direct mode is the defaultwork mode and all of the applications

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PaintShop Pro 3

Brian Boullier

Despite having been launched in1995, and being upgraded last year,version 3 of this popular program is stillavailable for purchase and is fully sup-ported by it’s manufacturer (JASC Inc.)and UK distributor (Digital Workshop).PaintShop Pro 3 is supplied in 16- or32-bit versions which are compatiblewith Windows 3 and Windows 95/NTrespectively. This version persists pri-marily because of the continuing needfor 16-bit programs to run under Win-dows 3 - within the university sector forexample, many PCs are still running thisGUI on top of MSDOS because thecost of upgrading hardware and soft-ware is prohibitively expensive.PaintShop Pro 3 represents a relativelyinexpensive means of performing so-

comprehensive range of functions areavailable. In contrast xRes mode sup-ports the rapid manipulation of highresolution files by restricting the neces-sary image processing to the area of theimage visible on the screen at the zoomlevel chosen at the time. This ‘selectiveprocessing’ uses a technique called‘tiling’ (technology courtesy of Fauve)to divide large images into smaller sec-tions. The result is that when you applya filter or perform another operationson, say, a 500MB image file it will seemto be applied at the same speed as if ona 10MB image file because the process-ing required for the whole image is de-layed until the image is finally rendered.It comes as no surprise thatMacromedia recommend 500MB sparehard drive space as a swap disk forxRes mode.

It should be noted that xRes doesnot employ a ‘proxy system’ in whichlower resolution files are used to repre-sent larger, higher resolution files. In factxRes allows high resolution images tobe viewed, edited, painted and maskedat the level of individual pixels irrespec-tive of the image size or resolution.Unfortunately a small, yet significantselection of tools are unavailable inxRes mode namely the extremely useful‘magic wand’ and ‘bucket’ tools as wellas indexed 256 colour mode. Howeverthis unique feature of xRes together withits range of painting tools means that theprogram deserves to be considered as avery competent solution to image editingin its own right, particularly amongstweb developers, as well as a usefulcomplement to Photoshop for thosewho demand its useful additional fea-tures and who can afford more than oneprogram of this general type.

System Requirements: (Windows)Pentium processor, 12MB RAM (18MBrecommended) for Windows 95, 16MBRAM (32MB recommended) for WindowsNT3.51, SVGA colour (24-bit colour rec-ommended), 10MB hard disk space500MB minimum free disk space for swapfile, CD-ROM drive

(Macintosh) 68040 (12MB RAM mini-mum, 16MB recommended), PowerMac(16MB minimum, 20MB recommended),System 7.5, 8-bit colour (24-bit recom-mended), 10MB hard disk space, 500MBminimum free disk space for swap file, CD-ROM drive

Manufacturer: Macromedia Inc., 600Townsend Street, San Francisoco, CA94103, USA.

Website: http://www.macromedia.com/

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phisticated image editing on an 386 PCor higher. The program needs only 4MBof RAM to run successfully and occu-pies less than 6MB of disk space whenfully installed.

PaintShop Pro 3 contains many ofthe features of Version 4 including avariety of image painting, retouchingand enhancing tools. The program,which is accessed as a single applicationand is started by selecting a single iconor menu entry, might really be consid-ered an integrated suite of related pro-grams - PaintShop Pro 3 also incorpo-rates a useful image browser, batchformat conversion utility and screen

PaintShop Pro 3 presents the user with an intuitively straightforward interface through whichcan be accessed many features associated with considerably more expensive programs. Thesefeatures include: 1) selection tools and colour picker, 2) paint tools, 3) image information, 4)screen capture.

capture facility. A cut-down version ofthe popular Kai’s Power Tools is alsosupplied.

One of the major strengths of allversions of PaintShop Pro is the widerange of file formats supported, both forreading and writing. Notable amongstthese are the Compuserve GIF formatand JPEG formats which are usedextensively on the Internet. PaintShopPro 3 is a very capable program whenused solely for image manipulation, butcomes into it’s own when also used forroutine file conversion in conjunctionwith other programs such as AdobePhotoShop or Macromedia xRes.

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Brian Boullier

This latest version of this popularprogram continues to remain one of thebest known secrets amongst computergraphics professionals. I have watchedPaintShop Pro evolve from a relativelycrude version 1.0 into an extremelycompetent program. PaintShop Prodefies categorisation and is best de-scribed as an ‘image manipulation’program - in addition to powerful imageediting features it also offers batch con-version of image files, screen captureand a useful ‘browse’ facility. Theseadditional features alone may provereason enough for purchase.

This slightly unconventional rangeof features and unusual sales methods(the program has always been availableas ‘shareware’ as well as directly via thenational distributor) may explain whysome potential users initially treat thisprogram with a degree of suspicion. Inthis respect the program’s price can

also compound the problem since, ithas to be said, the retail price ofPaintShop Pro represents extremelygood value for money.

Version 4.0 is available in 32-bitform only, and is compatible with bothWindows 95 and Windows NT.PhotoShop users will feel immediatelyat home with the interface of PaintShopPro. The program offers a comprehen-sive range of tools. The drawing andpainting and retouching tools are no lessthan you would expect from a profes-sional image editing package. The painttools, whilst lagging behind the special-ised range and functionality of FractalDesign Painter, include seven differentbrush types which, uniquely to thisversion, can be applied with varioustextures including ‘Fruit Peel’ and‘Woodgrain’. The re-touch tool facili-tates lightening, darkening, softening,sharpening and now also include anemboss brush which raises the selectedforeground colour(s) from the back-ground. The ‘gradient fill’ tool repre-sents a significant addition to earlierversions and textures also now featureamongst the ‘fill’ tools.

PaintShop Pro offers all importantimage editing functions via an accessi-ble pull down menu. Version 4.0 alsoadds a range of special effects such as‘drop shadow’, ‘buttonize’ (the selectedarea is rendered with bevelled edges)and ‘seamless tiling’ which is useful forcreating tiled backgrounds for webpages. Jasc Inc., who are responsiblefor PaintShop Pro, deserve credit formaking the program so useful to webdevelopers. The aforementioned specialeffects are particularly useful whendesigning images for the world-wide-web. In this respect, in addition to the

PaintShop Pro 4

System requirements: IBM compatible;386 processor or higher; Windows 3.1 orhigher; VGA or SVGA display; 4MBRAM.

Manufacturer: JASC Inc. 10901 RedCircle Drive, Suite 340, Minnetonka, MN55343, USA.

Manufacturer’s website:http://www.jasc.com/

UK distributer’s website:http://www.digitalworkshop.co.uk/

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extensive number of file formats whichcan be opened within the program (afeature which in itself generated manydevotees to earlier versions), newlycreated files can be saved in many dif-ferent formats including the GIF (inter-laced/non-interlaced and non-transpar-ent/transparent background) and JPEGformats popular on the web.

The program also incorporates abrowser feature, which allows rapidviewing of thumbnail representations ofselected files - once again this is anextremely useful feature for web devel-opers wishing to check for redundantimage files amongst revised directories.

PaintShop Pro 4 enjoys a major following amongst graphics professionals since it offers high-end features at an affordable price. These include: 1) basic colour picker, 2) editable colourpalettes, 3) basic tools, 4) histogram representation of RGB colour values and luminance, 5)main toolbar.

The screen capture facility is easilyconfigured and offers several optionsincluding ‘full screen’ or a user-selectable area with or without the cur-sor – this feature was used to generatethe example screens throughout thisreview.

PaintShop Pro includes a variety ofimage useful filters and is compatiblewith Photoshop-compatible plug-infilters such as the Alien Skin Black Boxfilterset reviewed elsewhere. Finally theprogram provides a particularly wellstructured and comprehensive system ofhelp files – a useful feature in situationswhere the supplied manual isn’t readily

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System requirements: IBM compatible;486 processor or higher; 5MB free diskspace; SVGA display; 8MB RAM.

Manufacturer: JASC Inc. 10901 RedCircle Drive, Suite 340, Minnetonka, MN55343, USA.

Manufacturer’s website:http://www.jasc.com/

UK distributer’s website:http://www.digitalworkshop.co.uk/

available, for example when the programis made available on public access ma-chines.

Brian Boullier

In addition to their professionallyorientated software PhotoShop, Adobealso produce another image manipula-tion package aimed more towards thehome market, particularly the post cap-ture editing of digital photographs - thisprogram is sometimes bundled withconsumer-level digital cameras.PhotoDeluxe presents an unusual, if notunique, user interface which on firstinspection disguises the hidden strengthsof this program.

On starting the program the userhas a choice of opting for ‘Guided Ac-tivities’ or ‘On Your Own’. New usersare encouraged to try ‘Guided Activi-ties’ first. In principle these are similarto Microsoft’s ‘Wizards’, guiding thenovice through the successive steps

PhotoDeluxe 1.0

necessary to complete a task chosenfrom the following categories: ‘TouchUp Photo’, ‘Transform Photo’ and‘Cards and More’. The names of thesecategories, particularly ‘Cards andMore’ shed light on the intended marketfor this program - ‘Cards and More’facilitates the production of greetingscards and calendars, undoubtedly afeature designed to appeal to the domes-tic consumer rather than the busy pro-fessional.

Each of the three categories isfurther subdivided into groups of relatedtasks. For example within ‘TransformPhoto’ the following submenus areavailable: ‘Collage’, ‘Fun’, ‘Art’,‘Cool’ and ‘Internet’. Each submenu isrepresented by a tabbed card whichcontains large, easy-to-recognise icons.This makes selection of the appropriatefunction a straightforward andunintimidating task. The Internet relatedtasks are particularly useful and simpleto apply if the clear step-by-step instruc-tions are followed - the program greatlysimplifies editing, resizing and savingimages for use on the WWW.

More experienced users will ex-ploit the surprisingly comprehensiverange of functions provided within the‘On Your Own’ program menu. Asalways, the initial requirement is for asuitable image - this may be newlyacquired via a compatible scanner (suchas PhotoShop-compatible or Twaincompliant a ‘flatbed’ or 35mm transpar-ency scanner) or digital still camera (thissoftware is occasionally ‘bundled’ withdigital still cameras) or copied from aPhoto CD or digitised reproduction of aconventional photograph originallyrecorded onto ‘Advanced Photo Sys-tem’ film.

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The extensive ‘Modify’ menufacilitates a range of functions withineach of the following submenus: ‘Edit’,‘Tools’, ‘Orientation’, ‘Size’, ‘Quality’and ‘Effects’. The ‘Effects’ tab evencontains several filters from the Kai’sPower Tools. One measure of thestrength of this program is that separateimage layers can be created and imagescan be saved as multi-layer images inthe PhotoShop ‘.psd’ format in additionto the default PhotoDeluxe (‘.pdd’)format. The program also supportscreation of files in the increasingly

popular cross-platform Acrobat (‘.pdf’)file format.

In conclusion PhotoDeluxe offersmany of the most commonly used fea-tures of PhotoShop via a more user-friendly interface and hence shouldn’t bemistakenly dismissed as a poor alterna-tive to it’s more professionally orien-tated stablemate. PhotoDeluxe repre-sents an powerful image manipulationprogramme with an unusual yet easy touse interface which should appeal par-ticularly to new and inexperienced users.

The unique interface of PhotoDeluxe ‘hand-holds’ novice users whilst also facilitating quitesophisticated image manipulation by more experienced users (as above). The broad range offeatures includes: 1) the manual ‘modify’ menu which includes 2) a range of editing tools, 3)tool specific controls, 4) layers support, 5) image information.

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System requirements: (Windows) 486 orPentium processor, Microsoft Windows 3.1,or Windows 95, 8 MB or more of RAM (5.2MB of RAM available to PhotoDeluxe), 45MB of hard-disk space, support for 256 ormore colors, CD-ROM drive

(Macintosh) 68040 processor with 8 MB ofRAM, or PowerMac with 12 MB of RAM,System Software 7.0 or later, 45 MB of hard-disk space, support for 256 or more colors,CD-ROM drive

Manufacturer: Adobe Systems EuropeanHeadquarters, Adobe House, West OneBusiness Park, 5 Mid New Cultins, Edin-burgh EH11 4DU, Scotland, United King-dom.

Website: http://www.adobe.com/

Photo-Paint 5.0

Brian Boullier

This program is one of the leastexpensive products in this review, pri-marily because it has been supersededby two further upgrades since it wasintroduced early in 1995. It merits inclu-sion not simply because it remains onretail sale (Corel persist in selling previ-ous incarnations of their range of soft-ware which is of real benefit to those onlimited budgets) but because it repre-sents a powerful image manipulationprogram which runs under Windows 3.

Photo-Paint 5 offers a useful set offeatures that encompass image paintingand editing. Photo-Paint 5 is best knownas part of the famous Corel Draw suiteof integrated graphics programs, or‘modules’ as Corel like to term them.Photo-Paint 5 is also available sepa-rately as ‘Photo-Paint 5 Plus’ whichincludes screen capture and file manage-

ment utilities and some 10 000 clip artimages.

The program benefits from a com-prehensive range of built-in filters whichcan be applied to selected areas of theimage. These include common colourand sharpness filters as well as moresophisticated effects such as 3D rotationand perspective transformations (whichfrankly are of less frequent value) Inaddition the program can accept thirdparty filters including Adobe’s GalleryEffects 2 & 3, Kai’s Power Tools andAlien Skin’s Black Box (however sincethis is program is now over two yearsold check compatibility with more re-cently manufactured plug-in filter sets).

Painting and editing tools areaccessed through a toolbox which canbe fixed or floating - the latter usuallyproves more convenient especially whenworkspace is at a premium when run-ning at low screen resolutions (which ismore likely on machines destined to runthis software). In this respect Corel alsodeserve credit for providing ‘collapsiblepalettes’ - individual tools are selectedfrom the toolbar by a single click whichsimultaneously opens a floating ‘toolsettings’ palette. Double clicking a toolicon on the toolbar opens a more com-prehensive tool related palette. Forexample, single clicking on the‘eyedropper’ tool icon (which is used topick colours from the image) invokes asimple tool settings dialog box in whichthe size of the tool can be configured.However double-clicking on the same‘eyedropper’ tool icon additionallyinvokes a comprehensive ‘colour’palette. The colour palette is particularlywell realised in this program, givingexcellent representations of the colourchannels associated with five different

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colour models as well as the actualpalette of the currently selected image.Active palettes can be minimised or‘rolled up’ so that they occupy lessvaluable screen space. In addition togiving access to related palettes, theindividual toolbar icons allow selectionof subsets of each tool - the brush icongives access to different brush styles(which in turn alters the contents of the‘tool settings’ palette.

One other notable strength of thisprogram is the powerful ‘fill’ tool whichoffers a exceptionally wide range ofcolour patterns and built-in textureswhich, along with some of the suppliedfilter effects and customisable brushes,

challenge the authority of more profes-sionally orientated programs such asAdobe PhotoShop and Fractal DesignPainter.

Unfortunately, as the precedingparagraphs imply, this program’sstrength also reveals it’s principle weak-ness. Photo-Paint 5 offers a comprehen-sive range of tools and effects but themethods of accessing them are oftenunconventional, inconsistent and some-times unduly complex. With time andgrowing familiarity with the programthis problem should recede, but for newusers, and particularly those working onremote workstations without the assist-ance of additional documentation (the

Photo-Paint 5 offers a bewilderingly wide range of features including 1) a standard toolbar, 2)an RGB colour picker, 3) comprehensive fill functions, 4) tool-specific settings, and 5) specialeffects accessed through a conventional pull-down menu.

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online help is good, but also suffers froman unconventional interface) the fullpower and functionality of the programmay never become apparent.

Finally, this version of Photo-Paintalso shows it’s age with repect to therange and type of file formats supported.For example the program can only im-port GIF files. An appealing feature,which admittedly other manufacturersinclude under a different guise (Adobe’s‘save a copy’ command is more effec-tive for example), is the ‘checkpoint’command which saves the current imageallowing subsequent alterations to beeasily removed by using the ‘RestoreCheckpoint’ command. Interestingly thisfeature is accessible via the conventional‘Windows’-style menu rather than aspecial icon, which in this case wouldarguably have been more appropriate.

In comparison to some of the otherprograms under review, some functionsof Photo-Paint 5 such as filter renderingseemed relatively slow, but with modernCPUs and display adapters as well asamounts of RAM which would havebeen considered a luxury when thisversion was released (it only requires a386 CPU and 8MB RAM) this provesonly a minor inconvenience rather than amajor problem.

Photo-Paint 6.0

Brian Boullier

Corel’s Photo-Paint evolved to a true32-bit program in version 6 and repre-sents a significant upgrade from previ-ous versions. Consequent improvements,such as the added functionality offeredby the right hand mouse button, trans-form the way the program works inroutine use.

PhotoPaint 6 uses the multipledocument interface, which allows morethan one image to be opened simultane-ously. OLE 2 is also supported. Thismeans that, when using other applica-tions such as Microsoft Word, embed-ded images can be edited by PhotoPaintwithout having to separately launch theapplication. A wide range of file typesare supported including PhotoShop PSDfiles, although the any original layers arenot retained. Instead of layers,PhotoPaint 6 offers independent ‘ob-jects’. Images can be saved in a varietyof formats including GIF (transparentand interlaced/non-interlaced) andJPEG, commonly used on the world-wide web.Like the other versions under review,there is a vast array of available toolswhich are accessible through a highlycustomisable interface which includesCorel’s, now trademark, ‘roll-up’ pal-ettes. The loosely organised interface,whilst extremely flexible, is actually theprogram’s greatest weakness – the useris immediately confronted with a bewil-dering variety of features, with evenmore available by accessing furthermenu options. For example 11 differentWindows 95-style toolbars ar available

System requirements: Windows 95, 486 orPentium CPU, 8MB RAM (16 MB recom-mended), VGA display (256 colour recom-mended), CD-ROM drive, mouse or tablet

Manufacturer: Corel Corporation, CorporateHeadquarters, 1600 Carling Ave., Ottawa, On-tario K1Z 8R7, Canada.

Manufacturer’s website:http://www.corel.com/

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which group related tools according totheir function e.g. ‘line tools’, ‘zoomtools’’ ‘shape tools’ and ‘mask tools’.Individual toolsbars can be customisedwith regards to their on-screen positioni.e. ‘docked’ to an edge of the pro-gram’s window or ‘floating’ within theworkspace, as well as component func-tions. Fortunately the toolbar menuincludes a ‘reset’ button which allowscustomised toolbars to be returned totheir default configuration when neces-sary.

Corel offer special prices to educa-tional users via normal retail outlets –buyers should note that these prices

usually exclude the supply of manuals,which in the case of PhotoPaint areessential.

Complexity aside, CorelPhotoPaint 6 is an extremely competentimage manipulation program. Havingnow been superceeded by version 7 (inrecent years Corel have released a newversion of the Corel Draw package, andhence PhotoPaint, every Spring), thisversion is particularly affordable andmany consider it the poor person’sPhotoShop.

One range of features worth invest-ing time in becoming familiar with is thelarge range of plug-in filters and special

Photo-Paint 6 packs in even more features than it’s predecessor including 1) highlyconfigurable tool settings, 2) layered ‘objects’, 3) an RGB colour picker, 4) a ‘roll-up’ menu,5) single frame editing of .avi files, and 6) a comprehensive range of special effects accessedthrough a conventional ‘Windows’ menu.

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effects, which are supplied as standard.In most cases the original image, or arepresentative area of it, can be com-pared to an adjacent preview imagebefore the filter is applied – a very use-ful feature. Amongst nearly 80 availablefilters are the usual image adjustmentand colour balancing options as well asmore sophisticated effects such as ZaosTools Paint Alchemy and Fractal Ex-plorer – this particular filter may notfind everyday application but isdefinately worth investigating if only toexperience Kai Krause’s trademark styleof program interface.

Photo-Paint 7

System requirements: Windows 95, 486 orPentium CPU, 8MB RAM (16 MB recom-mended), VGA display (256 colour recom-mended), CD-ROM drive, mouse or tablet

Manufacturer: Corel Corporation, CorporateHeadquarters, 1600 Carling Ave., Ottawa,Ontario K1Z 8R7, Canada.

Manufacturer’s website:http://www.corel.com/

Brian Boullier

PhotoPaint 7 represents the latestin the long line of Corel’s popular imageediting programs. The program is mostcommonly encountered as part of theCorel Draw Suite, but may also be pur-chased as a part of the ‘PhotoPaint Plus’package. Prospective buyers might alsoconsider Corel’s retail prices to educa-tional users – whilst these special pack-

ages come without manuals, PhotoPaint7 incorporates a very useful series oftutorials which guide the user throughsuch common tasks including photo-graph retouching and graphics for theInternet. These tutorials are comprehen-sive enough to replace conventionalmanuals when the program is accessedacross a remote network.

The PhotoPaint family has under-gone continual development over theyears. As a consequence PhotoPaint 7is a very powerful image editing pro-gram with a thoughtfully refined userinterface. The most obvious improve-ment to this version is the ‘PropertyBar’, a context sensitive toolbar whichchanges according to the currentlyselected tool. Toolbars can be either‘docked’ to the periphery of theworkplace or left floating in a conven-ient area. In addition the status barwhich runs along the bottom of theworkplace now includes information onthe user-allocated size of swap disk andthe memory available to the currentimage. Amongst the many less immedi-ately apparent, but nonetheless notable,improvements are the ‘repeat stroke’tool which enables previously savedbrush strokes to be modified and reap-plied and the ‘image sprayer’, whichallows previously saved images to beapplied onto the current canvas much inthe fashion of Painters ‘image hose’.

PhotoPaint 7 offers a comprehen-sive range of naturalistic brush effects(some of which render quite slowly) andan even more impressive selection ofspecial effects plug-ins which includePaint Alchemy and the wonderfullyinventive Kai’s Power Tools (SpecialEdition). This latest version ofPhotoPaint also recognises the increas-

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ing need for Internet-related tools. Themost important Internet file types (.gif,.jpg and .png) are supported and onlinetutorials can assist with the necessarysteps in creating web-optimised images.In conclusion PhotoPaint 7 offers mostof the features required for professionalimage editing together with sufficientonline help and assistance to enable thenovice to produce professional results –like many of it’s competitors, the pro-grams main drawback is the amount oftime needed to become familiar with allof these features.

System requirements: Windows 95 orNT4.0, 486/100 or Pentium 100 recom-mended, 16MB RAM (32 MB recom-mended), VGA display (SVGA recom-mended), 42MB hard disk space, CD-ROMdrive, mouse or tablet

Manufacturer: Corel Corporation, CorporateHeadquarters, 1600 Carling Ave., Ottawa,Ontario K1Z 8R7, Canada.

Manufacturer’s website:http://www.corel.com/

Corel PhotoPaint 7 offers a comprehensive range of powerful tools including 1) ‘Corel Tu-tor’, an online guide to most commonly encountered tasks (‘The Internet’ is illustrated) whichshould be of major benefit to new and inexperienced users, 2) the context-sensitive ‘Propertybar’ (here supporting the chosen ‘crop tool’), 3) the status bar displays information regardingavailable swap file and memory, and 4) a comprehensive colour picker.

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Picture Publisher 5.0

Brian Boullier

Micrografx Picture Publisher 5.0 hasbeen available for over two years now.Whilst previous versions led the way forimage editing on the PC, this version isbeginning to look dated in comparisonto the latest competition. However manyusers are still reliant on 386- and 486-based PCs running 16-bit versions ofMicrosoft Windows and for them thisprogram is worthy of consideration.

At first glance the program’s inter-face seems comparatively simple andlow on features. This is in completecontrast to Corel’s Photo-Paint. Assuch, it is much less likely to intimidatenew users whilst more experiencedusers of image editing software willknow to look further for the many addi-tional features which reside within thisprogram.

When first opened, Picture Pub-lisher 5 presents the user with a simpletoolbox containing standard tools suchas paintbrush, magnifying glass, fill andtext. Clicking on some of these standard

Picture Publisher 5 presents a deceptively simple interface through which many powerfulfunctions are accessible including 1) the basic toolbar, 2) an expanded toolset for each basictool (in this example the mask tool has been expanded), 3) comprehensive control of layeredobjects, 4) a convenient zoom function, and 5) important image information

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System requirements: 386/33 + mathscoprocessor (486DX recommended), 8MBRAM (16MB recommended), Windows 3.1or above, DOS 5.0 or above, VGA displayor better, mouse or pointing device

Manufacturer: Micrografx Limited, GrafxHouse, Forsyth Road, Woking, Surrey GU215RS, UK.

Website: http://www.micrografx.com/uk/

tools reveals an expanded toolset (thestatus bar at the foot of the windowconfirms the availability of additionaltools). Choosing one of these toolssubsequently updates the context-sensi-tive toolbar which normally runs acrossthe top of the program window. Forexample clicking the paintbrush revealsthe available range of brush types and ifone of these brush types is selected,such as the airbrush, the related toolbarappears giving refined control over theselected tool.

Opening images is a straightfor-ward task. The ImageBrowser providesrepresentative thumbnails of imagesbefore opening, as well as importing orsaving. Other noteworthy features in-clude object layers and unlimited undosvia the ‘Comand List’, an editablerecord of all manipulations performedon a single image. The program alsosupports common scanners includingTWAIN compliant devices.

The program is supplied with anextensive range of effects filters whichare accessed through a windows-stylepull down menu. A useful ‘EffectsBrowser’ feature allows filter effects tobe previewed on representative sectionsof the image before being applied fully.Filter rendering occurs quickly, in factthe program is fast in most respects,with the relatively short time needed tolaunch the program being particularlyimpressive. The program also supportsPhotoShop plug-ins including Kai’sPower Tools – Picture Publisher 5.0represents particularly good value whenpurchased together with MicrografxDesigner 4.1 and Kai’s Power Tools 1.0in the retail ‘Micrografx Designer PowerPack.

Picture Publisher 6.0

Brian Boullier

Picture Publisher 6.0 represents amajor version upgrade by becoming anative 32-bit application suitable onlyfor Windows 95 and Windows NT.

General benefits of this moveinclude long file names, truemultitasking and full OLE 2.0 support.More specifically Micrografx havedeliberately redesigned the interface andfunctionality of Picture Publisher 6.0 toappeal to users of Microsoft’s profes-sionally-orientated ‘Office’ suite. To thisend the program is only sold as part ofthe ‘ABC Graphics Suite’ (which alsoincludes Micrografx Designer, ABCFlowcharter and the ABC Media Man-ager).

As with version 5.0, on initialinspection the interface appears quitebasic and almost short on features.However first impressions are definitelydeceptive in this case – this is a verypowerful program with a comprehensiverange of features. FortunatelyMicrografx have added pop-up ‘hintbubbles’ which describe both the de-

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fault buttons and the functions of thepull-down menus when the cursor restsbriefly above them. The online help issuitably detailed and is written in thestyle of a ‘how to’ guide. This is par-ticularly useful for new users, especiallysince the single manual refers to thecomplete ABC Graphics Suite and howit might be used for only several pre-defined projects.

The main tool palette is located tothe left of the screen, that is until theuser customises the screen layout. Aswith version 5.0, selecting any of thesetools reveals an expanded toolset sup-

ported by an additional context-relatedtoolbar. All the toolbars can be movedso that they ‘float’ on the workspace oralternatively they can be ‘docked’ toany side of the screen. Individual but-tons can also be assigned to differenttoolbars. Frankly the extent to which theinterface can be customised is some-what overwhelming and is likely to leadto confusion, especially amongst inexpe-rienced users or where PCs are sharedby more than one user. Of greater prac-tical value is the ability to access impor-tant editing functions by clicking theright hand mouse button when the cur-

There are many innovative features in Picture Publisher 6.0 including 1) the layered objectstool, 2) the colour shield, which allows layered masking on the basis of colour, 3) the imagecontrast/brightness control which offers a ‘joystick’ in addition to the more usual numericalvalue entry boxes, and 4) image information (cursor position, pixel colour, image size etc).

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sor is above the current image.In addition to atypical interfaces

the Picture Publisher lineage is alsonotable for unconventional tools. Anexample is the ‘colour shield’ whichfacilitates layered masking on the basisof colour in addition to the more usualarea selection. Up to 8 colours can beselected using an individual droppertools with tolerances adjustable from 0-100% of the RGB value assigned to theoriginal colour. Picture Publisher 6.0also offers combined adjustment ofbrightness and contrast by means of a‘joystick’ control – this unusual methodis extremely effective and is helps enor-mously in conceptualising the combinedeffects of adjusting these parameters ina given image.

As one would expect, PicturePublisher 6.0 expands the general capa-bilities of earlier versions. Many userswill welcome the broader file support,particularly the ability to create inter-laced and transparent GIF files. In con-clusion this is a very versatile programwhich, although lacking the ultimaterefinement of PhotoShop, will rewardthe dedicated user with excellent results.

Painter 4

Sue Gollifer

Painter 4 has evolved significantlyfrom its earliest versions as a ‘naturalmedia’ paint programme, designed to befriendly and intuitive for a user accus-tomed to traditional fine art tools andpigments. It was the first programmewhich attempted a comprehensive simu-lation of real world artists’ media. It hasconcentrated on this simulation through-out its various up-grades, and was origi-nally not regarded as an complete graph-ics package: it is marketed as an ‘elec-tronic studio’. The manual looks like anartist’s sketchbook, and early versionseven came packaged in paint tins. Al-though the central intention was toachieve a liberating computer environ-ment in which non-computer-literateusers could produce art, its complexitytended to alienate the very users it at-tempted to attract. In response to criti-cism over this, the software designershave completely revamped the interface,and added some new features very simi-lar to other graphic applications.

The application is effective whenused with a fast computer with plenty ofRAM - otherwise, when using paintingmodes of any complexity, there is anoticeable delay between each mouse ortablet action and its effect on-screen.This obscures the immediate, intuitivenature of the programme, and inhibitsfreedom of expression and movement.When used with a suitably powerfulplatform, and a Wacom pen and tablet, itis possible, through its pressure andvelocity settings, to match the style,speed and direction of ‘real’ painting

System requirements:

486DX or higher, 8MB RAM (16 recom-mended), 30MB - 45MB hard disk space,Windows 95 or NT3.51, VGA or higher, 256colours or higher, CD-ROM, mouse orpointing device.

Manufacturer: Micrografx Limited,Grafx House, Forsyth Road, Woking, Sur-rey GU21 5RS, UK.

Website: http://www.micrografx.com/uk/

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marks and strokes, though on a limitedscale. Though its interface is ‘elegant’,and imitates ‘real,’ materials, its appar-ent simplicity is deceptive. Any tool canbe refined in numerous ways, and theway successive layers of floaters,masks, shapes and canvas can interact ismost impressive.

In Painter 3 and now Painter 4 ,the palettes have been totally redesignedas drawers, allowing the user to openand close them by clicking on theiricons: if the item is not displayed on thefront of the drawer, you can click any-where on the pushbar to open thedrawer, revealing the items inside. Un-fortunately this does not create a par-ticularly helpful creative environment, asthe picture image is often obscuredbehind the cluttered interface, where at

least four palettes can be open at anyone time, and though they can easily bearranged around the screen they can stillbe very distracting. A second monitor,dedicated to the work in progress, is theideal, though expensive, solution. How-ever one of Painter’s great strengths isstill retained: to create the illusion ofworking on textured surfaces, from‘fine cartridge paper’ to ‘coarse can-vas’, rather than on a featureless blankmonitor screen. These textures can beapplied to the whole document orthrough individual tools as an appliedvariant.

The application’s limitations areapparent if it is used as a Photoshop-type programme (i.e. as an image-ma-nipulation programme for scannedimages). But the application isn’t de-signed with this in mind; it works well asa basic image-manipulation programme,but its strengths are much more to dowith allowing the user the freedom toinvent, draw, whatever, within the pro-gramme. As well as creating the typicalpaint-programme bitmapped pictures,

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Painter now creates and works withpostscript vector graphics. By using thenew ‘Shapes’ menu, you can create andimport resolution-independentPostScript vector graphics such asthose created by Adobe Illustrator andMacromedia FreeHand.

Painter reads and writes files inPhotoshop 3.0 format, convertingPhotoshop layers into Painter’s “float-ers” and vice versa. Now Painter 4users can also import artwork created inIllustrator format (written by CorelDraw,FreeHand and Illustrator) and add tex-ture and transparency using Shapes. Forthe first time, users can combine float-ing selections created in Photoshop andPainter with vector-based artwork cre-ated in drawing programs.

The new ‘Mosaic’ brush letsusers create realistic mosaics by ‘paint-ing’ with tiles on a blank canvas or overscanned photographs. Each tile is an

independent object that ‘knows’ aboutevery other tile, and carves its shape sothat it fits perfectly with existing tiles.

Painter 4 also includes new rulersand guides which provide visual cuesfor sizing and manipulating graphicimages; a new alignment Effect for pre-cisely placing both bitmap andPostScript artwork objects; a ‘QuickCurve lasso’ tool for creating preciseselections using beziers and pull-downmenus on the floating palettes.

Among its less obvious featuresare: an animation capability; whole sec-tions on patterns, fabrics and tartans;scripting and playback, and replayablebrush-strokes; mosaics; image hose,which sprays out pre-set image stores innumerous configurations; cloning fromremote documents; functioning liveacross the Internet, and easy web pageconstruction. Painter can now createWorld Wide Web-page pictures that

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System Requirements: (Macintosh)68030 or 68040 Macintosh orPowerMac; 6.5+ MB of applicationRAM (8+ MB for PowerMac);System 7.0 or later; colour display(24-bit recommended); 20 MB freedisk space; floating point unit (FPU)or PowerMac required for someeffects.(IBM compatible) 80486 or Pentiumcompatible PC; 8 MB of RAM (12MB for Windows 95); MicrosoftWindows 3.1 or Windows 95; colourdisplay (24-bit recommended); 24 MBfree disk space; math coprocessorrequired for some effects

Manufacturer: Fractal Design Cor-poration, P.O Box 66959, ScottsValley, CA 95067-6959 USA.

Website: http://www.fractal.com/

have built-in links to other Web pageand makes it possible to collaboratewith other artists in real time over theInternet.

Painter 3.1 gave users the abilityto create Web graphics in GIF andJPEG formats with support for inter-leaved and transparent GIF images.Painter 4 expands these capabilities byletting users create Image Maps foruse in Web page designs.

So its apparent simplicity makesit a good programme for users whocan simply transfer their drawing orpainting approach. But underneath, itslogic is really one that has evolved,rather than has been planned in a clearpattern. The shapes layer, for instance,makes up for a lack in previous ver-sions of clean-cut geometric forms.However, it doesn’t work in a veryobvious way, nor do the masks. Butthe masks can be painted, making forcomplex vector files, but the impro-vised character of the programmecomes into its own with text, which isfar more malleable than (say)Macromedia xRes. The same is truefor its floaters approach, much moredirect than Photoshop’s layers system.As with all Painter features, you have32 levels of undo.

It can also be temperamental,locking up occasionally. But its short-comings can be forgiven for its livingup to its essential creative purpose.The vast array of painting and drawingtools in Painter 4.0, including sometools unavailable in any other art pro-gramme, lets you create just about anylook or effect you want. This greatversatility makes the application a greatdeal more complex than first impres-sions may make it appear.

Live Picture 2.5

Sue Gollifer

Anyone who has regularly tocomposite and manipulate high-resolu-tion images in any quantity should con-sider Live Picture as an investment -although a lot of computing power isrequired to use it effectively. While itsmakers claim that the application canrun on a Quadra with 24MB of RAM, ittakes a 200Mhz PowerMac with at least64MB of RAM to get the full benefit ofLive Picture’s distinctive abilities.

The secret of Live Picture’s so-farunrivalled capacity to deal with large,high-resolution images in real time isFITS (Functional Interpolation Transfor-mation System) technology, which oper-

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ates on continuous-tone colour images,regardless of the level of resolution.

Before manipulation, images arefirst converted to Live Picture’s exclu-sive IVUE format, which expressesimage-editing functions algorithmicallyin separate FITS files. Using the IVUEformat, Live Picture permits the viewingand manipulation of images - scaling,zooming, and panning data-hungryimages instantly - but displays only thatportion of the image that is needed atthe time. It quickly processes image

edits (including retouching, colonising,distortion, compositing, lighting, feath-ering, and blending), and saves them inlayers, separate from the pixel data. Itcan quickly modify or reverse any edit,at any time: the original image data is notaffected, and there is also an unlimitednon-linear “undo”. One can rework,delete, or add effects at any time. Whenthe work is finished, the file can beexported in the resolution and file for-mat of choice (Live Picture importsfrom and outputs to all standard Mac

Along the left side of the window is a tool palette that toggles between a Positioning mode -for cropping, scaling, skewing, and moving - and a Creation mode, used for most compositingfunctions. A palette across the top, called the Multiplex Bar, enables numerical input for sizeand positioning. The palette with layer information, used to display and activate specificimages and effects, is along the right side of the window. The interface does not conform toMacintosh standards for certain tools, but one can use Live Picture’s pressure-sensitivebrushes productively with a Wacom -type tablet, applying texture or varying opacity to createsubtle effects. Special Effects Tools are available to sharpen, blur, smudge, blend, and addshimmer.

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file formats), can directly generate col-our separations, or can join a multipleFITS files queue for batch processing.

Live Picture may be seen as com-plementary to applications such asPhotoshop. It lacks Photoshop’s vastsupply of tools and filters, but - unlikePainter, for instance - it has a relativelyuncluttered interface, designed to beused comfortably on a 13-inch monitor.

What Live Picture lacks is real

retouching tools. Whereas Photoshopallows repainting of part of an imagewith tones from any other part of thatimage (or of another image - this iscalled ‘cloning’ ) - the equivalent func-tion in Live Picture requires a new clonelayer each time a different source isselected. Rendering is handled veryquickly, when adequate processingpower is available. Which brings usback to my initial observation: if you

As with Photoshop, separate images in the document can sit in separate layers, but so canindividual editing decisions. Colour correction, sharpening, or distortion can be applied indifferent layers, each of which can be easily altered, hidden or removed at any time. A varietyof layer types are available, including monochrome, multi-colour, clone, distort, paint, image-insertion, colour correction, and silhouette. This versatility can at times be confusing, espe-cially as some effects cannot be combined, nor can layers be converted from one type to an-other. It’s important to maintain clear and concise naming of layers - generally to be well-organised - because an object or effect is selected by clicking on its name in the layer list. LivePicture allows the user to define various views - as many as required - which can be used tonegotiate rapidly from one zoom-level or portion of the image to another. Views can also bestored and selected in the layers list.

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need a powerful application, and youhave a powerful platform, then LivePicture is a good investment.

In conclusion Live Picture offersthe following benefits:

• Essential complement for AdobePhotoshop users

• Speed: Work on a 500 MB image asrapidly as on a 5 MB image

• Power: Access an expansive rangeof creative options

• Flexibility: ‘unlimited Undo’

• Resolution independence: re-scaleand re-use the image for otherpurposes

System requirements:The minimum recommended configura-tion is a PowerMac with 18MB ofRAM dedicated to Live Picture. Therecommended RAM is 24MB, and LivePicture will take advantage of largeramounts of memory, if available.Live Picture will soon be available forSilicon Graphics platforms, and aWindows 95 version is in progress.

Manufacturer: Live Picture, Inc. 5617 Scotts Valley Drive, Suite 180Scotts Valley, CA 95066, USA

Website:: http://www.livepicture.com/

Adobe Photoshop 4.0

Sue Gollifer

Since its introduction in 1989, AdobePhotoshop has become an industry-standard application for digital imageenhancement, retouching and photocompositing. The application is easy for

the novice to get to grips with and yetsufficently powerful for the profes-sional. With its many upgrades it nowstands out from all other applicationswithin its field. One of the strengths ofthe Photoshop environment is that,although it is a very complex program,with numerous levels hidden within it, itappears initially elegantl and straight-forward. These merits have resulted inits usage world-wide by artists, design-ers, illustrators, photographers, andmultimedia authors to edit scannedimages, digital photographs, computer-generated images and for preparing webimages. The user is able to start with ablank screen or scan an image directlyinto the program, then create separatelayers like transparent sheets of acetate,where one can combine graphic ele-ments, paint, and edit, adding colour,altering, or deleting. without changingthe original background image. There isa complete set of tools for colour cor-rection which allow users to take advan-tage of professional-level prepress capa-bilities, thereby bridging the gap be-tween traditional print and Web publish-ing.

The recently released AdobePhotoshop 4.0 now offers a wholerange of new features, ‘Digital Water-marking’ being perhaps one of the mostsignificant for photographers and DigitalArtists, since it creates an effectivemethod to protect the copyright of theirimages. Using PictureMarc(TM) tech-nology developed by Digimarc Corpo-ration, Adobe Photoshop inserts animperceptible, digital watermark in anyimage. While not apparent to the humaneye, this watermark is still readable evenafter an image has been edited, orprinted and re-scanned. Once

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Photoshop has read the watermark, alink in the program can access theDigimarc Web site, from which userscan obtain copyright and artist informa-tion for registered images. For moreinformation visit the Digimarc Website:http://www.digimarc.com/.

Other features include more than90 filters, including the formerly standalone product Adobe GalleryEffects(R), which consists of 48 newfilters which offer a wide range of artis-tic effects, such as coloured pencil,crosshatch and film grain. Each filter isnow 32-bit native, which enables fargreater processing speed.

The new Navigator palette provides aneasy way to move quickly to any loca-tion in a magnified image, by selectingthe desired view from within a resizablethumbnail of the image. The standardZoom tools are still available , butgreater delicacy of zoom level selection

There is a new Actions palette containingthe simple yet powerful Batch command,allowing application of an action script to abatch of images. Various actions can bedisplayed simultaneously in the Actionspalette, and action sets can be saved andloaded separately.

Photoshop 4 users can now displaynonprintable grids and image guides, as arepresent in most drawing or CAD programs.Guides can be pulled from the rulers toprovide precise horizontal or vertical lines towhich tool operations can be snapped. Like-wise the Grids feature creates a regularpattern of snap points across an entire im-age.

is created using commands such as Fiton Screen, Actual Pixels, and Print Size.

What image layers in Photoshopversion 3 did for compositing images,so the new layers adjustment does forcolour correction. An adjustment layeris a mask through which an image ad-

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Nine types of adjustment layers are available,including Curves, Levels, Hue Adjustment andPosterize.

justment is applied. These features areorganised in the changed Layers palette,making it much easier to tell which func-tions affect layers and which affect thedocument as a whole. Any number ofadjustment layers can be stacked in theLayers palette, each adjustment layermodifying the layers that lie below.Adjustment layers certainly encourageexperimentation, as the layers can behidden or viewed as different hierarchi-cal orders allowing users to view theimage in various different ways.

One of the most exciting newfeatures in this upgrade is the FreeTransform command, allowing users toapply a wide variety of transformations.Handles are placed around the bound-ary of a layer after which one can scale,rotate, or shear it, either by dragging thehandles or by entering numerical values

in a dialogue box, making complexmanipulation of images a great dealeasier.

The gradient tool has also beencompletely redesigned, now functioningmuch more in the manner of the full-featured gradient controls available inhigh-end drawing packages, now allow-ing users to create and store multicol-oured gradients with as many as 32colours and varying levels of opacity.Combined with blend modes, the newgradient features a powerful specialeffects tool, similar to some of theMeta-tool plug ins such as ‘Kai’s PowerTools’ and ‘Gradient Designer’.

The new Actions feature inPhotoshop 4.0 allows users involved inWebimage processing to easily performbatch file conversions and down sam-pling. Version 4.0 includes support fortransparent, interlaced GIF files, andadds support for the following Web fileformats:Portable Network Graphics (PNG) -PNG is a lossless, portable, well-com-pressed RGB file format that can in-clude mask-channel information, as wellas being able to store gamma and chro-maticity data for improved colourmatching on heterogeneous platforms. Italso supports progressive display foron-line use.Progressive JPEG - supported byNetscape Navigator (TM), this compactfile format allows images to be dis-played with increasing detail as they aredownloaded, reducing user wait timewhen viewing image-rich Web pages. Inaddition to supporting progressiveJPEG, Photoshop 4.0 also adds greateruser control over JPEG compressionsettings.Portable Document Format (PDF) -

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the Adobe Acrobat format, now com-mon on the Web, can now be writtendirectly from within Photoshop 4.0.

Photoshop 4.0 provides a directlink from the application to the AdobeSystems web page, providing easyaccess to product information, technicalsupport, updates, plug-ins and otherareas of useful information.

Adobe has carried out a great dealof adjustment to improve the programfor the fields in which it is widely used,unfortunately without including anydramatic speed improvements but in-stead a wealth of low-level modifica-tions. The adjustment layers are anextremely useful feature, the transforma-tions are invaluable. The support fornew Web formats is well thought-out;and the inclusion of better previews fordistortion filters, improved layer mask-ing and the watermarking feature forappending indelible copyright noticesgreatly improve the program’s flexibility.It seems that Adobe have sought tomake Photoshop as friendly and easy touse as possible, and have managedwithout the use of strong artistic meta-phors to make it even more creativelyflexible, although as ever the program isstill very memory hungry.

Black Box

The Black Box is a set of 10plug-in filters for high-end graphicsprogrammes, and of the sets underreview probably offers the greatestvalue for money. The set includes anumber of useful beveling and distortioneffects, including a uni-directional mo-

Effects Plug-insSue Gollifer

System requirements:(Macintosh) 68030 or greater(PowerMac recommended), Applesystem Software version 7.1 or later,16 MB of RAM for PowerMac (32MB recommended), 20 MB hard-diskspace, 8-bit or greater display adapter,CD-ROM drive( floppy disks avail-able upon request).

System requirements:(Windows) i386,i486, or Pentium CPU,Windows 3.1, Windows 95 or Intel basedWindows NT (version 3.5 or later), 16MB of RAM (32 MB recommended), 20MB hard-disk space, 256-colour or betterdisplay adapter, CD-ROM drive( floppydisks available upon request)

Manufacturer: Adobe Systems Euro-pean HeadquartersAdobe HouseWest One Business Park5 Mid New CultinsEdinburgh EH11 4DUScotland, United Kingdom

Website: http://www.adobe.com/

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Kai’ s Power Tools

Despite the initially confusingnature of the interface, Kai’s PowerTools proves to be a powerful collec-tion of plug-ins. A number of new fea-tures are included in the filter set, in-

cluding the Gradient Designer, TextureExplorer, Gradients on a Path, and theFractal Explorer, and in addition tothese predesigned effects, users canbuild upon hundreds of presets to cre-ate original effects. Further expansion ofPhotoshop’s capabilities are providedthrough features such as Glass Lens,Hue Protected Noise, Pixelstorm, Vor-tex Tiler, Seamless Welder and more.

System Requirements: i386, i486,Pentium, PS/2 or greater, 4 MB RAM,VGA monitor, Microsoft mouse orcompatible input device, MS DOS 5.0or higher, MS Windows 3.1 or higher.

Application requirements: AdobePhotoshop 2.5 or later, CorelDraw 5.0or later, Fractal Design Painter 2.0 orlater, Aldus Photostyler 2.0, PicturePublisher 4.0, Autodesk’s AnimatorStudio or other “Adobe Standard” plug-in compatible software.

Manufacturer: MetaTools Inc., 6303Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, Califor-nia 93013 805.566.6200

Website: http://www.metatools.com

tion blur and a glass refraction filter.These effects can be carried out inone step, and the settings designedcan be saved for future re-applica-tion.

Application requirements:

(Macintosh) Adobe photoshop 2.5 or laterMicroFrontiers Color-It! 3.0 or later

(Windows) Adobe Photoshop 2.5 or later,Micrografx Picture Publisher 4.0 or later,Corel PhotoPaint 5.0 or later, JASCPaintShop Pro 3.12 or later.

Manufacturer: Alien Skin Software,St.Mary’s St. Suite 100, Raleigh,NC 27605-1457, USA.

Website: http://www.alienskin.com/

Bryce 2

Bryce 2 is a stand-alone applica-tion that offers a new way to designand render natural 3D worlds and ab-stract 3D sculptures. Despite its lowcost, Bryce 2 provides powerful tech-nology on a par with the best of higher-priced applications.

Bryce 2’s interface is surprisinglystreamlined: in place of the originalversion’s array of floating palettes,

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there’s a single large tool bar which theuser toggles to choose from three setsof tools for creating objects, editingthem, and generating sky and fog ef-fects. Users of the other MetaToolsproducts, such as Kai’s Power Tools,will be familiar with the tool bar design,which is not Mac-standard: Tool iconsremain ghosted until the cursor is rolledover them; then they “light up.” As aresult professional users who needBryce’s power only occasionally mayfind that the nonstandard interface re-quires a frustrating re-orientation at eachuse. But for users who want to fiddleand explore, there are a lot of facilitiesto play with.

System Requirements: (Macintosh)System 7.1 or higher, 68040 processorwith math coprocessor, minimum 8 MbRAM. PowerMac recommended.

(Windows) Windows ’95 or NT, i486processor with math coprocessor, minimum12 mb RAM. Pentium recommended.

Manufacturer: MetaTools Inc., 6303Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, California93013 805.566.6200.

Website: http://www.metatools.com

KPT Convolver

Unprecedented Filter Effectsthrough One 3D User Interface. WhenKPT Convolver is launched, a 3Dgraphical user interface appears., themost prominent feature of which is thelarge diamond-shaped area with asmaller diamond superimposed over thetop quadrant. These are the work areasin which users preview the filter effects.Along the upper left corner are the threebuttons that activate the different KPTConvolver modes: Explore, Design andTweak.

Explore Mode lets users try differ-ent filtering effects randomly in order tocreate variations of the original image.These different variations are displayedinside the large diamond shaped area in15 miniature squares which form a grid.Users mutate the initial effect, displaying15 mutated cousins or variations. Oncethe desired effect has been found, it caneither be applied immediately or takeninto the Design Mode for further refin-ing and customising. Here, again, usersare presented with the preview windowand 15 variations. Explore buttons fadeinto the background while the Designfeatures wake up, which allow moreprecise control over the degree to which

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filtering operations are applied to animage. The Tweak Mode gives usersprecise control over each effect, withresults previewed in real time. Thiscombination of unique but intuitiveinterface and sophisticated power indetail makes Convolver an applicationwith a place in every creative arsenal.

System Requirements:(Macintosh) System 7 or later, floatingpoint unit (FPU or Math CO processor).Requires a “host program” such as AdobePhotoshop, Fractal Design Painter, orColour It! Requires 2.5 MB of RAM fromthe host’s program’s memory allocation and4.5 MB free disk space. Colour monitor,24-bit video card, 68040 or Power Macin-tosh recommended.

(Windows): i386, i486 (with a math coprocessor), or Pentium. Microsoft Win-dows 3.1 or Windows NT 3.5. KPTConvolver requires 4Mb free disk space,3 Mb of RAM and a “host program” suchas Adobe Photoshop, Fractal DesignPainter, Corel PhotoPaint. Color SVGAmonitor and 24-bit colour video card (486or greater CPU) recommended.

Manufacturer: MetaTools Inc 6303Carpinteria Avenue, Carpinteria, California93013 805.566.6200

Website: http://www.metatools.com