AustralianMacworldAustralianJuly1998

AUSTRALIAN ; Cool, wicked-fast and drop-dead gorgeous: the iMac and PowerBook G3 Series ; POWERBOOK G3 SERIES | OIMNIPAGE PRO 8.0 | PAINTER CLASSIC SCRIPTWARE 1.0 | FINAL DRAFT 4.16C | DRAMATICA PRO 3.0 | DARK COLONY | ENDNOTE 3.0 | LABVIEW 5.0 | METASYNTH 2.0 | PAINTER 3D | BARBIE AS RAPUNZEL | ANASTASIA: ADVENTURES WITH POOKA AND BARTOK | X-MEN: THE RAVAGES OF APOCALYPSE | ACTION FILES Incredible performance for these and other leading applications Adobe (Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects) * Alias/Wavefront (Maya) * Avid (MCXpress, Elastic Reality) * Discreet Logic (lluminare, OnLINE) * Macromedia (Director, Authorware, Extreme 3D) ¢ MetaCreations (Infini-D, Final Effects) * NewTek (LightWave3D) © Kinetix (3D Studio MAX, Hyperwire) Quark (QuarkXPress, IMMedia) * Side Effects Software (Houdini) * Softimage, Inc. (SOFTMAGERD Extreme, Toonz) mPaGéur APPps. _lneiston Introducing the new IBM IntelliStation™ The intelligent Windows NT® workstation. ‘We took our award-winning design and improved it with lightning. processors, expanded memory and eye-popping graphics capabilities ~ all to give your applications the power they need to really fly. With the new IBM IntelliStation, you can do it all - render 3D scenes from a different point of view, build VRML, tap into the SSA pipeline and finish editing your D1. All at the same time, right there on the same screen. And at a price that doesn't break the bank. For more information call 132 426 and ask for IntelliStation/info or visit www.pc.ibm.com/au Intense power Pentium® Il processors 350 or 400MHz! uni/dual, 512KB ECC L2 cache ¢ Intel® 440BX AGPset, 100MHz front-side bus * Matrox Millennium II, PERMEDIA 2 enhanced, Intergraph Intense 3D Pro 3400 * 1GB max SDRAM ECC memory Hard drives up to 91GB * Integrated 10/100 Ethermet with IBM Wake on LAN" technology. i Solutions for a small planet® business tools : 1. MHz only measures microprocessor clock speed, not application performance. Many factors allect apolicaen performance, GM, Intelisiation, Solutions for 4 small planet and Wake on LAN are wademarks or registered Wadematks of International Business Machines Corporation. the ite Inside logo and Pentium are registeted trademarks and MAX 2 lasethark of Inel Corporation. Aterosol and Wingoys NI are regisiered Urademarks of Microsoll Corporation. Other ‘company, paduel and service names may be ademarks of service marks of es, PCs relererced in IMs ad shp wath an operating system ©1296 IBM Austala md. Al rights fesesived, ACN 000.024 733, PC2GSIDCC MACNEWS 11 QUICKCLICKS 19 EATURES 29 34 42 48 59 62 Con Apple Australia to sell online — Build-to-order manufacturing will help Apple bring technology to market more quickly and in more variety. MetaSynth 2.0 — Turns graphics into sound. Barbie as Rapunzel — Romantic fable with fairy-tale ending. Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok — in aid of a princess. X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse — Quake conversion. Painter 3D — Paint textures on to 3D models. Action Files — Build a better dialogue box. Dark Colony — Arather conventional attempt at the genre. EndNote 3.0 — indispensable in academia. The iMac cometh — A star is born, as Apple gets set to launch its ground- breaking new consumer Macintosh. Second to none — How to choose the former Macintosh model that’s right for you, find a secondhand system at the right price, and give it the once-over to ensure it’s in good working order. Quantum leap — G3 upgrade cards can take your old Mac to new heights. Photoshop pumps up — This powerhouse upgrade to Adobe's market-leading image editor has what you've been looking for. Web design's new dynamic duo — Adobe and Macromedia come to web artists’ rescue at last, with products for making images for the net Custom job — Get the files that you want to install, even when the Mac OS Installer refuses to give them up. REVIEWS 65 69 71 72 73 75 REG ARS PowerBook G3 Series — Breakthrough design, features and speed. Scriptware 1.0 and Final Draft 4.16¢ — Two pricey scriptwriting programs do one thing very well Dramatica Pro 3.0 — Story analyser adds learning tools. OmniPage Pro 8.0 — OCR Titan's great upgrade value. LabView 5.0 — Wizardry, web connections for labs. Painter Classic — Streamlines paint tool. 4 Editorially Speaking 6 MailBox 24 Education 32 Offthe Net 40 ReadMe 46 Design 77 Help Folder 80 Tips&Tricks 82 Finder 90 SoapBox July 1998 COMING SOON Graphics cards We lab test the best cards to speed up your Mac’s display, whether you're working in Photoshop, designing 3D models, or playing the latest hot game. Palm Ill for Mac ‘An exclusive look inside the Mac version of the latest, most powerful entry in 3Com's PalmPilot series. Allegro, Rhapsody and Mac OS X Inside Apple's impending upgrade of Mac OS, it's first customer release of Rhapsody, and its plans to merge the two forming Mac OS x. Setting up a studio A step-by-step guide to setting up a pro- duction studio, covering consultants, imagesetters, colour management sys- tems, desktop drum scanners and more. Optimise your web site You hate waiting for other people’s web pages to download, so design your ‘own so it downloads quickly. Reviews Carmageddon * Riana Rouge [Al forward atngs ar subject to change without notice BEHIND THE COVER Photography by David lacono. Image manipulation by Tim McClare. EDITORIA SPEAKING The brand is it On the boundary line of Adelaide’s Football Park is a single white shape—Nike’s ‘swoosh’—repeated four times on a black background. The same logo can be seen on the collar of every Port Adelaide player’s guernsey, looking like part of the top’s design rather than a separate stitched-on advertisement. The widespread use of this symbol—without text, without any explanation whatsoever—is both a cause and a demonstration of Nike's brand strength. Some buyers are swayed by anti-shock soles and comparative prices, others want to know more about the com- pany’s international labour practices, but all recognise a good-look- ing footy boot. Somehow, when sports shoppers ask themselves “will Tor won’t I?”, that swoosh on the side of the boot says “just do it”. In 1996 and 1997, when things started going seriously awry with Apple Computer’s products and business strategies, some of the pol- ish came off the company’s long-neglected brand. The result? A decline in sales, profitability and market share. This negative brand-image even spread to fans of Apple products. Can you believe that Newton developers were ecstatic last year when Apple decided to take its logo off the MessagePad? The decision was reversed, and so it should have been. Fixing the brand is harder than simply burying it, but the former is the better long-term strategy for Apple. No multinational can prosper in the information age without a strong and favourable brand-image. The first step in resurrecting the Apple brand was returning the company to profitability, which was achieved late last year. In the same period, Apple released a striking brand-oriented marketing cam- paign: Think Different. This catch-cry was not about Apple’s prod- ucts, it was about its brand. As soon as Apple’s brand had regained some of its former stature, the company launched a string of aggres- sive product-oriented television advertisements featuring a Pentium II processor strapped to a snail’s back, a burning Intel ‘bunny person’ (one of the dust-suited people who work in chip plants), and a stream- roller crushing Pentium-based laptops. They have been very effective, as Apple’s rising US market share shows. However, they would: have been far less effective had they been launched a year ago, when Apple’s brand had not returned to its current strength. It’s not yet clear whether Australians will see the ‘burning bunny’ ads (the original Think Different ad was screened in Australian cine- mas but not on television). However, no part of the world will escape Apple’s latest and strongest brand-building initiatives: a revamped logo, and the return of great industrial design. Look out for the ‘Bondi blue’ Apple logo on the iMac (see photo, page 31), and the over-sized ‘crystal white’ logo on the new PowerBook G3 Series (see photo, page 66). They’re big, they’re bold and they're bloody hard to hide. They also lack Apple's traditional six coloured stripes, because it’s the shape alone that Apple is trying to emphasise, to make as recognisable as Nike’s swoosh. Take another look at the iMac and PowerBook G3 Series, this time in our cover photo. Apple’s logo isn’t the only shape the company has been working on. These products are designed to impress. They don’t just offer impressive performance for their price—their appearance and texture create product envy. Like a strong brand, they distinguish Apple from the crowd, encouraging consumers to choose a PowerBook or iMac even before they’ve thought about choosing Macintosh. And that’s got to be a good thing for the platform. Steven Noble, Editor. NEW The ultimate page The tool that converts images The smart way to ! RELEASE! layout package into line art instantly publish online 1 Ww MN Adobe Photoshop so aug ee ss llr Adobe PageMaker 0.5 Adobellustrator 7.0 Adobe Streamline 4.0 AdobeDimensions 3.0 The leader in image and The leading illustration The easy way to add 3D photographic manipulation and design package graphics to your designs IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE ONE BOX, IT WOULD BE THIS ONE. § Adobe PageMaker Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe Acrobat Adobe Streamline Adobe Dimensions: For w Hiefrrenl preps pierrpremend Windows® Adobe: Publishing Collection Macintoshe The choice is clear. The new Adobe® Publishing Collection brings you the very latest versions of six of the world’s leading software packages, in one box. And not only do they come as one, they work as one. Drag-and-drop features let you move effortlessly between programs, ensuring a seamless workflow, whether you create for print, multimedia or online, using the Macintosh or Windows Platform. And just to make the choice even easier for you, the Adobe Publishing Collection is the most convenient way to buy your favourite software packages, at a much lower cost to buying them separately. So make the right choice, call 1800 065 628 today for the location of your nearest Adobe reseller. http://wwiw.pacific.adobe.com 1g ‘Adobe the Adobe ogo, Photoshop, Pagedaker, lustrator Acrobat, Streamline and Simensions ae radernark of adobe Systems nc Windowsts ethers trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation Macntoshis a registered trademark ofApole Computer inc. "54670 vale when purchased iniigusly SP. Adobe (©1998 Adobe Systems Ply Ltd, AC.N.054 247 835.Allights reserved. ADOPCOO23 Macworld July 1998 Issue No. 7 Publisher Nicholas Dower Associate Publisher Martin Sellers Editor Steven Noble Sub Editor Michele Frankeni Art Director Glenn A Moffatt Designer Richard Seakins Advertising Manager Brett Jenkins Tel: 03 9525 5566 Editorial Inquiries Steven Noble Tel: 03 9525 5566 <steve@niche.com.au> (niche) c Australian Macworld is a publication of Niche Media Pty Ltd ‘ACN 068 613 529 Managing Director Nicholas Dower Finance Director Steven Metter Marketing Manager Edward Gough Production Manager David McDonough Melbourne Office Level 3, 165 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, Melbourne, VIC 3182 Tel: 03 9525 5566 Fax: 03 9525 5628 Sydney Office Level 2, 104 George Street, Redfern, Sydney, NSW 2016 Tel: 02 9310 1142 Fax: 02 9310 1911 Subscription Inquiries Free Call: 1800 804 160 Melb: 9525 5566 Fax: 03 9525 5628 «<subscriptions@niche.com.au> PO Box 2135, St Kilda, Vic 3182 Digital Prepress/Printed by Hannanprint Victoria 03 9213 3111 ISSN 1329-9484 ‘Ausralan Meqworg'ss repart ngs 10 Macwerts 3 ‘hee Pubisning LLC te. Material appearing Risto Mead & Cotman 203 feprodch (whale on part wheus express peti fiom te pushers wal resutin igaton under teence from ‘Ausraien Meco & pulsed Nec husthneg ne Son Forse, Cra EON! tems appeonng ni Austratan Maver rs were ongray publuhed he US eden of Mora the copyrgr propery a oe Plann UC. hie tend a gs Copyigrt © 1997 Mae Rbsing ie Neavedts anadenoicot MacRuschngile Mail Itching for an iMac Contrary to the famous Chinese curse (‘may you live in interesting times’), I’m glad that so much is happen- ing in the Mac universe. Carbon sounds like a smart OS strategy, and I want an iMac so bad I can taste it. Regarding the iMac, let me state for the record that I exemplify one of the key demographics that Apple is after with this product. As a cash-strapped student, I’m waiting for the right machine to come at the right price before I upgrade my vintage IIci. With that in mind, listen up: I don’t care about floppy disks! Many commentators have concluded that the iMac’s lack of a floppy drive will be seen as a draw- back by the market. This sample of one says otherwise. Andrew Westcombe Blaxland, NSW eeccccce What price iMac? Ihave been urging heaps of friends and clients to hang in there—the iMac will be here soon, I insisted, and it will be cheap! I guesstimated for them that with a $US1299 price tag, it should sell here for less than $AU2000, the exchange rate pending. They all said that at that price, they would wait. Be damned if | am now going to tell them that they will have to fork over $AU2500, as reported in the June 1998 issue of Australian Macworld. | am going to suggest that they buy from Cyberian Outpost or the like instead. Even with the crappy exchange rate and a $AU75S shipping charge, there are a few facts that Apple Australia should consider: I bought a PowerBook 1400 CD-ROM module from Cyberian Outpost for less than half the price asked by Apple Australia. And, I have ordered a Newer Technology G3 upgrade, a Kiss solar panel and a Book- Endz for my 1400 for less than the ex-tax cost of one G3 upgrade from Apple Australia. Don’t get me wrong—I am one of the biggest Apple advo- cates I know. But, I don’t want to hear lame excuses about exchange rates and hidden costs; that’s just more fodder for the anti-Mac press. Moreover, I don’t believe that PC makers are immune to such factors. I just want to be able to show people that they can get an Apple prod- uct for the same price as a com- parable Wintel ‘solution’. With Steve Jobs back at the helm, that eoccee ecoee ecccce day may soon come, but in the meantime we shouldn’t have to pay more than US prices. James MM Rolevink Sefton Park, SA Ed: James, we forwarded your letter to Bill Harrington of Apple Computer Australia, who provided us with the fol- lowing reply: While Apple Computer Australia aims to provide com- petitively priced products, there are some factors beyond our control that make the rec- ommended retail price appear higher here than in the US. In Australia, the sales tax rate applied to computer hard- ware is 22 percent and this amount is included in the RRP. Prices quoted in the US do not include sales tax. Another factor is the exchange rate for the Australian dollar, which at the moment is hovering around $US0.62 and which is making all imports— including our computers—rela- tively more expensive. The prices quoted from the US are usually street prices. Street prices in Australia are substantially lower than RRP. In addition, the iMac prod- uct sold in Australia costs more to build than the product sold in the US. Physical product dif- ferences include the CRT, which has to be built specifical- ly for the southern hemisphere. Not to do so would result in an unacceptable degradation in display quality. The built-in modem used in Australia is physically different eeccee eocccce to the US model too. A modem which meets Austel approval costs more to manufacture than modems that comply with US requirements. The better price compari- son that potential buyers should look at is the price of alternative products from other brand name manufacturers such as Compaq, IBM and Hewlett Packard. The iMac can outperform a 400 MHz Pentium II. Its built- in display offers exceptional quality with refresh rates over 100Hz. It includes built-in 100BaseT Ethernet and the lat- est USB I/O as well as a 33.6Kbps modem. Bundled software includes AppleWorks, FileMaker, Internet Explorer and games. We believe that with this more appropriate comparison, the iMac is very good value indeed. Ed: After this exchange, the Australian dollar fell further, and Apple increased its estimat- ed iMac price to $2800. Letters to the editor should be emailed to <steve@niche.com.au> or posted to: Australian Macworld, PO Box 2043, St Kilda West, 3182. Letters of less than 200 words are given preference. We reserve the right to edit letters and probably will. Please include an address (suburb/town and state) for publication on letters. mage created with Inspire 3D Unleash Your Creative From the creators of LightWave 3D Power With Inspire 3D s a graphics professional, you are expected to create dynamic print ads, multimedia productions, ind stunning visuals for the web. Faking it ina 2D package falls short of what you want to deliver. It's time to take the 3D plunge, but you've only found under powered toys that fall short of getting the job done right. Finally, you have a choice. NewTek, the company that took Hollywood by storm with LightWave 3D, has just released Inspire 3D™. 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The GT-9500 (600 x 1200 dpi) can be boosted to 4800 dpi using digital zoom, and has 3.0 optical a density for supreme accuracy. Both offer 36 bit scanning and THE POWER TO CREATE. EPSON @ SYDNEY (02) 9903 9000 MELBOURNE (03) 9685 6555 BRISBANE (07) 3360 0219 PERTH (08) 9480 0418 www.epson.com.au EPS 0201 The Hale Agency MacNews | BUSINESS Apple Australia to sell online Apple Computer’s Singapore factory, which services the Asia Pacific region, is moving towards a build-to-order (BTO) model, and Apple Computer Australia will sell these custom- configured Macs through an online store (‘Apple Store’) in addition to its retail channel, according to the company. Apple Computer Australia expects to launch Apple Store early next year or late this year, said Di Ryall, managing direc- tor of Apple Computer Aus- tralia. BTO, which will let customers order Macs in any configuration they wish, will be a feature of Apple Store, and a pre-condition of its launch. BTO will also be offered through the current retail chan- nel, perhaps before Apple Store is launched. Ryall said that east coast retailers should receive BTO systems within four days of placing an order. In the longer term, Apple Computer Aus- tralia hopes to take advantage of the fact that Singapore is closer to Perth than Sydney, she said. The rapid manufacturing system will also help Apple more swiftly release new tech- nologies in Australia, said Ryall. This would include faster chips and new options such as DVD drives and Firewire cards. It will not further reduce the ratio between US and Australian prices, said Ryall, because the company addressed this issue last year, and “at the moment— if you do your maths, including the sales tax—you'll find there is something like five- to eight-per- cent difference.” Australia’s Apple Store will accord with Apple’s interna- tional model <store.apple.com>, which has been successful in the US, but slower to gain momen- tum in the UK. This means that all models other than the iMac will be custom-configurable, Ryall said. Australia will take its lead from the US on whether or not to sell third-party product online. Apple Computer Australia has consulted with its retail channel partners, and they are comfortable with its plans to bring Apple Store to Australia, Ryall said. Apple Store would be treated as a separate internal channel partner, however, and retail outlets would receive no revenue from online sales. She said the US experience has shown that many customers use Apple Store to price a custom- configured system, but they still prefer to order that system through a retail outlet. Heather Bullot, managing director of Sydney-based Kurrawood Com- puters, said she expected Apple Store to do very well in Aus- tralia, because of the “tyranny of distance”, and this country’s relative shortage of Macintosh retail outlets. Although a BTO system would reduce the need for Aus- tralian warehousing, Ryall said Apple Computer Australia had no plans to vacate its spacious and architectural-award-win- ning premises in Frenchs Forest, Sydney. — Steven Noble Build-to-order options as they are currently offered through the US Apple Store. 5 Epson Color Proofer 5000 12 FlashPath bridges gap 12 Mac ShareManager 12 CyberStudio 3 and PE B The winners are... B Strata StudioPro 2.5 14 Stop computer theft 14 Norton Anti-Virus for Mac 14 OrangePC 620 15 MicroTouch back on Mac 15 DV Studio 1394 16 IPIX guns for QTVR users 16 Jonack fc Processor i aaa Memory Bul {0 ‘Order i CT mtn a nips ‘Options Suechanibeaedng ele conldeynatit nei, Be (= i l | vests | i —a ff AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 = 11 PHOTOGRAPHY: GIAMPIERO BENVENUTI MacNews The Epson Color Proofer 5000 includes a stand-alone Fiery print server from EFI (pictured). MetaCreations has announced version 3.0 of Poser, its 2D and 3D human-figure posing and animation software. According to MetaCre- ations, new features include animal models, a walk-anima- tor, custom hand models, and mouth and facial controls. Poser 3 also ships with an updated user interface incorpo- rating sophisticated lighting, camera and movement con- trols with fully customisable palettes. The product can import industry-standard BVH motion-capture files, along with sound files. It requires a PowerPC processor, System 7.5.1 of later, at least 24MB of application RAM (32MB or more is recommended), 80MB of free hard-disk space, and a CD-ROM drive. The $299 RRP hybrid Mac- intosh and Windows CD-ROM is distributed in Australia by Scholastic New Media: 02 4328 3555, fax 02 4329 9399, <www.scholastic.com.au>. The academic price is $159 and upgrades are $165. 12 = AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998. [PRINTERS Epson offers inkjet proofer Epson is taking on the profes- sional graphics market with the $19,999 ex-tax Epson Color Proofer 5000, an A3+ inkjet printer that comes with a stand- alone Fiery PostScript server from EPS. The printer is designed to replicate, as accurately as possi- ble, what a page will look like when reproduced on a commer- cial press, Analog proofs, which are generated directly from the film used to make printing plates, offer the highest degree of accuracy, but they are costly and time-consuming to produce. Digital proofers generally cannot match the accuracy of analog proofing systems, but they are cheaper than analog proofers and have the added advantage that they can work directly from digital data— there’s no need to produce film on an imagesetter before you can see the proof. Many designers who once might have produced multiple analog proofs for a project are now using inkjet or dye-subli- mation printers for preliminary proofs, turning to an analog system only when the job is ready to go on press. Some commercial printers are even accepting digital proofs as con- tract proofs—meaning the printer is contractually oblig- ated to match the colours in the proof. In addition, digital proofers are the only choice if you’re using one of the new filmless printing technologies, such as computer-to-plate sys- tems or digital presses. The Stylus Pro 5000's Fiery PostScript server features 32MB of RAM, a 2.1GB hard disk, and a high-speed 100/10BaseT network connection. The server can simultaneously spool, ras- terise, and print PostScript files and includes a built-in web page that lets you control printer functions. The printer itself uses the same six-colour, Micro Piezo inkjet technology found in Epson’s Stylus Photo, but the Stylus Pro 5000 boosts the reso- lution from 720 by 720dpi to 1440 by 720dpi. Epson can be reached on 02 9903 9000, fax 02 9903 9177 and <www.epson.com.au>. Ei | FINANCE Share the wealth Australian company Andromeda Educa- tional Software has released version 2.0 of its share-manage- ment program, Mac ShareManager, which retails for $225. According to the company, Mac Share- Manager offers a range of features to meet the basic needs of individual investors or portfolio managers. It is designed for Australian condi- tions, the company said. The product records buy and sell prices and dividend entries, and generates profit/loss reports and year-end summaries, the company said. It deals with each stock parcel as a separate file The Dividend screen from version 2.0 of Mac ShareManager, by Australian company Andromeda Educational Software. record, carrying all the statement details, purchase price and bro- ker. The database can hold share and dividend information for a single or multiple investors, Andromeda said. Andromeda can be reached on 03 9874 6511 and fax 03 9872 4110. ER [REMOVABLE STORAGE The Flash is in the floppy SmartMedia cards—stamp-size media also known as solid-state floppy-disk cards—offer a cost- effective means of storing images in digital cameras. But until now, you needed a PC Card adaptor and PC Card reader to copy the pictures directly to your Mac. Toshiba, which invented SmartMedia, has stepped into the breach with an adaptor that lets you use the cards in a standard floppy-disk drive. oe a BCAMeDIA The SmartCard-to-floppy disk adaptor made by Toshiba and sold by Olympic distributor R Gunz Photographic. Toshiba’s FlashPath consists of an adaptor that resembles a 3.5-inch floppy disk, along with software that allows use of the adaptor in most floppy drives. Instead of the thin, rotating platter in conventional diskettes, FlashPath uses a fixed magnetic strip to transfer data from the SmartMedia card to the drive heads. You still hear the chunk- chunk sound as the heads move from track to track, but no more swish-swish sound from spinning floppies. Toshiba said it has tested the adaptor with a wide range of disk drives, including the drives used in Apple-branded Macintoshes and Mac clones. R Gunz Photographic (02 9935 6600, fax 02 9935 6622) distributes the adaptor to Australian photographic retail- ers as an add-on for its Olympic digital cameras. &%& [ INTERNET CyberStudio 3 & PE Australian Design and Drafting has announced the Australian availability of CyberStudio 3 Professional Edition and Cyber- Studio Personal Edition. According to AD&D, the new $275 RRP Personal Edition is more or less the former CyberStudio 2.0. GoLive is now targeting this version of its visual web-authoring package at first-time web publishers. New features in the $899 RRP Professional Edition 3.0 include visual editing of cascad- ing style sheets, fully dynamic web pages, enhanced site-man- agement tools and ready-to-use editable JavaScript Actions. AD&D can be reached on 02 9810 2422, fax 02 9810 0422, and <www.adds.com.au>. ER ie Gat_Spie_Tormat_Speci_se_ Window Tal Weip ici] == | [5 niexomisye Set =| i 1! CyberStudio 3 Professional Edition lets the user visually edit HTML incorporating cascading style sheets and other advanced features. [COMPETITIONS The winners are... Three Australian Macworld readers have each won a copy of Fontographer, courtesy of Macromedia <www.macro media.com>, and Font Expert, courtesy of Techflow <www. techflow.com.au>. The winners each wrote “I want to create my own fonts with Fontographer, and identify the fonts of others using Font Expert” in a typeface of their own invention. Using Fontogra- pher, they'll be able to bring their creations to life, while Font Expert will give them a means of identifying other typefaces. The winners were Stasio Ulaszyn, of Doonan, Queens- land; Stuart Begg, of Clifton Hill, Victoria; and Vong Sy Sam, of Edensor Park, NSW. E [ant bo create iy ounfonts with tdentafy the fonts of ethers usiny Font. Expert. A colourful entry from Stuart Begg, of Clifton Hill, Victoria. Upgrade Your LaserWriter IINT to a Ilg Are your happy with your LaserWriter IInt ? why not upgrade the logic board. ¢ FASTER ¢ 600 DPI « PhotoGrade « EtherNet Ready * Upgradable 32MB « ¢ DOS Compatible * 12 months WARRANTY « You retain your current lint laser printer and swap over the I/O board for an easy upgrade with no hassles. ¢ Availible Mid July. FAX NOW FOR YOUR UPGRADEe eae = STA MICROSECONDS FAX 02 9281 4130 VOICE 02 9281 6392 MacNews STRATA’ STUDIO Version 2.5 of Strata's 3D mod- elling, rendering and anima- tion program, StudioPro. NEWS BRIEFS Macromedia has released ver- sion 6. of Director, it's multi- media-authoring tool. The upgrade adds support for QuickTime 3, Flash, PowerPoint and Java. Director 6.5 can import, rotate and mask Quick- Time movies, according to the company, and the new version provides Lingo control of cen- tral QTVR properties. Director 6.5’s save-as-Java feature lets developers create dynamic content for the web without requiring plug-ins on the client side, and it automatically con- verts cast elements and Lingo scripts to native Java types, Macromedia said. Director 6 users can upgrade to Director 6.5 for $359 RRP. Registered users of Director 4 or 5 can upgrade to Director 6.5 for $699 RRP. New users can purchase Director 6.5 for $1695 RRP and Director 6.5 Multimedia Studio for $1945 RRP. Director is distributed in Australia by Firmware Design (02 4721 7211, fax 02 4721 7215). 14 ® AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 [3D MODELLING, RENDERING & ANIMATION StudioPro updated Australian Design and Drafting has announced the Australian availability of version 2.5 of Strata’s 3D modelling, render- ing and animation program, StudioPro. This is the first StudioPro release that is available in Win- dows NT as well as Mac OS ver- sions. New features include support for the OpenGL API, which is becoming popular amongst 3D_ professionals; enhancements to the product’s animation support, including four types of path splines, indi- vidual frame visualisation, cycle back-and-forth attributes, contin- uation of paths, and time-varying polymesh; metaball and shape support in the Fountain tool; a faster scanline renderer which now supports soft shadows; colli- sion detection with particle effects such as PixieDust and Fountains; and support for Post- script fonts, as well as TrueType. The program is extensible, and—at the time of writing— Strata’s Power Module 1 comes free with StudioPro 2.5. This plug-in includes tools for defor- mation, smoothing, mirroring, hair, and 3D fire and smoke, as well as bones-based Inverse Kinematics. Further Strata plug- ins include Jiggle, which makes objects move and quiver; Springiness, which simulates environmental friction; Clouds Il, which creates soft-edged, bil- lowy clouds inside any object; Ripples II, which creates and animates ripples; and Model Master, which simplifies model- ling tasks, according to the company. Strata StudioPro 2.5 is $2399 RRP, or $899 to educa- tion users. Upgrades are $499 from StudioPro 1.x, $165 from 2.x, and less for education. Additional extension bundles are $415 RRP each. Australian Design and Drafting can be reached on 02 9810 2422, fax 02 9810 0422, and <www. adds.com.au>. && | security Stop computer theft Business Security Systems has announced the Australian intro- duction of the STOP (Security Tracking of Office Property) system. Computer theft has cost Australian businesses more than $200 million over the past three years, according to BSS. Of the 5000 computers stolen in NSW in 1996, only four percent were returned, the company said. STOP discourages theft and assists in property recovery, by marking each computer with a unique ID number that is stored in an international database. According to BSS, the plate bearing the ID number can include a company logo, and features a warning message and an international toll-free number for verifying the owner’s iden- tity. Beneath the ID plate is an indelible chemical imprint read- ing “stolen equipment” and Beneath the STOP plate is an indelible chemical imprint reading “stolen equipment”. repeating the ID number and toll-free phone number, BBS said. STOP’s schedule of fees starts at $29 per unit for up to 49 computers, and falls to $19 per unit for 500 or more com- puters, The world-wide STOP database can be found online at <www.intb.com>. Business Security Systems can be reached on 02 9287 9828 and fax 02.9261 8525. ER [ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE SAM renamed, PowerPC native Symantec has released Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh 5.0, the latest version of the product formerly known as SAM. The new version is PowerPC-native and works with HFS+ in addi- tion to HFS, according to Symantec. The company said NAV 5.0 automatically repairs incoming files; detects and removes unidentified macro viruses; works with internet downloads, email attachments, floppy disks, shared files and local networks; scans compressed files using Aladdin’s Stufflt technology; and boots directly from the installation CD for emergency repair of infected system files. In addition, NAV users can sub- scribe to Symantec’s LiveUpdate service, which automatically updates the product’s virus-defi- nition file via the internet. The product includes a virus-definition file for the first known Macintosh ‘worm’— AutoStart 9805. A worm is not a virus, but it is distructive. NAV 5.0 requires a 68040 or faster processor, System 7.5 or later, at least SMB of RAM and 10MB of free disk space. Users will also need an internet connection or modem to use LiveUpdate. NAV for Mac 5.0 is $99 RRP, and upgrades from SAM 4,5 are $55. Symantec Australia can be reached on 02 9879 6577 and fax 02 9879 6805. Ei ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD DOWNS [winpows COMPATIBILITY PC cards sold on price Orange Micro has released its new OrangePC 620 series of Windows compatibility cards for Macintosh systems at what it is calling “a breakthrough price”. The cards, which start at $1709 RRP for a 200MHz Pentium with MMX and 16MB of RAM, are distributed by Symbi- otic Australia, which can be reached on 03 9836 4482 and fax 03 9830 1823. The Orange- PC is four-to-20 times faster than software emulation prod- ucts and is not dependent on the speed of the host machine, according to Orange Micro. The new cards also feature ver- sion 3.1 of the OrangePC soft- ware application, which can show the Windows environ- ment as a window in the Mac OS, and visa versa. &%& [Touchscreens MicroTouch back on Mac After several years of not upgrading its Macintosh prod- ucts because of concerns about the financial health of Apple Computer, MicroTouch has released a new Macintosh ver- sion of its touch-screen technol- ogy that supports PowerPC systems and Mac OS 8. MicroTouch’s ClearTek touchscreen technology for Macintosh includes the Clear- Tek Sensor, an ADB controller, and TouchWare 3.3 software, which can accommodate data for multiple video resolutions. The multimedia company A Step Beyond—based on the Gold Coast—has used Macin- tosh computers and ClearTek technology to build its Merlin the Wizard entertainment kiosks. Greg Mirkin, director of A Step Beyond, said the company had installed 50 such kiosks throughout Australia and had begun exporting them to Asia and Europe. MicroTouch Australia will fit its ClearTek sensor onto a customer’s monitor: fitting a 14-inch screen costs $1279 ex- tax; fitting a 21-inch screen costs $1557. The company will also supply monitors that are prefitted with ClearTek. If cus- tomers opt for NEC models, they'll pay $1789 and $5389 respectively for 14- and 21-inch displays. MicroTouch Australia can be reached on 1800 632 136, fax 03 9561 7393 and <www. microtouch.com.au>. &%& ‘One of the Merlin the Wizard entertainment kiosks, built using Macintosh and ClearTekc technology. Warranty & non warranty Apple repairs > / Ground Floor, 20 Berry St (Cnr. Pacific Hwy), North Sydney. (On-site service availabe) OPEN SATURDAYS 10AM-3PM —> From Jury 1s7, MacNews The components of DV Studio 1394, along with a Sony digi- tal-video camera (not included). FileMaker Inc has released File- Maker Pro 4.0 Developer Edi- tion, and Sun Microsystems’ Java software division has granted it 100-percent-pure- Java certification. The Developer Edition fea- tures an API for writing external functions that expand the core functionality of FileMaker Pro 4.0, the company said. By incorporating Java class libraries in this API, the Developer Edi- tion provides access to File- Maker Pro databases across all operating systems supporting the Java platform, FileMaker Inc said. "This will be especially important as more developers are creating databases for com- pany internet, intranet and ” said Steve extranet web sites, McManus, FileMaker Inc’s gen- eral manager, Asia Pacific. FileMaker Pro 4.0 Devel- oper Edition should ship in the first week of July on a $870 RRP hybrid Mac OS/Windows CD- ROM, the company said. File- Maker Inc can be reached on 1300 652 271 and <www-ile maker.com.au>. 16 = AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 [DIGITAL VIDEO Studio supports Sony DV Infinite Potential Technology has announced the Australian availability of DV Studio 1394, a digital-video-edit- ing solution from the Germany-based company Octopos Systems, DV Studio 1394 uses hardware en- coding and decoding, which lets it deliver faster edits than Radius and Miro boards, according to IPT. The 14-inch PCI card includes Firewire in and out and YUV (component) out, the com- pany said, along with other con- nectors. The board also includes Sony’s new DVBK-1 daughter- card, integrating support for Sony’s new DV digital-video format, along with older indus- try standards. The system sup- ports QuickTime 2.5 and 3, requires Mac OS 7.6.1 or later, and includes Adobe Premiere 4.x with a free upgrade to Pre- miere 5, IPT said. Other system requirements include a 604e or later PowerPC processor that is clocked at no less than 132MHz, and a SCSI hard disk capable of at least 3.6MBps. The DV Studio is $8790 RRP or $7560 ex-tax, and Infi- nite Potential Technology can be reached on 02 9984 9000 and fax 02 9984 9100. EX [VIRTUAL REALITY IPIX guns for QTVR users IPIX has set its sights on Apple’s QuickTime VR technology, with the intention of making its own .ipx format the preferred platform for creating immersive environments. Although QTVR has a huge headstart—Apple announced in May that three million Mac and Windows users had down- loaded QuickTime 3,0, and the QuickTime plug-in is bundled with Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer— IPA managing director Evan Jones said IPIX is gaining ground. According to Jones, whose company sells IPIX kits, IPIX users can capture entire 360-by- 360-degree spherical environ- ments with audio in just two shots. Web authors can post IPIX environments as Java applets if they don’t want to force surfers to install the free IPIX browser plug-in. IPA’s IPIX kits consist of a digital camera, tripod, fish-eye lens and software. While the Pho- toshop and Director plug-ins are cross-platform, the Macintosh IPA managing director Evan Jones capturing half of a spheri- cal image using a camera and fish-eye lens. version of the builder software is not due until the fourth quarter of 1998, according to Evans. “Our Mac developers at the moment are using a PC to do the stitching, which is basically an automatic process that takes five or 10 min- utes, and then do the creative work on the Mac itself,” he said. IPA’s first IPIX kit, based on the Olympus C-820L digital cam- era, is $2855 ex-tax, or $3770 RRP. A kit based on Kodak’s DC200 is due this month, and SLR alternatives are available. IPA can be reached at 03 9533 64087, fax 03 9533 6328, or <www.ipix.com.au>. [ivTerner Sonic tunes net access Sonic Systems has added Inter- pol and Bandit to its line-up of internet-access related devices for LAN managers. Interpol can prevent internet users on a LAN from accessing web sites or newsgroups that are defined as objectionable by Microsystems Software’s Cyber- NOT database, according to Sonic Systems. The firewall device can also guard against attacks from outside hackers. According to Sonic, one of Inter- pol’s key advantages is its ease of use, as administrators control it from their own personal com- puters using their preferred web browsers. Interpol is $4435 Interpol (above) and Bandit (top) are two new internet-access related devices from Sonic Systems. RRP, or $3636 ex-tax. This price includes a one-year sub- scription to CyberNOT updates. Bandit aggregates up to three modem connections to create one high-speed internet connec- tion of up to 345Kbps that can be shared by up to 2048 users on a network, according to Sonic Systems. Each of the three modems connected to Bandit requires its own dial-up account with an internet service provider. The device also includes a built-in DHCP server and four-port 10BaseT hub, and—like Interpol—Bandit is configured remotely using a web browser. The product is $1351 RRP, or $1108 ex-tax. Sonic Systems products are distributed in Australia by Mac- simise, which can be reached on 03 9521 4877, fax 03 9521 4977, and <www.macsimise. comau>. Ei | SoFTWare Microsoft rewards piracy informers Microsoft has launched an anti- piracy campaign in Victoria tar- geting the business sector. As part uy of the campaign, | Microsoft is offer- ing a $5000 reward for information leading to suc- cessful legal action against a busi- ness using illegal or unauthorised Microsoft software. Ralph Garbers, state man- ager for Microsoft Victoria, said that Microsoft is targeting busi- nesses that deliberately install and use software without the appropriate licences. “We recognise that many businesses inadvertently use unauthorised software because they lack the expert advice to manage their software assets,” he said. “In such instances we see our role as one of education and providing them with effec- tive solutions to avoid using ille- gal software.” Ron Eckstrom, Microsoft's corporate attorney for the south Asia-Pacific region, estimated that companies using unlicensed software account for over half the total loss to Australia’s soft- ware industry. “We want busi- nesspeople to recognise that software piracy is no different from theft,” he said. “And worse, many of them are run- ning their daily operations on software that could corrupt their valuable data.” Microsoft is encouraging any member of the public to report any incidence of software piracy to its Anti-Piracy Hotline (1800 639 963). BR [DIGITAL CAMERAS Nikon releases CoolPix 600, 900 digital cams Nikon has introduced the CoolPix 900, which offers megapixel resolution and 3x zoom capability for an RRP of $1985. The camera stores images in JPEG format on Com- pactFlash cards; you can choose from three levels of compression. Nikon has also introduced the CoolPix 600, a $1195 digital camera that offers a maximum 1024-by-768-pixel resolution. The price includes a docking sta- tion with video-out and serial ports for connecting it to a Mac- intosh or Windows system. Nikon products are distrib- uted in Australia by Maxwell Optical Industries, which can be reached on 02 9390 0200, fax 02 9390 0201, and <www. maxwell.com.au>. COMPUTER HIRE wwwW.macrent.com.a Mac Rent PC Rent are Australia’s Leading Computer Specialists. Computers Customised to suit your needs Offices : (02) (9) Victoria: (03) Brisbane: (07) Nikon's CoolPix 900, which joins the CoolPix 600 in Maxwell Optical Industries’ range of Mac- and PC-compatible digital cameras. PHOTOGRAPHY: ARNOLD TIOSEJO DIGITAL APPLICATIONS Made simpler by HCL Professional Ima AOLANOIDSAIISEAN 3 CLUTUETGCOG AEE RIES SSN es SPKUIUIREUSRC AU AUDDE OOO ACT EXTREMELY CER COLUSA TER pe (ULTETERAE SOUESH CRU US ~t ETS ETHER ABD We provide real world solutions for the digital age, with product knowledge, leasing packages, rental equipment and professional advice. One of Australia’s leading resellers of kodak Professional Products. Suppliers of: Minolfa, Rollei, Kodak, Polaroid, Nikon, Microtek, Agfa, Wacom, Tektronix, lomega. Call now to make an appointment for consultation and demonstration. PROFESSIONAL BHAGING Ot avail . . aye Total System Solutions forthe Imaging Industry ’ NSW VIC QLD Aq Tel: (02) 9439 9377 Tol: (03) 9690 1844 Tel: (07) 3844 3411 Tol: 1 800 802 598 Fox: (02) 9439 9664 Fox: (03) 9690 7346 Fox: (07) 3844 7311 Fox: (02) 9439 9664 QuickClicks MetaSynth 2.0 =e TURNS GRAPHICS INTO SOUND AS omewhere outside the well- established genres in the audio world—MIDI sequencers, sampled-sound editors, and musical-notation programs—lies Arboretum Systems’ MetaSynth 2.0. At its most basic level, this outrageous program lets you take any graphic image and ‘convert’ it into sound. The Macintosh-only MetaSynth is not only guaranteed to enrap- ture music pros but is also yet another reason to consider the Mac the premier audio-creation tool. MetaSynth uses an image’s brightness and colour informa- tion to generate musical notes. You can change how the image ‘sounds’ with a variety of built- in filters (softening, sharpening, and more); painting tools let you draw within MetaSynth. The program’s many methods for converting images to sounds allow amazingly sophisticated special effects. For example, a pixel’s colour determines the pixel’s position in the stereo sound field (red is panned hard right, green hard left, yellow exactly in the middle). MetaSynth’s range of special effects and tools for manipulat- ing images is so extensive that we can only scratch the surface here. The incredible real-time basic waveform and procedural wave-table synthesisers are a virtual tutorial in sound genera- tion: as you drag the wave shape around, you hear the effects of your actions in real time. You can use the resulting synthesised sound to control the audio generated by the visual image-processor. And then there are the real-time special effects, including a reverb that you manipulate using a mouse. While MetaSynth lacks MIDI support of any kind, it can output mono or stereo AIFF or Sound Designer II files that you can then bring into a MIDI sequencer or other audio-editing program (such as Digidesign’s Pro Tools). You can also open AIFF and Sound Designer II files in MetaSynth and apply dynamic processing effects and basic sample-editing functions. For example, you can synthesise a robot-like voice by importing a previously sampled human voice and using it to modulate a sound effect created in MetaSynth. MetaSynth’s negatives are few: a small bug in the Undo function, documentation that could be more extensive and better organised, and an inter- face that sometimes strays from Macintosh conventions. If you’re an audio enthusiast, you'll find yourself losing vast amounts of sleep exploring Meta- Synth’s endless sonic delights. Regardless of your level of audio expertise, MetaSynth will help you hear the intricacies of sound and motivate you to learn more about audio design. There’s noth- ing else out there like it. EM Type: Audio software Rating: V2 $449 Sound Devices 02 9283 2077 02 9283 1337 David Biedny Outstanding eeeee Very Good eee Good eee Flawed ae Unacceptable Dangerous 6 Short and sharp, QuickClicks are brief reviews of the latest products, evaluated by experienced users. Detailed product reviews are on Page 65. MetaSynth’s interface takes over your screen with layers of overlapping function windows. Here, the Image Synth window displays graphics data to be converted into sound; the resulting waveforms appear in the background. AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 # 19 QuickClicks Barbie as RapunZel === ROMANTIC FABLE WITH FAIRY-TALE ENDING he classic tale of Rapunzel is presented here for mod- ern girls, with Barbie in the star- ring role. She’s trapped in the tower, thanks to the Wicked Witch, but Barbie’s long hair comes to the rescue. The children must play a role in this story too. We help Barbie find the handsome but fairly helpless prince after he is banished by the witch. Search- ing the kingdom, we trade trin- kets for information, and work when necessary for extra leads. To earn ribbons and bread we decorate a wedding cake, then sort jewels and treasures to make our way across a river. For Barbie fans there is the chance to dress her and add a few favourite accessories. Every- thing is pretty, pink or purple, and personalities are either black or white. In the end, of course, Barbie gets her prince and they live happily ever after. Barbie stars as Rapunzel, the fair maiden who has been trapped in the tower by the Wicked Witch. This program is a combina- tion of interactive book, adven- ture and creativity program. The story is read aloud with the text on screen, although we can’t click on the individual words. Finding the lost prince provides the adventure component, while the girls can exercise their creativity by printing scenes or accessorising Barbie. How about the mauve dress with the lolly- pink necklace and a single rose to add a touch of romance? The graphics in this Barbie program are a little flat and the program is less innovative than the other Macintosh titles in the Barbie series, yet it will still be appreci- ated by Barbie fans. Barbie as Rapunzel is best used by fairly young Barbie fans (aged between four and seven years) as they will gain more from the simple activities of sorting objects and matching colours. They may, however, be a bit concerned by the nasty witch. Parents, on the other hand, may be a little concerned about Barbie’s outlook on life, not to mention the instant romance and, er, fairy-tale end- ing. Was the prince really lost, I wonder, or was he hiding? &%& Typ Edutainment Rating: ttt RRP: $49.95 Distributor: Dataflow Telephone: 02 94179700 Facsimile: 02 9417 9797 Reviewer: = Anne Glover Anastasia sm eee ADVENTURES WITH POOKA AND BARTOK s Anastasia the long-lost Russian princess? Only we can prove her past and deter- mine her destiny. With the help of Anastasia’s cute puppy Pooka, we search for clues in Paris and St Petersburg. We direct Pooka as he sniffs out the clues and sticks his nose in all corners of the old palace and every crevice on the train. In each location we stumble across a bunch of cranky min- ions (creatures of the under- world), who are intent on stopping our progress. First, we are almost surrounded by toxic slime and must bounce on the rocks to escape sinking. Then, we have to squash minions before they squish us. We must complete each game we enter before we can continue with the adventure, but the kids did not complain. In fact, they deliber- ately returned to their favourites. The four games are great 20 » AUSTRALAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 fun in their own right, and they also get the kids thinking. They are doses of arcade entertain- ment that break up the story and provide the kids with short rewards before they complete the full adventure. Each part also unlocks another stage of Anastasia’s The cute puppy Pooka helps us search for clues about Anastasia’s heritage in Anastasia: Adventures with Pooka and Bartok. diary. Her diary is read aloud, keeping the players up-to-date with her progress and motivat- ing them to move to the next location. This is an adventure game for the whole family. It is capti- vating, compelling and very frustrating. At times we needed to get a few more heads think- ing, or we gave the game a miss for a while and came back later. Children of eight-to-12 years will enjoy the challenge on their own or with a bunch of friends. Anastasia will be appreci- ated most by fans of the recently released movie of the same name, and by children who enjoy hide and seek, especially those who have the patience to search high and low for clues. Those who prefer more action and quicker results will spend more time fighting the minions than helping Anastasia. E Type: Edutainment Rating: Lo 39773 RR $49.95 Distributor: Electronic Arts Telephone: 07 5528 0800 Facsimile: 07 5528 0500 Reviewer: — Anne Glover X-Men «e« aamaseesEEESS: THE RAVAGES OF APOCALYPSE y favourite X-Men were always the tough, acro- batic Beast and the rebellious Wolverine, with his supercool extensible claws. But after play- ing X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse—starring those beloved mutant superheroes—I pined for Professor Xavier, the cool-headed leader who brought balance to the others’ raw fury. A conversion of MacSoft’s Quake, Ravages uses the origi- nal’s engine but replaces every- thing else with pieces from Marvel Comics’ X-Men uni- verse, including an unbelievably convoluted storyline. Suffice it to say that the X-Men’s arch- enemy Apocalypse seeks world domination and has assembled an army of cloned X-Men. You’re a cyborg, built to infil- trate Apocalypse’s base and thwart his plans. Graphically, Ravages offers a confusing mixture of improve- ments and disappointments. Its environments feel like those in a Marvel comic book, but its sim- plistic levels lack Quake’s grand space and nightmarish claustro- phobia. The characters, though, are spectacular. Each X-clone is easily recognisable even from a distance, complete with unique movements, weaponry, and tac- tics. Beast is particularly believ- able, tumbling and bouncing like a blue rubber ball, pausing only to thump you or pound the ground. Of course, you could hardly expect to dispatch such wonder- fully crafted enemies with a sin- gle blast. If you’re used to wading through waves of corpses, you're in for a shock. These X-clones are tough, and their weapons pack a devastating wallop; expect extended battles with foes that absorb astonishing amounts of punishment. In theory, Ravages’ empha- sis on tactics over firepower forces you to learn to manoeu- vre rather than merely take aim. In practice, though, the game needs more polish, Even the eas- iest setting features multiple, nasty enemies and long stretches between health power-ups. Experts may find this challeng- ing, but most players will just be frustrated. And Ravages makes the mistake of unveiling most of its characters and weaponry in the first two levels, leaving little suspense for later. I had great hopes for multi- player action—where you assume the X-Men’s powers— but encountered endless trou- bles setting up games and get- ting the server and clients to talk to each other. And after all that effort, the head-to-head matches were boring. If you already own Quake and you're itching for more, you'll enjoy X-Men: The Rav- ages of Apocalypse. But if you don’t already own Quake, don’t rush out to buy it simply for the sake of this conversion. && Game add-on $34.95 Try & Byte 02 9906 5227 Facsimile: 02 9906 5606 Reviewer: = Cameron Crouy SECURITY & NETWORK TOOLS FOR MACS Contact us right now for a Wi-tzaeYILE TTA of these outstanding tools Control & broadcast screens Access control for Macs network An ideal solution for any computer lab for teaching, tracking and presenting. View up to 36 screens in minature at the same time, view any screen full size and take full control of the remote computer. * Broadcast your screen across the ne work to multiple computers at the same time * two way network audio * record presentations for later playback to multi- ple computers * have multiple users work on the same document. Used in businesses, schools and colleges all over Australia. On Guard is the easiest and most innovative security program for Macintosh. Control use of ties, folders, applications, servers and drives. Set up individual access for unlimited users. Includes unique controls for Netscape Navigator. Configure the security for an entire network of Macs from just one computer. It’s the easiest and most flexi- ble solution available for Macs today. tool Save on shoe leather and asprin. Maintain all your Macintoshs from just one loca- tion. Distribute upgrades and install soft- ware across the network to multiple computers at the same time. Collect files. Do multiple system installs. Collect hard- ware and software audit information on each computer. Execute commands simul- taneously across the network such as luanching applications, shutting down machines, locking screens and keyboards Distributed by Trio Technology P.O. Box 6766 Bundall, QLD 4217 © Ph 07-5577-4411 ® Fx 07-5577-4455 © info@triotech.com.au QuickClicks Painter 3D PAINT TEXTURES ON TO 3D MODELS A indispensable capability ‘or 3D modellers and ani- mators is being able to paint textures, highlights, reflections, glows, and environment maps directly on to 3D objects in real time—this is Painter 3D’s aim. Painter 3D looks a lot like Painter: it includes almost all of the same palettes and tools— including Painter 5’s new plug- in floater tools—but it also has the same cumbersome imple- mentation, which can be daunt- ing for new users. The new Objects palette makes it much easier to manage complex 3D models you import into Painter 3D: it shows the hierarchy of the parts of your 3D model and lets you easily select and hide separate pieces. The new Images palette lets you easily see which maps are assigned to which objects in your scene, and it lets you lock and hide maps. Other mapping improve- ments in Painter 3D include the ability to assign one map to Painter 3D's Maps and Objects palettes help reduce some screen clutter, but the program's too! collection is still unwieldy. several different objects. And to help you decide what size map to use, Painter 3D now offers a Minimal Distortion option, which automatically calculates and recommends an aspect ratio for every map you create. Another much-needed new feature is the set of Normals controls, which lets you smooth, repair, and invert polygon nor- mals that were incorrectly imported. Such polygon nor- mals can make models appear to have holes. Despite all its painting power, Painter 3D preserves one of the weaknesses of Detailer: the inability to save textured models in several dif- ferent 3D file formats. If you’re using a 3D program other than MetaCreations’ Ray Dream Designer, you'll have to save all of your maps as TIFF files and reposition them by hand in your 3D program of choice. MetaCreations has done a good job of improving an already powerful product—but using Painter 3D’s texture maps in any application other than Ray Dream Designer can be a hassle. Native support for more 3D programs would help Painter 3D become the profes- sional tool it could be. Still, for painting texture maps directly onto 3D models, there’s no tool on the market that comes close to Painter 3D. EX Painting Ree $599 (S419 education} Scholastic New Media 02 4328 3555 02 4328 2205 Ben Long Action Files mummmenrs ». 8 cee BUILD A BETTER DIALOGUE BOX A Files serves up sim- ple yet very handy func- tions. It appends a hierarchical menu to both the Open com- mand and the Save As com- mand in the File meny, listing favourite and recently accessed files and folders. In the Action Files control panel you can change default display settings, such as the maximum number of files and folders you want in the menu, and choose which applications you don’t want to have Action Files’ functionality. Applications with their own hierarchical menus, such as QuarkXPress and Microsoft Excel, don’t handle Action Files’ menus properly. But Action Files’ real power is in how it beefs up the func- tionality of your Open, Save, and Save As dialogue boxes— which you can now resize. It 22 » AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 adds a menu bar that offers many of the same operations as the OS 8 Finder menu bar. For example, without exiting the dialogue box, you can create new folders; move items to the Trash; use the Get Info com- mand for files and folders; and label, rename, duplicate or make an alias of an item. You can per- form these actions on only one file at a time, however. You can use Action Files’ View menu to sort items in the dialogue box by criteria such as name, size, kind, label, and date; or you can sort by clicking on the corresponding column head- ing in the list. And you can select recent files and folders via the Folders and Documents menus. Action Files also sports a Find command that lets you search using nearly all the same criteria as in Mac OS"s Find File. Regrettably, Action Files’ search fields don’t support Macintosh Drag and Drop; unlike with Find File, if you choose to search by creator you can’t drag and drop a file into Action Files’ search field and expect that file’s creator to appear in the field. Apple should consider fold- ing Action Files 1.0’s features into a future release of the Mac OS—they’re that good. If you’d like your Open and Save dia- logue boxes to be as option- packed as the OS 8 Finder, you're ready for Action. && Type: Utility Rating: te RRP: $79 Distributor: Trio Technology Telephone: 075577 4411 Facsimil 07 5577 4455 Reviewer: = Christopher Breen OT Power On Software's Toles Documents nga 3 3 Action Files lets you perform Finder-like functions without exiting a dialogue box. Wwinwt rH Sivmeen friad i oi uta ortpe[Reaaaie ries ————T>) Dark Colony [EEE A RATHER CONVENTIONAL ATTEMPT AT THE GENRE D ark Colony is set on Mars in 2137. A new energy source of wondrous proportions has been discovered there, which is why humans have begun colonising the red planet. They terraform, oxygenate and even release fauna from Earth. It becomes a thriving lala world, yet there were problems almost from the start: strange malfunctions and inexplicable accidents; even entire colonies have disappeared. Then the Taar appear. They are your ‘typical X-File aliens’ with long drawn-out faces and big black eyes. Their home Humans going onthe offensive in Dari Colony. planet has been destroyed, and they are intent on establishing themselves on Mars. Their next target is Earth. Obviously, the humans have different ideas. In Dark Colony you can play for the Taar or the Humans. Each side has its advantages, yet they are well balanced as far as playability is concerned. The plot is well out- lined in the detailed manual and there are high-quality (if a bit violent) video sequences. The in-game graphics and units are also very good. Every- thing is well represented and the array of different units makes for an entertaining and addictive game that is well worth playing. Multiplayer support adds an extra dimension to Dark Colony: games of this genre are often most enjoyable when you are playing against somebody you know. Dark Colony is a game that works well on the basics: decent graphics, an engaging plot and enveloping gameplay. It is, however, a rather ‘conven- tional’ attempt at the genre. There’s nothing mould breaking about it. Think of it as a cross between Warcraft 2 and Com- mand & Conquer. You'll need a Power Mac with at least 16MB of RAM, 10MB free on your hard disk (though 66MB is recom- mended) and a 4x CD-ROM drive. ER Type: Game Rating: tee RRP: $79.95 Distributor: Streetwise Software Telephone: 03 9819 2891 Facsimil 03 9819 3902 Reviewer: James Allworth EndNote 3.0 © «2 ]]====ess — INDISPENSABLE IN ACADEMIA ver the years, I’ve proba- bly saved hundreds of hours by using EndNote to for- mat citations and bibliographies in my research papers and books. With version 3.0, Niles Software has managed to make an indispensable tool even more powerful by letting you access internet- or intranet-based data- bases from within EndNote. EndNote’s search feature works with dial-up or direct connections and is compatible with any database server that follows the Z39.50 standard— MedLine, for example, and most Australian university library catalogues. You'll need a unique con- nection file for each remote database you want to access; EndNote ships with preconfig- ured files for more than 100 databases, and you can down- load new ones free from <www.niles.com>. The manual even gives detailed instructions on how to edit connection files and create new ones. If the data- base is restricted to subscribers, you’ll be prompted to enter a user ID and, if necessary, a password. Once you're online, you can use EndNote’s standard search engine to look for references. EndNote displays a dialogue box showing how many match- ing records were found, so you can retrieve as few or as many references as you like. Depend- ing on the number of records and the speed of your connec- tion, it may take a few minutes to capture them all. When you're finished, you can transfer the references into an EndNote library with one mouse-click. In some cases, EndNote’s search options aren’t as compre- hensive as those offered by a database’s provider. For exam- ple, you can access the MedLine database at <www.infotrieve. com/freemedline/> at no charge by using a front end that lets you look for references based on an author's institutional affilia~ tion; that option isn’t available when you use EndNote to search the same database. But EndNote’s engine is adequate for many searches, and it’s espe- cially valuable when you need to find only a reference or two. For databases that aren’t accessible online, EndNote 3.0 still lets you import references that have been saved in text files—unlike the previous ver- sion, EndNote 3.0 no longer requires the separate EndLink to import references. The new release also sports several other improvements, including compatibility with AppleWorks (formerly Claris- Works), support for drag-and- drop transferring of references among libraries, and a plug-in for Microsoft Word 6 and Word 98. Also, an EndNote 3.0 plug- in for Microsoft Word 5.1 should be available by the time you read this. If you're already an EndNote user and you work with remote databases, the upgrade is a worthwhile investment. If you’re still formatting research papers the old-fashioned way, EndNote deserves a prominent place in your software tool kit. Ei Type: Bibliography manager RRP: $449 ($399 academic, $289 student) Distributor: Crandon Services Telephone: 02 6658 3674 Facsimile: 02 6658 3675 Reviewer: = Franklin Tessler AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 = 23 Steven Noble writes about Apple and education in Australia. Apple Computer Australia shakes up its education channel. The Apple School Access Plan is how agency partners can help schools rent Macs from Apple. Edu Nice work if you can get it bit of pain for a lot of gain—that’s the philoso- phy that Apple Computer is applying to its world-wide sales channel. The company is more than willing to pull out of any channel relationships that it feels are not working to the platform’s advantage. In Australia in 1997 that meant pulling out of most department stores. In this US this year, it meant de-authorising about 1200 resellers. Worldwide, it has meant an aggressive ‘silverlight’ campaign to stop unauthorised retailers from selling Macs or using the Apple logo. Now, Apple Computer Australia is also radically restructuring its relationship with its K-12 (kinder- garten to year 12) agents, to create a one-to-one rela- tionship between each agent and the schools in a par- ticular region, according to Martin Perrins, manager for consumer and K-12 education with Apple Com- puter Australia. Apple Computer has followed an agency model in the Australian K-12 education marketplace for more than two years. This means that the education sales- people at Macintosh retailers carry Apple business cards, and the prices and services they offer are those stipulated in Apple’s education price list and service contracts. They are independent businesspeople, with mortgages and aspirations and staff to support, but they don’t just order Macs wholesale and sell them retail. Rather, they are agents of Apple Computer— they represent the company. In addition to the product itself, these agents are contracted to provide after-sales service to schools on behalf of the company. They can help schools rent Macs from Apple (the Apple School Access Plan), or buy Macs under finance. They provide three years’ Apple- Care after-sales support. By establishing a one-to-one relation- ship between each agent and the schools in its allocated region, Apple will prevent multiple quotes on Macintosh product— a waste of everyone’s time, as agents should be providing identical quotes any- way. Fewer agents also means lower sup- port costs for Apple. In turn, Apple is assuming responsibility for invoicing schools, reducing the administration costs borne by the agents. State governments are pouring millions into schools for computer purchases. Despite this, margins for retailers are actually falling, according to Perrins, because of new centralised tender pro- grams and the like. By reducing the number of agents, Apple hopes that those who remain will collect rea- sonable revenue, both making this business worth their while, and helping them fund appropriate service 24 = AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 and support schemes and promotional strategies. These centralised buying schemes raise the stakes for Apple, and the company has to deal with each state government before its agents enter the fray. The result? SO percent of the NSW Department of Educa- tion rollout has been filled with Macs—more than 20,000 units over the past 18 months. Apple’s market presence has fallen in some other states, however. Most rural areas and smaller cities are already ser- viced by just one agent, but this has not been the case in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. For this reason, Apple sent a ‘request for proposal’ (RFP) to its sales channel in these three cities, seeking expressions of interest in the education market. At the time of writ- ing, the three-city RFP was close to completion, and Apple had decided to extend the process nationwide. However, the company had not yet named its two Brisbane agents. The Melbourne market will be divided into Choice Connection and Desktop Power regions. The latter company has been known primarily as a Masters of Media reseller, but it acquired much of IC Technol- ogy’s education business earlier this year, according to Perrins. Computers Now no longer has agency in Melbourne. “They came to education late,” said Per- tins, “and probably it wasn’t their primary focus”. Choice Connections also gets part of the Sydney market, along with Penrith-based reseller Aymena. SouthMark Solutions, which incorporates the former Logical Solutions, can no longer act as an Apple K-12 education agent in Sydney (or Brisbane). Sydney-based Kurrawood Computers, which had been quite involved in K-12 education, also loses agency. Heather Bullot, managing director of Kurrawood Computers, agreed that the RFP would be good for Apple Computer, but expressed concern for those schools that would no longer be able to deal with their preferred channel partner. Perrins conceded that some schools might prefer other agents than those they have been allocated, but argued that the program would improve service to schools. Apple will assess agents on their performance in their allocated region, both in serving established Mac-using schools, and in winning new contracts in those where Apple has not had a presence. It’s regrettable that micro-market forces will no longer weed the good agents from the bad. Rather, Apple itself has determined their future in this market, inevitably smashing the dreams of some former educa- tion resellers. However, the company is more commit- ted than ever to responding to macro-market forces, and winning the marketshare war with its compelling education products. Now that it knows which agents are servicing which schools and regions, it has the opportunity to ensure they're all working towards this goal and being well rewarded for their efforts. &% “(| SWITCH TO TOTAL PERFORMANCE. The world’s most awarded range of monitors now introduces the next generation: SyncMaster Total Performance Monitors. A new family of multimedia monitors incorporating startling new features. Whether you are creating on a PC or Macintosh system, you'll be able to look and listen to your work with a clarity you thought unimaginable Before you invest in a new monitor, switch your attention to the future now. Call 1300 369 660. 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TRAINING COURSES ‘Courses range from 1 to 5 days on Adobe PhotoShop, Illustrator, Quark Xpress, Pagemaker, Web Publishing and MacOSB 1 DAY Training Course $195, Intro to the Internet or Moc OS & Troubleshooting, 2 DAY Training Course $375 Photoshop or Hlustrator or Quark Xpress or Web page desian, 5 DAY Training Course $895 Covers Photoshop, llustrator, Quark Xpress, Mac OS & PageMker IN MELBOURNE CALL y, i, CALL NO CHARGE DESIGN Y FAX : (03) 9794 0034 = computer systems E-MAIL: sales@designwyse.com.au Ter EE aBh, €9 Please cal for Government, Higher Ed or Bulk Prices. 5 Ge: Pi tt ange mou ee Ea —— Ow 4/200 PRINCES HWY DANDENONG VIC 3175 won sor ame M.Y.0.B. is conclusive proof that you can run a business successfully on a Mac. Since it first became available on Mac OS in 1989, it has won numerous awards including Australian MacWorld’s “World Class Award” for 6 years running, M.Y.O.B continues to support key Apple technologies such as WET classic. AppleScript and is accelerated for use on Power Macintosh, Today M.Y.0.B. is leading accounting software, locally Australia’s developed and used by over 115,000 Australian businesses. Furthermore we have continually developed and enhanced our product for Mac users. A point we think makes it a Mac classic. For more information about M.Y.0.B products for Mac OS call 1800 555 007 or visit your Apple reseller. Ssrtwant Australia’s own world class accounting software. PHOTOGRAPHY: ARNOLD TIOSEJO inic NVvac cometh Astar is born, as Apple gets set to launch its groundbreaking new consumer Mac. By Andrew Gore and Anita Epler etro isin, and Steve Jobs knows it. He’s reached into Apple’s past in hopes of blazing a trail back into the hearts of consumers, with a daring new entry- level Macintosh: the iMac. Two years ago, Apple qui- etly exited the low-cost computing market, citing an inability to compete with manufacturers of Windows- based PCs on price and time-to-market issues. Since that time, the company down-sized and, according to interim CEO Jobs, became much more efficient and able to deliver new products faster. As a result, Jobs said, Apple is ready to re-enter the consumer market with a dramatic new Macintosh that relies as much on nostalgia as it does on bold technology and design. The iMac will offer leading-edge capabilities, a breath- taking design, and a bargain price when it ships in Australia this August for $2795 RRP. For years, Apple relied on pedestrian designs for its desktop computers, leaving visual innovation to PowerBook designers. The iMac is different: it demands to be noticed, sporting a fresh, ultra-modern design that is at the same time very familiar. It’s hard not to recognise the iMac’s lineage: the all-in-one case, the tiny footprint, even the integrated handle—all suggest the original 128K Macintosh. But this is where the similarities end. Using translucent plastics of ‘ice’ and ‘Bondi blue’ (in homage to the Syd- ney beach), Apple's industrial-design group created a computer without a single straight line—even the key- board components are curved. The case allows throiigh just enough light to suggest the outlines of the iMac’s internal works without revealing too much. Every piece of this system—from cables to key caps—uses translucence, curves, and light to great effect. The round mouse reveals a tracking ball that’s half white and half blue-green—watching the mouse while it’s in motion can be mesmerising. Adding to the space-age effect, Apple will use holographic stick- ers for port identifiers and other labels. A translucent white flip-down foot props up the keyboard, coordi- nating nicely with the iMac’s aquamarine appendage. round mouse’s translucent case lets you watch its two-colour ball rotate and spin as-you drag your cursor—a hypnotic effect. Like those of the G3 PowerBooks, the iMac's keyboard sports function keys and inverted-T cursor keys. Like all things iMac, the key caps are transparent, too. The keyboard offers two USB ports (one is used to connect the mouse) and a USB hub, to allow daisy-chained devices. A hard- wired cable connects the keyboard to the iMac, leaving the second port free. AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 # 29 Slightly ahead of its time Breakthrough design doesn’t stop on the iMac’s sur- face: a cutting-edge logic board hides behind the futur- istic plastics. A 233MHz PowerPC G3 processor complete with a 512K backside cache—a combination that should yield respectable performance—lies at the heart of the newly designed board. Like the new G3 PowerBook Series, the iMac uses SODIMM RAM, a common memory standard on Wintel PCs. This design choice should make it easy and inexpensive to expand the iMac beyond its standard 32MB of RAM, up to its 128MB maximum. A daughtercard houses the processor, two RAM slots, and a new Open Firmware ROM. The processor daughtercard connects to the main logic board via a speedy, 66MHz PCI system bus. The iMac comes with the ATI Rage IIc 2D/3D accelerated- graphics chip set and 2MB of SGRAM for video. Connectivity features include 10/100BaseT Ethernet via an auto-negotiating RJ-45 jack, a 4Mbps IrDA infrared port, a 33.6Kbps modem, and two 12Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB) connections. If the iMac's built-in SRS speakers don't move you, you can attach external speakers here. An au located nearby. jack is Twin hot-pluggable 12Mbps Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports are the iMac's only connection to the outside world, in lieu of the familiar SCSI, serial, and ADB ports. The keyboard uses one plug, leaving the other free for a scanner, external modem, printer, removable-media drive, or other external device. This RJ-45 jack looks like a standard Ethernet port, but it combines 10BaseT and high-speed 100BaseT capabil ties in a single, auto-negotiating connector. A 33.6Kbps software modem lets you surf the net at moderate speeds. The iMac supports faster connections via external USB modems, or via an Ethernet connec to a LAN or a cable modem. Rounding out the package, the iMac comes with audio-in/out ports on the side of the unit, two head- phone jacks on the front of the case, and a low-noise digital-audio chip that supports simulated surround sound (SRS) on the iMac’s two integrated speakers. A rear door offers access to a slide-out chassis that houses the logic board and media bays, making it easy to upgrade both RAM and storage devices; a 4GB EIDE hard disk and a 24x ATAPI CD-ROM drive are standard equipment. Like the original Macintosh, the iMac sports a built-in display. The shadow-mask 15-inch monitor offers a 13.8-inch viewable area with a 0.28mm dot pitch; it supports 24-bit colour at 640 by 480 and 800 by 600 pixels, and 16-bit colour at 1024 by 768 pix- els. Beefing up the SGRAM to 4MB provides 24-bit colour at the highest resolution. The missing links Considering all these amenities, the most shocking part of the iMac isn’t what it offers, but what it lacks. The iMac has no floppy drive. The iMac's integrated microphone is similar to those found on Apple's AV monitors and all-in-one systems. The 15-inch (with 13.8-inch viewable area) shadow-mask monitor features high refresh rates—117MHz at standard resolution, down to 75MHz at maximum resolution— to reduce flicker, and a 0.28mm dot pitch for enhanced readability. Gone are the days of loading software from floppies—at least Apple hopes so. You'll use this 24x ATAPI CD-ROM drive to install all your programs, unless you down- load them from the web. A full-speed (4Mbps) IrDA-compliant infrared port lets you beam data to other IrDA devices such as PDAs, PowerBooks, and printers. The unit sports its own power button. A green light indicates power is on; amber denotes the iMac is asleep. Like its keyboard, the iMac has a flip-down foot that tilts and raises the system. Built-in stereo speakers offer ulated surround sound (SRS). Twin headphone jacks let two users use a single iMac—a feature that's especially wel- come in classrooms. 30 = AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD JULY 1998 And most dramatically, this new consumer offer- ing has no SCSI port, no standard serial ports, and no ADB ports. Apple has opted to replace these familiar connections with USB, a high-speed serial architecture that has suffered from slow adoption on the Wintel platform despite its technical advantages. USB: ready for prime time? Apple’s renunciation of its old connectivity standbys— SCSI, ADB, and traditional Macintosh serial ports—in favour of the Universal Serial Bus (USB) is perhaps the biggest variable in the iMac’s equation. At the time of writing, no current Mac peripherals support USB. Unless printer, scanner, or other exter- nal-device manufacturers take the time to write special drivers and provide adaptor cables, chances are that iMac owners won't be able to use any devices they already own—or those released before the iMac’s debut. It’s physically possible to connect non-USB peripherals to the iMac with an adaptor, but peripher- als vendors must write USB drivers before their devices can communicate with the iMac. However, Apple claims that hardware vendors will soon offer a wide variety of USB devices for the iMac. And indeed, some have already announced their plans to do so. Imation and Panasonic are working on a USB device that will read and write both floppy disks and proprietary 120MB SuperDisk removable cartridges. USB is part of Hewlett-Packard’s plans to become the premiere supplier of printers for the Mac. And, Newer Technology is working on a USB-to-serial converter and a USB floppy drive, amongst other devices. Although USB-offers an inexpensive and speedy alternative to traditional serial and ADB, it’s a poor substitute for SCSI because the speeds of USB devices are interdependent: the more active devices on the bus, the slower each USB peripheral is likely to perform—a major issue for storage products. (As USB spreads throughout Apple’s product line in the coming year for mid-speed peripheral connec- tions, the company will increasingly turn to Firewire as its cross-platform standard for high-speed peripheral connections.) A machine equipped with USB can support up to 127 logical devices, including disk drives, keyboards, mice, modems, scanners, cameras, printers, and even monitors. Still, the iMac’s two ports might seem rather skimpy, considering that every peripheral device has to have its own connection. However, because USB uses a hub topology (like Ethernet), adding more ports is simply a matter of connecting a powered USB hub, a feature built into many USB devices. The keyboard that comes with the iMac acts as such a hub: both the mouse and another USB device can be plugged into it. CHRP-like simplicity reborn Using widely available technologies to reduce costs was one of the key concepts behind IBM, Motorola, and Apple’s now-abandoned Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) specification. The iMac isn’t CHRP-based, but it’s darn close, featuring PC-standard RAM and an Open Firmware ROM in addition to its USB support. Those who followed the CHRP saga will recall that an Open Firmware ROM contains only minimal hardware-addressing instructions, unlike current Mac ROMs that carry complex, machine-specific instruc- tion sets. With Open Firmware, most instructions are instead loaded into RAM. As a result, the Mac OS takes up more RAM on the iMac, but future ROM updates will be much eas- ier to make, shortening the produ