Reviews
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APRIL 07, 2004
Stitcher 4.0
Upgrade adds needed features
Stephen Schleicher
When I first reviewed Stitcher 3.0 several years ago, I was blown away by the impact this application has on the web creation, animation, and digital content fields. Recently I received the latest upgrade (4.0) and gave it a whirl.
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APRIL 01, 2004
CValley Xtream Path
Path creation, manipulation and effects tools for Adobe Illustrator
Dave Nagel
I review an awful lot of plugins for graphics applications, and almost universally they fall into the category of effects filters or menu-based functionality enhancements. Never before have I encountered a plugin that could actually replace the primary tools of its host application. Yet this is just what Xtream Path from CValley does to Adobe Illustrator. While not literally replacing Illustrator's tools, it provides alternatives that are just so much more efficient for path creation and manipulation that I rarely even touch Illustrator's default path tools anymore.
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MARCH 26, 2004
Macromedia Director MX 2004
The deposed King of Interactive Authoring Applications returns from the wilderness
Kevin Schmitt
If it weren't for (the outstanding) Flash MX 2004, Macromedia would have been all but dead to me right around the first of this year. Between the messes that were Director MX and Dreamweaver MX 2004, I had become quite down on what was formerly one of my favorite software companies. But times change quickly, and with the recent tandem of Macromedia's Dreamweaver update patch and the release of Director MX 2004, the former MacroMind is very, very quickly getting back into my good graces. But enough with everything else—we're here to talk Director MX 2004, and talk DMX04 we shall.
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MARCH 23, 2004
Final Cut Express 2
DV- only system for everyone?
Stephen Schleicher
I’ve been using Final Cut Pro for over five years now. If you have read my previous reviews of this software or have used my Final Cut Pro Quick Tips, you know I love this application. So when Apple released Final Cut Express 2, you can probably guess I was pretty hyped up about it. After using it for a couple of projects am I still sold on Final Cut Express 2 as a viable option for DV editors? You’re just going to have to read on…
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MARCH 11, 2004
Anark Studio 2.5
Interactive 3D authoring suite
Kevin Schmitt
It's not often I find myself uttering the sage words of one George Costanza, but it didn't take long for Anark Studio to take its rightful place amongst the very short list of programs that have made me both unaware and not caring that it had produced a long strand of drool between my lower lip and the desk. Therefore, these five syllables best describe Anark Studio: Sweet. Fancy. Moses.
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MARCH 05, 2004
Adobe InDesign CS + PageMaker Plug-in Pack
Page layout suite with add-on productivity package
David Nagel
I've reviewed every version of Adobe InDesign to date, and with each new release, I've found fewer and fewer reasons to look back to the other publishing packages I've abandoned over the years. The program is simply an indispensable page layout application and a fantastic design tool. But InDesign, particularly InDesign CS, has recently expanded into another new role--that of a sort of rescue vessel for the stranded passengers aboard the ill-fated HMS PageMaker. So this time around, we're going to take a look not only at the new version of InDesign, but also the new PageMaker Plug-In Pack, an add-on package designed specifically for PageMaker users migrating toward InDesign.
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MARCH 04, 2004
Combustion 3
From the After Effects user’s POV
by Stephen Schleicher
Most of you know me from my After Effects writing I have done on these pages. I have been using the application for about 10 years now, and consider it one of my favorite and most often used programs. By being fully entrenched with this product for so long, you can imagine my hesitancy when I was asked to begin using discreet’s Combustion 3. While other reviewers have done a stand-alone review of the product, I thought it would be better to look at Combustion 3 from an After Effects perspective.
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MARCH 02, 2004
Ultrasone HFI.650 Headphones
Impressive detail and sound field for professional applications
By Frank Moldstad
Here's one of those rare products that actually lives up to its hype. The Ultrasone HFI.650 headphones have been widely praised on various audio forums by users who seem to have an almost evangelical zeal. While such comments usually need to be taken skeptically, in this case they are right on the money. Designed for recording studio and broadcast applications, the HFI.650s have one of the most naturally detailed and impressive sound fields I've ever heard from a pair of headphones. Even though they are stereo headphones, the HFI.650s create a kind of three-dimensional sonic image that allows you to hear deeply into the source material.
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FEBRUARY 25, 2004
Adobe GoLive CS
Web page layout and site management application
Kevin Schmitt
I'll freely admit that I'm doing this review for somewhat impure reasons. You see, I started my second flirtation with Adobe GoLive only because my usual visual page editor (you know, the one named after that cheeseball Gary Wright song) got the equivalent of some really bad plastic surgery that left it laughably buggy and ultimately unusable. So in my desperate time of need, I turned to the proverbial "other woman" I had only gazed at briefly before (and then, only for the QuickTime editor) in the hopes of finding aid and comfort. How did GoLive CS do? Read on to find out....
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FEBRUARY 20, 2004
Leave It to Radio Shack ...
An ADAT optical switcher for $20
By Frank Moldstad
Twenty bucks doesn’t buy much anymore. Two movie tickets and some popcorn, or a half tank at the gas station perhaps. Certainly, it doesn’t buy audio gear, even with Chinese factories pushing down manufacturing costs. But if your digital audio setup includes ADAT optical connectors, take a $20 bill and go directly to Radio Shack. There you’ll find a three in/one out optical switcher priced at $19.99. You’d better hurry, before they raise the price.
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FEBRUARY 19, 2004
Synthetik Studio Artist 3.0
Paint, rotoscoping and animation suite
David Nagel
I was introduced to Synthetik Studio Artist about four years ago when it was still in its 1.0 incarnation. From the first time I clicked on the canvas and drew a stroke, I knew this was it. This was the breakthrough. This was the technology that would elevate digital art out of the mode of mere emulation of traditional media and bring together not only the tools but also the process that would allow artists in print, animation and video to explore creative possibilities never before available in traditional or digital media. Through the relatively short years of this program's existence, I've seen it expand and mature from what was in version 1.0 an impressive but fairly rough application into what it is now at version 3.0: a unique and professional-level creative production tool that has earned a place in our elite list of Must Buy applications.
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FEBRUARY 11, 2004
AV Bros. Page Curl 2.0
Page curl/fold effects plugin for Adobe Photoshop
by David Nagel
AV Bros. has rapidly made its way onto my list of favorite Photoshop plugin developers. I previously reviewed the company's Puzzle Pro 2.0 software and was impressed by its depth of features and designer-oriented workflow. Their latest software release, Page Curl 2.0, shares much in common with Puzzle Pro--in its interface and in its unique approach to presenting an effect that isn't, in itself, unique at all. It is, in short, the best implementation of page curl/fold effects I've seen to date.
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FEBRUARY 10, 2004
Behringer's DDX3216 Digital Mixer
A 16-fader unit at around the price of an eight-fader controller
By Glenn Bucci
Behringer's digital DDX3216 mixer has 32 channels, 16 internal busses and 8 aux sends. Each channel features a fully parametric 4-band equalizer, sweepable high-pass filter, gate, compressor/limiter and phase inversion -- all simultaneously operable. The first 16 channels additionally offer a delay function. It also has four good-quality on-board effects processors. One reason why the DDX3216 is so attractive is its cost -- this 16-fader unit is around the same price of a 8-fader controller.
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JANUARY 28, 2004
Killer Titles
Intelligent Assistance reviewed
by Stephen Schleicher
If you are like me, you often find yourself scratching your head at three in the morning while browsing through manuals looking for the solution to a seemingly simple problem. This very apparent with Apple’s LiveType application for Final Cut Pro 4. While the program is robust and versatile, the documentation and tutorials are really lacking. That’s where Killer Titles: Intelligent Assistance for LiveType and Calligraphy comes in.
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JANUARY 26, 2004
Shure E3c Sound Isolating Earphones
Great sound, small package represents excellent value
by Charlie White
Sometimes you come across a product that works exactly as advertised, completely satisfying you with its near-perfection. Shure’s E3c ($179) earphones are just such a product. When I received these tiny earphones for review, their small size and futuristic looks were intriguing. As soon as I learned how to insert them properly in my ears and cranked up the sound, I was sold.
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JANUARY 20, 2004
AV Bros. Puzzle Pro 2.0
Puzzle and cutout effects filter for Adobe Photoshop
by David Nagel
There's no shortage of software available for creating jigsaw puzzle effects on images. You'll find freeware, shareware and commercial software designed for this purpose in abundance. But the folks at AV Bros. have brought this otherwise simple and straightforward effect up to a new level of functionality with Puzzle Pro 2.0 for Adobe Photoshop, providing a wealth of customizable controls and the ability to use the technologies behind puzzle creation for generating all sorts of cutout effects.
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JANUARY 05, 2004
Deee-LUX: Show Me the Light
Trapcode LUX for Adobe After Effects
by Ko Maruyama
Peder Norrby has done it again. This time, Peder's company, Trapcode, offers LUX. The brilliant plugin author who brought us Shine now has a new plugin that creates a volumetric attribute for 3D lights. After Effects' 3D environment allows designers to introduce light sources into their compositions. LUX takes those lights to a whole new level, giving users the tools to truly consider light during the After Effects compositing process, rather than relying on heavy 3D tools. In lieu of a tutorial, this week I took a quick look at Trapcode's Lux plugin for After Effects.
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JANUARY 02, 2004
Totally Hip LiveStage Professional 4
Interactive QuickTime authoring package
by Kevin Schmitt
Who knew QuickTime could do all this? It's not a rhetorical question, because Apple hasn't exactly been real busy spreading the word about all the cool stuff lurking in QuickTime that LiveStage Professional gives you unfettered access to. Perhaps if this product was made by Apple itself and branded "QuickTime Studio Pro," QuickTime might be widely known by now as much, much more than a video format. Alas, we have to rely on Totally Hip for assistance in tapping into the large helping of interactive goodness that's been a largely hidden part of QuickTime for many moons now.
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DECEMBER 23, 2003
First Look: Trapcode Lux
Volumetric lighting comes to After Effects
by Stephen Schleicher
Turn on the television, and you are sure to see a commercial, television show, or trailer that is using a Trapcode After Effects plug-in in some shape or form; Starglow, Sound Keys, and the ever popular 3D Stroke, and Shine. Get ready to see more Trapcode magic in the near future, this time in the form of volumetric lights.
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DECEMBER 22, 2003
Adobe Photoshop CS
Image editing and graphics creation software
by David Nagel
I've been a user of Adobe Photoshop since its first release, and this is my fourth (or is it fifth?) review of a major update to this software. At this point what could I possibly have to say about yet another version? First off, this is not just another version. Over the years I've seen Photoshop evolved, devolved and recreated to what it has now become, and I have to say I'm impressed. So what, exactly, has it become? With vastly expanded 16-bit color capabilities, new effects, new image manipulation tools and enormous new workflow capabilities--plus a few extra goodies thrown in for good measure--it is, in short, the most powerful version of the most powerful image editing tool on the market to date.
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