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WWhenhen imageimage mmattersatters

Creating images, whether it be for the offi ce newsletter or customer brochures, requires some special tools. Michael Palamountain from Enex TestLab puts you in the picture.

to where you want to publish them. initial foray a company would make towards To bring some scope to this review we have image creation products. assumed the position of a medium-sized busi- ness that, while outsourcing the bulk of its HOW WE TESTED he available nowadays to design and publishing operation, wants a soft- In order to try out the features and usabil- create, edit and manipulate images is ware package that will provide a solid in-house ity of these applications we carried out two T dazzling. There is software dedicated capability for newsletters, reports, signage, and similar operations in each. The fi rst test was to just about every facet of production and drafting their ideas for outsourcing. to produce a circle and fi ll it with a chosen publishing—from print to the Web, the art of In most image-related application suites colour—fairly simple. creating and publishing images has become the two core products will usually be one vec- The second test was to produce a highly specialised, so naturally the tools to do tor-orientated application and one bitmap-ori- seven-pointed star—using auto-shapes if this have also become specialised. entated one. These two programs form what possible—and fi ll the star with a gradu- There are applications available on the mar- would usually be the primary tools where ated rainbow colour fi ll with a perpendicular ket from a range of vendors. Most can usually most of the initial image design and editing transparency gradient. be purchased separately, but more commonly is carried out. This second task will employ both multi-stop vendors are packaging related software togeth- What follows is a look at these key ap- gradients (ie, a gradient where colour and/or er into suites. These will often contain tools an- plications from some popular vendors such as transparency changes from one value to an- gled at one publishing medium or another, and Adobe, , and other open- other several times across a specifi ed fi eld eg, so the selection you might make will depend on source options. We test the capability of each a gradual change from blue to red, then red to what sorts of images you were working with, to perform standard bitmap and vector image purple, then purple to black) and masking ca- how you want to create or manipulate them and creation and editing that we feel represents the pability (a method of blocking part of an image

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When image matters

so as to protect it from change). Any decent ILLUSTRATOR graphics application will have these features, Adobe’s vector drawing application, Illustrator, so we were concerned with how easy it would contains 21 fi lters in four categories (colours, ency fi lters. be to achieve the result. We also looked at the create, distort and stylise) as well as 69 other ef- The masking range of fi lters and other effects available for fects including 3D, path-fi nding and distortion. feature allows for manipulating images. There does seem to be some overlap between extremely complex fi lters and effects, and some Photoshop effects merging of image ob- 2 are also available in addition to 15 transpar- jects, including shaped trans- Adobe currently offers a bundle of software parency masks. At times, our called Creative Suite. This package features tests showed that the package’s im- its two fl agship products—Photoshop (for bit- mense fl exibility came at the expense maps) and Illustrator (for vectors). of the intuitiveness of the method. Both are strictly graphics applications but the Upon opening a new document it gives you suite also includes tools geared more towards the opportunity to choose a title and colour presenting your work, such as GoLive for Web mode, as well as the page size and orienta- publishing, InDesign for desktop publishing tion. For the fi rst test we were able to use and Acrobat for PDF creation. Packed with the circle tool—dragging on the canvas sized features, this is one image creation suite with the circle. We could then select from features the lot for the serious professional user. Crea- such as transparency, line style, colour and tive Suite is available for both Windows and thickness, and fi lling colour from the tool bar Mac OS operating systems. Illustrator: star with graduated colour which appears whenever the circle object is

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PProductroduct Adobe PProductroduct CorelDRAW PProductroduct FreeHand MX Creative Suite 2 Premium Graphics Suite X3 and Fireworks 8 VVendorendor Adobe VVendorendor Corel VVendorendor Adobe (formerly Macromedia) PPhonehone 1300 550 205 PPhonehone 1800 658 850 PPhonehone 1300 550 205 WWebeb www.adobe.com.au WWebeb www.corel.com WWebeb www.adobe.com.au WWarrrantyarrranty Complimentary phone WWarrrantyarrranty One complimentary WWarrrantyarrranty Free online support (e- support for installation and product phone call, online support (e-mail and mail and knowledgebase) and forums. defects; free access to online forums and user groups), knowledgebase software, PPricerice Freehand full: $605 FAQs, updates and patches. updates and patches. Upgrade: $150 PPricerice Full product: $1999 PPricerice Full product: $749 Studio 8 full: $1515 Upgrade from Photoshop: $1499 Upgrade: $349 Upgrade: $605 Upgrade from CS1: $999 Academic: $189 Fireworks as separate full: $455 Upgrade: $230 IInteroperabilitynteroperability IInteroperabilitynteroperability ½ Good range of major file formats. Excellent range of formats. IInteroperabilitynteroperability ½ Excellent range of formats. FFutureproofingutureproofing FFutureproofingutureproofing ½ Provides for standard graphics plus good All the features needed for intricate FFutureproofingutureproofing ½ expansion into Web publishing. graphic construction. Good features for graphics and some Web development. RROIOI RROIOI Not overpriced but overkill for graphic The right easy-to-use tools at a fair RROIOI ½ design. price. Reasonable price and features, overkill if full Studio suite. SServiceervice SServiceervice Typical software support channels. Typical software support channels. SServiceervice Typical software support channels.

RRatingating HHH½ RRatingating HHHH RRatingating HHH½

selected—all of the tasks in this test were easy gradients was simple and we were able to com- very well. Illustrator is capable of exporting to to complete. plete the process using a single mask. a variety of fi le formats including AutoCAD, The test took a little more learning time An interesting component of Illustrator is SVG and animated Flash fi les. (with a assistance from the help fi les). To cre- Live Trace which can be used to convert bit- ate our seven-pointed star Illustrator includes mapped images into vector images. There are PHOTOSHOP a dedicated star tool in its auto-shapes list, various options for this function which deal Obviously Photoshop is designed for photo ma- with additional variables such as the number of with the level of detail required and edge-de- nipulation but you can also create new bitmaps points and the inner and outer radii. Manipula- tection methods. You will need to experiment a from scratch. tion of multiple-stop colour and transparency little to get the result you want but it can work You are actually able to create and manipu-

TEST BENCH

Interoperability Futureproofing ROI Service What is the What is Cost versus What sort of range of formats the range of the usability basic service handled? features and and features options are functions? included. included?

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PProductroduct GIMP 2.2 while to learn the necessary steps. We even- PProductroduct 0.43 VVendorendor GIMP tually achieved a result by using one shape VVendorendor Inkscape PPhonehone N/A mask applied to a layer containing both the PPhonehone N/A transparency gradient and the colour gradi- WWebeb www.gimp.org WWebeb www.inkscape.org ent. Creating a star was achieved by selecting WWarrrantyarrranty Online forums the polygon tool—a star/polygon toggle was WWarrrantyarrranty Online forums PPricerice Free (open source) one of its options. Both these tasks were far PPricerice Free (open source) easier to achieve in Illustrator, but to be fair IInteroperabilitynteroperability ½ these are not the core functions for a photo- IInteroperabilitynteroperability Good range of major bitmap formats. editing application. Exports mainly to “alternative” products The colour and texture fi lters for photo ma- FFutureproofingutureproofing nipulation do a very good job; we got some very FFutureproofingutureproofing A developing product, a bit “rough” and interesting results applying these to images. A developing product, masking is needed bitmaps only. Photoshop includes a wide range of highly cus- and vectors only. tomisable brush tips including some animated RROIOI ½ ones. It has about a hundred fi lters for adjust- RROIOI ½ Great price (free), but further product ing colour and texture and simulating various Great price (free) but further product development is needed. art media. development is needed. You can save fi les in about two dozen for- SServiceervice ½ mats including PNG for Web graphics. Tools SServiceervice ½ Web forums. may change their apparent behaviour for a Web forums. given layer if a mask is present; masks are in- tended to hide or protect portions of an image from the editing process. Photoshop provides for both vector and bitmap masking. Colour and transparency gradient are possible but Il- lustrator was simpler to learn in this regard. HH HH RRatingating ½ Summary. It is diffi cult to say anything neg- RRatingating ½ ative about Adobe Creative suite. It is a very late a circle as a vector or a bitmap. Selecting complete package—able to create, edit and Corel Photo-Paint, SB Profi ler (for associated the ellipse tool and dragging on the canvas cre- deploy a range of image types. It is an excellent documents with users), Bitstream Font Naviga- ates the circle but the way you fi ll it with colour tool for top end graphic designers. Being such tor, Corel Capture (for screen captures) and and move it about will depend on whether a complete package it is more expensive than Duplexing Wizard (for organising double-sided you’ve designated it a vector or a bitmap. We other suites on the market—only fair for what print runs). had to create a whole new layer in order to you are getting. Smaller offi ces, particularly Corel also sells Paint Shop Pro (formerly by produce a new vector circle after the bitmap where the intent is not to produce magnifi cent Jasc Software) and Painter as separate pack- one. This may be lack of experience with the Web content or sales brochures, may fi nd that ages; Painter is intended to simulate the use of product, or something much more intuitive. this all a bit much and part of determining artistic media during the actual process of cre- In a similar way, the star test took quite a value for money is knowing how much you re- ating the image. Painter can be mouse driven in ally need. Undoubtedly this is the most powerful suite here and it is broad ranging in its tools but a working level of familiarity with the product will take some time—and time comes at a cost. How quickly do you need staff to start being productive after software deployment?

COREL CorelDRAW Graphics suite X3 (which stands for version Photoshop: star with graduated colour 13) contains CorelDRAW, CorelDraw: star with graduated colour

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tion. The bitmap-to-vector component, called the gradient line shown on the canvas. These PowerTRACE, is very effective. The applica- can then be dragged about and clicked to bring tion has a wide range of fi lters and artistic up a colour palette dialog. effects available. The interactive transparency tool allowed We were surprised by the way colours the transparency gradient to be applied in are displayed in Corel as there are separate exactly the same way as the colour gradient colour settings, optimised for either print or and there was no need to create a separate Web deployment of images—the default is mask object to do so. The methods were also for print optimisation. easy to discover. For our fi rst test we found drawing a circle was simple but a little different to many of PHOTO-PAINT Corel Photo-paint: star with graduated colour the other programs—holding the shift key Photo-Paint supports animation and Visual theory but a graphics tablet would probably do causes the drag manoeuvre to begin at the Basic macro scripting. Images can be ad- more justice to this sort of software. centre rather than the corner, while the con- justed and preserved as multiple frames and trol key enforces a circle. Shortcuts to the stored as MOV fi les or animated . There CORELDRAW fi ll and line tools for basic colour and line is a specifi c tool for red-eye removal in photos. One of the fi rst things we noticed when explor- formatting can be found at the lower right CorelDRAW’s full range of fi lters and artistic ing this vector drawing application was the corner of the screen. effects are also available here for bitmap ma- hints area on what Corel calls a “Docker”, Like Illustrator, CorelDRAW has a dedi- nipulation; these include blurs, colour fi lters, placed to the right of the drawing space. This cated star tool that lets you select the number warps, and media including drawing, painting, is automatically updated with context-sensitive of points you want. Drawing our star involved stained-glass and needle-point. help whenever you choose a new tool to work selecting the star tool, dragging on the canvas The for Photo-Paint is pleas- with—very handy for new users. The Docker to create it, and then selecting the number of ingly close to that of CorelDRAW in terms of also carries other tool dialogs on separate tabs points on the upper tool bar. Creating the colour appearances and operation. It can preserve as required. gradient was rather different—having used the drawing elements as separate layer objects Transparencies can be applied with solid, gradient tool to form a basic two-colour gradi- which provides extra editing fl exibility. There gradient or pattern/bitmap formatting and ent we couldn’t fi nd a way to add extra stops. are naturally some variations associated with CorelDRAW is adept at converting between We found the answer in the hints: just drag and the inherent differences between vector and bitmap and vector images in either direc- drop new colours from the palette directly onto bitmap graphics. Drawing a circle is relatively simple but be sure that your object is selected before choosing to apply a fl ood fi ll or the entire region will be PPNG,NG, SVGSVG to be standard coloured. Size and positioning are controlled the same as in CorelDRAW. Creating the star was harder than in Corel- he World Wide Web consortium states Explorer, Netscape and Opera. DRAW, mostly because we needed to learn and it would like to see Portable Network A second issue slowing the use of SVG use masking. First we had to outline the star T Graphics (PNG) and Scalable is the lack of software for develop- by hand with the path tool since there was no Graphics (SVG) become the standards fi le ing the graphics themselves. Various vector suitable auto-shape. Then we needed to stroke formats for Web graphics. drawing applications can export to SVG the path and convert it to a new object that we Currently, Web graphics are typically for- format but there is little support for - could paint. Having done this, we could apply matted as JPEG, GIF or Flash. PNG is cur- mating these images. The average graphic the colour and transparency gradients just as rently well supported by Web browsers and designer will most likely not bother editing we did in CorelDRAW. image creation software—you have probably their creation as a text fi le in order to add in Summary. Corel does not contain the range seen it in use on the Web already. the animation. of applications found in Adobe Creative Suite SVG, an extension of XML, is still Despite these problems it should not be too but it is a very effective “pure” graphics suite. catching up. Most current browsers do not long before SVG becomes a common feature It offers powerful tools for creating and editing support SVG, although there is a fl urry of on the Web due to the openness of its imple- both vector and bitmap graphics. The software activity to implement the W3C standards for mentation and compliance with XML stand- is well integrated and very user friendly and this format. ards. The format can be edited as graphics, helpful hints are immediately on hand for most Adobe provides a browser plug-in that al- XML or text and it can be compressed into a features. Personal experience proves that even lows SVG images to be displayed in Internet size comparable to that of Flash. those who are less than expert with drawing software can quickly gain a working knowl- edge of this product suite. users

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Perhaps we should be grateful that the XML GGlossarylossary ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) editor was included but we can’t imagine many users being that familiar with SVG scripts. Besides which, even after fi guring out how to Bezier tool: A tool for the creation of Masking: A method of blocking part of convert our grey-scale image into a transpar- Bezier curves—smooth curves which can an image to protect it from changes such ency mask using the underlying SVG code, it be used to defi ne complex shapes. as using a stencil to guide the application proved much easier to do with an ordinary text Binary logic operators: These mathe- of paint. editor—hardly a productive solution. matical operators can be applied to image Multi-stop gradient: A gradient where Like Corel, holding down the shift key while components to determine how their col- colour and or transparency changes from drawing a circle toggles the initial drag point ours are combined when being merged. one value to another several times across from the corner to the centre of the object. The The best way to understand their usage a specifi ed fi eld. For example, a gradual control key ensures the x/y ratio conforms to is to experiment with them. Colour pixels change from blue to red, then red to purple, whole numbers. can be combined using binary mathemati- then purple to black. The stroke and fi ll tool dialog which deter- cal equations involving operators such as Shaped transparency mask: A mask that mines an object’s colour, fi ll, and line style, is AND, OR, XOR, Divide and Multiply. specifi es the shape of a transparent area on not obviously recognisable. We needed to use Layer: One or more components grouped an image component. the tool tips to locate it (found on the upper together so they can be viewed and manip- Transparency: The degree to which un- toolbar beside a much more obviously marked ulated as a whole, independently of other derlying image components can be seen text tool). layers. Layers may be used in preparing through another component. Inkscape has excellent shape and Bezier frames for animated images or for sepa- Transparency fi lter: A type of mask that tools and a good vectored freehand tool. It rating background and foreground image specifi es how transparency levels vary supports multiple-stop gradient fi lls with components. across an image component. variable transparency. You can also import and export bitmap images. Objects can be combined using binary logic operators such as “and”, “or” and “divide”. There is a great lit- tle polygon/star tool that allows warping into exotic fl oral designs. Inkscape’s native format is SVG () and it uses PNG for bitmaps. SVG is XML based and the underlying code can should beware, however, as after version 12 Drawing whole circles by dragging is easy. be directly edited with Inkscape’s XML editor. Corel stopped supporting Mac OS because its There are four auto-shape tools on the left There is a simple bitmap-to-vector trace func- research found that over 95 percent of its users hand toolbar: rectangle, ellipse, star/polygon tion, but this is black and white with basic fi ll were running it on Windows. and spiral. A circle or ellipse can readily be or trace options. converted to a chord or segment. Colour selec- Inkscape is a reasonably powerful package FREEWARE tion is easy and fl exible from the stroke and although it can be a little rough around the There is little on offer in terms of a total open- fi ll dialog. edges at times and lacks essential features. It source graphics suite. Instead we looked at Creating the basic shape star shape was is still an immature product which is developed independent programs; Inkscape which is a simple with the star/polygon tool. Multiple- at the whim of keen volunteers. It will no doubt vector graphics program, and the GIMP which stop colour gradients were no problem either. receive better masking support in the future. is a bitmap graphics program. The trouble came when we tried to apply the While these programs have not been devel- transparency mask as you can see in this quote oped together the range of fi le formats avail- from Inkscape’s help fi le: able to each allows for collaboration between “The XML editor allows you to change the two. almost all aspects of the document without using an external text editor. Also, Inkscape INKSCAPE 0.43 usually supports more SVG features than are Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics accessible from the GUI. For example, we now application. Compiled versions are available support displaying masks and clipping paths, for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The lat- even though there’s no GUI for creating or est stable version is 0.43 but there are daily modifying them. The XML editor is one way to builds available for those who want to see the get access to these features (if you know Scal- latest developments. able Vector Graphics).” Inskcape: star with graduated colour

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Product Adobe Creative Suite 2 Premium CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 FreeHand MX and Fireworks 8 (part of Studio 8)

Vendor Adobe Corel Adobe (formerly Macromedia)

Phone 1300 550 205 1800 658 850 1300 550 205

Web www.adobe.com.au www.corel.com www.adobe.com.au

Warranty Complimentary phone support for One complimentary phone call, Free online support via e-mail installation and product defects; unlimited online support (incl or through knowledgebase and free access to online forums and e-mail and user groups) and forums. FAQs and updates and patches. knowlegdebase software updates and patches.

Price Full product: $1999 Full: $749 Freehand full: $605 Upgrade from Photoshop: $1499 Upgrade: $349 Upgrade: $150 Upgrade from CS1: $999 Academic: $189 Studio 8 full: $1515 Upgrade: $605 Fireworks as separate full: $455 Upgrade: $230

Vector creation Adobe Illustrator CS2 CorelDraw FreeHand

Bitmap creation CS2 Corel Photo-Paint Fireworks

Photo editing Adobe Photoshop CS2 Corel Photo-Paint FreeHand—limited

Animation Adobe Illustrator CS2 Corel Photo-Paint Fireworks/FreeHand

PDF creation 7.0 Professional Export to PDF FreeHand export to PDF

Web design Adobe GoLive CS2 HTML, SWF export Flash, Dreamweaver

Bitmap to vector Live Trace component PowerTRACE component Limited tracing tool

Other applications , Version Cue and Corel CAPTURE and tools for Studio 8 includes Dreamweaver, Adobe Stock Photos organising fonts and duplex Flash, Contribute and Flashpaper printing

File formats Save/Export: PDF, EPS, JPG, Save/Export: Corel (various), Save/Export: SWF, EPS, PSD, (relating mainly to graphics) PNG, SVG, Illustrator, Photoshop, BMP, CPT, PPF, TGA, GIF, GIF Illustrator, Freehand, PDF, DCS2, PICT, PCX, Pixar, Targa, PBM, , Illustrator, SVG, JPG, JP2, RTF, ASCII, TIFF, GIF, JPEG, GIF, SWF, AutoCAD, PSD, TIF, TIF, FPX, PSD, PSP, EPS, WMF, PNG, Targa, BMP, WMF, EMF, WMF, RAW, SCI, DCS AutoCAD Photoshop, PICT Import: includes, TIF, GIF, JPG, Publish to: PDF, HTML, SWF Import: SWF, EPS, CorelDRAW, BMP, EPS, WMF, PCX, PNG, Import: Corel (various), PSP, PSP, PDF, Micrografi x, Freehand, DCS, PDF, Filmstrip, RAW, PPF, RIFF, BMP, PCX, TGA, GIF, DCS, DXF, RTF, ASCII, TIFF, GIF Photoshop, illustrator, SCI, TGA JPG, JP2, TIF, FPX, PP4, MAC, (+ anim.), JPEG, PNG, TGA, CAL, PNG, PostScript, AutoCAD, BMP, WMF, EMF,CGM, PLT, Illustrator, FMV, Win metafi les, PICT, DXF, Illustrator AVI, SVG

Platforms Windows 2000 SP4 or XP SP1/2; Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows 2000 or XP, or Mac OSX MacOSX v10.3 or later and JRE Windows Tablet PC Edition 10.3

Hardware requirements Pentium III or Mac G3; Pentium II, 200 MHz or greater; Pentium III 800MHz or Mac G3 384MB RAM minimum (1GB 250 MB HD space; 1024 x 768 600MHz; 256MB RAM (1GB recommended); 1-3 GB HD monitor res; CD-ROM; mouse or recommended); 1024 x 768, 16- space; 16 bit video card; 1024 x tablet bit display (32-bit recommended); 768, 24 bit color screen settings 1.8GB HD space for Windows and recommended; PScript level 2 or 3 1.2GB HD space for Mac. req for PS printers

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GIMP 2.2 Inkscape 0.43

GIMP Inkscape

N/A N/A

www.gimp.org www.inkscape.org

Online forums Online forums

Free (open source) Free (open source)

No Yes

Ye s N o

Ye s N o

GAP add-on No

No No

No No

Very limited B/W No

No No

Save/Export: Gimp formats, Save/Export: LaTeX, PNG, POV, PNG, PIX, FLIC, DCM, PS, EPS, SVG, InkscapeSVG; EPS, PS, FIT, GIF, JPG, Import: InkscapeSVG, SVG, CEL, ICO, PGM, PPM, SGI, ANI, GIF, BMP, JPG, TIF, ICO, TGA, TIF, BMP, RAS PCX, PNG, RAS, TGA, WBMP, Import: Gimp, JPG, CEL, XBM, XPM ICO, WMF, PSP, PDF, PSD, PNG, PNM, PS, SVG, SGI, RAS, TGA, TIF, BMP, PCX, XBM, XPM

Windows NT/2K/XP, Windows, MacOSX, /Linux MacOSX, UNIX/Linux (or (or can be compiled from source can be compiled from source code); GTK+ 2.4 code); GTK+ 2.4

128MB RAM 128MB RAM

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EEyeye candycandy or eye brussel sprouts?

e careful where you stand. Politics, religion and comput- Here at T&B, mention the word Macintosh to our art director ers are guaranteed to provoke a reaction, and discussing and he will glare in disgust and start mumbling under his breath Bthe virtues of designing on PCs versus Macs, well that about never going back to the cursed device. But that may have demands artillery. just been a bad experience. Other designers around the offi ce There is, of course, by no means a defi nitive answer. It has long polish their orb-like Macs with pride. been debated on any number of IT media Web sites and design Chris Von Sanden, of design business Quality Ensured Data, sites. For every argument that promotes one there is a good rea- has used both PCs and Macs during his 14-year design career. He son for the other. PCs tend to be described as better priced, more still attributes a Macintosh advantage chiefl y due to its ability to compatible, and with better driver support but stability is often capitalise on language which has evolved on the Apple questioned and the “cool” factor just doesn’t exist. Macs are machines. expensive and less compatible but offer advantages in font and “If you’re talking about , postscript is the most colour management. important thing. Adobe products print via postscript, so using a Most designers, it would seem, do tend to use Apple comput- Mac ensures that what you are designing actually comes out of the ers—which may be argument enough that there is some advantage printer,” he says. to the machines if you are in this industry but there is a growing When you’re whole career is based around aesthetics, an Ap- percentage who also work on PC or both. ple’s good looks will be a factor in your choice, but Adobe’s design Gerard Searchfi eld, creative director at a marketing company, tools largely evolved on Macs—Apple is clearly indoctrinated in has worked with a range of Adobe and Macromedia tools on both the industry. platforms throughout his career. “I made the switch from ‘eye The arguments will invariably go on and while many see the candy’ to ‘eye brussel sprouts’ when I started freelancing because difference between the two factions narrowing, design, whether it was cheaper to use a PC. I could buy the components separately through habit, passion, or otherwise, does seem to be the jewel of and build a faster, more powerful computer for the same price as Apple’s eye. a low-end G3 at the time.” —Mark Wheeler

THE GIMP 2.2 fi ll colour, then clicked on the selected circle mediately evident. Applying the perpendicular The GNU Image Manipulation Program region. The second test immediately showed up transparency gradient proved relatively simple (GIMP) is purely intended for working with a feature lacking from this application: auto- in the end; unfortunately we had to look up how bitmapped images. shapes. We had to draw the star with the path on an independent Web site. GIMP is equipped To create a fi lled circle we used the “select tool and arrange the points by eye. Once a path to handle layers, graduated transparencies, elliptical region” tool and dragged on the can- is drawn, its outline can be stroked or fi lled. perspective, Bezier curves and rotation. Gradi- vas to the desired size. Holding the shift key It was rather fi ddly to defi ne the multi-stop ent fi lls come in a variety of forms including, constrained the ellipse to a circle, we chose a gradients and the methodology was not im- linear, radial, spiral, and square.

MMicrosofticrosoft Acrylic ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

icrosoft’s new foray into design and illustration, Acrylic industry seems to be cautious, but curious about the rise of the is turning a few heads. new tool. Acrylic has taken some bold steps, including accepting M Released in Beta form since June 2005, it represents Photoshop plug-ins and interfaces with fi le formats from most of a relatively controversial approach to design software. Unlike the main packages, including Adobe PDF fi les. traditional tools such as Adobe’s Illustrator or Photoshop, which While not yet considered a contender to the likes of Adobe or the essentially work exclusively in vector or bitmap images, Acrylic other packages, and according to some even freeware such as the endeavours to pull together qualities from both—the accuracy of GIMP, many are prepared to wait and see what surprises the full vectors and the photographic realism of bitmaps. release has in store. Having evolved out of Creature House’s Expression 3.0, the —Mark Wheeler

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BBitsits or vectors? ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

itmaps and vectors are the two most common ways of digit- of vector shapes and effectiveness of fi le compression will blur such ally storing an image. Bitmaps describe the colour of each simple comparisons. Bindividual pixel in an image while vectors are mathematical How do you choose whether to use vectors or bitmaps for a specifi c descriptions of the lines and curves and the colour pattern used to fi ll application? It depends on how the image needs to look and to a lesser in defi ned areas. extent on the size of it. Thus, to draw a circle 100 pixels across, a bitmap must store As a general rule a bitmap fi le will be larger than a vector image 10,000 individual pixels whereas a vector image only needs to store fi le (although this may not be case for very small images). Bitmap enough information to say “draw a circle 100 pixels across here”. On images can handle great detail, so photos are almost always stored in the other hand, if we have image containing 20,000 overlapping cir- this way. They are typically far too complex to describe mathemati- cles within the same 100-pixel wide area, a bitmap would require the cally with vectors. same amount of storage space, whereas the new vector image would Bitmaps are also the predominant form of image on the Web, al- store the radii (and colours) of each circle. In the fi rst case, the vector though this is beginning to change with the current usage of Flash and fi le will be much smaller but in the second case the vector fi le is likely the development of scalable vector graphic format. to be larger. Vector graphics have a distinctive look due to the need to describe The bitmap method of image storage means that scaling an image each component with equations. Thus they are very good for diagrams, down leads to loss of information and scaling up leads to jagged edges computer-aided design, cartoon images and graphic design. Conver- as the square pixels become visible. sion of vector images into bitmaps is a fairly simple process. The By contrast, a vector graphic can be scaled up or down almost reverse process, bitmap to vector, is quite diffi cult, though there are infi nitely and still retain the same shape. Of course, the complexity conversion tools available.

While photograph manipulation does not this is hardly an ideal solution. is included in Studio 8. Since December 2005, include a specifi c red-eye reduction tool, many Summary. There are certain issues associ- Macromedia is a subsidiary of Adobe, but the other tools, such as sharpen/blur, smudge and ated with open-source products. On the down- new owner says it plans to continue running colour fi lters are available. You can even de- side the help fi les are rather poor and there is both software lines. The software comes in velop your own brush shapes and stamps. no option for direct vendor support. Inkscape in both Windows and Mac OS versions. GIMP is open source; the code is available particular is not fully developed—it can display for compilation to any platform and pre-com- certain features for which there is no practical FREEHAND piled binaries are available for Windows, Mac tool provided to create that same feature. On As expected, creating a circle for the fi rst test OS X and Linux. There is also an add-on ani- the other hand there is no initial monetary out- was a breeze. We selected the circle tool and mation module called GAP. lay for the product itself and there are plenty dragged the mouse across the canvas. From Interestingly, the help fi le is another add-on; of forums and other Web sites that offer as- there we found the object properties laid out the download fi le is twice as large as GIMP and sistance for both of the products. Furthermore, in tree format on the right-hand side of the GAP combined. Sadly GAP’s help fi les barely developers may be interested in the possibility screen. These properties can all be edited by exist and even the GIMP main help fi les are in of creating new tools and features to add to changing the numbers. need of some further development. You can fi nd these programs. Freehand passed the second test with fl ying solutions to most problems on the Internet but This could be a solution for users on a very colours. A graded transparency mask is applied tight budget or those interested in developing by selecting “transparency mask” from the new tools. Lack of a full tool set could be very effects menu in the object properties area and limiting to those trying to create complex then selecting the greyscale mask which you graphics. While programmers might not mind have prepared for the purpose. Multi-stop gra- playing with XML in order to get the most out dient handling was as convenient as any other of Inkscape this is an inadequate solution for high-end application; you orient the gradient by the average graphic designer. dragging on the image. The menu tree lets you easily manipulate MACROMEDIA multiple-stop colour and transparency gradi- Macromedia’s Studio 8 suite contains a range ents. There are six different gradient styles: of Web-oriented products including Fireworks, linear, cone, logarithmic, radial, rectangle and a bitmap graphics application. Macromedia contour. Certain operations, such as applying The GIMP: star with graduated colour also sells vector-design tool FreeHand, but this perspective, can prevent editing of existing fi ll

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cess to all the item’s attributes. Adobe’s offerings, but fell behind Corel’s con- Gradient manipulation was no problem. stant supply of hints. Again the test image was harder to produce as a bitmap than as a vector but it was easier than FINAL WORDS with Adobe Photoshop. To some extent the more features a product In most cases the screen layouts for Free- has the more time is required to get staff up hand and Fireworks are very similar, making to speed. Obviously software developers can, life much simpler for users who regularly and do, work to make their products as intui- switch between these applications. tive as possible. Integrated product suites will Summary. The features table shows that naturally have a similar look and feel to all of Fireworks is purchased separately from Studio the included applications—this is a bonus that 8 but even thus, purchasing Fireworks and cannot be overestimated. Freehand: star with graduated colour Freehand is a more expensive option than the Most vendors use similar icon images and equivalents from Corel. It is certainly worth tool operations, which makes it easier for users considering for Macintosh users who don’t to cross over between packages, but being fa- want to buy a full product suite, since Corel miliar with one product won’t necessarily make does not support that platform. you an instant expert with another. Freehand in particular was easy to learn, Take the time to play around with any new though Fireworks caused some frustration ini- product. If you are new to graphics packages, tially. User interfaces for the two programs are be prepared for a steep learning curve. Tasks nicely consistent with each other and fairly easy are generally achieved quite simply, once you to use. Overall usability was better than that of know how. ■

SCENARIO Fireworks: star with graduated colour

properties. You would need to apply a new fi ll This medium-sized business is seek- ing ideas for externally used design in order to adjust it. ing a graphics application or package work. It need not be a total Web/paper It is worth considering with any package to facilitate the production of graph- publishing solution. how operation order varies the fi nal effect. ics for internal offi ce needs. It would Concerns: The key issue for the client While there may be a trace tool for convert- be required for illustrating in-house is usability and broad functionality, with ing from bitmap to vector, it doesn’t have newsletters, reports, signage and draft- price being a secondary consideration. all the options one fi nds in CorelDRAW or Adobe Illustrator.

EDITORÊS CHOICE

) ) ) ) ) ) ( ( ( ( ( FIREWORKS ( Fireworks’ user interface is arranged differ- CorelDRAW graphics suite ently to that of Freehand but this might be a All these products have On the downside, details such as the bitmap good thing: it reminds the user that procedures some excellent features. tracer fall behind the equivalent functions are often rather different to those required to Adobe Creative Suite in CorelDRAW and Adobe Creative Suite. achieve similar results using vector graphics. would well serve a CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 stands out Creating a circle involves selecting circle major graphic design as being easy to use with all the standard from the auto-shapes and dragging on the studio with its full features you are likely to need for offi ce canvas. Object properties are spread across the featured graphics and graphic design. We rarely had diffi culty bottom of the screen where it is easy to select, publishing options. Unfortunately, it could with any on the functions and helpful hints line, and fi ll attributes. There are a dozen gra- be just a little easier to use. Freehand and were generally close at hand. dient styles and a few dozen fi ll bitmaps. Fireworks, now also under the Adobe ban- The CorelDRAW suite makes no claim to Fireworks passed the second test well once ner, make a less expensive alternative. They be a full-blown Web publishing package but we achieved a little familiarity with the ap- also come with some handy Web publishing it can output to HTML, Flash and animated plication. The transparency gradient is applied options if you buy Fireworks as part of the GIF as well as the modern Web graphics as a mask object attached to our rainbow star Studio 8 suite. formats of PNG and SVG. object. Selecting the object or mask from the layers listing on the right provided us with ac-

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