There’s just enough that’s better in the CS4 updates to Photoshop and Photoshop Extended–most notably, usability improvements for core features–that many people will find themselves sighing, biting the bullet, and upgrading. If you work with video or 3D, or want to update your Creative Suite to CS4 for other reasons, this is a no-brainer; for the rest of us, there’s little you can do with CS4 that you couldn’t do with CS3, and the latter seems a bit faster and more memory efficient in some respects. The Web abounds with complaints about Adobe’s installer and updater, and I think most are quite justified. Every Windows application installer suggests you close any running applications, but you can usually ignore it and 99 percent of the time everything works out fine. Adobe forces you to close your browser and all Microsoft Office applications, because many of the programs in the suite–primarily Acrobat–spread octopus-like tentacles throughout your working environment. That’s pretty appalling in and of itself, but in addition to wasting a large chunk of time installing, you can’t do anything else but play Solitaire while it’s happening. And as before with the updater, you’ll get to relive this delightful close-your-apps-or-else experience on a regular basis. Even as I type it’s stopped dead waiting for me to close Firefox. Plus, the installation “progress” bar bears no relation to reality whatsoever, with its two steps forward and one step back movement. Over and over again. All of this adds up to a one-point demerit for Adobe on its Setup and Interface rating.

In some ways this version feels like a necessary evil. Adobe has obviously put a lot of work into it, but most of it is under the hood–way under the hood from the perspective of the everyday user. The entire 3D engine (in Extended) has been migrated from a PDF-based architecture to OpenGL, and the company has seeded OpenGL support throughout the application. The panels architecture is now extensible via Flash, allowing people to create their own panels or modify some of the existing ones (you can try it yourself using Adobe Configurator). And via the release of the Pixel Bender SDK, the filter library is not only extensible but has baked-in GPU and multicore acceleration. All of this is essential in order to allow future versions of Photoshop to evolve. However, the move to support 64-bit Windows, and multitouch inputs and 16-bit printing on the Mac are likely the real technology changes that will significantly impact everyday users of this version.

Photoshop CS4 Extended users will benefit more immediately from these underlying changes than Standard users. For the latter, OpenGL support primarily manifests itself as some whizzy screen zooming and rotation tools that demo well but likely won’t get used much. However, Adobe has greatly improved Extended’s 3D support. It now offers most of the essential render settings and view controls, plus the ability to create primitives (and extend the library of primitives), necessary to work with 3D models. You edit and paint on textures simply by double-clicking on them in the Layers palette, then see your changes applied when you toggle back to the model; not quite real-time, interactive painting, but close enough for now. And now there’s basic keyframe animation for 3D scenes. Still there’s room for improvement: it needs better lighting handling and the ability to tile and more easily position textures, and several aspects of the interface, like the Rendering options, are still far too dialog-driven. And Photoshop gets very slow when you load (or generate via the Mesh from grayscale command) relatively complex models with tens of thousands of polygons.

European Startups with Jobs at startups can be found here, but that mixture of real-time and dialog-driven action still permeates the interface of Photoshop in general, despite some advances. For example, if you use Photoshop for Web or print production work, the move to modeless Adjustment and Masks panels for real-time adjustments to preview changes in mask feathering and density is potentially a huge time-saver. But all the ancillary operations, such as the Radius, Contrast, Smooth, (another) Feather, and Contract/Expand parameters controlled by Refine Mask, remain in a modal dialog box.

So while there are a few tweaks, such as the new tabbed windows (you can still float ‘em, though) and jarring all-caps text, long-time users won’t encounter a lot of user interface differences to slow down their work flow. On the upside, tool shortcut keys now behave in what Adobe refers to as a “spring loaded” fashion. That means that if you hold down the shortcut key for one tool while another is selected in the toolbar, it temporarily overrides the toolbar until you release the key. Very nice. On the other hand, I don’t particularly like the icon representations of the adjustments in the new panel–you can’t tell what they are without mousing over them and reading the text–but you can just ignore them and use the adjustment layer pop-up on the Layers palette as always.

Aside from the real-time adjustments, there’s not a lot new here for Photoshop’s core photo-editing audience. Adobe Camera Raw is now up to version 5.x, and has been brought more into sync with the way Lightroom handles files. It includes local retouching brushes like that application, though I suspect the quick fixes for which they’re intended are less important when opening in Photoshop than in Lightroom. And now that you’ve trained yourself not to use Dodge, Burn, and Sponge–because they’ve worked so poorly for the last 10- plus versions–Adobe has fixed them, by limiting the areas of the tonal range they apply to. The Vibrance control, a saturation adjustment that preserves skin tones and which has made it into all the other Adobe photo applications, finally comes to Photoshop as well. Also useful (some might say overdue), the Clone Stamp and Healing brushes now display a preview of what it will be stamping or healing, and brush size in general is now interactive.

Adobe has also tweaked the Color Range Select tool, adding the ability to limit the selection to “Localized Color Clusters.” It sounds nice, but I couldn’t get it to work well in any meaningful way; rather than limit it to contiguous colors that meet the specified criteria, as I expected, it seemed to limit the range to a user-specified-size circle around a sample point. An extension of the old Auto Align and Auto Blend capabilities combines the sharpest areas of several layers of similar images, which Adobe promotes as delivering an extended depth-of-field image. In practice, you have to be very careful or you’ll end up with an odd mixture of blur and sharp that bears no resemblance to anything producible with a camera. Those image combination scripts have also been beefed up with vignette (edge darkening) and fish-eye distortion correction when creating panoramas.

Content-Aware scaling, Adobe’s implementation of seam-carving technology, seems slightly more cooked than it seemed while I was beta testing the software, but it’s not quite ready for prime time. For one thing, it’s slow; though it’s OK while you interact with it, when it comes time to apply, it can take a while. Also, if you leave it on, the program defaults, and you’ll get an unholy mess. Always dial it back to at least 50 percent. The fact that you should really use a rough mask to protect important areas will slow down your work flow. Finally, it can leave behind tons of contouring artifacts.

Of course, there’s the inevitable disappointment with the stuff Adobe hasn’t changed, such as the poor print layout controls and embarrassingly primitive text handling.

There’s more, of course, but nothing that screams, “I’m going to make your life easier!” Which is why I suspect users will be sighing when they plunk down the cash for the upgrade rather than eagerly anticipating all the fun times ahead. Maybe that will come with CS5, when the fruits of Adobe’s technological labors have ripened and left the sanctuary of Adobe Labs for the wild.

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CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 lets you tackle creative graphics and design projects with confidence. New tools make it easier and quicker than ever to deliver any creative project, from layout and photo editing, to illustration and bitmap-to-vector tracing. Powerful text and layout enhancements give you the look you want plus market-leading file compatibility makes collaboration easy. Updated high-quality content, a step-by-step Hints Docker and new tutorials written by experts get you started fast. Professional and aspiring designers along with anyone who needs to express creative ideas will be able to turn their ideas into professional results: from distinctive logos and signs, to striking marketing materials and eye-catching web graphics.

What’s Included with CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4?

Applications

• CorelDRAW X4: CorelDRAW X4 is an intuitive vector-illustration and page-layout application that meets the demands of today’s busy design professionals and occasional graphics users. It delivers results fast, whether users are creating a company logo or working toward demanding production schedules.
• Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4: Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4 is a professional image-editing application that lets users quickly and easily retouch and enhance photos. It is specifically designed for use in a graphics workflow.
• Corel PowerTRACE X4: Professional designers often receive poor-quality bitmap images from clients and face the challenge of turning these bitmaps into high-quality vector images for business cards, brochures, signs, or other promotional items. Corel PowerTRACE X4 solves this problem by letting users quickly and accurately convert bitmaps into editable vector graphics.
• Corel CAPTURE X4: Corel CAPTURE X4 is a one-click screen-capture utility that lets users capture images from their computer screens.

Supporting applications

• Barcode wizard: The Barcode wizard lets users generate bar codes in a wide range of industry-standard formats.
• Service Bureau Profiler: The Service Bureau Profiler helps users prepare their work for professional output.
• Duplexing wizard: The Duplexing wizard helps users optimize their work for printing two-sided documents.
• Bitstream Font Navigator: The Bitstream Font Navigator is an award-winning font manager for the Windows operating system. It lets users manage, find, install, and preview fonts.

The new Centerline Trace method is ideal for tracing line drawings or signatures.

A collection of specialized fonts includes engraving fonts.

A collection of specialized fonts includes engraving fonts.

Top New and Enhanced Features
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 is an affordable and comprehensive suite that combines intuitive page-layout, illustration, photo-editing, and bitmap-to-vector tracing applications. The trusted choice of professional and aspiring designers, the suite includes new tools that fuel the creative process, simplify project management, and optimize the graphic design workflow.

Streamline your workflow
With its redesigned and modernized user interfaces, new collaboration tools, and enhanced features, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 can help users streamline their workflow without compromising creativity or flexibility.

New–Modernized user interface (UI): For CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, the user interface has been redesigned. New icons, menus, and controls give the applications a fresh appearance and provide a more intuitive working environment.

New–CorelDRAW ConceptShare: The new CorelDRAW ConceptShare docker is a valuable online collaboration tool. In a Web-based environment, CorelDRAW ConceptShare lets users share their designs and ideas with colleagues or clients in real time. Users can easily create multiple workspaces, upload their designs, and invite others to provide feedback or submit their own ideas.

Enhanced–Corel PowerTRACE X4: With Corel PowerTRACE X4, users can quickly and easily trace bitmaps, converting them into editable and scalable vector images. The new Centerline Trace method produces more accurate strokes and is perfect for tracing line drawings or signatures. To control which colors appear in the traced results, users can easily edit, merge, or delete colors on the color palette that is generated by PowerTRACE. In addition, improved smoothing and corner control help users optimize their traced results.

New–Windows Color System support: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 supports the Windows Color System, which enables users to more closely match colors between Corel and Microsoft applications.

New–Adobe Color Management Module: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite now supports the Adobe Color Management Module (CMM), which provides consistent color transformations by using industry-standard International Color Consortium (ICC) color profiles. This makes it easy for users to closely match colors between Corel and Adobe applications.

Enhanced–Print Merge: With CorelDRAW X4, the Print Merge wizard makes it easier than ever to combine text from a data source with a drawing. As a result, invitations, labels, certificates, or other projects that place unique, personalized text on the same design are faster and easier to produce. In addition, users now have the ability to output a print merge to the CorelDRAW file format (CDR). CorelDRAW X4 supports the following data sources: text (TXT), comma-separated values (CSV), Rich Text Format (RTF), and other files supported by Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data sources.

Enhanced–Customizable workspace: In addition to letting users customize the application’s command bars, commands, and button arrangements, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 includes preset workspaces that have a similar look and feel to those of Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, or Microsoft Office. These preset workspaces make it easier for users to transition to CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. Users can also export a custom workspace to share it with other users.

Enhanced–PDF Comments support: CorelDRAW X4 now supports PDF Comments, which gives users the option of importing comments and annotations when they import a PDF file. This makes it quicker and easier for users to access and leverage feedback from clients and colleagues.

Enhanced–Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications 6.4: For users who want to automate their workflow, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 supports the latest version of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) 6.4.

New–Dynamic product updates: With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, the Welcome screen is a valuable resource that provides users with immediate access to new content, tips and tricks, product registration, and the latest product updates. From within the application, users can choose to install product updates automatically or to receive notification when updates are available.

Find your design assets
With market-leading file format compatibility, a convenient file search, and an abundance of new, editable content, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 makes it easier for users to exchange files and find the right design asset for the job.

Enhanced–Windows Vista integration: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 has been designed to take advantage of the latest innovations from the Windows Vista operating system. From within the operating system dialog boxes, users can search for files by author, subject, file type, date, keywords, or other file properties. Users can also easily add keywords or other notes when saving files in order to better organize their projects. In addition, users can edit file properties from within the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 applications or from Windows Explorer and Windows Vista Search. Users of Windows XP can use Windows Desktop Search or any other desktop search application that supports the iFilter format.

New–Content: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 includes an abundance of new, editable content on an easily searchable DVD. Users can browse through 10,000 clipart images to find inspiration for their next design project. These high quality vector graphics are easily adapted. In addition, 1,000 new high-quality photos on various subjects and themes are included.

New–Specialized fonts: With a collection of specialized fonts, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 helps users ensure that their output is optimized for its intended audience. An extended selection of new fonts includes single-line engraving fonts and OpenType cross-platform fonts, which offer enhanced language support for Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic outputs in WG4L format.

New–Template search and preview: In CorelDRAW X4, the New From Template dialog box has been completely redesigned to provide users with more information so that they can easily choose the right template for the job. Users can now preview templates by Type, such as flyer or postcard, or by Industry, such as hospitality, retail, or services. Users can also search for templates by using keywords.

New–Professionally designed templates: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 includes more than 80 professionally designed and customizable templates, which give users a great starting point for their designs. Flexible and easy to repurpose, the templates are now accompanied by Designer Notes. These notes provide information on the design choices made for the template, tips for outputting a design based on the template, and instructions for customizing the template while still adhering to design principles.

Enhanced–Adobe product support: To ensure a seamless workflow, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 provides enhanced support for Adobe Photoshop CS3, Adobe Illustrator CS3, PDF 1.7, PDF/A, and Adobe Acrobat 8. When exporting CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 files to the new Adobe Illustrator CS3 format, users can now choose a format for text in the exported files. This makes it easier for users to exchange files between the applications. In addition, users can save files to the PDF/A format–the file format approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for long-term archiving of electronic documents.

New–File format support: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 maintains its position as market leader in file format compatibility by adding support for Microsoft Publisher (versions 2002, 2003, and 2007). Users can also expect seamless compatibility with Microsoft Word 2007, AutoCAD DXF and AutoCAD DWG (versions R2.5 to 2007), and Corel Painter X, making it easier than ever to exchange files with colleagues and clients.

New–Thumbnail previews: New, high-quality thumbnail previews make it easier to find and organize CorelDRAW and Corel PHOTO-PAINT files.

The redesigned Corel PHOTO-PAINT user interface.

CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 lets users work with raw camera files.

Users now receive real-time feedback when adjusting the tone curve of an image.

Accelerate layout and text editing
With an interactive Table tool, independent page layers, real-time text formatting previews, and an integrated font identification feature, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 can help users accelerate document design.

New–Interactive tables: The new, interactive Table tool in CorelDRAW X4 lets users create and import tables to provide a structured layout for text and graphics. Users can easily align, resize, or edit tables and table cells to suit their designs. In addition, users can convert delimited text into a table or convert a table into delimited text. Users can also easily add and adjust images in individual table cells.

New–Independent page layers: With CorelDRAW X4, users can now control and edit layers independently for each page of a document, reducing the occurrence of pages with empty layers. Users can also add independent guidelines for individual pages and master guidelines for an entire document. This gives users the ability to create different layers on a page-specific basis, unconfined by a single document structure. In addition, the new Duplicate Page command gives users the flexibility to copy a page with all objects included or just the layer structure, making it easier to repurpose existing designs.

New–Live text formatting: CorelDRAW X4 introduces live text formatting, which lets users see how a text formatting change will look before applying it to a document. This handy and time-saving formatting aid reduces the need to undo and redo unsatisfactory changes. Users can now scroll through and preview many different formatting options, including fonts, font size, and alignment.

New–Font identification: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 now integrates with WhatTheFont, the online font identification service from MyFonts.com. Users can save time by immediately identifying the font used in existing designs or artwork received from clients (English only).

New–Mirror paragraph text: With CorelDRAW X4, users can now interactively mirror text. Users can mirror text horizontally or vertically, or both, which is essential for outputting content for certain specialized devices.

Enhanced–Quotation marks: CorelDRAW X4 users can now customize quotation marks for specific languages. Users can edit quotation mark styles and choose which style is used when typing in different languages. For example, users can change the style of double, single, and straight quotation marks for a specific language.

Get inspired and gain knowledge
With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, it’s never been easier to get started, find inspiration, or gain knowledge. The Welcome screen, expert tutorials, and other learning tools offer invaluable assistance to both new and experienced users.

New–Welcome screen: With a new Welcome screen, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 provides users with a centralized location to access recently used documents, templates, and learning tools, which include Tips & Tricks and video tutorials. To inspire users, the Welcome screen also includes a gallery that showcases designs created by CorelDRAW Graphics Suite users around the world.

New–CorelDRAW Handbook–Insights from the Experts: This new book showcases practical, real-world examples of accomplished designs by CorelDRAW experts. By deconstructing designs and sharing their wisdom and best practices, experts from a variety of industries demonstrate the power of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4.

New–Training videos: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 includes 2 hours of training videos on DVD. Topics include illustration, design, and image-editing fundamentals, industry-specific design principles, and output details for various media, such as print or the Web.

Enhanced–CorelTUTOR: With CorelTUTOR, users can access online, project-based tutorials that help them learn and use the applications. In addition to touring the workspaces of both CorelDRAW X4 and Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4, users can learn how to work with page-layout features, get started with bitmap-to-vector tracing, try the enhanced print-merge functionality, create a logo, an much more.

New–CorelDRAW community site: Accessible from within the application, the CorelDRAW.com community site gives users a place to get together to share information and learn from other users. Combining forums, blogs, galleries, and other resources, CorelDRAW.com is a valuable information resource for professional designers and occasional graphics users alike. Visit the site today to discover the creations and inspirations of this growing community.

Discover advanced image-editing features
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 provides advanced image-editing features that help users get expected results the first time.

New–Corel PHOTO-PAINT user interface: The Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4 user interface has been redesigned and modernized with new icons, menus, and controls.

New–Raw camera file support: CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 now supports raw camera file formats for more than 300 different types of cameras. This lets users import raw camera files directly from their digital camera. With interactive controls that provide real-time previews, users can view file properties and camera settings, adjust image color and tone, and improve image quality.

New–Straighten image: With CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, users can quickly and easily straighten images that were scanned or photographed at an angle. The interactive controls, a grid with vertical and horizontal guidelines, and an integrated histogram that provides results in real time, make it easier than ever to straighten crooked images. In addition, users can choose to have their images automatically cropped.

Enhanced–Adobe Photoshop CS3 support: Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4 provides support for Adobe Photoshop CS3 so that users can seamlessly exchange files between the applications.

New–Histogram feedback: In CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4, more features and effects now provide histogram feedback in real time. This lets users edit images more efficiently by previewing changes and comparing results as they adjust image tone, apply effects, or process raw camera files.

Enhanced–Tone Curve adjustments: In Corel PHOTO-PAINT X4, the Tone Curve dialog box has been enhanced to help users adjust their images with more precision. With an integrated histogram, users now receive real-time feedback as they make adjustments to their images. In addition, the new Eyedropper lets users pinpoint specific color locations on the tone curve of their image. Users can also select, add, or delete nodes along the tone curve.

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In its basic interface and features, it’s the same Dreamweaver that advanced Web designers know by heart, but Adobe has brought it into the 21st century with full CSS support through tools that validate and manage style sheets, as well as a new graphic interface for Adobe’s “Spry Framework,” a set of JavaScript code snippets built into Dreamweaver for displaying dynamic elements such as collapsing menus, database items, or XML feeds. Any developer can download the Spry framework separately, from Adobe’s site, and use the code in any Web editor, but only Dreamweaver has it built in.

The new version is an essential upgrade for any Dreamweaver user who wants to build up-to-date CSS-based code, and it offers effortless drag-and-drop integration with Photoshop. Potential newcomers may want to compare Dreamweaver with Microsoft’s compact Expression Web before taking the plunge. Both programs let you create sites from templates that impose design consistency, and both automatically display syntax options when you’re editing code. Dreamweaver, however, gets bonus points for supporting Secure FTP uploads, and it’s the only choice if you want automated code-completion on PHP and ColdFusion pages. Dreamweaver also includes prebuilt dynamic widgets such as an “Accordion” that expands to display hidden data when a user clicks on a title.

Even more now than in earlier versions, Dreamweaver acts like a powerful, smooth-running machine, with up to a dozen control panels, multitabbed inspectors, toolbars, and other controls arrayed around its editing screen. If you like the feeling that you can do anything on the page in the editing window, and that you can fine-tune even the most complexly organized Web site, Dreamweaver is the program to choose.

On the other hand, Dreamweaver’s overstuffed menus and toolbars can be intimidating and confusing, and you need to pay close attention to its messages that remind you to upload auxiliary files to your remote site when publishing. I was also frustrated by the way Dreamweaver’s right-click menu lacks the context-sensitive options in Expression Web’s menu, and by the way Dreamweaver exiles its tools that manage dynamic data to hard-to-find property panels away from the main editing window. Expression Web also uses property panels when you want them, but it offers a compact set of commonly used options from the right-click context menu.

I also found Dreamweaver’s WYSIWYG editing more fragile than Expression Web’s. I kept colliding with baffling error messages or nonfunctioning code if I deleted something from the WYSIWYG window but forgot to remove the invisible tag that contained it. The code for Spry widgets, for example, sometimes got corrupted so that dynamic elements stopped being dynamic—and Dreamweaver would only tell me that the code seemed to be broken, not how to fix it. Also, Dreamweaver’s help system manages to be bloated and inadequate at the same time, with a sprawling list of topics but laconic explanations of the actual steps. It’s infuriating to find that links on the local help pages to “related information” usually turn out to be exactly the same page, but on the Web instead of on your local machine.

Despite its problems, Dreamweaver remains a colossus among Web editors, and the only one that comes with an application—Adobe Device Central—that previews your pages as they’ll appear on mobile phones and other portable devices. If there’s a feature that you want to add to your site that you can’t find on the menu, you can probably add it through the massive library of freeware extensions that users have contributed to Dreamweaver’s online resource. Expression Web gets many basic jobs done much more elegantly, so it keeps our Editors’ Choice—by a nose. But Dreamweaver is much improved, and it’s the only Web editor that does everything. You may find that for some tasks, Dreamweaver is the only way to go.

Do you have any experiences with Adobe Dreamweaver CS3? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!

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Easily Create 3D Character Art and Animation

Poser 8 is better than ever
Along with 8 brand new 3D humans, Poser 8 includes an improved user interface to maximize your workspace while providing better workflow, a new search-enabled library so you can find, organize and use your content easier, a dependant parameter tool that lets you teach objects in the scene to interact with each other, cross body morph brushes to smoothly sculpt a figure across every body part, new photorealistic rendering features that more accurately reproduce light and shadows, and improved character rigging for even better character bending. To save time, Poser 8 has been performance optimized so you can pose your characters and render them faster on today’s multiple processor systems.

Poser 8 includes:

8 new figures
The new set of eight 3D humans included with Poser 8 are the most advanced figures ever included with the application, and are a showcase for new Poser 8 features. Built from scratch, the figures are performance optimized for the polygon count and have custom photorealistic textures. Rigged using Poser 8’s new multiple sphere and capsule fall off zone technology, problematic joints such as hips and shoulders now bend with more realism than any figure on the market. By using the new Dependent Parameter tool to link deformers to specific joint positions, areas such as knees, elbows, chest and collar joints have smoother folds, less stretching and more realism. The new Poser 8 figures are offered in four pairs of male/female couples with European features, African features, Asian features and Hispanic features. The Poser 8 new figures are fully compliant with the Face Room, the Walk Designer and Talk Designer, and via the use of Wardrobe Wizard, much of the included legacy clothing content has been converted to work directly on the figures.

~1.5GB of new Poser 8 Content
In addition to the new set of figures, Poser 8 includes an array of new content supplied by third party partners as well content created by the Smith Micro team of 3D artists. A new art-school inspired default manikin opens each new scene, and will serve as a remarkable reference figure for artists. Fully articulated human skeletons that match the male and female figures body topology are included. Various new poses, animations, light sets, props, and accessories to help new users get started are included in the Poser 8 content installer. Poser 8 also includes an additional 1.5GB of legacy Poser 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 content.

New User Interface
Poser 8 offers a new evolved user interface, preserving the elements that Poser users are accustomed to, while presenting them in a more concise layout that takes better advantage of various screen resolutions. The new layout produces a cleaner work environment so artists can focus on the project. All controls are presented in floating palettes that can be docked for consistency, session to session, or floated to free up space.

Dependent Parameters
Poser 8 unlocks an advanced user secret with the new Dependent Parameter palette. Poser 8 lets the artist create new Master Parameters or turn any existing Parameter into a Master Parameter that can drive any other editable parameters in the scene. Complex interactions can be created such as Full Body Morphs, Partial Body Morphs, Advanced Body Controls, Joint Controlled Morph Targets, Joint Controlled Deformers and Parameter Controlled Scene Assets.

Indirect Lighting
By bouncing light and color from object to adjacent object in a scene, Poser 8’s Global Illumination system can render images that appear so realistic they can fool the untrained eye into thinking the images are photos rather than 3D renderings.

OpenGL Preview Improvements
Preview now displays up to 8 lights and their accumulated values, sorted by intensity. The light properties controller allows you to select each light you wish to illuminate in the scene preview.

Content Management System / Library
The new library presents content by category, but with a tighter list view with expanding previews and additional data for each content item. Content items can be loaded into the scene using the traditional Poser UI controls or can now be dragged directly from the Library into the scene. The Poser 8 Library also supports keyword search. Type in a keyword to find exactly what you looking for. Add any selected items to your favorites.

Cross Body Part Morph Creation
With Poser 8 comes a significant improvement to the current Morphing Tool. Now you can dial in a Morph Brush and paint morphs across body parts. Easily create effects such as muscle bulges, scales, bumps, horns, veins or wounds; it’s only limited by your imagination.

Improved Rigging System
Poser 8 has improved upon the existing joint Falloff Zone rigging system by adding any number of new zones to a joint, while adding a new capsule shape to the existing sphere, and allowing the rigger to either multiply or add the Falloff Zone values. This system will permit figure creators to rig challenging areas such as hips and shoulders with more precision, yielding better bending figures.

Tone Mapping and Exposure
Tone Mapping helps control very bright and dark areas in an image to produce better, less blown out final renderings with deeper contrast. The feature is very useful, helping to bring the brightest areas back into a reproducible range. Two modes of Tone Mapping are available for differing effects: Exponential Tone Mapping and HSV Tone Mapping. Exposure values are editable when either Exponential or HSV Tone Mapping is selected.

Physically Correct Light Falloff
For Spot and Point lights, Poser 8 lets users attenuate (control) falloff to more closely reproduce real-world light behaviors. Constant falloff replicates the previous Poser behavior, and Inverse Linear and Inverse Square add two new methods for getting light to appear more realistic.

Normal Mapping
Normal Mapping is a resource-efficient technique to add the appearance of complexity and surface detail to 3D objects. It can transform object surfaces, making them appear more intricate than they actually are, without the added overhead of polygonal detail. This saves designers valuable time and offers increased creative flexibility by allowing faster and more light-weight computation of rendered results.

Performance Optimizations

• Figure/Actor pre-lighting and picking
• Bending on multi-core/multi-processor hardware
• Improved multi-processor support for better scalability when rendering
• Cloth simulation multithreaded/optimized
• Increased performance for opening/handling complex scenes

Poser 8 Uses:

• Professional 3D graphics professionals
• 3D Hobby/Enthusiast Market
• Comic book / graphic novel creators
• General Purpose 3D Users
• Upgrade Poser Users
• Art Students
• Traditional Artists/Sculptors

Poser provides a number of professional users with a fast, easy to access resource for 3D humans, animals, and other scene assets. Professional users include: Architectural illustrators, industrial designers, medical illustrators, graphic designers, editorial illustrators, book illustrators, informational graphics, advertising illustration, web illustration, interactive content, story boarding, lighting and theatrical set designers, film/video production

3D hobbyists and enthusiasts who dabble in 3D for personal satisfaction, experiment with Poser to gain 3D experience, and may use Poser to expand into new careers, or create a graphic novel, sci-fi art, fantasy art, or develop a screen play.

Comic book creators and graphic novelists use Poser render images and animations to create their own titles. Single images, multiple page comics and graphic novels delivered via print and digital media are a great use of Poser.

If you work with other 3D applications such as Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Modo, Lightwave, Truespace, Bruce, or Vue; Poser is a perfect way to include 3D character content you’re your projects.

Art students looking to gain practical 3D animation experience hone their skills working with Poser characters as part of course work, in art school classes or for extra-curricular experience.

Do you have any experiences with Poser 8? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!

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As well the page layout features you’d expect it also included features for creating slideshows and presentations using PDF files, embedding documents into emails and even a smattering of business graphics tools for creating flowcharts.

However, this latest version, Pageplus X3, is a bit more focused, and its most important new features all concentrate on the graphical side of DTP work.  

Our favourite new feature is the Logo Studio, which is a kind of program-within-a-program that focuses specifically on the task of creating logo artwork.

Most DTP programs provide tools for creating effects such as running text along a path, but the Logo Studio goes into this process in much more depth than we’ve seen elsewhere. There are predefined paths for curved text, or you can run the text along a freehand path that you draw yourself.

There’s a wide range of additional text effects available, such as shadows, 3D effects and metallic textures, and you can also draw your own logo graphics, select from a wide range of clip-art symbols or import your own photos and other artwork as part of the logo.

Once you’ve created the logo you can make it part of a master page that can then be re-used for other documents in the future. It’s a nice idea and will be very handy for home workers and small businesses that need to design their own stationary and marketing materials.

Another related tool is the Cutout Studio, which is used to select parts of a photo and remove them from the photo’s background image, so that they can be used them for logos or elsewhere in documents.

There’s also a new set of special effects filters that can be used to enhance photos and other graphics. These include a variety of blur, transparency, reflection and lighting effects, so there is plenty of scope for experimenting with artwork and logo designs.

Serif doesn’t just focus on fancy graphics, though. There are some very practical new features in Pageplus X3 too, such as the duplex wizard that allows users to print documents on both sides of paper even for those using low-cost printers that don’t normally allow double-sided printing.

The manual could be a little more helpful. It has a tendency to stray into jargon sometimes but for the most part Pageplus X3 is very easy to use, and can be recommended to home users of small business users who need a straightforward but versatile DTP program. And, with a price cut from £100 to £80, it’s good value too.

Do you have any experiences with PagePlus X3 Publisher Professional ? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!

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The World’s Most Powerful Natural-Media Software

Enhance the Creative Process

• Enhanced Artistic Media reproduce the texture of their real-life counterparts and intensify color with each stroke
• Pen and drawing tablet (recommended), combined with Painter’s RealBristle brushes, recreate the natural interaction between hand and canvas
• New Hard Media Controls let you create your own hard media variants, or choose from new hard media variants in the Brush Library

Go Beyond the Digital Darkroom

• Improved color recognition for files imported from Adobe Photoshop, and individual color profiles per document, make your colors more precise
• Photo-painting tools with SmartStroke technology let you creatively transform reality
• Customizable surface texturing gives your art a level of fantasy and detail that other photo and painting software can’t deliver

Learn from Unlimited Experimentation

• Digital art tools let you experiment with color theory, composition and brush strokes without the toxins, mess and expenses associated with traditional art
• New Hard Media controls give you the flexibility to play around to find the exact look you desire
• Smart composition tools, such as Divine Proportion and the Rule of Thirds and Fifths, help you visually arrange your canvas to create perfect compositions

Features

What’s Included

Content
Libraries of unique textures, gradients, nozzles, patterns, stock photos and brushes, including the new RealBristle dry media brush category

Documentation

• Getting Started Guide
• HTML User Guide and Getting Started Guide
• HTML Help files

Training

• Online tutorials and testimonials

Enhance the Creative Process

New–Hard Media Controls
Create your own hard media variants, or choose from new hard media variants in the Brush Library, so you have more creative control over your media. Customizable profiles, dab sizes, transitions and stroke width previews let you play around to create the exact look you want.

New–RealBristle Dry Media
Marker, pen, pencil and chalk media reproduce the look and feel of their real-life counterparts in a way that no other software can!

• Marker–intensify color with each new marker stroke so you can color in one continuous shade or create a buildup of color
• Pen–choose to create fine pen strokes, or thick strokes and ink deposits, by changing the velocity of your stroke. The faster you go, the thinner the line; the slower you go, the thicker the line
• Pencil & Chalk–control shading by changing the angle of your stylus on the drawing tablet. Choose whether to draw with the tip or shade with the side of the nib-just like in real life

Enhanced–Selection Tools
A new Polygonal mode for the Lasso tool, plus overall improvements to marquee tools and the Magic Wand, let you make more nimble selections the first time around.

Enhanced–Wacom Support
Support for the entire Wacom product line, including Cintiq interactive pen displays and Intuos pen tablets, gives you most responsive digital painting software and the best digital art experience.

RealBristle Painting System
Replicate the sensation and interaction between traditional paint and canvas with your pen and tablet. This represents a major milestone for digital painting by making brushes totally responsive to your hand and canvas, creating the most realistic painting experience.

Customizable Brushes
Create your own brushes in the type, size or pattern of your choice, so you can make custom brush strokes and create artwork that is truly unique.

Go Beyond the Digital Darkroom

New–Color Management
Create better color matches with new individual color profiles for every document and improved color recognition for files imported from Adobe Photoshop. This enhances your workflow because you save time by having fewer color corrections to make.

Enhanced–Adobe Photoshop Support
Maintain colors and layers when transferring files between Photoshop and Painter. This saves time when importing and exporting artwork between the two programs, because corrections are less necessary.

Photo-painting Tools
Transform photos into paintings by hand, or let SmartStroke brush technology in the Auto-Painting Palette paint a photo for you. It follows the lines and contours in the picture just like a real artist would. This lets you take the best of both worlds–photography and painting–to create new forms of art.

Customizable Surface Texturing
Give your art added artistic undertones, plus a level of texture and detail that no other digital painting software and photo-painting tools can produce. You can choose paper textures for your canvas, or create and customize your own textures to produce really unique artwork.

Learn from Unlimited Experimentation

Enhanced–Mixer Palette & Swatches
Extra mixer swatches appear when you enlarge the newly resizable Mixer Palette. Increase the size of the Palette to put more colors at your disposal and have a clearer view of your chosen color. Reduce the size when you no longer need to mix colors so the Palette takes up less space on screen.

Smart Composition Tools
Divine Proportion and the Rule of Thirds and Fifths help you visually arrange your canvas before sketching or painting to create perfect compositions.

Flexible Digital Art Tools
Experiment with color theory, composition and brush strokes to your heart’s content, and produce exciting results-without the toxins, mess and expenses associated with traditional art.

Universal Mixer Palette
For multicolor selection, this palette gives you better control over color blending between the Mixer palette and the canvas, so your colors are more precise.

Underpainting Palette
This palette includes color schemes based on various artistic styles, such as Impressionist, Classical, Modern, Watercolor, Sketchbook and Chalk Drawing, so you can create art like your favorite muses. You can also match your Underpainting Palette to that of any open image for consistency.

Match Palette Effect
Match the color and intensity between 2 images. Just open an image that features your desired color scheme and use the Match Palette effect to bring that color to the image you want to change.

Increase Speed & Stability

Enhanced–Performance
Painter 11 is optimized to provide artists with the fastest version of Painter ever. Depending on system hardware, brushes perform up to 30% faster, creating a more true-to-life painting speed.

New–Transformation Capabilities
Switch between different Transform modes from one centralized tool, and choose whether to transform the complete contents of a layer, or selected content, for greater speed, flexibility and precision.

New–Resizable Color Palette
Adjust colors manually with sliders on the Color Palette. Enlarge the Color Palette up to 800 pixels for a clearer view of your selected color. You can now also fine-tune the color wheel with your arrow keys so it takes less time to find the perfect color.

New–Color Management Interface
The fresh and simplified interface makes it easier to control color profiles when creating new files, or when opening Painter and other file types.

Windows Vista Support
Painter 11 supports the latest operating system from Microsoft.

Mac OS Support
Painter 11 supports the latest operating system 10.5 from Apple.

Multiple Platform Support
Painter 11 includes both Mac OS and Windows versions on the same CD.

Do you have any experiences with the Corel Painter 11? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!

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Professional Quality Drawing & Graphics Made Easy

Animate & share
Make your drawings leap to life using animation and share them as videos, Flash animations or animated GIFs, whether you’re a novice or expert. Easy and advanced features make amazing animations!

Full PDF editing capability
Essential for business professionals, DrawPlus X2 is able to open and edit Portable Document Files (PDFs) within the program, just as you would edit a standard DrawPlus document. DrawPlus allows you to add, delete and edit elements of the design and export it back to PDF, ideal for sharing with anyone, anywhere in the world.

Accurate drawing capabilities
It’s quick and easy to create stylish flow charts, family trees and complex diagrams using intelligent connecting lines that maintain links between your objects even when they’re moved on the page.

Edit with ease
Powerful imaging tools including AutoTrace for converting photo-style images into collections of editable shapes and a full range of photo adjustments make it easier than ever to apply special effects for unique results.

Wide range of tools
Achieve realistic painting effects with vector and bitmap-based pressure-sensitive brushes, from categories including watery paint and more, or even create your own. Also select from various paper textures for even more authenticity.

Unrivalled file format support
Import AutoCAD, Photoshop and many other popular image and file formats for inclusion in your DrawPlus designs. Like PDF files, AutoCAD files can be fully edited with DrawPlus. An Export Optimizer means you get perfect exported results every time too.

Impressive results
Even if you can’t or won’t draw, you’ll be amazed by the outstanding results you can achieve. Save time by using one of the pre-designed and customizable QuickShapes including arrows, hearts, spirals and more. Or why not be creative with easy Smart Curves or the amazing Freeform Paint Tool. 

Do you have any experiences with Serif Drawplus X3? We would love to hear from you and get your opinion! Please see rating section below!

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