PsL Monthly 1993 December/PSL Monthly Shareware CD-ROM (December 1993).iso/reviews/gr_04

Text File | 1993-10-01 | 11.8 KB | 269 lines

GR-04:  Graphic Presentation


AutoMessage 1.22
   Holloway, Russell
   $35
   #12275
displays graphical scrolling messages with your choice font types, font
sizes, justification, display speeds, and more. Up to 300 different
messages can be shown per session, making this ideal for trade shows,
store displays, etc. Requires VGA.


Easy Presentation Graphics
   Brown Bag Software
   $295
   #7191/1582 [3 disks]
transforms your numerical spreadsheet data in colorful charts and graphs. There
are twelve different types of graphs including pie, area, bar, deviation chart,
donut (doughnut), line, percentage and more. It will import WKS, WK1, DIF, SYLK,
and ASCII data. It contains an internal spreadsheet, supports over 200 printers,
plotters and lasers. There is also a pictograph symbol generator. This version
will not save a file to disk. (Note: Brown Bag does not allow the latest
versions of their programs to be distributed as shareware. The registration fee
shown is for the latest version.)


EGA-Slide
   #7191/887
is a slide show program for EGA-Paint picture files.  The sample pictures on the
disk are beautiful full-color pictures.  Someone either owns a color digitizer
or is a very good artist.


Flicker
   #7195/612
lets you have the equivalent of a slide show on your computer.  Rapid movement
between screens can make the image appear to be animated.  You can zoom in on
any area of the screen, enlarging it to 2x its original size.  You can shrink an
image to half its size and place it on the screen in any location; in fact, you
can place as many such reduction windows on a screen as you want.  You can merge
two graphics screens into each other, to create an overlay effect.

You can scroll left or right to create banner-like effects. You can scroll up or
down to present a continuously rolling "sheet". You can create loops of a given
number of passes (like FOR-- NEXT in Basic). You can make a given action
dependent upon the operator's pressing of a key.

You can change background colors and foreground palettes at will. You can create
sequences (including action) which can be switched forward and backwards on key.
You can reverse the background and foreground colors. You can create interesting
color textures on screen, and have the new screen open out from the sides, top,
diagonal, or center. All-in-all, it sounds pretty impressive.

Jim Gauntt, Little Rock, AK, says "I have tried the programs on machines from 3
manufacturers, with 2 versions of DOS. The only reliable way I can save the
flowchart is to use the `save with new name' option. I can Unsave with NU, but
this does not seem reliable."


Grasp
   #7195/653 [2 disks]
Grasp is a graphics programming language which can be used to create and run
animated graphics demonstrations, tutorials, and presentations. GRASP requires
that the user make use of some other tool, such as Mouse Systems' PCPAINT PLUS,
to create PCPAINT PLUS packed page or BSAVE format pictures, or 'capture'
screens from any other graphics software with the provided capture utility
program. This product was developed by the folks at Microtex Industries, the
authors of PCPAINT PLUS, so it is patterned to take advantage of the pictures,
clippings and fonts created with PCPAINT PLUS and its related utilities, like
FONTASIA and ARTOOLS.

Grasp supports the CGA, EGA, Hercules, AST ColorGraphPlus, Plantronics, and AST
Preview cards. It has 16 picture buffers and 128 clipping buffers, a single
command to control animation sequences, 25 different fades, and many other
features. The author can no longer be reached at the address provided in the
documentation.


Magic Key/Pad
   #7195/119
is a sophisticated screen design and slide show program.  It provides innovative
access to Business graphics pictographs, Greek symbols, Mathematical notation, a
half a dozen European language characters, Arrows and Game signs and patterns,
and all conveniently available from the keypad.

The program allows a broad scope of creative freedom in the design process.
There are no procedures to follow to use available screen features and the
package functions and commands. The "Cut and Paste" feature allows any portion
of, or even the whole design to be used in subsequent screen designs or stored
in a library.

The uses for designed screens are limited only by the imagination. The designed
screens are stored as pages of a book on the diskettes providing the simplest
concept of information storage and retrieval. They can be viewed using a
versatile presentation program with foreward, backward and search features.


Multimedia 1 1.1
   Creative Software Engineering Inc. ASP
   $59
   #7770/4426 [4 disks]
allows you to mix human speech, special effects, and music with high resolution
graphics to create customized presentations, tutorials, advertisements and much
more. Sound plays through the PC's speaker.

The program features support for GIF, PCX, TIFF and TARGA image files; motion
and screen capture capabilities; integrated development editor; image processing
functions; Sound Blaster support; mouse support and more. Requires 1 meg of disk
space and VGA. A "Lite" version is also included with this set.


CompuShow 8.60a
   Canyon State Systems
   $25
   #7196/1704
is a robust program for viewing graphics files. A graphics information box
displayed previous to the file being shown contains information about the file
and the various display options available. Suppport for graphics file types
such as PC Paintbrush, PC Paint, Dr. Halo, RIX EGA Paint, ColoRix, MacPaint,
GIF, RLE, and Windows BMP files are included. 24-bit BMP, PCX, and
IFF/LBM files are also supported.

Also included is full support for GIF 89a features, including delays,
transparency, user input, restore to background, restore to previous, plain
text, and comment extensions. Supports Targa 16, 24, 32, uncompressed and
run-length-encoded, mapped and RGB graphics. An automatic "best mode"
selection includes video driver modes. Works on Hercules, CGA, EGA, MCGA,
SuperVGA, VGA and there is also support for EGA with monochrome monitor. Dr.
Halo CUT files are supported, as well as variant PCX formats. Other features
include support for XMS and EMS memory, extended mouse support, full time
rescaling, dithering in all 2 through 16-color display modes, and more.


PicView
   Thomas, Greg Thomas & Mettee, Brad
   $15
   #7196/2358
is a picture viewer for GIF, Colorix Uncompressed and Mac pictures. Its claim to
fame is an adjustable palette animation feature. A picture can be animated
through the entire palette, a portion of the palette, and through a range of
colors in the palette. It supports all major SVGA chipsets and will
automatically adjust the mode selections.


PF Presents
   Smetana, Rob W.
   $53
   #7619/1882 [2 disks]
is a desktop presentation system.  It includes two programs, P-Screen, which is
used to create and save screens, and PFP, which will display them in like a
slide show.  PFP allows interactive branching based on user selection.  Special
effects which can be added include animation, sound, exploding windows and
loops.  Library files can store up to 100 full or partial screens and are
indexed for fast display.

Features include Gosub/Return, the option to display true graphics images in
addition to text mode screens. Those who need graphics capabilities now have
it all. You can switch between graphics and text modes at will. Whether you
display text or true graphics screens, you can take advantage of most other
PFP options: menus, sound effects, timed slides, etc. Other features in the
program include the F8 (Monochrome) option to let you see how screens will
look when viewed in white on black, an option to load BSAVE files, bright-
background screens, mouse support, and two companion programs: Capture and
Manager. You can specify the order in which screens are loaded from libraries,
100 at a time.


PCX SuperShow
   P C WEST
   $95
   #7741/4261 [2 disks]
lets you create customized screen presentations using graphics in PCX file
format. It features multiple screen fades and seques, kaleidoscope screen
effects, circle and box drawing, special effects, support for digitized voices
and music with Sound Blaster and compatible cards, PC speaker music and sound,
text display using customized and computer fonts, border and screen clearing
effects and more. An impressive demo is included. Requires 512K, CGA or better,
and 1 meg of free disk space.


Alchemy Utilities
   Alchemy Mindworks, Inc.
   $various
   #2880
is a set of four graphic utilities from Alchemy Mindworks.

Cinema 1.0 ($35) is a slide show program for image files. It allows you to set
up complex sequences of images by creating script files in a very simple
programming language. The program supports a wide variety of image file types.

File Information 1.1 ($20) tells you what format and mode a graphics file is in.

GIF Information 1.0 ($20) lets you catalog GIF files, including a miniature
version of each file.

Storyteller 1.0 ($35) allows you to create interactive and graphical reports,
manuals, letters, and stories. You can create electronic documents of any size
which contain a mixture of text and graphics. The text must be created with a
word processor, and the graphics must be PCX files.


CAP
   Green, David R.
   $40 Canadian
   #4260
displays scrolling, multicolor text-based ads along with a fixed graphics image.
It was designed primarily for cable TV companies, but is suitable for anyone who
needs to provide information to the public, either over the air or at a fixed
location. CAP supports 36 Ad files of 128 Blocks and PCX graphics file format
for all banners.


Demo Workshop 1.1g
   P2 Enterprises ASP
   $65
   #12379  (10-93 CD)
creates demo and tutorial programs. It uses actual screens recorded
during execution of the program being presented.

The recording can be edited with the presentation editor like editing a
movie. You can cut and resequence scenes, add pop-up menus, special
effects, text windows and more. It creates an EXE file as output.


Image Pro and Talking Slide Show
   Creative Multimedia Software Inc.
   $34
   #4425
Image Pro is a fast image processor for viewing GIF, PCX, PIC, TIFF and TARGA
graphic files. You can view, scale, convert, clip, change brightness, change
contrast, dither and print images to a dot matrix or laser printer.

Talking Slide Show combines a digitized human's voice, music and special effects
with high resolution images to create presentations, tutorials, demos and more.
Requires 512K memory, a hard drive and EGA/VGA.


Russell's Animation Machine 7.32
   The Animated Software Company
   $27
   #20056 [4 disks]
lets you create and display graphic applications. You can design
interactive, animated tutorials, demos, and more. Utilities are included
for adding animation to other software, HP Laser printing, and there is
a TSR for screen capturing. Over 85 commands are provided for program
control, placing text on screen, file handling, drawing and displaying
graphics. Several examples are included.

Animation For Everyone (#20057 [2 disks]) is a demonstration of Anima-
tion Machine. This demo uses animation to show creatures in motion, how
a piston engine works, how your heart beats, how an airplane wing
provides lift and more. These are interesting demos even if you are not
interested in the program.


TPlot
   Benton, Dudley J.
   $?
   #1166
is intended for producing high-quality technical figures on HP pen plotters or
graphics terminals. It supports special characters, super- and subscript, Greek
letters, symbols, colors. It is not intended for doing pictures, bar charts, and
such. Tplot is not interactive. You must put the drawing commands and data in a
text file which Tplot will process.

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