Ulead's PHOTOIMPACT 8
In the early days of Ulead, PhotoImpact was introduced as an image editing tool following Photoshop's footsteps. Back then some considered it the poor man's version of Photoshop. Young artists who could not afford Adobe's prices were using PhotoImpact. I'm happy to report that PI has certainly come of age and found its own identity. PhotoImpact 8 is an image manipulation package covering almost all the needs of the 21st century artist. PhotoImpact comes with a compendium of libraries and templates.
The new vector drawing tools of PI8 show a considerable improvement over the earlier version of the software. I also enjoyed the easiness of use and the power of the image enhancement tools of PI8. I imported images from a digital camera and a VCR and used PI8 to adjust their color balance and contrast and to eliminate lens distortions and artifacts in a matter of minutes. By using and modifying PhotoImpact 8 templates I created a CD label and a poster. You can also create slide shows on PhotoImpact and save your slide show on a CD-ROM or post it to your website.
GOOD NEWS: The web design tools of PhotoImpact 8 allow you to build and lay out web pages very quickly and even without any prior knowledge in web design. PI8 image optimization tools create a quick download time for web images. Building interactive buttons, pop-up menus and animated logos and icons are all very straight forward.
WISH LIST: Ulead could revise the PhotoImpact interface to make it easier to use. PI8 also needs detailed tutorials for its major features such as web design tools.
THE BOTTOM LINE: You can't find any other image editing/web design tool that offers the long list of features that PhotoImpact 8 offers for only $79.95 to download or $89.95 to buy the boxed version.
WEB ADDRESS: www.ulead.com
FINAL SCORE: *****
Animation Magazine's Seal of Excellence
EASE OF USE ****
INTERFACE ***
POWER OF TOOLS *****
QUALITY AND DEPTH ****

Next Limit's RealFlow 2
Simulating fluids in 3D is a very hard and sophisticated task, and since the birth of 3D creation only a few quality fluid simulators have been available. Based in Madrid, Next Limit has two well-known simulators Ñ RealWave, for creation of large water surfaces such as oceans and RealFlow for simulating fluids. By the time you read this review, Next Limit should be shipping RealFlow 2. RF2 works with all the major 3D packages running on Windows NT or 2000. It has plug-ins for 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, LightWave and Cinema 4D.
Fluid simulators need a lot of computing power. That's why it is a good thing that RealFlow2 takes advantage of dual CPU systems. I tried RF2 by installing it in a dual Pentium 4 with 512 GB of RAM and a 3Dlab's WildCat VP 870 graphic card. I created a few simple simulations and the results after rendering in 3ds max were excellent. I have yet to see any other package that can create a more accurate fluid simulation than RealFlow 2.0 does. RealFlow 2 now calculates faster than the earlier versions to simulate fluid mixing such as mixing water and oil in a bottle.
GOOD NEWS: The new interface of RealFlow 2.0 is simpler and easier to understand and use than its previous model. Adding rigid body engine now allows for interaction between the objects and fluids. For example pouring water in a balloon will deform it realistically. And who doesn't enjoy playing with digital water balloons?
WISH LIST: Next Limit should add a wizard simulation creator to walk the beginners through a simple fluid simulation process. A few generic texture maps such as water and oil available to assign to the fluids in the scene for viewing purposes would be more helpful. A more detailed tutorial is also on my wish list.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The retail price of $1,195 may sound high for a simulator, but the quality and magic of RealFlow 2.0 easily justifies its price.
WEB ADDRESS: www.nextlimit.com
FINAL SCORE: *****
Animation Magazine's Seal of Excellence
EASE OF USE ****
INTERFACE *****
POWER OF TOOLS *****
QUALITY AND DEPTH *****

SplutterFish's Brazil
Brazil is the latest ray trace rendering package created by SplutterFish to work with 3ds max. Of all the rendering packages we have tested at Animation Magazine over the past six years, Brazil stands out as the fastest. To test the package, I created a scene in max, using several transparent and reflective objects.
Lo and behold, Brazil rendered a frame of this scene in 23 seconds using Brazil material. The same frame was rendered by Brazil in 53 seconds using max materials, and max default renderer was accomplished in 1:43! The quality that Brazil offers matches those of high-end renderers that cost a lot more than Brazil.
Brazil's Bucket rendering technique is what creates its amazing speed. Bucket rendering allows small sections of the image to be mapped out sequentially, and, since all the available memory is dedicated to render one segment at a time, rendering is done much faster.
GOOD NEWS: Brazil is compatible with most of the commercial max plug-ins.
WISH LIST: This rendering package delivers a range of sophisticated features. Therefore it needs more tutorials and reference material to cover its long list of capabilities.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Brazil is not only faster than its high-end competitors, it also offers an excellent quality at an unbeatable price. Brazil's "Artist Bundle," which comes with a workstation license and two rendering licenses, is only $1,200. For a major production, you can buy four render node licenses for $750.
WEB ADDRESS: www.splutterfish.com
FINAL SCORE: *****
Animation Magazine's Seal of Excellence
EASE OF USE ****
INTERFACE *****
POWER OF TOOLS *****
QUALITY AND DEPTH *****