by: Lynn Ginsburg
AutoDesk's Animator Pro, one of the last great DOS holdouts, has finally come to Windows. Rechristened Animator Studio, the product has undergone a true Windows rebirth. Autodesk completely redesigned the interface to create a more hands-on environment and a simple process for creating animations.
Taking its visual cue from some of the best designed Windows graphics programs such as Photoshop and Fractal Paint, Animator Pro offers logically grouped palettes, sculpted buttons and a thumbnail filmstrip across the top. Compared to Animator Pro's black screen and text-based menus, the incarnation represents a dramatic change.
My testing of a beta version of Animator confirmed that the changes are more than just skin deep. The old DOS software required switching back and forth among eight different modules. Animator Studio has a unified interface, with all of the former modules now available as menu choices. You don't have to wade deep into a multitiered menu structure to locate commands. All of the main tools are now on one floating tool panel. Double-clicking on any of these icons brings up tool-control palettes. For tools that can be applied over a time sequence, you can tab between tool and time sequence controls. The program has also joined the modern world by writing to the .AVI and QuickTime formats, rather than the old proprietary FLIC format.
One of the most useful updates to Animator Studio is the addition of alpha channel support. Animator Studio now creates all images in TrueColor, which is 24-bit color, with an additional 8 bits for the alpha channel. Rather than having a single key color that must be completely transparent, with alpha channel support you have a range of opacity that can be specified for each pixel and for any color. This gives you increased flexibility and more detailed control for compositing frames and painting with sprites. I found this especially useful when used with the masking utility because it allowed me to easily edit the transparency of a selection over a series of frames. You can also paint with alpha inks and use them to quickly create transparent effects without having to composite layers.
Animator Studio has many of the same extensive set of paint tools that the previous version offered, but they're much easier to use thanks to the new interface. I was able to change ink and select a new color from a single, small on-screen palette--the old version's menus were so big that they obscured a large portion of the image. New image-processing tools such as the Magic Wand and the Separator tool select all instances of a color across a frame, giving you more control over image editing.
The film strip, another new tool, runs across the top of the screen and displays a thumbnail image of each frame in your animation. You can use the film strip to navigate within the animation by specifying key frames, and selecting individual frames or entire time sequences. I also found it useful as a reference tool for finding my place in an animation sequence when working on an individual frame.
Animator Studio lacks a few of Animator Pro's features, however. The program doesn't have a scripting language, like Pro's Poco. The tweening feature in Animator Studio requires the number of vertices in an object remains the same between the first and last key frame; previously, you had more flexibility by being able to add and subtract points in between. The program also lacks the full range of transitions the previous version offered.
Animator Studio has retained most of its predecessor's powerful features, but its new, more accessible interface makes the tools infinitely more usable. With its large library of sample animations, sprites and stills, I found it easy to jump right in and learn the program. I also was impressed with the program's extensive, graphical online help.
--Info File--
Animator Studio"
Price: $795
In Brief: Animator Studio has finally made the evolution from DOS to Windows, improving both productivity and ease of use.
Autodesk
800-879-4233, fax 415-331-8093
by: James Bell
In the Windows graphics world, Corel is the proverbial 900-pound gorilla. When it wants to sit down, you'd better pay attention. A new version of CorelDRAW is about to take a seat, and this one commands even more attention because of its sweeping changes and because it's a Windows 95 app.
Corel has established and maintained a leadership role as the result of a savvy combination of technical innovation, generous software bundling and aggressive pricing. With CorelDRAW 6, which I looked at in early beta, the list of bundled applications has changed significantly. CorelDRAW 6 adds 3D modeling, rendering and animation tools with Corel Dream 3D (based on Ray Dream Designer), Corel Depth and Corel Motion 3D. These new modules fill a spot in Corel's suite previously occupied by Corel Ventura, which will now be sold only as a standalone product. The other big change in the CorelDRAW lineup is Corel Presents, a powerful business presentation program that replaces the troika of CorelShow, CorelMove and CorelChart.
All CorelDRAW modules have been rewritten for Windows 95. They offer increased precision (down to 0.1 micron accuracy) and larger virtual workspaces (up to 150 by 150 feet in CorelDRAW). Improved performance is also anticipated, thanks to better memory management, multitasking and multithreading.
CorelDRAW 6 supports key Windows 95 features such as long filenames, right-button menus, wizards, property sheets, OLE 2.0 in-place editing and automation, and direct links to e-mail and fax. And CorelDRAW 6 finally lets you open multiple documents or multiple views of the same document.
CorelDRAW has been a constant throughout the bundle's iterations. In CorelDRAW 6, the program manages to maintain its familiar look and feel, while adding new features and improving on others. The toolbar has added customizable polygons, stars, spirals and grid tools, and a knife tool for cutting objects apart. Wireframe and fish-eye special-effect lenses are also new.
Other drawing enhancements include improved positioning options such as diagonal guidelines and a new Distribute feature. Technical illustrators will appreciate more flexible dimensioning, automatic callouts and "smart" connector lines. You can now preview PostScript textures, automatically simplify Powerlines, edit text bound to a path and search an illustration for objects with specific characteristics.
CorelDRAW's typographic controls have been improved with better basic text formatting and easy access via a new text ribbon bar. Artistic and paragraph text can now handle up to 32,000 characters per text object. You can link up to 32,000 paragraphs, specify text wrapping around graphics, force line breaks without creating a new paragraph and force-justify text. CorelDRAW can meet the challenges of most text layout tasks with its extensive character, paragraph, column and frame controls.
Printing--especially color printing--has been enhanced with better PostScript Level 2 support, additional prepress controls and improved proofing options.
The other components of CorelDRAW 6 offer extensive interface customization with floating toolboxes, ribbon bars, fly-away menus and color palettes.
Corel Photo-Paint adds special-effects filters, natural media brushes and lighting controls. This suite member now lets you edit frames in multimedia files and process multimegabyte bitmaps.
Corel Presents is a great improvement over CorelShow. Its outline/ slide/slide sorter features are comparable to other high-end presentation packages. New wizards help create slide shows quickly and help you through animation and charting options.
CorelDRAW 6 was a suite deal for Windows 3.x, and it's bound to have the same appeal in the 32-bit world of Windows 95.
--Info File--
CorelDRAW 6
Price: $695
In Brief: CorelDRAW 6 for Windows 95 bundles 32-bit drawing, painting, 3-D modeling and presentation graphics, along with utilities, and thousands of fonts, clip-art images, digital photos and multimedia files.
Corel Corp.
800-772-6735, 613-728-8200
by: Lynn Ginsburg
With the debut of FreeHand 5.0, a high-end design package, Macromedia is ready to duke it out in the tough Windows graphics arena. The program is also the design component of a new suite that includes FreeHand, MacroModel, Fontographer and Fractal Design's Painter 3.0.
Macromedia has added some interesting new features to FreeHand, which it acquired as a result of the Aldus-Adobe merger. This version offers significant improvements with third-party plug-ins and special effects that are supported by a new open architecture. Drag-and-drop colors and styles, multicolored gradients, extreme magnification modes, enhanced text-handling capabilities and an enlarged pasteboard are among the new features.
But rather than playing a game of one-upmanship by packing in as many features as possible, Macromedia is attempting to distinguish FreeHand by simplifying common tasks. The changes and new features were designed to streamline the labor-intensive processes of graphics creation.
One of the best examples of the sleeker FreeHand 5.0 is the reduced number of steps required to accomplish modal tasks from on-screen palettes. For instance, I was able to apply styles to text and objects by dragging a style icon and dropping it onto the object, thereby reducing to one step a process that would normally require several. FreeHand has also added stylesheets for text, with the same drag-and-drop operation for instant text formatting. These may seem like minor changes, but if you count the times you re-spec an object's attributes or reformat type in a multipage document, the saved steps add up.
FreeHand's new open architecture now supports third-party plug-ins, called Xtras. The add-ons can be used to update the program or customize it with new tools for specialized needs. Six special effects plug-ins are included: spiral, smudge, 3-D rotation, fish-eye lens, arc and eyedropper. The plug-ins are displayed on screen in an easily accessible tool palette--unlike the Mac version of Adobe Illustrator 5.5, which nests the plug-ins within menus. FreeHand's implementation of plug-ins is very efficient. You use them as you would any of its standard tools, as compared to Illustrator 5.5, which requires you to enter values in a dialog box. Neither of FreeHand's biggest Windows competitors--Illustrator 4.03 and CorelDRAW--support third-party plug-ins at this time.
Version 5.0 also has improved text handling, with a spell checker, search and replace, and an optional text-edit window. I found these features especially useful when working with text in multipage layouts. The new 22- by 22-foot pasteboard also facilitates the production of multipage documents, as well as graphics with large print areas. FreeHand lets you focus in on your document in minute detail with magnification up to 25,600 percent. Also new are graduated and radial fills that can contain up to 64 colors, and a report generation feature that details the fonts, colors, embedded or linked objects, and other information pertinent to service bureau output.
FreeHand lacks CorelDRAW's flood of features and Illustrator's native PostScript compatibility. However, it does match most of these programs' key features and provides a unique approach to the graphics as well. FreeHand edges out its competitors with its streamlined interface and open architecture. The program focuses on making common graphics operations easier to execute, and leaves the gee-whiz features to outside developers.
With version 5.0, Macromedia has proved that FreeHand can continue to be a major player in the Windows graphics arena.
--Info File--
FreeHand 5.0
Price: $595; competitive upgrade, $149
In Brief: FreeHand 5.0 has solidified its position in the Windows graphics market with redesigned tools that simplify repetitive production tasks
Macromedia
800-288-8108, 415-252-2000
by: Hailey Lynne McKeefry and Paul Schultz
Math and art are an odd mix. But artists must be mathematicians when they have to apply custom filter effects in Photoshop. You can put away your calculator and pick up KPT Convolver. It installs on the Photoshop Filter menu and lets you play around with multiple effects all at once, without entering matrices manually.
Convolver requires Photoshop 2.5 or later or an application that fully supports Photoshop plug-ins to act as a host. When we installed Convolver under Photoshop 2.51, we had to modify the line in the Photoshop .INI file that points to the filter locations. Installing under Photoshop 3.0 was much simpler. We just selected Plug-Ins under the File Preferences menu where we had the choice of a 16- or 32-bit installation. Convolver will also run under Windows NT.
Convolver's simple interface belies its power. The program provides three modes: Explore, Design and Tweak. When you select one mode, the controls associated with the other modes are put into hibernation, so it's simple to see which commands you should be using.
Explore lets you randomly mutate an image and control how extreme the mutation is. There are only three buttons available in this mode: Mutate Genes, Genetic Diversity and Gene Influences. Mutate Genes tiles the image into 15 diamonds, each containing a randomly generated effect. The Genetic Diversity button lets you dictate the intensity of the effect. The intensity you choose affects how much the resulting generation will differ from the original tile. You can include and exclude certain color and texture effects from the random generation process. Options under this menu include Mutate All, Mutate None, Texture Only or Color Only.
The Design mode also creates a 15-panel grid, but it lets you combine two different effects to create a huge number of variations. These include blur/sharpen, edge detection/angle, relief amount/angle, hue rotation, saturation, brightness and contrast. The gradient of the two effects is displayed among the boxes, with the tiles in the middle showing the gradual combination of the two axes. We changed the degree of the effect by dragging the arrows that run along the edge. The large tile at the top of the interface displays the current effect as it will appear when it is applied to your image, while the Grid shows a series of possible effects. Clicking on a Grid tile moves it into the top position.
Tweak mode provides a similar array of effects. In this mode, however, you can control the effects discretely and preview the results in real time. Changing an effect is as easy as clicking on the button and dragging the cursor. The movement of the cursor defines the degree of the effect, such as dragging to the left to decrease the effect or to the right to increase it. Dragging in a circular motion changes tint saturation; the closer you move to the button, the less the degree of saturation. A numerical reading of the effect is displayed at the bottom of the screen, but you can't type in a numerical value.
Convolver provides enormous latitude in redefining images. Our efforts were recognized, too, by the red star awards that the program gave us after we had spent some time testing its features. Each of the five stars that you can earn provides access to some added feature. For example, after receiving one red star we were able to use the color wheel found under the Tint command in Tweak mode. Another star afforded us a toggle feature that let us do side-@side before-and-after comparisons.
Convolver makes the hard work of adjusting images to achieve just the right effect seem like child's play. The effect generation capabilities, combined with a straightforward interface, add significant utility to Photoshop and make creating sophisticated effects effortless.
-- Info File --
KPT Convolver
Price: $199
In Brief: KPT Convolver simplifies the creation of custom filters to let you create advanced effects.
Disk Space: 4.5MB
RAM: 3MB
HSC Software
805-566-6200, fax 805-566-6385
by Lynn Ginsburg
Van Gogh never had so many choices; all he had were brushes, paints and canvas. Painter 3.0 gives you the digital versions of those tools and more. Lots more.
Fractal Design pioneered digital simulation of natural artistic media with the introduction of the first version of Fractal Design Painter. In version 3.0, which I looked at in beta, the program advances the concept with tools to create effects that would be difficult to achieve using traditional materials.
The program has put on a new interface and has added layering capabilities, an animation module and loads of new artistic effects. What you give up in the pleasure of smearing paint on a canvas, you gain in Painter's selection of special effects and the ability to easily edit and manipulate an image.
Painter 3.0 has a sleek new look, with textured and modeled surfaces that reflect an innovative and stylish program. In version 3.0,he company introduces the concept of drawers, where palettes are collapsed and tucked away until you expand them to reveal their contents. The drawers help to organize the program's vast array of palettes and save valuable screen real estate as well. When a drawer is closed, you see only its front, which shows five items from the palette. A click on the pushbar opens the drawer and you can see all the available tools.
When you select a drawer's tool, the tool is displayed at the front of the drawer--bumping the least used of the five tools that were previously displayed there. When an item is displaced from the drawer front, it always returns to the same place in the palette, making it easier to find later. If you want to display the same items consistently, you can lock your favorite tools in place for constant door-front display by simply clicking and holding on the icon until a green light appears.
A major modification to Painter's handling of images is the incorporation of floaters, a feature previously found in Fractal Design Painter's X2 Extension, a professional upgrade available for an additional cost. Floaters are defined selections that act as layers. They can be saved and manipulated independently of each other and the background image. For example, in an image that contains multiple graphical elements including type, saving the individual elements as separate floaters makes it easier to move things around without affecting the other elements.
You also can process floaters separately, controlling attributes such as opacity and feathering for each floater. Any image or portion of an image can be saved as a floater, and each floater supports an individual 8-bit channel for masking. You can select and arrange floaters using the floater list palette, where the first name in the list corresponds to the front-most floater. A floater can be painted on or manipulated just like any other Painter image, and you also have the power to execute compositing special effects specific to floaters. The available effects include gel, colorize, reverse-out and shadow map. Floaters can also be grouped, but you can still edit individual elements within the group. When you've locked in your design and are ready to commit to a composition, you can merge the image and incorporate the floaters as part of the background.
In a program known for its gee-whiz special effects and tools, this version won't disappoint you with its latest cool tool, the Image Hose.
The Image Hose is loaded with a selected image, in the same manner that you would load a bristle brush with oil paint. The images are loaded as a Nozzle File, and are composed of several floaters. You then use the Image Hose to spray the images onto a surface. The process is similar to rubber stamping but with characteristics associated with a brush stroke. You can control the application of the image from the Image Hose just as you would control a regular brush and the way it applies paint. With the Image Hose controls, you can adjust brush behavior such as direction, velocity and tilt.
Painter 3.0 also adds an arts materials palette from which you can access color sets, gradations, paper, weaves and color controls. You now can create custom gradients that simulate lighting effects on various surfaces. You can create linear, radial or circular gradations, and specify your own custom gradients by capturing a portion of an image and using it as a gradient. The rotation ring lets you easily control the angle of rotation. A red ball on the ring indicates the angle of rotation, and you change the angle simply by repositioning the ball.
Version 3.0 has a new animation tool. Within the same interface, you can create cell animation and edit digital videos. The program uses frame stacks, which are sets of images that can be individually edited and manipulated using Painter's toolset. Frame stacks can be played back as animations in Painter, or exported as Quick-Time files. Frame stacks can also be separated as a series of sequential files. The program supports five-layer onion skin, which lets you simultaneously view before and after frames.
Painter's sessions recorder, a feature available in the previous version, can now be integrated with the animation module. Once the sessions recorder is turned on, it records everything you do in the program until you turn it off. When played back, it recreates everything you did--ending up with the same final image. For high-quality output you are able to play back the session at a higher resolution than that at which it was recorded. Previously, sessions could only be played back in Painter, but with version 3.0 you can save sessions as QuickTime movies and use any program that supports that format to play back a session.
To add to the extensive brush controls previously available in Painter, version 3.0 features a new bristle-brush control. Using the control, you can dictate the bristle's thickness, clumpiness and density, which makes an already capable digital brush almost as good as the real thing. A graphics tablet provides the best tool for taking advantage of Painter's brush control and other artistic nuances. The program is designed to react to the tablet's pressure sensitivity to provide tactile feedback. Although a tablet is a big help, the program also provides mouse controls to simulate pressure sensitivity.
Using Painter is not as simple as picking up a loaded brush and laying it on canvas. But with its emulation of natural media, Painter 3.0 refines the potential of the digital media and provides a set of unique tools for a new way of creating art.
Info File
Fractal Design Painter 3.0
Price: $499
In Brief: By combining new computerized special effects and tools with the program's natural media painting capabilities, this latest version of Painter offers a new way of creating digital art.
Fractal Design
800-297-COOL, 408-688-5300
by: James E. Powell
Fasten your seat belts--Picture Publisher is going to take you on a 32-bit joyride through Windows 95.
Micrografx's popular professional image editor takes advantage of its new environment with significantly increased speed thanks to 32-bit code. Running on my 90MHz Pentium system with 16MB of RAM, the program was so fast that it was impossible for me to grab a screenshot of Image Task Manager in action. Picture Publisher is that fast.
Picture Publisher's Image Task Manager keeps its finger on the pulse of everything that's going on in the program. If you're modifying an image while loading another, the Image Task Manager shows you each task's progress. You can also use the Image Task Manager to suspend a task so another can finish--an especially handy feature when working with large, high-color images.
Picture Publisher makes good use of Windows 95 conventions, from right mouse pop-up menus and long filenames to custom toolboxes. The Infinite Undo command makes experimentation a pleasure instead of a threat. The program has tabbed dialog boxes, dock-able custom toolbars and tool tips that pop up when the cursor hovers over an icon. Click on a toolbar icon and a small group of icons for tasks in that category is displayed.
Just as with Windows 95 itself, you can right-click on an image to open its property sheet, which reports such facts as the filename and the color resolution. For advanced color work, there's support for color separations and the 32-bit Kodak Precision Color Management System. Micrografx has also added support for Corel's .CDR file format. The beta I tested didn't have JPEG, AVI and TWAIN support yet, nor was the Kodak system operational. But the Effects- Browser, which worked fine in the beta, lets you find and preview more than 45 special effects, from posterizing an image to changing its color threshold.
You can group your graphics into albums with thumbnails for each image. The album can accommodate a keyword or phrase that you can use as a search criterion. A multi-image clipboard, complete with browser, lets you store snippets of images so you can recall and use them quickly.
Picture Publisher has a full slate of image management features. Adjust contrast and brightness, rotate or flip images, crop sections and cut out parts of an image. Images can be converted to line art or gray scale and saved in different file formats. Mask image sections and arrange objects in layers and groups. The unique Object Layers feature works like a pasteup board, where you can create as many layers of single or grouped objects as you like. Layers--and the objects within them--can be moved easily.
The Command List tracks every command, adding each to an editable list. You can remove, reorder or modify any of the list's commands and turn it into the equivalent of a macro. This provides a degree of automation, so you make short work of repetitive tasks. You can also work with an image in low-resolution mode to save on redraw time. When you're happy with the results, use the saved command list to apply your modifications to the high-resolution version of the graphic.
Although not operational in the beta, Picture Publisher will accept plug-in effect filters such as HSC's Kai's Power Tools.
As a well-behaved Windows 95 app, Picture Publisher 95 supports OLE 2.0, so you can embed images into OLE-compliant applications. You could, for example, embed an image into a Microsoft Word document and then use OLE in-place editing to rework the image with Picture Publisher's tools.
Picture Publisher has a solid toolkit and exceptional ease of use. If speed's your thing, you'll want to park this app on your hard disk.
--Info File--
Picture Publisher for Windows 95
Price: $299.95 (street)
In Brief: Picture Publisher's Windows 95 edition is a slick graphics editing tool with speed to burn.
Micrografx
800-676-3110, 214-234-1769
by: Lynn Ginsburg
With the stunning debut of trueSpace 1.0, anything less than a dazzling upgrade from Caligari would have been a letdown. TrueSpace2 does not disappoint.
As sequels go, trueSpace2 was worth the wait. It goes where other programs can't, with real-time solid rendering, 3-D Boolean operations and direct-object deformation tools. If you can't afford the considerable investment for a workstation-class system, trueSpace2 will unleash your Windows system's maximum graphics potential. Because the new interface simulates the real-life experience of direct tactile feedback, it delivers the most tangible 3-D environment yet found on the Windows platform.
Although many people associate 3-D programs with slick, highly rendered objects, the drudge work behind the glitz typically takes place in the wireframe trenches. While trueSpace 1.0 let you work in a unified workspace, you still were restricted to creating and editing objects in wireframe before rendering the object or scene to get a sense of the final product.
TrueSpace2 lets you skip the wireframe mode and work exclusively with solid-rendered objects. For me, this new feature has the biggest impact because it lets me work on all aspects of a scene simultaneously. I can now see how changing one object affects the entire scene. With trueSpace2, the ability to work exclusively on rendered objects and scenes minimizes the trial and error associated with working in wireframe.
The real-time rendering capability also supports both the 3DR and RenderWare engines, which speed the program's overall render time. These render engines can work in combination with a few supported graphics boards or as software-only solutions.
There are, however, some limitations to real-time rendering's efficiency. Rendering makes heavy demands on your system resources as it remaps a scene. To compensate, trueSpace2 offers an option to limit the amount of scene detail displayed. While I found that selecting this option did speed up redraw time, it also reduced details, such as surface textures and shading attributes, and displayed bounding boxes for objects when moved.
Three new Boolean operations provide additional real-world capabilities. The union and subtraction tools simulate a sculptor's actual working processes. The union tool joins intersecting objects to create a single, 3-D object--similar to combining chunks of clay to create a figure. The subtraction tool works like cutting, chiseling or drilling, by subtracting one overlapping solid object from another. The intersection tool creates a new object from the overlapping area between two shapes. I found these Boolean operations to be great timesavers. I could easily cut a door or window into a wall or insert ventilation slats in a computer case--effects that previously required much more work.
Another interface innovation is the handling of object deformation. In the previous version of trueSpace, this process entailed several steps. With trueSpace2, I was able to deform an object directly just by dragging on its surface to create a smooth, continuous distortion.
The program also introduces several technical enhancements. It now supports dimensioning and numerical entries for creating and editing objects. It offers Video Rotoscoping for animating surface textures and materials, and field rendering that doubles frame rates from 30 to 60 frames per second. TrueSpace2 also offers support for Photoshop plug-in filters (including Kai's Power Tools), PostScript support, and granite, marble and wood procedural textures. The program can export to 3-D Studio .ASC, .DXF, FLIC and JPEG formats, and can import files in .BMP, .TGA, .EPS, .AI, TIFF and .GIF formats.
Juggling three dimensions is a complicated process. No program can completely eliminate that complexity, but this one does a good job of clearing away the clutter to let you get down to work.
--Info File--
trueSpace2
Price: $795
In Brief: TrueSpace2 surpasses the innovations of its predecessor, pushing the envelope with real-time solid rendering, 3-D Boolean operations and a faster rendering engine.
Caligari Corp.
800-351-7620, 415-390-9600
By: Lynn Ginsburg
Your dream house may exist only in an architect's plan, but you can take a virtual stroll through it with WalkThrough Pro. The program turns a blueprint's intangible dimensions into virtual environments.
Most 3-D modeling packages give you access only to an object's exterior surface, but with WalkThrough the objects also function as containers. You can manipulate both interior and exterior spaces, creating realistically detailed interiors that are limited only by your time and system capabilities.
WalkThrough lets you inhabit the 3-D spaces and, using the cursor as a navigator, you can enact the fourth dimension--time--as you move through the environments you've created, going up stairs, peering out windows, looking under beds. The detail level you can add is remarkable. For instance, you could tuck a box under the bed and then zoom in to examine the box's contents.
Although the program creates very complex 3-D scenes, you start by working on a two-dimensional diagram. You create scenes from front, back, right, left and top views.
The program works on the principle of "inflation," similar to extruding in 3-D packages. Two-dimensional objects are inflated with depth so that they can also be viewed simultaneously as 3-D containers in the Walk window. For instance, when I drew a room working in the top view, I created a rectangle with dimensions for width and length. The program then projected the room's height and created the floor, ceiling and four walls. As you define each room's dimensions, WalkThrough simultaneously creates the interior and exterior space. You can create an entire building this way, room by room, toggling among the five views.
In Design View, you can access three different modules. With the Surface Editor, one of the program's core components, you can punch through surfaces and define openings such as windows and doors. You can toggle between working on a surface's outside or inside. You can also define the color, transparency, opacity and texture of surfaces and openings.
With the Lighting Editor you can control the general lighting over all the objects within a scene and the lighting for a specific object. View an object from any 3-D angle and freely rotate it in space with the Tumble Editor. You can also add more surfaces to an object by slicing it to create additional planes.
The package's highlight is the Walk View window, which displays entire scenes rendered in a navigable 3-D world. It's called the Walk View, but navigating through the space is more like flying. Starting from the outside of a building and moving in, you can fly through rooms and objects, exploring the outer and inner spaces. The initial impulse is to jump into a scene, but hasty movement can result in your model falling off the horizon, leaving you floundering in space to retrieve it.
The initial awkwardness is partly due to the inherent limits of using a 2-D interface to control 3-D movement. You can, however, ease navigation with the optional crosshair and velocity grid, which helps you locate your movement in space and control your relative speed. This helps, but the navigational tools could still use some improvement.
You can record movements and save them as a "movie" that can be distributed with the bundled Virtus player.
WalkThrough isn't for hobbyists. It requires drafting and design skills to render objects that mirror their real-world counterparts, so it's best suited for architects, interior designers or others practiced in the art of drafting. You do get a head start with an included library of commonly used architectural features, household objects and appliances.
This is an incredibly powerful program for the price, turning 3-D still lifes into adventures in inner and outer space.
Info File
Virtus WalkThrough Pro
Price: $495
In Brief: Virtus WalkThrough Pro makes intangible blueprints and fantasy landscapes come to life, creating 3-D models for navigating interior and exterior environments.
Disk Space Required: 10MB
System Resources: 8%
RAM: 8MB
Virtus Corp.
800-VIRTUS-1, 919-467-9700