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Perceptions, first impressions, and appearances can make or break everything from landing a contract to selling a presidential candidate. Just ask Paul Tsongas or Bill Clinton. Presentation packages on both […]

Windows 3.0 has quickly dominated the present and future of PC software. But does it meet the challenge of CAD? From the largest automotive and aerospace companies to the smallest […]

Micrografx Designer and Corel-DRAW! have long revolved around each other, squaring off with new features and competing in the arena of increased utility. With version 3.1, Micrografx provides nearly everything […]

Software Publishing's Harvard Graphics has reigned for years as the most popular presentation graphics package. Yet challenges from Windows product left Harvard seeming anything but regal, with its aging character-based […]

FOR DESKTOP PUBLISHERS, PRESENTERS, and developers, screen-capture software replaced frustrating sessions with a camera and a curved screen. Now the computer is the camera, and a keystroke clicks the shutter. […]

Graphing experience Few people could have predicted when PCs first began to penetrate the office environment that one of their greatest visible effects would be on the presentation of information. […]

A new line in CAD There has been much discussion recently on the different environments offered for running applications on PCs. There are two basic trends here -- towards user-friendliness, […]

Despite all the noise that Windows word processors make about page layout, actually laying out a page with one of them is not for the faint of heart. Venture Publisher, […]

Dump Windows. Forget the Mac. Don't buy that new PC with the high-priced chip. Instead, get a PC/GEOS application and watch your computer operate the way you've always wished it […]

We live in a world of 'Kitchen sinkware,' where every day brings yet another program that seems to have every feature imaginable crammed into a 7-inch slipcase. Then there's Freelance […]

Software companies are notorious for utilizing marketing gimmicks to attract attention. Over the years, software reviewers have become somewhat insensitive to their various ploys. The marketing literature for Alias Research […]

A Real-Time Stroll It's a Saturday, and I'm making cookies with the kids. The Phone rings,and my wife answers. 'It's Rob,' she says. 'For you.' I put down the spatula […]

A Mac Animation Option For animators, the big news this year is that microcomputers are fast becoming practical animation tools--invading the territory of manual animators and expensive, dedicated animation workstations. […]

A Real Pixel-Mover Autodesk seems to get people talking whenever it releases a new product, and with its latest release of a 3D animation software package, the Sausalito, California-based company […]

AT A GLANCE: Excellent set of drawing features, highly useful for desktop publishing and technical illustrations. DOCUMENTATION: Gets you off to fast start and provides thorough information on all features. […]

The world of animation takes on another dimension with Autodesk's new image processing program -Animator. The success of the PC was the result of several different technologies becoming available at […]

Caligari's trueSpace brings real-time 3D modeling, raytracing, and deformation to Windows It's been a long time coming, but Caligari's trueSpace for Windows is finally here. To be honest, I had […]

The recent release of PowerAnimator V5.0, Alias Research's Silicon Graphics-based program for modeling, rendering, and animation, further underlines the company's commitment to pursue high-end 3D animation in a number of […]

When it comes to 3D character animation on the Mac and PC, Animation Master--with its inverse kinematics, joint-smoothing technology, and powerful mapping--is the unchallenged tool of choice for me. (This […]

TeamFlow 3.1 CFM Inc. 60 The Great Road P.O. Box 353 Bedford, MA 01730 1-800-647-1708 Fax: (617) 275-7008 Sugg. List Price: $395; upgrade--$49.95 Requires: 4Mb RAM; 1Mb hard disk space; […]

IntelliDraw 2.0 Aldus Corp. Consumer Division 5120 Shoreham Pl. San Diego, CA 92122-5926 1-800-888-6293; (619) 558-6000 Fax: (619) 558-8710 Sugg. List Price: $199 Requires: 5Mb RAM (8Mb recommended); 5Mb hard […]

Aldus Corp.'s IntelliDraw 2.0 for Windows drawing program shares ease of use, a similar interface, and strong cross-platform capabilities with its Macintosh counterpart. Shipped in February, the $199 program uses […]

Sandy beaches, soft breezes, a gentle surf and lush flora in a spectrum of exotic colors and patterns. No, we're not daydreaming. But recently DP Labs worked with Islandpresents version […]

Painter 2.0 Fractal Design Corp. 335 Spreckels Dr., Suite F Aptos, CA 95003 1-800-647-7443; (408) 688-8800 Sugg. List Price: $399 Requires: 386SX or higher; 4Mb RAM; SVGA (16- or 24-bit […]

Image Assistant for Windows 1.0 A full-featured tool for editing and enhancing 24-bit color images as well as 256-color, gray-scale, halftone, and line-art illustrations for business presentations or publication output. […]

Turbocad 3.0 Turbocad 3.0 is a much-improved 2-D CAD package with modest hardware requirements and a good set of drawing features. It lacks some refinements found in more extensive CAD […]

PROS: Good drawing tools, text perspective effects, plentiful fonts CONS: Cumbersome text editing, unimpressive clip art, can't lock objects KeyDraw Plus for Windows, the lowest-priced package in our roundup, combines […]

PROS: Provides ready-made drawings, text perspective effects CONS: Meager drawing tools, inefficient text editing, limited import/export filters Instant Artist from Autodesk is designed to serve novice graphics users with modest […]

Micrografx Inc.'s Designer 3.1 for OS/2 brings excellent precision drawing tools to OS/2, but it is also a good example of the pitfalls of porting a Windows program to this […]

Calling IntelliDraw a drawing program is like calling Mother Theresa a nun--the description is technically accurate, but it somehow misses the heart of the matter. Back in beta, IntelliDraw was […]

Everyone has seen advertising and poster art using special effects with type. Words that effortlessly bend to flow around objects. Words that twist and turn, dancing over the page like […]

Aldus Persuasion for the Macintosh, an out-line-based package, recently added support for Apple's Publish and Subscribe data linking and its QuickTime movie format, two technologies that promise to add a […]

Although not quite an identical twin to its Macintosh counterpart, Persuasion for Windows works remarkably like its sibling on the Mac. For anyone switching between Mac and PC, or anyone […]

Image editing has long been available for the Macintosh, but it has now finally come of age for the PC. During the last year, a half-dozen top-quality products have appeared, […]

One of the first Windows presentation packages (ported from the Mac), Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows showed what Windows-based presentation software could do, offering WYSIWYG, master templates, predesigned palettes, and a […]

Adobe Systems Inc. Illustrator 4.0 Illustrator has long been one of the most popular Mac-based programs for graphics professionals, and the newly upgraded Windows version is aimed at this group […]

It's hard not to like Broderbund's Typestyler. The program, which is simple to learn and easier to use, is decked out with so many snappy features that it's hard not […]

One of the touch-up tools provided with Image-In-Color changes the cursor to a miniature airbrush. Pick a color, point and click, and for all intents, you're spraying the surface of […]

It has become common computer-speak to talk about software tools that 'work the way real tools work.' What sets the Fractal Design Painter apart from the crowd is its deceptive […]

GENERIC CADD 6.0 Description CAD package. Supplied by AutoDesk Tel (0483) 303322 Fax (0483) 304556 Availability Via dealers Price 495 pounds sterling; upgrades -- from CADD 5 Plus, 125 pounds […]

The personal computer has proven itself to be a powerful tool: Boasting high-speed microprocessors and unparalleled graphics capabilities, the modern microcomputer has done for the graphic arts industry what Gutenberg […]

Wallpaper beautifies your work environment. While that might not sound like a big deal, aesthetics are important. An attractive background is easy on your eyes and mind, and is thus […]

SuperPaint was the first Mac graphics program to combine MacPaint-like bitmaps and MacDraw-like objects into a single program. SuperPaint 3.0 is the first major upgrade to SuperPaint since Silicon Beach […]

The good news is that after two years of dormancy, MacDraw has turned professional, and it now offers much-improved text and color handling. The bad news is that you pay […]

PixelPaint Professional 2.0.1 PixelPaint Professional 2.0.1 is a full-featured 24-bit painting tool. Its immense power is accessible thanks to an innovative interface. There are some bugs, and the manual is […]

Although some of the new Windows-based presentation and graphics programs are flashier, Harvard Graphics owns the market for DOS machines. The new version, which adds a slick icon-based interface and […]

Pinnacle Publishing Inc. dGE 4.1 C programmers can invoke dGE functions by linking a dGE object-code module to their own application code. The dGE package provides four separate object modules […]

The Crossley Group Inc. DEVELOPER'S BUSINESS GRAPHICS TOOLKIT 1.3 The Developer's Business Graphics Toolkit is the most up-to-date of the three reviewed programs, able to call on a rich graphical […]

THERE ARE PROBABLY NO AREAS OF microcomputing more riddled with confusion and incompatibilities than computer art and desktop publishing. Every program seems to have its own special requirements and format, […]