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Week
of Nov 16 1998
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Nov
20
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ELECTRONIC
PUBLISHING
Yesterday's
mention
of a survey on Acrobat failed to
mention that the survey came from the
programmer-oriented website
www.slashdot.org
 
RAYflect, developer of plug-ins for
Ray Dream Studio, has posted the
RAYflect PhotoTracer beta to their
website. The beta is available ONLY for
Windows (MacOS version coming soon).
<www.rayflect.com>
Macromedia is shipping
Macromedia Generator Dynamic Graphics
Server for Sun Microsystems Inc.'s
Solaris operating environment.
Macromedia Generator is a server-based
application for automating and
personalizing Web site graphics and other
live or frequently updated data. On the
Solaris platform, Generator works with
Netscape Enterprise Web Server or Apache
Web Server.
Generator
Dynamic Graphics Server combines data from
external sources with templates created in
Generator Developer Studio, Flash Edition
-- building live Web site graphics that
can be displayed as vector-based Flash
files, GIF, GIF89, JPEG or PNG. Generated
graphics can be created on demand or
updated at set intervals. Generator
Developer's Studio, Flash Edition for
Windows NT, Windows 95 and Macintosh costs
US $499 while the server costs US
$2,999
<www.macromedia.com/generator>
 
Emediaweekly has reviewed
QuarkImmedia 1.5 the multimedia
authoring QuarkXTension that takes
QuarkXPress files and turns them into
interactive documents. Immedia costs $395
and requires XPress. While they generally
liked the product, their major criticism
is that there is very little other Immedia
content on the web (suggesting there's
little call for it? they haven't done a
good job of marketing it? or it's just no
good?)
<www.quark.com>
<www.emediaweekly.com
review "QuarkImmedia
1.5">
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Nov
19
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ELECTRONIC
PUBLISHING
In an Acrobat News Group the
results to a survey question from the
programmer-oriented website
www.slashdot.org
were posted:
Q: "I prefer to read books/articles
in the following format:"
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paper
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57%
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PDF
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4%
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HTML
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19%
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Giant
Stone Letters
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10%
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Text
File
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6%
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Votes
- 9,080
I'm not surprised by these results. When I
was working at a software publisher we
surveyed a small group of users about
whether they preferred documentation in
Acrobat or HTML format. While the majority
preferred HTML, these was a small minority
on both sides which was adamant about not
wanting to use the "other" solution.
Acrobat users tended to like the printing
functionality of Acrobat. Anti-Acrobat
people had generally had negative
experiences with the Reader and "would
never install it again."
GRAPHICS
Adobe ImageReady 1.0.1 Updater
updates ImageReady 1.0 to version 1.0.1.
ImageReady 1.0.1 fixes a number of minor
problems discovered after ImageReady 1.0
was released. The ImageReady 1.0.1 Updater
is free to all registered ImageReady 1.0
users. A Macintosh version is currently
unavailable.
Features:
- Batch
processing droplets now correctly hold
the Matte Color, which sets the
background color when files containing
transparency are processed.
- The
Web Shift feature works properly when
images contain
transparency.
- Images
containing alpha channels or saved
selections can now be changed with
Image Size, Canvas Size, or the Crop
command without causing problems.
<www.adobe.com
web page "ImageReady
1.0.1
update">
Credo Interactive has announced the
StudioPro plugin for Life Forms
3.0. Developed in conjunction with
Strata Inc., the "Strata Hierarchical
Motion" (SHM) format provides both motion
capture support and a toolset for
keyframing and editing character movement
to StudioPro 2.5.3 users. Life Forms 3.0
users can now export movement data
directly from both Life Forms 3.0 and Life
Forms Studio 3.0 to StudioPro
2.5.3.
Current
Life Forms 3.0 users can download the
plugin free from the Credo Interactive
website.
<www.credo-interactive.com>
Play Incorporated has demonstrated
Trinity GlobeCaster, a
"do-it-yourself" Internet television
station. Using Trinity GlobeCaster, anyone
with a Windows PC can produce Internet
video with the same quality and visual
impact of a network television broadcast.
GlobeCaster interfaces to any IP-based
network, such as corporate Intranets, or
the Internet with access via cable modems,
xDSL, ISDN, and 56K modem
connections.
GlobeCaster
produces real-time digital video at D1
resolution, the same resolution used by
broadcast television stations. This
digital video is then scaled in real-time
to the desired network bandwidth by using
GlobeCaster's hardware-based pixel
filtering, and then sent to standard video
server software such as Microsoft NetShow
or RealNetwork's RealVideo.
GlobeCaster
will be available worldwide during the
first quarter of 1999 for a suggested
retail price of $6,995. Existing Trinity
owners will be able to upgrade to
GlobeCaster capabilities when it
ships.
<www.play.com>
Pinnacle is now bundling Adobe
Systems' Premiere 5.1 with its
miroVIDEO DV300 product. Users who
purchase Pinnacle Systems' miroVIDEO DV300
after November 16th and before December
31st, 1998 will be entitled to a free
upgrade to version 5.1.
<www.pinnaclesys.com>
Play Inc will ship Amorphium
a 3D sculpting and painting tool for the
Mac in December. Amorphium includes
sculpting, painting and distortion tools,
as well as texture mapping and 3D
morphing. Amorphium will cost
US$149.95.
<www.play.com>
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Nov
18
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Avid is shipping Avid Cinema for
Windows. Cinema is easy-to-use and
affordable video editing and publishing
software for home, business and school
users. The software requires Win 95/98, a
200 MHz Pentium with MMX or Pentium II
processors with 32+MB RAM and AGP or PCI
slot for video card. Avid Cinema requires
a video capture card and supports a range
of choices, including the ATI
All-in-Wonder (PCI), ATI All-in-Wonder Pro
(PCI or AGP), Hauppauge WinTV Model 404
(PCI), STB TV (PCI), STB TV/FM (PCI), or
Intel Smart Video Recorder III (PCI)
cards. USMSRP is $139
<www.avidcinema.com>
QuickEditor is a QuickTime
video editor designed to perform common
editing operations. It is available for
Mac and Windows 95/98/NT computers with
QuickTime 3. It supports QuickTime 3 file
formats and more than 100 Transitions and
Filters.
QuickEditor
is shareware ($35 for unlimited access to
every feature), and available on CD for
$75 (full documentation, enhanced version
of theprogram, more than 400 audio
samples).
<wild.ch/quickeditor>
Pinnacle Systems has announced
Studio MP10, which allows users to
capture MPEG-1 compressed video combined
with audio, edit it, and then either write
the finished program to an MPEG-1 file or
output it to a VHS tape.
Studio
MP10 is an external (parallel port) MPEG-1
capture device which incorporates hardware
MPEG-1 decoding for output of MPEG-1 files
to video tape and on board audio capture
and playback for accurate audio/video
synchronization. Studio MP10 comes bundled
with Pinnacle Systems' Studio video
editing software which allows
frame-accurate IBP MPEG-1 editing
including transitions, titles, narration
music and sound effects.
Pinnacle
already offers Studio 400, an all
external tape to tape editing system and
Studio DC10plus, an internal Motion
JPEG capture card.
Studio
DC10plus is compatible with Pentium PCs
running Windows 95 or Windows 98, and will
be available November of 1998, with an
expected price of $229 (limited-time $30
mail-in-rebate brings price to $199)
<www.pinnaclesys.com>
Pinnacle Systems is now now selling
TitleDeko, a broadcast-quality
character generator software plug-in for
Adobe Premiere 5.x as a separate
product. TitleDeko features:
- Titles
including glows, neons, metallics, and
extrusions
- 300
user-adjustable style
presets
- Rotate,
position, kerning, leading, layer, and
opacity controls
- Rendered
rolls and crawls
The
full version of TitleDeko is currently
available for miroVIDEO DC50, DC30plus and
DV300 customers as well as ReelTime and
ReelTime NITRO owners for $199. There is a
limited time offer of $99 in North
America, which expires on December 31,
1998. A free demonstration version of
TitleDeko for Adobe Premiere version 5.x
and later is available for download.
<www.pinnaclesys.com
web page "TitleDeko">
A picture of Sony's DVMC-DA1, a DV
to Analog converter can be found at
Akiba's website. The DVMC is not yet
available in the States, though it might
be available by the end of the year.
<http://akiba.giganet.net/>
NewTek has released a Mac
OpenGL update for Inspire
3D, an animation software tool aimed
at new-media professionals.
Mac
OpenGL greatly improves real-time view and
accuracy in Inspire 3D. Other enhancements
using Mac OpenGL include:
- Full
color background images in
Layout
- Faster
screen redraw
- More
accurate lighting model
- More
accurate real time texture map
viewing
The
Inspire 3D Mac OpenGL upgrade is available
now at no charge from NewTek's web site
at
<www.newtek.com>
Sun has been granted a temporary
injunction against Microsoft which
gives Microsoft 90 days to modify or
remove from the market all copies of
Windows 98 and Internet
Explorer which contain incompatible
versions of Java.
This
isn't all good news for Sun: one solution
is for Microsoft to remove Java support
entirely.
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Nov
17
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FUN
A friend visited and brought with him a
Lego MindStorm set which he claimed
was for his three year old son. Yeah,
sure. What is MindStorm? It's a set of
Lego pieces, along with two motors, two
touch sensors, a couple of light sensors,
and a microcomputer unit that can hold
five programs called the RCX. The RCX has
a small LCD display, and buttons for
switching programs, but the actual
programming is done on a PC. A graphical
programming interface lets you write the
programs, while they are downloaded using
an infra-red connection.
I'll
try and post a most informative review
later this week, but it's an interesting
(if over-priced) toy. Something I'm sure
many of us would love to find under the
tree this Christmas.
<www.legomindstorms.com>
STORAGE
Iomega has announced a new 250MB
Zip drive, as well as a USB
version of their regular Zip
drive.
The
new Zip is interesting because a news item
said that it includes some sort of
software that respects protection schemes
used for audio. Unfortunately, Iomega's
site doesn't seem to have any information
about this feature so I haven't been able
to determine exactly what they are
doing.
<www.iomega.com>
Media Cleaner EZ 3.0 will be
bundled with Radius EditDV 1.5 It
will ship on the Radius Edit DV 1.5
CD-ROM. Radius will also accept upgrades
from Media Cleaner EZ to Media Cleaner
Pro.
Registered
Media Cleaner EZ owners can upgrade to
Media Cleaner Pro for $299.
<www.terran.com>
<www.radius.com>
Macromedia has announced
Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio
expected in December 1998. The company
also announced Shockwave 7.
Director
7 features a redesigned playback engine
and a new set of Internet features.
Support for a wide range of media types as
well as sophisticated effects - such as
alpha channels and dynamic scaling and
rotation - are included.
Included
is the Studio is Fireworks, a tool for
creating Web graphics, as well as Sonic
Foundry's Sound Forge XP4 or BIAS Peak LE
for sound editing. Customers also receive
a multi-user server for creating
distributed Shockwave experiences such as
multi-player games and online chat rooms.
Director
7 supports Internet standard protocols
such as HTML, with links to all
Director-supported media types (text,
graphics, sound, video, and animation);
HTTP for media distribution; HTTPS for
secure e-commerce transactions; XML for
data exchange; CGI POST for two-way
communication; and updated support for
Java.
Super-compressed
"shocked" fonts provide cross-browser and
cross-platform typeface display, and the
anti-aliased text can be edited even at
run time. New vector drawing tools and
native support for Flash animations allow
developers to easily integrate
high-quality, compact vector imagery,
further reducing download times.
Lingo
now supports a dot syntax--familiar to
users of JavaScript or Visual Basic--along
with script coloring for faster coding and
debugging. The new playback engine enables
Director 7 to support up to 1,000 media
channels per frame. Animation performance
has been dramatically increased as well:
Director can now process and play back up
to 999 frames per second.
New
Server
Little is yet available about the new
server, but it's one of the features I'm
most interested in. According to the
feature list at Macromedia's site, the
server will be available for Windows 95,
Windows 98, Windows NT and Macintosh PPC.
It supports Peer-to-peer communication and
up to 50 simultaneous
connections.
Pricing
and Availability
Director 7 Shockwave Internet Studio
for Windows 95/98, Windows NT 4.0 or
later, and MacOS 7.6.1 or later, will be
available in December 1998 for an
estimated street price of US $999 in North
America. Registered users can upgrade for
US $499.
<www.macromedia.com>
What's happened to SoundEdit?
SoundEdit, the venerable Macintosh
sound editing application is not included
in the new Director bundle. Instead, they
are including a third party product. Is
this the end of Sound Edit? Macromedia has
already sold off the other sound editor:
Deck II, but there's been, to my
knowledge, no announcement about Sound
Edit.
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Nov
16
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Microsoft has delayed, or shelved
Chromeffects. The delay - which
could be permanent - has been reported in
a number of computer news
websites.
Chromeffects
was supposed to be an API for 3D graphics
running in web servers. While it was
supposed to be for general application,
the minimum system requirement was a 350
MHz PII
<www.microsoft.com>
Pinnacle Systems is shipping
Studio DC10plus, an internal PCI
card video editing solution. The MJPEG
motion-JPEG PCI internal card captures
full resolution (640x480)
video.
Studio
DC10plus comes with editing software
andthe TitleDeko character generator.
SmartSound software, also included, can be
used to create a custom musical soundtrack
.
Studio
DC10plus is compatible with Pentium PCs
running Windows 95 or Windows 98, and will
have an expected price of $229
(limited-time $30 mail-in-rebate brings
price to $199)
<www.pinnacle.com>
TYPE
At COMDEX/Fall '98 Microsoft
demonstrated ClearType font
technology, which it claims improves
display resolution by as much as 300
percent and works especially well on
existing LCD devices, including desktop
flat panels, laptops and smaller devices
such as Handheld and Palm-size PCs.
ClearType
font technology gains its 200 percent to
300 percent increase in image resolution
by capitalizing on the physical properties
of LCD panels. Using proprietary signal
processing techniques, the technology is
said to provide image quality that
anti-aliasing and other conventional
approaches to font enhancement cannot
alone deliver. With ClearType, letter
shapes and character spacing appear more
detailed, more finely crafted and more
like printed fonts.
ClearType
works entirely at the operating system
level and can be used to improve existing
applications as well as enable exciting
new devices. The technology has been
initially demonstrated with fonts, but
Microsoft sees broad applications for the
resolution-enhancing technique in the
realm of graphics. While Microsoft
envisions implementing the ClearType
technology into products, no specific
dates for release have been announced.
<www.microsoft.com>
A beta of Internet Explorer 5 is
available. Move information is available
at the link below.
<www.microsoft.com
web page "Explorer
5">
Panorama Tools 1.5b3 is now
available. Panorama Tools is a utility for
working with QuickTime VR nodes. This is
the first release available for Windows
users.
<http://www.fh-furtwangen.de/~dersch>
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