|
Week
of Aug 31 1998
|
Sep
4
|
 
Multimedia 2000, in association with
Webster's Publishing, has created
"Webster's International DVD
Encyclopedia," a DVD based
encyclopedia that includes text, sound,
photographs and video. The price is $99,
and it's only available for Windows.
<www.m-2k.com>
 
Managed to run the paint program
Propeller today (See
news item for Sept
3>
It's a very cool little paint program, and
it looks like it will definitely be worth
$99 -- particularly if you don't already
have something like MetaCreations
Painter.
It
let's you paint using "traditional
media-like" paint tools. It does a very
nice job of adjusting brush width and
shape based on the speed and direction the
mouse is moving, making it possible to
create effects I'd normally need a
pressure sensitive tablet to create. It
also has a nice paint effect that
resembles pulling a ribbon through the
air; a pattern is repeated as you draw,
but the width and angle of the pattern are
adjusted as the direction of the mouse
changes.
Haven't
had enough time to fully explore this
program, but it's worth a look.
<www.nowhouse.com>
Apple has released QuickTime
3.0.2, which for most users is
probably not worth getting; unless you are
working with DV content. The
update:
- Supports
all known PAL DV/AVI files.
- Fixes
problems caused when multiple DV codecs
are present. (Previous version didn't
always use the codec you
wanted.)
- Improves
playback performance from fast-seek
local volumes
A
full technote will be available within the
next couple of weeks.
<www.apple.com
web page "Quicktime">
Macromedia has announced
Dreamweaver Attain, a version of
their web tool with added features
specifically designed for instructional
design. A component of the Macromedia
Attain Enterprise Learning System, the
new features include:
- Action
Manager: adds complex behaviors without
any programming. Authors can also
integrate modules created in Authorware
5 Attain.
- Knowledge
Objects: a set of step-by-step wizards.
Authors can choose which type of
interaction they want to create from a
visual library of interaction types.
Experienced authors can create their
own Knowledge Object
templates.
- Knowledge
Track: automatically tracks results to
Pathware 3, and generates reports to
measure results on training. Pathware 3
is a enterprise management system from
Macromedia for centrally measuring and
reporting on student progress and
performance.
Dreamweaver
Attain for Windows 95 or Windows NT 4.0 or
higher will be available this fall at an
estimated street price of US $799.
Dreamweaver users can upgrade to
Dreamweaver Attain at estimated street
price of US $499.
<www.macromedia.com>
Macromedia has also announced
Authorware 5 Attain. New features
in Authorware 5 Attain include support for
QuickTime 3.0, Flash animations,
anti-aliased text, and new graphic effects
through alpha channels. Knowledge Objects
help authors design courses with pre-built
learning interactions. Authorware 5 Attain
also provides features such as batch
editing and media import/export that
reduce complex tasks to a single step. New
server technology called the Authorware
Advanced Streamer, provides "Knowledge
Stream" optimization and streaming of
courses, and it's possible to
automatically track courses using Pathware
3 - Attain Enterprise Learning
Essentials.
Authorware
5 Attain for Windows 95, Windows 98 or
Windows NT 4.0 or higher will be available
this fall for an estimated street price of
US $2,699. Special upgrade pricing for
Authorware 4 users is available for an
estimated street price of US $649 and for
Authorware 3.5 users, an estimated street
price of US $999.
<www.macromedia.com>
NOTE:
There will be no update for Sept 7, U.S.
Labor Day.
|
|
Sep
3
|
MetaCreations has announced a new
version of Painter specifically
targeted for the World Wide Web. New
features include image slicing, dynamic
text editing, JavaScript rollover support,
easy custom button creation and a built-in
content library of more than 1,000
Web-ready images for stunning Web site
graphics. The image slicing feature
divides Painter images into slices to
create space-efficient graphics for the
Web then automatically generates the
necessary HTML code to display the
complete "reconstructed" image in your
favorite Web browser. Painter 5.5 Web
Edition also includes new Calligraphic and
Web-safe brushes supports Web-safe colors,
transparent GIFs, and animated GIFs and
has been updated to take advantage of the
modified layer technology used in
Photoshop 5.
Painter
5.5 Web Edition is expected to be
available in Q4'98 at an average selling
price of $299 (US). Upgrades to registered
owners of Painter 5 will be available at
an upgrade price of $79 (US). Registered
Painter 4 owners will be able to upgrade
to the Web Edition for $129 (US).
<www.metacreations.com>
Propeller is a low-cost paint tool
that bends images along paths drawn by the
user. There's beta versions for Mac and
Windows available at NowHouse's
website.
It's
sounds interesting, and it's only going to
cost $99. Unfortunately, the beta wouldn't
run on a 6100 running 7.5.3. I'm going to
try it on an 8600 tomorrow.
<www.nowhouse.com>
Quark has announced that -- it's
upcoming plans to purchase Adobe not
withstanding -- they will soon release a
new version of the interactive multimedia
tool QuarkImmedia 1.5. The update
will have a lower suggested retail price
of $395 and a upgrade price of $129.
QuarkImmedia
lets users take documents created in
QuarkXPress and turn them into interactive
presentations.
New
features in QuarkImmedia 1.5 include
expanded color-handling and an option that
lets designers specify opacity and drop
shadows for many types of objects.
Variables, functions, and expressions give
QuarkImmedia 1.5 many of the features of a
full-fledged programming language. By
combining expressions with scripts and
conditionals, designers can make projects
truly interactive -- creating projects
that perform complex mathematical
calculations to automatically total and
submit the order for an online invoice,
for example.
QuarkImmedia
Viewer will support Microsoft's 32-bit API
(Application Programming Interface),
becoming a native Windows 95 and Windows
NT 4.0 application.
<www.quark.com
white paper "QuarkImmedia
1.5">
Quark has also released betas of an
import/export PDF filter and an
HTML Text Export XTensions for
QuarkXpress.
The
PDF filter will save a QuarkXPress
document by employing the Adobe Acrobat
Distiller to create a PDF file, while the
import feature will import a PDF page into
a QuarkXPress picture box. When exporting
to PDF files, the user will be able to
export an entire document or a selected
page range, change compression settings,
and modify general PDF document
information. Lists or indexes can be used
to create hyperlinks and/or bookmarks.
When importing a PDF page, users can
choose which page to import and view a
thumbnail preview of the page.
The
HTML Text Export XTensions software will
let users export basic QuarkXPress 4.0
text into a standard HTML 3.2 format with
no need for coding or tagging.
The
PDF import/export filter and the HTML Text
Export XTensions software will be kept in
beta format on Quark's web site until the
next major version of QuarkXPress is
released. Upon the next major release,
which timeframe has not yet been
determined, the PDF and HTML features will
be included with QuarkXPress.
<www.quark.com
news report "XTensions
software
page">
Polaroid Corporation will introduce
an Instant Single-Use Camera at the
Photokina trade show, September 16-21, in
Cologne, Germany. The camera will begin to
roll-out later this fall with full U.S.
and European distribution in the first
quarter of 1999.
In
Japan, Polaroid has been selling a
pocket camera (called "Xiao," or
"little") with miniature instant film,
developed in cooperation with toymaker
Tomy. According to Polaroid it has been
moving off retail shelves as quickly as
they are filled. Global distribution will
happen over the next 12 to 16
months.
I
don't read Japanease, but here's a page
about the camera:
<www.tomy.co.jp
web page "Xiao">
Polaroid's
new product line-up also includes a wide
range of digital imaging products, such as
ColorShot, a fast photo printer
that delivers photographic prints from a
PC or a digital camera in just 15 seconds.
Other new digital products include the
PhotoMAX PDC640, an easy-to-use
digital camera; PhotoMAXINE,
creative imaging software for girls; and
Polaroid Inkjet Photo Paper, which
gives ordinary inkjet prints the look and
performance of real photo paper.
<www.polaroid.com>
|
|
Sep
2
|
GoLive has announced the GoLive Web
Publishing System. Available in the
Fourth Quarter, the GoLive Web Publishing
System is a online content management
system for Web designers, editors and
content managers. The product consists of
three componenets:
- GoLive
CyberWriter, the editorial client for
users to edit their sites.
- GoLive
CyberStudio, the design component
allows designers to create templates
and sites within the system
- GoLive
CyberServer, the server component,
manages and serves up the content of a
Web site.
Pricing
is expected to be less than $1,000
<www.golive.com>
Terran Interactive has announced it
will be marketing a color enhancement
application for digital video developed by
Delta E called VideoPrism.
Available first for the Mac OS, VideoPrism
is due to ship 4Q '98 with an estimated
street price of $159.
VideoPrism
allows users to give video clips any
desired color "look" or "effect," or to
correct color or lighting problems within
existing clips. Users can customize
settings or use any of numerous presets.
Results are available immediately in the
product's full-motion preview.
<www.delta-e.com>
<www.terran.com>
Live Picture, Inc is pushing
Network Publishing which appears to
be the integration of the FlashPix
file format and the Live Picture Image
Server with Portable Document
Format (PDF) technology from Adobe
Systems to enable distribution and
printing of large images contained within
documents. Based on Flashpix, the
resolution-on-demand imaging technology
developed by Live Picture, Network
Publishing allows for images to be
rendered at the correct resolution to
support any use of the document, including
viewing, printing, or online
publishing.
Network
Publishing works with any Adobe PostScript
printer, any document management system
and with standard PDF files. Live Picture
also announced it has signed a Letter of
Intent with Adobe to license Adobe's PDF
technology. The Live Picture Image Server
uses Flashpix to link multi-resolution
images to PDF files.
<www.livepicture.com>
CNET reports that Hitachi plans
to market a digital camcorder that
uses DVD-RAM instead of videotape
by the end of next year.
This
might be an interesting development --
assuming you could pop the discs out and
read them on a DVD-RAM drive connected to
your computer it would make editing video
even easier. I assume that this device
uses the DV compression codec (or similar)
and doesn't use MPEG2 which is the
format used in DVD-Video discs.
<www.news.com
news report "Camcorder
adding
DVD-RAM">
IPIX is demonstrating the
Coolpix 900/IPIX combination, which
bundles IPIX software with Nikon's new
183° fisheye lens. Available through
Nikon dealers and resellers beginning
mid-October, the complete IPIX
software&emdash; IPIX Wizard, IPIX Viewer
and CD-ROM demo &emdash;will be bundled at
no charge with the Coolpix 900 camera. The
Coolpix 900 Nikon Fisheye lens will
contain a free redemption certificate for
three IPIX Keys (a $75 value).
Interactive
Pictures also offers a comprehensive
IPIX/Coolpix 900 imaging kit that includes
the Coolpix 900 camera, the Nikon Fisheye
lens, a full-size tripod, a tripod rotator
head, IPIX software, a soft camera bag and
a redemption certificate for 12 IPIX
Keys.
<www.ipix.com>
|
|
Sep
1
|
Inspired by a question on the Director
mailing list I've started to put together
a page on DVD authoring. At the
moment it's mainly basic stuff, but I hope
to add more over the next few weeks. If
you have any additions, suggestions of
questions, send them to:
<news@m2w.net>
<"DVD
Authoring">
After writing the DVD authoring
piece I realized that I didn't know of any
PC based tools. As luck would have it, I
came across a press release today from
Minerva Systems:
Minerva
Systems has announced Minerva
Impression, an interactive video
authoring software solution for DVD. A
"Format-Independent Import Engine" feature
allows the author to import any AVI video
file, as a proxy, into the DVD project,
without the need for an MPEG encoder.
Importing stills and menus is also very
simple. The tool can import multi-layer
Photoshop files which are then parsed and
captured as backgrounds, buttons and
highlights.
Minerva
Impression features a project timeline
paradigm; the author can see all of the
video assets in order, link any DVD asset
to any menu and add new menus anywhere in
the project timeline. All of the authoring
steps are executed through an icon-based
drag-and-drop interface. A built-in
simulator allows the author to preview the
results of his or her actions. The author
has the option of performing MPEG encoding
and disc burning in-house (assuming the
availability of encoding and DVD-R
hardware), or can simply export the DVD
project to a DVD service bureau. [From
this I assume that, the tool doesn't
compress video, you need to get something
like the Minerva DVD Professional
solution.]
Minerva
Impression requires Windows NT (V 4.0) on
a Pentium II (300Mhz) personal computer
with 64MB RAM. Disk storage is typically
configured at three times the size of the
asset files. Minerva Impression will be
available in October, 1998 starting at
$9,995.
Minerva
Systems also offers the more expensive
Minerva DVD Professional solution
which has just been upgraded. They just
added to this tool a new encoding feature,
Selective Re-encoding, which provide the
ability to re-encode segments of video
within a project at any time and compare
the original stream against any of the
re-encoded streams.
<www.minervasys.com>
According to a new research study
published jointly by International Data
Corporation and Future Image, the
worldwide Digital Camera market will
Break $5.4 Billion by 2002. As desktop
systems become increasingly more powerful,
quality and affordability of photo/near-
photo quality inkjet printers gain
prominence, and Internet bandwidth
steadily increases, the worldwide digital
camera market will reap tremendous
rewards.
As
fierce price wars drive sensor prices
down, megapixel digital image capture have
dropped well below the $1,000 price point.
Cost reductions are also being spurred by
the proliferation of advanced chipsets
solutions which integrate numerous
previously discrete components onto a
single chip. As the need for additional
chips diminishes, so does
price.
Key
Findings
- Internet
penetration of SOHO and home markets
will help drive the digital camera
market and is already at almost 80
percent penetration of PC
households
- The
megapixel category, which featured six
models in the fall of 1997, reached 35
models by July 1998
- The
worldwide digital camera market will
experience a 67.8 percent CAGR in
shipments from 1997 to 2002
- Worldwide
revenues will grow from $1.2 billion in
1997 to $5.4 billion in
2002
The
Digital Camera Market Review and
Forecast, 1996-2002 contains worldwide
forecasts and detailed analysis for five
digital camera segments. It also presents
shipments by application, distribution
channel and user segment. The report is
available for purchase from IDC (contact
Cheryl Toffel at 508-935-4389 or at
<ctoffel@idc.com>)
or Future Image (contact Renata Fried at
650-579-0493 or at <RFFuture@aol.com>
Imaging Resource has published an
Interview with the Kodak DC260 Project
Team which covers all kinds of issues
with this camera, including:
Compression/image quality, focus issues,
exposure control, scritping, and why
there's no filter thread on the lens. If
you have this camera, or are considering
it, then this is worth a read.
Also,
a firmware update for the DC260 is due
soon. This will improve several camera
functions, including boot time, quicker
shut down, etc. Look for this to appear
very soon on the Kodak web site.
<www.imaging-resource.com
special report "Interview
with the Kodak DC260 Project
Team">
MacWeek reports that
Macromedia has decided not to
update Authorware for the
Macintosh. Instead, they'll release
Authorware 5 for Windows only.
Personally,
I'm of mixed feeling on this. Though I
used Authorware briefly I never got the
hang of it, or worked out why I'd want to
use it. And it always seemed to be too
expensive (though Macormedia's pricing of
Director has virged on the outrageous.)
Still, it's another application not
available for Macintosh users...
<macweek.zdnet.com
news update "Authorware
5 off the
Mac">
Macintosh users can now download a preview
release of PageMill 3, Adobe's
WYSIWYG HTML editor. The preview release
version for Macintosh is fully functional,
but it expires on November 15, 1998.
(Windows users can download a Tryout
version that is fully-functional and will
expire 15 days after it has been
installed.)
<www.adobe.com
download page "Download
Adobe PageMill 3.0 for Macintosh Preview
Release or Windows
Tryout">
|
|
Aug
31
|
Aurora Design, which makes the
Fuse PCI video digitizing card, has
annnounced it has canceled development of
the FuseDAV product due to a major
limitation in the DAV SDK which limits
playback rates substantially. Aurora said
that they do not consider 2 to 3 MB/second
playback rates acceptable for the product.
This combined with the fact that such a
product would not be compatible with
non-DAV and newer G3 systems and that the
price would have been close to the Fuse
pricing.
Aurora
instead is working on their next product,
FusePRO.
<www.auroradsgn.com
press release "Aurora
Design to cease development of
FuseDAV">
Meanwhile, Aurora has tweaked
their drivers so that the Aurora
Fuse is now fully compatible with
machines which are based on the 603e
PowerPC processor. Playback rates were
poor using earlier drivers, limiting the
usefulness of these machines. The drivers
have been enhanced, and Aurora Fuse now
works well on 603e equipped machines.
<www.auroradsgn.com
drivers "Aurora
Fuse
Software">
RAYflect is close to shipping a new
Photoshop extension called
RAYflect PhotoTracer, and they are
looking for beta testers. The product
appears to be a 3D composition and
rendering engine and will have an
introductory price of $99.
RAYflect
will be demonstrating the plug-in at the
Adobe booth at Seybold San Francisco.
Theextension includes features found in 3D
software: transparency, refraction,
reflection, bump mapping, scanline, ray
tracing, real time preview, SAT and
bilinear antialiasing, interactive texture
editor, and 3ds file import. It also comes
with more than 100 original objects
designed for CD-ROM contents, packaging,
web page design.
If
you're interested in being a beta tester,
send email to: <Antoine
Clappier
- RAYflect - President and CEO>
<www.rayflect.com>
MacWorld has a feature comparing
mega-pixel digital cameras. The
review covers: Agfa ePhoto 1280, Canon
Powershit A5, Kodak DC210, Epson PhotoPC
700, Nikon CoolPix 900, Olympus D-320L,
D-3240L, D-500L, D-600L and Polaroid
PDC-3000. The winners were the Olympus
D-600L and the Canon PowerShot
A5, while the Agfa ePhoto 1280 and
Polaroid PDC-3000 rated lowest.
Unfortunately
-- probably due to timing -- the review
does not include the new Kodak 220 and 260
cameras.
<macworld.zdnet.com
Magazine Feature "Focus
On: Ten High-Quality Digital Cameras Put
to the Test by Macworld
Lab">
PRINT
A new white paper "Preparing Adobe PDF
Files for high-resolution printing"
has been posted on the Adobe Web site.
This document guides you through the basic
steps of producing high-quality PDF files
for high-resolution output. It explains
the importance of producing good
PostScript files for distilling (creating
PDF files) and describes how to do
this.
<www.adobe.com
white paper "Preparing
Adobe PDF Files for high-resolution
printing"
Ben Waggoner wrote an article about
streaming media for
Interactivity magazine which
compares RealSystem, NetShow
and QuickTime. It's available in
PDF format on the web. Conclusion? There's
no clear winner at the moment, and which
is the best tool depends upon what you are
trying to do.
<www.eyemedia.com
article "RealSystem,
NetShow & QuickTime How do they stack
up?">
|
|
|
