Article Abstract:
Adobe Systems' Premiere 4.0 greatly enriches the desktop video capabilities of the Windows environment. This major upgrade from version 1.1 gives users far more flexibility for creative control. Users can use 99 audio and 99 video source tracks, up from three apiece in version 1.1. The titler tool can use TrueType and Type 1 fonts. Special-effects capabilities have also been greatly enhanced. For example, the Traveling Mattes tool foregrounds one video against another via a stationary or mobile mask. Premiere 4.0 offers SMPTE time-code support for all formats. As a result, its output is now broadcast quality. This version has some features, such as online help, that are missing from the Mac version. Listing for $695, Premiere 4.0 requires at least a 386-based PC with 8MB of RAM, a 100MB hard disk, an 8-bit display adapter, DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1. The upgrade from version 1.1 costs $179.
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Article Abstract:
Adobe Systems' $595 Adobe Illustrator 6.0 does not offer revolutionary improvements but takes many small steps and one giant stride forward. Its major improvement over its predecessors is its integration with other Adobe products, particularly Photoshop. Instead of having to save Photoshop images as EPS files for placement in Illustrator, version 6.0 now accepts most bitmap file formats. An improved plug-in architecture allows Photoshop-compatible plug-ins to be used in Illustrator as well, enabling users to expand Illustrator 6.0 with new palettes, tools and menu items. The new product also offers improved printing separations; unlike earlier versions, version 6.0 no longer requires a multistep process and implements the printing separation function nicely as a Separation Setup dialog box.
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Article Abstract:
Software plug-ins can transform Adobe Photoshop into an up-scale special effects engine. Kai's Power Tools is the most innovative and powerful colllection of filters available. The upgrade, KPT 5 ($99), offers a number of interface configuration options and controls, including Blurrr filters and the Noize, RadWarp, ShapeShifter and FiberOptix filters. Alien Skin's $129 Xenofex offers numerous presets, variable-scale previews and preset saving capability. Jintek's $99 Type Chameleon is a basic tool which renders text in a trapezoidal envelope freehand path, circle or arc. Vertigo Technoloy's $79 3D HotText can create three-dimensional type on paths. Other packages are discussed.
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