AustralianMacworldMay1998

MHzG3! Reviews Power Mige | dat | © AY 1998 15.95 swz7.95 el.cst M.Y.0.B. is conclusive proof that you can run a business successfully on a Mae. 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 ACCOL Mg Dn COUNTING WITH PAYROLL Mac classic. AppleScript and is accelerated for use on Power Macintosh. Today M.Y.O.B. is Australia’s leading accounting software, developed and used by over locally 115 000 Australian businesses. Furthermore we have continually developed and Mac enhanced our product — for users. A point we think mal Mac classic. it a For more information about M.Y.0.B products for Mac OS call 1800 007 or visit your Apple reseller. Australia’s own world class accounting software. Content == 11 Exclusive lab test — We preview the new 300MHz Power Macintosh G3, and scan the horizon for follow-up products. 12 QuickTime 3 out mow — The latest version of QuickTime, with both free and “professional” features, is available now for download. QUICKCLICKS 21 Journeyman Project 3 — Rich game hampered by average graphics. 22 Entable — Uneven table tool for QuarkXPress. You Don't Know Jack Movies & TV — Dredging US-orientated trivia. 23 Disney's Hades Challenge — Grumpy gods from ancient Greece My Amazing Human Body — Dk's body-guide for younger children. 24 F/A-18 Korea — The benchmark for Mac flight sims. Power3D — 3D.-acceleration card for games. 25 Surf Express — The slower you surf, the better the acceleration. Hard Disk Toolkit 2.5 — Formatter gets a smoother look. 26 Deadlock — A sim without the work. Stuffit Deluxe 4.5.1 — Minor bugs, major usefulness. 27 = QX-Effects 3.0 — Special effects for QuarkxPress. Test Strip 2.02 — Colour plugin gains features. 28 —_LANsurveyor 4.0 — Network monitor weak on IP. VideoShop 4.0/3D — Video editor adds 3D support, music maker. 29 ~—-Neosys 1.1 — Visualise your data. FEATURES 32 Web publisher's essential took kit — Choosing the best HTML editor. 40 Java finally delivers — The fastest Java for Mac OS users. 46 Stop fumbling with your fonts — Manage your typefaces with ease. 56 Flash fixes — Coping with a flashing question mark at startup. REVIEWS 59 Three French tutors — Claudine Teaches French, Easy Language Conversational Skills and Francais | go head-to-head. 61 Two antivirus programs — Choosing between Virex and VirusScan. 63 QuickTime VR Authoring Studio 1.0 — QTVR-production tool. 65 Elastic Reality 3.1 — Morphing software for professionals. 67 Final Effects Complete — Top video-effects collection grows. 4 Editorially Speaking 6 MailBox 38 Off the Net 44 ReadMe 54 Design 69 Help Folder 72 Tips & Tricks 74 Finder 76 Mac Market 82 SoapBox COMING SOON Monitor user's guide With its release of ColorSync 2.5, Apple is working hard to cement its position as the leading platform for graphics and colour publishing. This feature will show how to use Colorsync, the Monitors & Sounds control panel and other Apple and third-party technologies to get the most out of your Mac's most vital com- panion—your monitor. Internet-standard email Internet-standard email is everywhere, even on LANs that used to run different protocols altogether. This feature will map recent trends in this area and eval- uate the leading client programs. Shopping for secondhand Macs Don't miss this feature if you want to know where to find secondhand Macs, how to make sure they're in good work- ing order, and how to determine which models best fit your needs and budget. FireWire: fast, hassle-free video FireWire interfaces are being built into the latest generation of video cameras and Radius has software and a FireWire interface for the Mac. The result? Getting high-quality video from your camera to the desktop is about to. become significantly less complicated than programming a VCR. BEHIND THE COVER Photography by Giampiero Benevenuti. DiI ORIALL SPEAKING ing with a full deck If Steve Jobs turns up on your doorstep with a bag of chips, some sour cream dip and a six-pack of organic orange juice, pray he’s not crashing your poker game, because Apple’s “interim” CEO never shows his hand until he’s ready to call, and the company he co- founded cleans up every time. If the rumour-mongers are correct, Steve Jobs is holding a royal flush, aces high: another profitable quarter; ultra-cheap Macintosh hardware; the first customer release of Rhapsody; a major revision of Mac OS; and a permanent chief executive officer for Apple. Read ‘em and weep, suckers. Not that any of this can be gleaned from the company’s poker- faced representatives, most of whom are playing their cards very close to the corporate chest. And the very few who don’t are those who apparently become the “anonymous sources” that feed the world’s first global real-time rumour mill: the internet. The hottest gossip usually makes its way to <www.macosrumors.com> and <www.macnn.com/reality>. Internet rumour one: another profitable quarter. By the time you read this, Apple may have announced that it has repeated its January 1998 coup with a second consecutive quarter of profitability. Internet rumour two: ultra-cheap Macintosh hardware. Apple has already announced that it will be replacing the $1325 eMate 300 with a product that runs Mac OS. Rumour has it that the company is also working on an Apple Media Player (aimed at the market that ignored the Pippin) and a cheap all-in-one G3 Power Macintosh. Many speculate that these cheap Mac OS systems could be positioned as network computers (NCs), relying on ultra-fast Rhapsody servers for file services and application hosting. Internet rumour three: the first customer release of Rhapsody. Remember those one-box/two-box/yellow-box/blue-box diagrams that Apple Computer initially used to explain its road-map for Rhapsody and Mac OS? Well, they’re nowhere to be seen these days. Nonetheless, most expect the first release of Rhapsody to include far more Mac OS-compatibility than Apple ever promised, along with advanced features such as symmetrical multiprocessing and protected memory. Internet rumour four: the next major revision to Mac OS. Allegro, as Mac OS 8.2 is known, should be close to 100-percent PowerPC native, making for noticeable gains in speed and stability. Also, rumour has it that Allegro will feature “forward compatibility” with Rhapsody. Internet rumour five: a permanent chief executive officer for Apple. Every second week someone comes out with another rumour about Steve Jobs either finally accepting the position of CEO, or making way for some high-flying recruit from IBM, Sony or wher- ever. At writing, however, it appears that no-one wants to force Jobs to make a decision about his future at Apple—he’s simply doing too good a job. Jobs will show his hand when he’s good and ready, and we can expect his royal flush to floor Apple’s few remaining doubters. Wz NLA. Steven Noble, Editor. Fungus? TO RICOH IT'S A beetle. Aficio® t42 uirimare ois R ers, Using the world’s finest toner particles and over 16 million colours, a Ricoh Aficio 5000 series digital colour copier captures every detail. Every nuance. It's built in display editor also offers you full colour image manipulation, while PC and Macintosh” connectivity allows complex jobs to be printed directly from your computer. The unique flat paper path delivers reliable auto duplexing, the most versatile paper handling, and the fastest all Go [H first copy time in its class. See the difference an Aficio can make. Call 1800 646 679 May 1998 Issue No. 5 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) : Australian Macworld isa publication of, Niche Media Pry 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 cond has feng ight © Macwone, 2 ‘Mac Publishing LLC tile Material appearing in ‘Ausratan Macworld is pubished under Icence ftom ‘Moc Putnrng ILC San Franssco, Csloma Edo items appearing in Ausaian Macworld that were cegirety pubished inthe US etion of Mocworid are the copyaght propery Of Mac Aubishing LLC, wich reserves a oghts. Cogngnt © 1997 Mec Aubssing LLC Mecworid sa radertan: of Mec Pubahing LIC Mat Bring on the ads Could someone please tell me why it is taking Apple Australia so long to screen the excellent G3 ads from the US that I am seeing on the internet? I realise the Think Different ads are being screened in Australia (I have yet ¢ to see one), but I still have friends buying Wintel boxes because they believe Apple is going down the gurgler. Some of them, when I explain the benefits of the Mac, and its ability to run Windows, say “What have I done?” I suspect by the time we see real kick-butt ads lay down the facts, the G3 will be old news. I am sick to death of seeing Intel parade all over my television screen. Come on Apple Australia, show yourself! Carl Williams Rosanna, Vic Ed: Apple Australia is not available for comment on this matter. However, the company is successfully building “brand equity” with its current Think Different campaign—an important first step in any long- term marketing push. In February 1998, The Australian Magazine and Ad News gave their Award for Creative Excellence to this campaign. ‘On March 11, Apple launched a new 30-second television advertisement in the US, apologising for “toasting the Pentium Il in public” with its new ultra-fast G3 Power Macintosh systems. Coececesccccsccecssccecsceseeseoeeseeseeseeseseeee® Star Trek duo I could not believe the review of the Star Trek Encyclopaedia by Stephen Dunne in the March 1998 issue of Australian Mac- world. Dripping with sarcasm and slurs, it was obviously writ- ten by someone who holds Star Trek in open contempt. Captains Chair aside, I bought a copy of the Star Trek Omnipedia, a single-CD version of the Encyclopaedia, and found it to be an incredibly well done piece of software. It contains vir- tually every fact from the TV shows and movies, as well as a multitude of sounds, video clips and full-colour pictures. It is good fun and a serious reference work, despite being based on fiction. I agree that non-fans would find it a waste of time, but giv- ing a wonderful product a two- mice rating? Flipping back one page I see three video-effects plug-ins rated at four mice or more each. Sure, they must be worth these mouse ratings, but not to people who do not use that type of software. I suggest getting a reviewer who has not rated the software before he tries it out. Stephen Harrington Sale, Victoria Think enough! Re: Price concern Well Apple has now killed New- ton. What personal agendas might be behind this who can say. We can say this much— Apple has now killed two of its significant technologies in the past few months: OpenDoc/ Cyberdog and Newton. Both had sizeable developer and user communities. People who, at Apples encouragement, commit- ted significant resources to these technologies. People who’s livelihoods depended on them. Apple so far has given no indication that it will sell or licence these technologies and allow others to continue their development. This is a sickening trend in the software industry: create a technology, kill it, then keep it dead to prevent it competing with whatever you want to replace it with. Frankly, I see no reason whatsoever why companies should be allowed to keep intel- lectual property rights to soft- ware they themselves don’t want to maintain. If they have no plans for it, why not set it free? It worked for Linux. Matthew Godden Newtown NSW Just a comment in relation to Bill Harrington’s response to the letter “Price concern” in the March 1998 issue of Australian Macworld: All the points he made in relation to the differ- ences between Macs and PCs are fine. But he has to accept that Mohammed’s perception is quite valid for the Australian marketplace. With the absence of a proper marketing campaign to clearly point out the benefits of the Mac over its PC rivals what else can people like Mohammed be left to judge on except price? Toby Beedell IT Manager, Results Corporation Worldwide 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 for publication on letters sent via email. When Sony's engineers, being the fastidious people they are, discovered that seemingly unrelated things like the earth's magnetic field could distort a monitor's picture, they promptly invented a way to correct it. They also invented a way to correct distortion caused by fluctuations in temperature, and a unique feature called Digital Multiscan II, which continually assesses and sharpens a screen's image. Alll this, combined with Sony's applauded Trinitron technology, will give you the ultimate tool for improving your company’s image. For a brochure call 1800 226 429. It’s a Sony Your Multimedia & Entry Level Macs Power Macintosh 7220/200 PC Compatible 200MHz 603e & Pentium 166MHz processor’, up to 160Mb RAM, 2 PCI slots 8x CD, 2D accelerated graphics, 64 bit VRAM Graphics expandible to 4Mb. PC/16/2Gb/CD & 14” Display (from $26 awk) ... $2695 Power Macintosh 5500/225 The ‘all in one’ 225MHz 603e processor; up to 128Mb RAM, 8x CD, 1 PCI expansion slot, 15” in built display, 256k level 2 cache. 16/2Gb/CD/(from $28 awk)..... wow $2795 Power Macintosh 6500/275 275 MHz 603e processor; 12x CD, GeoPort modem, video in and out, 512k level 2 cache, 2 PCI expansion Slots. 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Business/Utility/Games ClarisWorks Office 5.0 FileMaker Pro 4.0 MYOB First Accout ATM Deluxe Office 98 Norton Utilities 3.5.1 Symantec Suitcase 3. $ (Acad $412)$749 129 If you'd like regular product updates & notice of specials , send an email with your email address in the subject field to us at: email_list@macsplace.com.au ACCESS fora We offer fast downloading of files and web pages, reliable connec- tions, one of the lowest “user to line” ratios in the country, FREE space for your own web page. We supply the easiest to install, pre configured connection software available, including Microsoft Internet Explorer 3. We love Macs - we won't treat you like a second rate customer just because you have a Mac. Our access is a flat rate $365 per year, no joining fees, no ongoing fees - this includes 4 hours of access every day of the year. Currently available htime E total internet service in Melbourne & Brisbane Call 1 300 361 261 Today. (Sydney coming soon.) ptigas Mac’s Place Brisbane 100 Eagle St, Brisbane Ph (07) 3229 3111 Fax (07) 3229 3955 Random Access 595 little Colins St, Melbourne Ph (03) 9629 1000 Fax (03) 9629 6737 Country Callers Call us for the cost of a local call on 1300 361 261 ____randomaccess _ Masters of Media a Place eee on AppleCentre Service Provider Plus vy) EW CONNECTIX VIRTUAL PC GIVES YOU A WHOLE NEW FREEDOM. Connectix Virtual PC” gives you the freedom to run PC software including games, edutainment titles and productivity applications with playable performance on your Power Mac or clone, Connectix Virtual PC is the first, truly affordable, easy way to run the universe of PC applications on your Mac. Easily installed, Connectix Virtual PC is like having a Pentium” MMX™ PC in software. Use yout favorite Mac peripherals because Connectix Virtual PC has built-in support for CD-ROM, networking (ethernet), printing, modem, sound and video. Connectix Virtual PC includes either Windows 95”, Windows 3.1 or IBM* PC DOS. You can even run Windows NT™, IBM? OS/2™ and NeXT? OpenStep™ (not included). Switch instantly between Mac and PC applications. Get Connectix Virtual PC. Then, run the universe of PC software on your Mac. Cc Connectix a THEEYTORIANNG : PC SOFTWARE ON YOUR MAC Distributed by: Firmware Design (047) 21 7211 www. firmware.com.au Connects Virual PC Allother trademarks ar their eespective holders MacNews NEWS THIS ISSUE ! MAC OS SYSTEMS G3 roll-out creeps forward Distributor shake-up 12 After Apple Computer Aus- “In the future we do plan to comment on internet rumours QuickTime 3 and Pro 2 tralia’s successful December offer lower price-point G3- that Apple Computer is about release of 233MHz and__ based products... to education to revise its PowerBook G3 Apple Studio Display 2 266MHz Power Macintosh and and consumer markets,” says range, saying that current PowerBook systems based on Harrington, “but the product | PowerBook 1400 and G3 mod- Adobe Premiere 5.0 B the PowerPC 750 (“G3”) announced in the US doesn’t fit els will continue selling well for processor, the company has ___ that requirement.” some time yet. Power protection 13 experienced moderate delays in Also, Harrington has no — Steven Noble bringing 300MHz G3 systems Apple's third-party products 14 to market. Also, the company is NewTek’s Inspire 3D 14 yet to add an all-in-one desk- top, or next-generation Power- ‘A Marshall in your Mac 4 Book, to its G3 line-up. Of the 300MHz G3 Power Apple T-Shirts: the book 16 Macs, Apple Computer Aus- tralia’s manager for Macintosh Ricoh’s RDC-300Z 16 Bill Harrington says, “We were hoping to ship in April... but it Desktop film recorder 16 won't be until May that we'll ship outside the US.” Meta revamps Painter range 18 Unlike Apple inthe US, Umax’s PowerLook 300018 Apple Computer Australia is not presently announcing an all-in-one G3 system. “The Power Macintosh G3 all-in-one was developed to be delivered in time for the start of the US education buy period and will be sold into the US and Canada education markets only,” says Harrington. He says this is because Aus- tralia’s education buy period is currently ending, and because they would sell here for about the same price as the current 233MHz G3 systems while offering less flexibility. shipping Macs yet, but the ieee clearly eoukdisrare improvement to increase speed, as shown in the results from the prototype 300MHz system (also using a 66MHz bus) that Motorola had planned to ship last year, before Apple ended most Mac OS licensing. — Allyson Bates Model SpeedMark 1.0 score Motorola StarMax Pro 6000/300 prototype 6 Apple Power Macintosh 63/300 tower pot) __2 Apple Power Macintosh G3/266 tower E Appie Power Macintosh G3/233 desktop ‘Apple Power Macintosh 960/300 : Longer bars are better. Best overall performance in red. SpeedMark scores are expressed as mul- tiples of the speed of a Power Mac 7100/80, which has a score of 1.0. Macworld Lab's Speed- Mark testsuite runs 54 real-world tasks in 15 programs and the Finder. The tested systems were running Mac OS 8 and had 32MB of RAM, a 512K system disk cache, and a 16-bit video display set at 832 by 624 pixels. Macworld Lab testing supervised by Gil Loyola, AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 MacNews Shival [e) [Seae Mayes] D-Link |G sacem|ry ASANTE Heras ECE ses Wicom | arcane” P| ais HABIMONIX Sixteen of the vendors whose products are distributed in Australia by 1World Systems. Macromedia has announced Fireworks, which it is describing as the first production tool to provide a unified environment for creating, optimising and producing high-quality graph- ics for the web. Fireworks sup- ports visual export preview, complete control over compres- sion and colour palettes, auto- matic generation of button states and JavaScript rollovers, and text and effects which are editable all the time, according to Macromedia. Fireworks lets designers create the most com- pact graphics and GIF anima- tions in the fewest steps, the company says. At writing, a pre-release beta version of Fireworks is available for download at no charge at <www.getfireworks. com>. The commercial version will be approximately $500, and Firmware Design hopes to have stock by mid-year: 02 4721 7211; fax 02 4721 7215; <www. firmware.com.au>. 12 = AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1.998 | BUSINESS Hard times for distributors Mitsui Computer—a major dis- tributor of computing prod- ucts—announced in early April that it is closing down. The move came soon after Brocker Investments announced that it had bought 1World Systems, a major distributor of networking products. Distributors are the compa- nies that move products from the producer to the retailer. In remote countries such as Aus- tralia they are importers that also provide technical and mar- keting support. Some distribu- tors also sell direct to end-users. Mitsui managing director John Durbin attributes the com- pany’s demise to “ever-decreas- ing margins and every-spiralling costs,” factors which he says have affected all Australian IT distributors over the last year. Mitsui distributed Power Com- puting’s Macintosh clones in Australia before Apple bought back Power’s license. Customers who require information about products they purchased through Mitsui Computer are invited to call 1800801 444. In late March, the Canadian company Brocker Invest- ments—owner of the Australian distributor Sealcorp—acquired 1World Systems. Although the distributor will be relocated to Brocker offices, the company says that 1World Systems and Sealcorp will continue to oper- ate as separate business units. Previously, 1 World Systems was part of the liquidated Collins- croft group, along with the IC Technologies chain of Apple- authorised resellers (see April 1998, page 13). Di Ryall, managing director of Apple Computer Australia, says both distributors had cross- platform businesses and faced challenges that were not unique to the Macintosh market. — Steven Noble [Qurctcrime MEDIA LAYER Apple ships QT3, Pro Apple Computer has released the end-user version of Quick- Time 3.0, four months after shipping the devel- oper release of QuickTime 3.0 and three months after the end-user version was ini- tially meant to ship. Apple has also released QuickTime 3.0 Pro, and announced that it will release QuickTime for Java. QuickTime is Apple’s plat- form for the delivery of “dynamic content” such as movies, MIDI sound tracks and virtual-reality panoramas. It is available in Macintosh and Windows versions. New features in QuickTime 3.0 include compression tech- nologies licensed from Soren- son, QDesign and Qualcomm, virtual reality integration, sup- port for over 150 SMPTE- approved video effects and transitions, and over 200 MIDI- compatible sounds and instru- ments from Roland’s Sound Canvas sound set, according to Apple. Version 3.0 can also play- back over 30 audio and video file formats and streams digital content, letting internet users start viewing a movie before it has fully downloaded. QuickTime Pro refers to the authoring, editing and advanced playback capabilities that can be unlocked in QuickTime 3.0 once the user purchases a key from Apple Computer. “Some of those [Pro] features were available in QuickTime 2.5,” says Allan Bell, manager for software, Apple Computer Aus- tralia. “QuickTime 2.5 contin- ues to be available free,” Bell adds, “so there’s no obligation for someone who doesn’t need the features of QuickTime 3 to move up to it.” Apple has also announced QuickTime for Java, which will let developers write Java pro- grams that incorporate Quick- Time content and functionality. A developer release of QuickTime for Java is now available via <www.apple.com/ quicktime>; the end-user version is forthcoming. QuickTime 3.0 is free and available now from <www.apple.com/quicktime>. Apple Computer Australia will be distributing QuickTime 3.0 CDs at trade shows and possi- bly via Apple Software Upgrades (1300 300 771) for $15 shipping and handling. The key that unlocks the Pro fea- tures of QuickTime 3.0 can be purchased from Apple Software Upgrades for $45, or for $US29.99 via <www.apple.com/ quicktime>. — Steven Noble [Monirors Apple flattens the display Apple Computer is set to release the Apple Studio Display, its first stand-alone flat-panel active-matrix liquid-crystal dis- play. ADS is twice as crisp and bright as standard cathode-ray- tube monitors, Apple says. “The Apple Studio Display is the first flat- panel monitor designed to meet the advanced needs of Apple’ publishing and video customers,” says Steve Jobs, Apple’s interim CEO. ASD’s 15.1-inch screen offers a viewable area equivalent to many 17-inch monitors, Apple says, while occu- pying less than half the desktop space and using a third the power. ASD supports resolutions from 640-by-480 to 1024-by- 768 pixels, a wide viewing angle, and NTSC, PAL and SECAM input, Apple says. The company expects Australian Apple- authorised resellers to be stocking ASD in May for an estimated retail price of $3995. — Steven Noble [veo EDITING Adobe eyes professional video with Premiere 5.0 Adobe Systems Australia (1800 065 628) expects to release ver- sion 5.0 of Premiere this May, with an RRP of $1295 and an upgrade price of $349. Version 5.0 of Premiere is smoothly integrated into Adobe's product line, according to the company, sharing the same menus, tabbed palettes and keyboard shortcuts as pro- grams such as Illustrator and Photoshop. The upgraded video-editing program also delivers a streamlined interface, studio-quality audio tools, long- format editing tools, enhanced edit-decision list support, and other high-end production fea- tures, according to Adobe. Adobe Premiere 5.0 for : Adobe Premiere 50 Version 5.0 of Premiere, which Adobe Systems Australia expects to ship in May. Macintosh requires a PowerPC- based system, preferably with multiple processors; Mac OS 7.5.5 or later; at least 16 MB of application RAM, with 48MB being recommended; 30MB of hard-disk space for installation; and a CD-ROM drive. — Steven Noble [ INTERNET Power protection American Power Conversion (APC), a manufacturer of power-protection equipment, has established a direct link on Harris Technology’s web site <www.ht.com.au>. The move provides APC with an additional outlet for its new generation of uninterrupt- ible power supplies (UPS) and power-protection devices which it released earlier this year. Features of the new range include user-replaceable batter- ies, a communications-interface port for automatic shutdown, full-time noise filtration, and visible and audible alarm signals to alert the user when connected equipment is running on battery power. APC says that recent studies show a typical computing site can be hit by “power events” up to 120 times per month. Although 87 percent of power disturbances are not recognis- able to the human eye, APC says that symptoms can include key- board or mouse lock-ups, data loss, or problems with critical peripherals such as point-of- sale devices, laser printers and scanners. APC can be reached on 1800 652 725, fax 02 9955 2844 and <www.apcc.com/australia>. — Tami Dower APC’s power protection devices provide insurance for data and hardware. What can! do with new Timbuktu? Connect, communicate and collabo- rate seamlessly wherever you are. Timbuktu Pro 4.0 gives you the ability to directly exchange files, control and observe remote computers (even NT servers), chat, intercom, and much more- over the Internet or corporate Intranets at blazing speeds. utomate witn AppleScript support AppleScript record and playback makes short work of everyday operations. Synchronize files on multiple computers with one- clickease. eal-time talk Make yourself heard over the Internet or your AppleTalk network with a new built-in Intercom. Faster File Transfers low you can transfer files faster than you ever a thought possible. The new Open Transport native Timbuktu Pro 4.0 can cut file transfer time in half. Upgrade to Timbuktu Pro 4. Call now for a special upgrade offer for Timbuktu Pro 4.01 (03) 9865 9077 Or, contact your local Farallon reseller. wos foralon am TECHNOLOGY MacNews Psion Dacom’s Gold Card fax modem takes the place of Apple's PCMCIA 33.6 Modem and TDI's Global Class Modem ‘on Apple Computer Australia’s price list. Apple has released version 2.5 of ColorSync, which is available for download free of charge at <www.apple.com/ colorsync>. The new version of Apple’s colour-management system features AppleScript support, a monitor-calibration framework that lets third-party developers have their own software recog- nised by the Mac OS Monitors & Sound control panel, and support for additional colour profiles. Apple has also announced its intention to develop ColorSync for Win- dows, while Adobe has con- firmed its broader support of ColorSync for flagship products. Emerge has announced isite 2.0, which is home to the Aus- tralian Multimedia Industry Directory, and can be found at <www.isite.com.au>. Any Aus- tralian multimedia producer can take a free listing at this site; silver and gold listings are also available for a fee. 14 = AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 [MISCELLANY New third-party products via Apple In April, the third-party prod- ucts division of Apple Computer Australia (1800 025 355) began shipping new products from Magma, Psion Dacom and iRez. New from Magma is a range of external expansion boxes that provide additional PCI slots for certain Macintosh systems. A seven-slot model for desktop PCI-based Macs is $3305 ex-tax, and a 13-slot ver- sion lists for $3945. A seven- slot model for the PowerBooks 3400 and G3 lists for $3522. All three models are based on a 50cm steel rack-mounted enclo- sure, and consist of a board set, cable and power supply. All can also house up to three 3.5-inch SCSI devices, one of which can be externally accessed, accord- ing to Apple. Buyers should expect to wait seven to ten days for delivery as Magma stock will not be kept in this country, Apple says. The company is also willing to import the other products that are listed at <www.magma. com>. Apple Computer Australia has also begun shipping Psion Dacom’s $399 RRP S6Kbps Gold Card fax modem, removing the Apple PCMCIA 33.6 Modem and the TDK Global Class Modem from its price list. The modem is Newton com- patible, approved for use in 22 countries including Australia, and GSM upgradable, accord- ing to Apple, which is selling GSM kits for the Nokia 2110e, 8110, 3810 and 3110 and the Philips 747 for $329 RRP. This modem uses KS6Flex technology, according to Apple, and will be upgradable to the new V.90 standard. With its 2MB of flash memory, the modem can store the KS6Flex and V.90 specs simultaneously, the company says, auto-switch- ing to the correct setting depending on the signal received, and stepping down to 33.6Kbps when necessary. This modem is not packaged with any fax software, but Apple says it works with Apple Serial Modem Fax Software, which is on the Mac OS 8 and 8.1 CDs. New from iREZ is the Cap- Sure, a $219 RRP full-motion analogue capture card that offers PowerBook G3 and 3400 owners full-screen, 25-frames-per-second video preview from any compos- ite or S-video source, according to Apple. The card’s ZoomedVideo technology bypasses the system bus, according to the company, delivering data at rates up to 27MB per second while leaving the processor free for other tasks. — Steven Noble |3D MODELLING, RENDERING & ANIMATION NewTek goes for mid-range users NewTek—maker of the $2995 RRP LightWave 3D, a high-end 3D model- ling, rendering and animation program— has released the mid- range Inspire 3D, a $799 RRP program with the same code- base as LightWave. NewTek says it developed Inspire for graphic artists, web designers and multimedia devel- opers who need the power of LightWave’s rendering engine, but not all its options and tools. Inspire’s panel-based interface lets the user access most func- tions within two mouse-clicks, according to NewTek. Key features of Inspire includes its support for the free- form deformation of objects based on a skeletal system; its ray-tracing system for creat- ing shadows, reflections and Inspire 3D ships with a variety of pre-mod- elled objects, including this crone mask. refractions; its MetaNURBS modelling tool; and its cel-ren- dering technology for creating graphics that look like they're hand-drawn. NewTek also says that Inspire can import Illustra- tor and Photoshop files, and export to LightWave. NewTek products are distrib- uted in Australia by New Magic, which can be reached on 03 9532 9566, fax 03 9532 8556, and ewww.newmagic.comau>. — Steven Noble [music A Marshall in your Mac Macintosh users have the opportunity to make their elec- tronic compositions sound like Motorhead or Cream with the release of Red Valve-It VST, by Steinberg Spectral Design. Red Valve-It VST models a classic valve-based guitar amplifier and delivers a rich and natural sound, according to Steinberg. The plug-in is accessible from within sequencer environ- ments that comply with Digidesign’s TDM standard ewww digidesign.com>. The $349 RRP Red Valve-It VST is distributed in Australia by Music Technology, which can be reached on 02 9369 4990 and fax 02 9387 8676. — Steven Noble Typical for Steinberg’s products, the Red Valve-It interface looks like the analogue hardware that it emulates. Why? spend thoysaids of dollars on a whole new computer! When you cam probably make yours go [fasten anyway! (FOR A FRACTION OF THE COST) MacTherapy is pleased to be the distributor for Sonnet Products in Australia. Sonnet can make your mac go faster than you ever thought possible. Upgrade your tired 61xx, 7100 or 8100 to a Fast 604e or Lightning quick G3 processor and retain your investment in Memory and Peripherals. Fully 100% Tested and Compatible with all software & Hardware. Installs in Minutes. Sonnet makes it easy. Sonnet produce a range of high quality products designed to Accelerate your Mac. As wellas 604e & G3 processor cards for 72/73/75/ 75/85/86/95/9600 machines Sonnet make 604e & G3 upgrades for 61xx/7100/8100. Sonnet also produce perfor- mance enhancing cache for cache ready Mac's & ‘040 upgrades for older Macs. 650 [Bs0OwithSennetG3Upgrade 607 (EiGOwithSenne(GlUpgrade 255 [HIOOwiN Sonnet 253Mha 6046 pb rade 408 EES Upgrade 408 [FRSE0n7 200m) 204 EB a 3000/160 202 [EMREEDHTo] 138 EB 3100 115 Jac 7100 100 GED 60 (referers aystern) Tests results from Sysinfo. Results depend on exact configuration. MacTherapy provides On-Site support and Consulting Services to Perth’s Mac Users. We specialise in Systems Integration and Networking Solutions. Suite 4, 693 Beaufort Street. Mt Lawley. Perth WA. 6050 Phone: (08) 9371 5554 Fax: (08) 9371 5561 24 Hr Support/Info 0419 851919 email: Sales@MacTherapy.com fNNST Sonnet Technologias, Inc. MacNews One of the 1000-plus images from Thygeson's Apple T-Shirts. Symantec has announced plans to ship its next-generation antivirus package early this winter. The package formerly known as Symantec AntiVirus for Macintosh—or SAM—will be rechristened Norton AntiVirus for Macintosh (NAV) in the new release, version 5.0. Symantec promises that NAV‘s virus-definition upgrades will be free for the life of the product. Furthermore, Symantec says that its software will be able to update itself automatically over the internet, guaranteeing that you always have the latest version of the virus descriptions. These two features alone set NAV apart from its competition. Symantec's upgrade report- edly will also contain cleverer ways of detecting new macro viruses, though specifics weren't yet available as we went to press. And unlike its predeces- sor, SAM 4.5, NAV will be able to repair infected files without launching the main application; the current version of Virex includes a similar feature. 16 = AUSTRAJAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 | MISCELLANY Celebrating Apples history in FShirts Macintosh users may be a tight- knit group, but not as tightly knit as the many T-shirts worn by Apple employees during the company’s tumultuous 20-year history. Two years ago, soft- ware test engineer Gordon Thygeson began collecting pho- tographs of these mementos, and the result is Apple T-Shirts: A Yearbook of History at Apple Computer, a 204-page coffee- table book featuring photos of more than 1000 T-shirts given to company employees. The T-shirts range from staid renditions of the Apple logo to more-outrageous senti- ments. One reveals the true meaning of IBM: “I Build Macs.” Another, parodying an infamous Mac error message, reads, “Sorry, the AppleSoft engineer ‘unknown’ has unex- pectedly quit.” Thygeson sells the book internationally for $US39.95 through <www.appletshirts. com>. Add $US8.95 for ship- ping and handling to Pacific Rim nations such as Australia. — Stephen Beale [ DIGITAL CAMERAS . Ricoh announces Ricoh Australia has announced the newest addition to its family of digital cameras, the RDC- 300Z. The digital camera features a 45-135mm zoom lens and a 350,000 pixel charge-coupled device (CCD). With its macro- focus technology it can capture images from as close as 1em from the subject, Ricoh says. Other features include a built- in 1.8-inch 640-by-480 24-bit colour liquid-crystal display and RDC-300Z ‘The RDC-3002: user-friendly enough for first time buyers, yet Powerful enough for advanced digital photographers, according to Ricoh. a 2MB removable SmartMedia Card which can store up to 49 images in economy mode and up to 12 in fine mode. The RDC-300Z comes with Ricoh’s PhotoStudio Lite, which lets users manage and manipu- late images on Mac OS and ‘Windows systems. The Ricoh RDC-300Z is priced around $1000 and the company can be reached on 03 9888 7722, fax 03 9988 7744. — Tami Dower | PRESENTATION TECHNOLOGY Desktop film Polaroid has released a film recorder which it says creates the sharpest 35mm transparen- cies of any desktop model. According the company, the $9967 RRP ProPalette 7000 is suited to high-volume quick- turnaround environments such as health-care facilities, research and scientific organisations, educational institutions, govern- ment agencies and photo labs. The ProPalette 7000 con- nects to a Mac’s SCSI port and ships with Polaroid Palette for Macintosh software. It’s the only desktop film recorder that recorder “sharpest” is based on a high-resolution 17.5cm CRT, according to Polaroid, which allows it to The ProPalette 7000, which Polaroid says creates the sharpest transparencies of any desktop model. record slides at a colour depth of 36 bits and at a native resolu- tion of 2732 by 4096 lines. The recorder includes a stan- dard 35mm camera back, Polaroid says, and photographic technologies such as automatic exposure, colour-balance control and dynamic focus circuitry. The camera also includes a 20-character-by-two-line LCD front-panel display for system data. Polaroid can be reached on 02 9950 7000 and fax 02 9950 7051. — Steven Noble ==="] 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. SyncMaster™ Total Performance Monitors ELECTRONICS CHALLENGE THE LIMITS DEVELOPING THE WORLD’S LEADING I7.PRODUCTS - COMPUTERS - MONITORS - PRINTERS - HDD - DVD-ROM - FAX - PHONES - ATM + CDMA NETWORK - TFT-LCD - SEMICONDUCTOR ys http samsungelectronics.com MacNews Australian developer Active Concepts has released Funnel Web Professional. Funnel Web Pro can handle up to 20 million hits per log, Active Concepts says. The pro- gram can identify the origin of each client, the last site that client visited, and the keywords and search engines used to locate the site it is monitoring. Funnel Web Pro can also moni- tor staff web usage, Active Concepts says. It’s new virtual engine can generate multi- domain reports in a single pass based on each host domain or individual log file. The current release is avail- able for the Mac OS and Active Concepts says it is working on a version for Rhapsody. The product retails for $599 and at writing owners of Funnel Web can update to the Professional version for $149. Active Con- cepts can be reached on 03 9344 0933, fax 03 9347 9473 and <www.activeconcepts. com>. 18 = AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 [ DESIGN & GRAPHICS Attempting to broaden and con- solidate the Painter family of products, MetaCreations has released a $199 streamlined ver- sion of Painter aimed at inter- mediate users, as well as a new, $599, renamed version of its 3D painting program, Detailer. With Painter Classic, the company has focussed on what defined the original Painter: the program’s ability to simulate tra- ditional media. Classic includes image hoses, the seamless tiling of images, and an extensive library of brushes, but much of Painter’s complexity has been stripped away. You don’t see Painter’s confusing floaters, nor can you create brand-new brushes, although existing ones are still customisable via sliders. Classic’s simpler interface doesn’t have any hidden palettes. You can personalise your workspace by tearing off and creating custom palettes. Detailer has been improved and rechristened Painter 3D, to Painter Classic gives you more natural-me palettes. strengthen the brand and to bet- ter reflect the program’s pur- pose. It includes such Painter 5 features as dynamic floaters, customisable palettes, and plug- in brushes. New capabilities include map sharing, for apply- ing one texture map to multiple 3D objects; hierarchies, which let you paint just selected parts brushes and fewer of a model; multiple-object management, which lets you group objects for texture map- ping; and views, which let you view an object from any angle. MetaCreations products are distributed in Australia by Scholastic New Media (02 4328 3555, fax 02 4328 2205). — Cathy Abes [SCANNERS Umaxs PowerLook Umax has released a new flatbed scanner, the PowerLook 3000, along with version 4.0 of its scanner driver, MagicScan. Mike Owen, general man- ager of Umax distributor Com- puter Enterprises of Australia, says the PowerLook 3000 “finally brings drum-scan qual- ity to the desktop”. The PowerLook 3000 fea- tures dual-lens technology, with an optical resolution of 3048 by 1220dpi on the first lens and 3048 by 3048dpi on the second, Using software interpolation, this can be boosted to 12,192 by 12,192dpi, CEA says. Other technological enhance- ments in the PowerLook 3000 include auto-focus, a re-sam- pling algorithm to correct jagged edges, a bit-enhancement tech- nology to produce smooth tonal curves, and an optimised lighting system to retain brightness in according to the company. each image. The PowerLook 3000 is bundled with MagicScan 4.0, Binuscan PhotoPerfect Master and Live Picture 2.6, and retails for $14,990. The recently updated Magic- Scan 4.0 lets users rotate images at any angle, and to see full- 3000 screen previews of each image, including any adjustments and corrections that have been made. It also features three new scanning options: Manual, which lets users make their own adjustments to the image before it is scanned; MagicMatch, which gives users the ability to create colour-separated images that have been calibrated with their system; and Auto Correc- tion/Binuscan IPM, which com- pletes all adjustments and colour corrections automatically. “The integrated Binuscan option is a bonus for users who prefer to work entirely from within one program like Photoshop”, says product manager for Binuscan software, Anna Jude. Umax products are distrib- uted in Australia by Computer Enterprises (02 9807 5222, fax 02 9807 5333). —Tami Dower The c-low? laser p 1 | || Fax Back Form - 02 95 Please post me details on the Taser printer range. ‘Name. Title... Company... Ow cost per page Address...... 2 from prices as low as $5,995 ex tax Mith He QMS magicolor2 colour can change your life... from now until the end of April QMS is offering A 30 day/1000 print max. money back guarantee, conditions apply*. Fax. Re 30 day money back guarantee, goods must be returned to Distributor’s Depot within 30 days of purchase, be in new jomplete with all items including cables, software, manuals, etc, and must have completed less than 1000 prints. Beimtade for consumables Printers for Professionals. ~® ig tT | i) al QMS Australia Ply Limited, 30 Atchison Street, St Leonards, NSW, 2085. Telephone: 02 9901 3235 Fax: 02 9901 3273 Visit our web site at hitp:/www.qms.nt Iry & Byte-The Mac Games Specialists feed EKQREA Civilisation 2 Strategy. The best selling game ‘on the Macintosh. Hornet Korea New missions for F/A-18. Feat: mission editor & 3Dfx support CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. The Settlers II Well-reviewed strategy game set in the Ancient World. CD-ROM, 030/40 or PowerMac. Shadow Warrior 3D Ninja Shooter from the makers of Duke Nukem. (CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. THE AASOLATE In GRAPHICS BCcFUEnETERS! Power 3D 3Dfx Card The Power 3D card brings you the best performance available for MacOS 3D games. It works with your existing graphics to provide you with the best in 3D performance. Supports 3Dfx Voodoo & RAVE. Includes 3 games. TO ORDER: (02) 9906 5227 (02) 9906 5606 Try & Byte Pty Ltd 4/401 Pacific Highway ARTARMON NSW 2064 http://www.tryandbyte.com.au Try &Byte Please Note: Prices quotedin this odvertisement do not include delivery. Prices subject L to chonge without notice. Al items subject to availabilty. CD-ROM. 68030 or PowerMac. Jack Nicklaus 4 Hi-res golf sim with 5 courses (90 holes) and course editor. CD-ROM, PowerMac Only. Racing Days R New car racing title featuring Quicktime VR technology. CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. ‘Anext-generation 3D shooter with great levels & graphics. CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. Shattered Steel 3D Networkable Mech Combat. Better than Mechwarrior! CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. Try & Byte Adventure Bundles Adventure Bundle 2 Deadlock Sci-Fi Strategy. Build cities & conquer enemies. Networkable, CD-ROM. 68040 or PowerMac. Carmageddon Ultraviolent racing game with 3Dfx support. Rated MAIS+ CD-ROM. PowerMac Only. Special Offer Limited Offer — While Stocks Last Two collections of some of the best adventure games on the Mac. Each bundle includes three games, all for the price of one. Adventure Bundle 1 features: 9-The Last Resort, Police Quest SWAT and SPQR-Adventure in Ancient Rome * Adventure Bundle 2 Features: The Residents Bad Day on the Midway, The Dark Eye and Zork Nemesis. NO Price|y 1 1 1 (Delivery is $8 overnight - anywhere in Australia") Delivery $8.00 i Total 1 Qvisa QMastercard QAmex QBankcard QDiners QCheque QMoney Order I Card Number ' Name 1 Address f Postcode I Telephone. Fax E-mail I eee eee uickClicks Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time = RICH GAME HAMPERED BY AVERAGE GRAPHICS i Journeyman Project 3 you get the opportunity to explore the lost civilisations of Atlantis, El Dorado and Shangri La. There is extraordinary depth in the adventures and in the puzzles that must be solved in each time zone. Further, the music is brilliant, creating the perfect ambience for each of these destinations. ‘The only fault with JP3 is its graphics, which are, in places, too blurry and grainy. It’s as if somebody enlarged the whole The contrast between the blurriness of certain images and the cl. ject 3 is appar of others in the Journeyman thing twice as much as they were supposed to. After con- tacting Presto Studios, it turns out this is so there’s not unreal- istic hardware requirements for the game. Users can try turning on line-skipping to make the graphics look like they're of a higher quality. Rather than providing great stand-still graphics, JP3 gives you the ability to rotate your point of view to any angle. You do lose a bit of the “immersion factor” that is so important in adventure games, but when in this screen you’re actually moving you don’t notice the blurriness. Unlike with the previous Projects, Legacy of Time lets you interact with people in the past. Using a newly developed “chameleon” suit, you can assume the form of locals and interact with other members of the populace. The acting throughout is wonderful, and the people within each domain react differently depending on the guise you’ve taken: There’s also the artificial intelligence Arthur, who keeps you company and amuses you, giving you hints and the occa- sional history lesson. To play JP3 it is recom- mended you have at least an 80MHz Power Mac with 10MB of free RAM, 70MB of free hard-disk space, a display capa- ble of thousands of colours, and a 4x CD-ROM drive. bit Type: Game Rating: t t zt t $89.95 Distributor: Dataflow 02 9417 9700 02 94179797 Reviewer: James Allworth Outstanding Very Good aaee Good Flawed Unacceptable Dangerous é Short and sharp, QuickClicks are brief reviews of the latest products, evaluated by experienced users. Detailed product reviews are on Page 59. AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 # 24 QuickClicks Entable 3 *#:% 2 =e UNEVEN TABLE TOOL FOR QUARKXPRESS Qe: table-cre- ation tools are not power- ful, but attempting to fill this gap is Tableworks’ Entable 1.02. Entable is a stand-alone application rather than an XTension; you create table files that are linked to boxes within XPress, and an XTension added to XPress’s Tools palette makes switching between the two pro- grams nearly transparent. In contrast, the Tableworks XTen- sion—Entable’s predecessor and closest competitor—has you create tables within XPress, using grids of text and picture boxes. Unhitched from XPress, Entable can offer a more versa- tile feature set that lets you con- trol the appearance of cells and text. Even better, the files Entable generates are smaller and print more quickly than similar tables created with the XPress document, that document is updated automati- cally. Entable has an XPress-like inter- face, is compatible with some of XPress’s most Entable's interface mi and Layout palettes. Tableworks XTension. To create a table box with Entable, you select the table-cre- ation tool and click and drag a rectangle. You can then import a previously created table, import all or part of the currently active table, or generate a new table from a text file or from selected XPress text. When you save a table that’s been linked to an 5 QuarloXPress's, from the appearance of the document window to the Tools powerful features ty] and has some powerful features of its own. It lets you create multi- page tables, slant the cells in rows and columns, flow text horizon- tally or vertically, embed XPress text boxes and picture boxes within tables, and create 3D cells. But Entable has several idio- syncrasies, from the benign (longer imported colour names are truncated) to the unaccept- able (you can’t double-click on a word to select it). One could forgive Entable its quirks if it worked flawlessly with XPress; however, switching between the two programs produces screen- redraw problems in XPress, occasionally followed by system crashes. Entable is a feature-packed utility that fills a gaping hole in QuarkXPress. Although the 1.02 update solves some of the stability problems, you might want to wait until the remaining quirks are ironed out before using this other- wise promising newcomer. &% Type: XTension Rating: V2 RRP: $697 Distributor: XPressions Telephone: 02 9922 3166 Facsimile: 02 9922 3305 Reviewer: John Cruise YDKJ Movies & TV sn YOU DON'T KNOW JACK BUNDLE DREDGES US-ORIENTATED TV AND MOVIE TRIVIA A: what point does the trivia craze turn into overkill? Hard on the heels of the recent release of You Don’t Know Jack HUGE XXXL as three games in one box, this two-games-in-the- same-shrinkwrap job completes the picture. (Memo to Jack- developers Jellovision and Berke- ley Systems—enough with the trivia already!) The interface is still a joy to behold. Both titles install sim- ply, run beautifully, and never did anything remotely naughty on my machine. As professional and clean as ever. In my last review of Jack, I wondered if society had yet sunk to the level where com- puter games take pride of place at parties. This question is still relevant, but this double bill has some other problems. Movies is fine—after all, Hollywood’s product is the world’s first universal culture. There are some questions that I have no idea about—who, for 22 = AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 PIGK A CATEGORY. Because I’m Sure the Public =Gives-a Crap— Welcome to My Fantasy Now -that’s-a Mixed Marriage Couch-potato meets mouse-potato in You Don't Know Jack TV. instance, is Billy Barty? Anyone? For $1000?—but most of it’s rather familiar. They get extra points for making fun of Sly Stallone’s worst performance (now that’s saying something) in Over The Top. Television, however, is still parochial. Do you know what Jeannie’s (as in genie and dumb astronaut) dog’s name is? Do you have a clue about the American version of The Price Is Right? Could you care about who played the uncle in Family Ties? Maybe I don’t watch enough TV (and as far as the TV industry is concerned, no- one watches enough TV), but I had real trouble getting a ques- tion right on this one. In three runs through, my highest score was, ahem, $5000. Of course, if you’re the type of person who subscribes to cable in order to watch The Honey- mooners and Nightstalker, you might love this game. It'll confirm the depth of your genius. But most people in this country will, I predict, be stumped. And besides—unless all your friends are tubeheads—do you really want to play with your- self? (Both games have obsessive masturbation jokes to jibe the solo player). Same concept, same inter- face, much harder questions. And Keanu Reeves is a what? EQ Type: Entertainment Rating: t t RRP: $69.95 Distributor: Dataflow 02 94179700 02 94179797 Reviewer: Stephen Dunne Disneys Hades Challenge === GRUMPY GODS FROM ANCIENT GREECE he Minotaur is in town and he is munching people for lunch. He’s hit the restaurant for main course and is planning a town meeting to cover dessert. We must save the people of Ancient Greece by trapping the Minotaur in an elaborately con- structed labyrinth. The plan seems reasonable, but at each corner we hit a dead end. We travel to Troy to collect more stones and wood for the maze and win people over with gifts. In the back of our mind is always the Minotaur. We are told that he loves people, “espe- cially with salt and pepper”. This attack of the Minotaur is one of four challenges in Dis- ney's Hades Challenge. It looks like a cartoon, and the children are sure it is one too, yet they are thinking and making deci- sions while they play, searching in all directions and trying new options. Zeus and Poseidon adopting threatening postures in Hades Challenge. Hades Challenge will appeal to some children much more than others. It will be too aggressive for some with its small amount of mild animated violence. The characters aren’t sweet friendly creatures, but angry gods with bad manners. At one stage we help Helen of Troy and travel across the River Styx to battle Cyclops and the hundred-headed Typhon. We try to appease a king who calls our kind gift “trash”. This pro- gram is best left to children over nine years of age who aren’t too sensitive, Children collect facts as they play, as they need to answer a quick quiz at the end of each challenge before they make it to the final “diabolical destruction game”, They may learn some- thing about Greek mythology, but most will probably forget the clues once the moment has past. They do, however, need to think quickly, solve a range of puzzles and work out what to do next. It’s a game that may incidentally exercise a few think- ing skills as the children play. EX Type: Children’s game Ratin t t t RRP: $69.95 Distributor: Buena Vista Home Entertainment Telephone: 03 9823 7800 Facsimile: 03 9826 0411 Reviewer: — Anne Glover My Amazing Human Body sxe DK’S BODY-GUIDE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN B one up on your physiology with Seemore Skinless, in My Amazing Human Body. He's a skeleton with loads of personal- ity as well as green glasses and a red polka-dot bow tie. As Seemore whizzes around the screen, children from five to eight years can learn how their bodies work and how to care for them. First we take a quiz to earn human body parts. What do your kidneys do? How many bones do you have in each foot? If we don’t know the answers, a click takes us to the right page ead » a ast Show me Tiredness Breathing We can take Seemore Skinless to the or plonk him by the televi- sion, and watch the effect on his energy levels, appetite, thirst, heart rate and breathing, in My Amazing Human Body. in the encyclopedia. Children can measure, poke and prod. They can fill the blad- der with urine and view an x- ray of the brain. Describing this program makes it sound rather gross, but many kids like that kind of thing. Make pictures from body parts, or build a body before a bomb explodes, scattering bits in all directions. Gross it may be, but it is also a varied and entertaining way for children to learn about their bodies, as long as they don’t find the skeleton too strange. To understand more than the individual pieces, to see how the human body operates as a unit, children take over See- more’s day. They choose activi- ties for him; maybe flying a kite, followed by a trip to the play- ground. If they forget to feed him, or don’t remember to give him the occasional drink, alarm bells start ringing. This program may help children set off their own alarm bells if they don’t care for their own body. Dorling Kindersley also pro- duces the superb Ultimate Human Body 2.0 for older chil- dren. My Amazing Human Body has a section explaining in simple text (no diagrams) how boys and girls change as they grow up, and a screen showing a baby before it is born. There is no coverage of reproduction here. My Amazing Human Body provides suitable coverage for a younger audience, one that prefers to get their hands dirty. Type: Education Rating: 1a t t RR $75 Distributor: Roadshow Interactive 02 9552 8700 02 9660 8436 Anne Glover Telephon: Facsimil Reviewe! AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 # 23 QuickClicks F/A-18 Korea THE BENCHMARK FOR MAC FLIGHT SIMS A-18 Korea, a stand- alone product based on F/A-18 Hornet 3.0, is Graphic Simulations Corporation’s lat- est offering. The story is the same as with previous versions: Hostili- ties have broken out on the 38th Parallel, and in your multi- role fighter-bomber you are expected to do your bit. However, there’s a few cru- cial differences in the game- play. For a start, your wing men are now actually useful and your adversaries are much more challenging. Your weapons and cockpit are truer’to the real thing. And network perfor- mance is improved, with a play- over-the-internet option in the works. Also, Korea now has a mis- sion editor with which you can add to the present scenarios. It’s easy to use, and much better than the one in A-10 Cuba for example. Full marks to GSC for this feature. Power3D not a screen shot of a QuickTime movie you're looking at. It’s Further, the game now sup- ports 3Dfx-based graphics accel- erator cards, such as TechWork’s Power3D (see below). If you have such a card installed you get full-screen workstation-qual- ity graphics at the highest possi- ble frame rates. The level of F/A-18 Korea in play at better than 20 frames per second, running ona Power Mac equipped with a TechWorks Power3D accelerator card. detail is stunning. Atmospheric effects like glare from the sun enhance the game even further. Stalking your prey 100 feet over a wispy layer of cloud is a rush. Firing a missile and watching it trail smoke across the sky is exhilarating. The graphics have also been improved over Hornet 3.0 for those without accelerator cards. The game comes on CD, and requires a Power Mac run- ning at 80MHz or faster. The manual is written by an F/A-18 jockey, and is comprehensive and well laid out. However, I found myself using the online training module instead. There are still a couple of bugs in this otherwise polished product, and it has a steep learning curve, but for the moment F/A-18 Korea is the benchmark for Macintosh flight simulators. EX Type: Flight simulator Rating: V2 RR $89 95 Distributor: [ry & Byte 02 9906 5227 02 9906 5605 Frank O'Connor Reviewer: 3D-ACCELERATION CARD FOR GAMES ust a year ago, hardware- based 3D acceleration promised to be the Next Big Thing for Mac gamers, and ATI delivered with its Xclaim VR card. For gamers, the latest and greatest PCI-based solution is TechWorks’ Power3D accelera- tion card. But just for gamers. Unlike the ATI card, the Power3D’s sole purpose is to accelerate the sort of 3D graph- ics used in games—2D graphics continue to be delivered by your Mac’s on-board video. Because the Power3D can’t display 2D and 3D video concurrently, it’s not intended for use with design applications. The Power3D’s external pass-through cable routes the Mac’s video output through the Power3D card. When an appli- cation supporting the Power3D 24 = AUSTRAUAN MACWORLD MAY 1998, launches, 2D video bows out and the Power3D’s 3Dfx Voodoo Graphics chip set—the de facto standard for PC-game acceleration—takes over. This bodes well for Mac entertainment enthusiasts: Nearly every PC game that sup- ports hardware-based 3D accel- eration now comes in a 3Dfx-compatible version; those games ported to the Mac will most likely sport 3Dfx versions as well. Conversely, not all of these games will be compatible with the 3D Rave protocol used by ATI and Apple—Bungie’s Myth, for example, supports only 3Dfx-accelerated graphics. The result of the Power3D’s acceleration is nothing short of spectacular. Myth, Quake, and MechWarrior 2 are drop-dead gorgeous when played with the Power3D installed. Previously pixelated textures are smoothed, water undulates, smoke and haze take on transparency, and shadows become far more real- istic. What’s more, the card delivers all this at high frame rates. On a 180MHz 604e- based system, the Power3D run- ning the 3Dfx version of Quake attained 28.2 frames per second at full-screen, 640-by-480-pixel resolution, compared to 9.7fps produced by the ATI Xclaim VR running the 3D Rave ver- sion of the game. The Power3D comes bun- dled with full versions of Bungie’s Weekend Warrior, Activision’s MechWarrior 2, and VR Sports’ VR Soccer; episode 1 of Quake is also included. The only thing missing from the Power3D box is the 32MB of RAM you're going to need. Alas, the Power3D isn’t compatible with many non-mul- tisync monitors. The card has a locked, 60MHz refresh rate, and if your fixed-rate monitor can’t adjust to this rate, you’re out of luck. TechWorks claims to be working on this problem. Although the Power3D is a one-trick pony, the trick it per- forms—3D acceleration for games—is done extremely well. If you're serious about 3D gam- ing on the Mac, this is the card to have. Ei Type: Accelerator Rating: t t t t RR $340 Distributor: Status Graph 02 9552 1388 02 9552 1109 Christopher Breen Reviewer: Surf Express ssceesses een. THE SLOWER YOU SURF, THE BETTER THE ACCELERATION oOo" of the most common complaints about the internet is the speed at which web pages download. The new Surf Express 1.0, from Connec- tix, tries to improve your surf- ing experience by helping your web browser display frequently visited pages faster. The PowerPC-only Surf Express works by replacing the caching mechanism built into all web browsers with a more effi- cient system. Instead of storing dozens or hundreds of small cache files in a folder on your hard disk, Surf Express saves the text and graphics of the web pages you visit in a database. The next time you visit those sites, the program retrieves from the database the page elements [a] uur Express™! Stat FindGache Advanced info Page History Pages viewedtromnetwork 465 Pages verifiedfromaetwork 105 Pages viewed from cache 445 Network Statistios s = 3 Oo = s eo 12 0 Cache throughput [bts (arr Network throughput bit/sh: — [- ] Max.cache throughputs 25 Kbit/s Max network: throughput: 144 Kits (open) (Gee) (Goeee) € ‘Surf Express 1.0's pie chart shows you how much you've been access- ing the local cache instead of loading new pages from the netwo! that haven’t changed since your last visit. Therefore, the pro- gram doesn’t help you get to web sites any faster; it simply speeds up the display of sites you've already seen. In testing I found that the slower the connection, the more noticeable the acceleration. For example, a graphics-heavy page took 90 seconds to load with a 33.6Kbps modem and only seven seconds to reload from Surf Express’s cache. With a dual-channel ISDN line, the page loaded in just 41 seconds but still took about seven seconds to reload from Surf Express. With- out Surf Express, Navigator’s cache required 13 seconds to reload the same page. That’s sig- nificant acceleration, but it’s hardly the “up to 36 times faster” touted by Connectix. You can search Surf Express’s cache for words or phrases and narrow your search by date. Although this is a big improvement over standard browser caches, which aren’t searchable, the FindCache fea- ture still needs work: searches are often slow, even on a fast Power Mac, and some words never seem to make it into the cache. Another feature is designed to fetch commonly viewed pages before you request them, increasing the chances that they’ll be retrieved from the cache rather than loaded again from the web. Enabling this SmartFetch feature seems to have little effect, however. Surf Express makes the wait for web pages less painful for modem users, especially for fre- quently visited sites, but if you have a high-speed connection to the internet this program isn’t for you. EX Type: Internet utility Rating = E S55 Firmware 02 4721 721) 02 4721 7215 Tom Negrino Hard Disk Toolkit 2.5 == FORMATTER GETS A SMOOTHER LOOK M: Mac users have no idea about drivers—the invisible software that lets their operating system talk to their hard disks and removables. FWB’s Hard Disk Toolkit 2.5 offers revised drivers, and more. At first glance, HDT 2.5 appears almost identical to HDT 2.0, but it’s clear that the upgrade smooths many of the rough spots in 2.0’s user inter- face. HDT 2.5 comes on a sin- gle, bootable CD-ROM, which also sports a “crisis tool” that lets you attempt to make soft- ware-related repairs on your hard disk’s driver and partition map. HDT also offers other, less immediately visible areas of improvement, including a PowerPC-native driver for IDE disks and the ability to easily create custom partition types, oO [A mitseerer ssn ee eames Maze BD pene Dy ere renven Torneo eee OSE) has been good, and version 2.5 adds a new Event Monitor fea- ture that alerts you if your disk’s hardware looks as if it’s about to go south. If a disk begins to encounter read or write errors, or HDT 2.5's Event Monitor| ~~ Keeps track of whether your hard dist is being naughty or nice. such as for DOS (in instances where removable media are shared across platforms), or for PowerPC versions of Linux. Although ease of use is important when setting up a disk, a driver should also be reli- able and get the highest perfor- mance possible out of the drive—in that order. HDT’s overall reliability track record Dente encom something simi- larly untoward, HDT 2.5’s new driver can alert you that something is amiss. Despite HDT 2.5’s overall polish, the package still has flaws. It doesn’t support SCSI Disk Mode for PowerBooks with IDE drives (which includes most recent models), and the HDT 2.5 driver for removable media is incompatible with the Mac OS Disk First Aid’s Repair mode. ec HDT’s 2.5 upgrade is notable for its overall polish rather than for any single inno- vation. It does everything it used to do, only better, and has added useful features such as event monitoring. HDT 2.5 still has some rough spots, but the upgrade from HDT 2.0—which comes bundled with many non- Apple drives—is a no-brainer; upgrades from previous versions are similarly reasonable. E Type: Disk utility Rating: Va RRP: $265 Distributor: Mitsui Computer Telephone: 02 9935 2400 Facsimil 02 9935 2500 Reviewer: = Stephan Somogyi AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 # 25 QuickClicks Deadlock messssncHiec Se A SIM WITHOUT THE WORK Dv is a fun sim that gives your brain a breather. It’s story unfolds in a crowded galaxy where space- faring species jockey to gain the upper hand, racing to colonise the few viable planets left. When a tense stand-off develops over fertile Gallius V, each species agrees to send a single team of colonists with a set amount of resources. The first species whose colony achieves a predetermined strength (or eliminates other colonies) wins the contest, and the planet. As colony commander, you direct colonists in building and operating various enterprises: farms to grow food, mines to obtain natural resources, facto- ries to process the resources (and build weapons), and laboratories to research new technologies. Along the way, you can also negotiate with other colony lead- ers and purchase items on the black market—but don’t get caught doing the latter! Deadlocks entertaining graphics painlessly deliver information. Deadlock makes building and maintaining your colony easy and fun, with clear, colour- ful graphics and an approach- able, informative interface. A status panel tells you how many resources you have and how fast you’re amassing new wealth or burning your reserves—a joyous addition if you’re used to dig- ging through dialogue boxes to unearth essential information. It’s also easy to manage your colonists: each group of 100 citizens is represented by a tiny animated figure. If they’re happy, you can drag them to a project that needs more labour. If they’re upset, each red figure retreats to its housing unit, where it refuses to work and ‘waves its arms in indignation. Deadlock offers multiple paths to victory, and you can choose to play as one of seven species, each with its strengths and weaknesses. You also decide whether you want to crush your enemies with laser fire or eco- nomically out-develop them. However, the array of choices never becomes a burden—a relief for gamers who enjoy the idea of running an empire but are intimi- dated by the sprawling complex- ity of mega-sims, Although networkable, Deadlock offers no “hot seat” capability for multiple players on a single computer. Hard-core gamers will tire of Deadlock quickly, but if you'd rather play a game than work at keeping up with it, Deadlock promises many an evening’s entertainment. bi Type: Game Rating: ate RRP: $89.95 Distributor: {ry & Byte 02 9906 5227 02 9906 5605 Cameron Crotty Stuffit Deluxe 4.5.1 | MINOR BUGS, MAJOR USEFULNESS he problem of receiving files in bizarre formats is fading, thanks to Stufflt Deluxe. If a file’s name ends in sit, .cpt, pkg, zip, are, gz, tar, Z, Jha, suu, .hqx, -bin, or MIME, the compression/decompression program StuffIt Deluxe 4.5.1 Help Open Move To Trash Get Info Label » Sharing... Duplicate MakeAlias si In Mac OS 8, the ability to unstuff alien-looking files using Stuffit Deluxe 4.5.1 is just a con- Make Self-Extracting SpaceSaver Info... can turn the file back into some- thing useable faster than ever before. Version 4.5 is finally Mac OS 8 compatible, right down to its contextual menu—control- click on a document’s Finder icon to see a pop-up menu of Stufflt’s commands. Otherwise, the new-feature list is short: you can now unstuff files that are in Base64/MIME, a compression format common on the internet. The Stuff and Mail command in Stufflt’s Finder menu isn’t new, but it now works with Claris Emailer, AOL Australia, and Lotus cc:Mail. Finally, Stufflt can now mount trol: Mail Stuff and Mail Preferences... disk images, such as ShrinkWrap and Apple Disk Copy About Magic Menu™... files. 26 © AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 But Aladdin’s freeware Stufflt Expander 4.5 can decode all those formats, too. So what makes the Deluxe version “deluxe”? Finder integration. As in StuffIt Deluxe 4.0, you can manipulate .sit files exactly as though they were ordinary Finder folders—opening them into windows, dragging files in and out, and so on. Keystrokes (command-S and command-U, respectively) stuff and unstuff highlighted Finder icons, and only Deluxe offers the conve- nience of SpaceSaver, a control panel that automatically com- presses files in the background. Unfortunately, Deluxe 4.5’s birth has been rough. The first release, according to <www. aladdinsys.comp, treated users to such phenomena as “a multi- coloured patch appearing in the menu bar” and system crashes. Yet even the free 4.5.1 updater fails to nail several embarrassing bugs: SpaceSaver doesn’t work with Mac OS 8.1; the MIME- unstuffing feature conks out if you highlight more than a hand- ful of files; the command-U and command-S keystrokes some- times stop working; and the glori- ous, sanity-saving “Delete archive after expanding” option doesn’t work for some kinds of internet- downloaded files, such as MIME. At writing, Aladdin says it’s working to fix these problems, Ei Type: Compression — 2 $129 PICA Software 03 9388 9588 03 9388 9788 David Pogue OX-Effects 3.0 nc meee eee SPECIAL EFFECTS FOR QUARKXPRESS EE. QXEffects 3.0.1 is a plug-in for QuarkXPress 3.3 and 4.0 that lets you apply shadows, embossing, glows, and bevels to box frames and text. QX-Effects makes it easy to create effects and gives you a lot of control over the process. When creating a shadow, for example, you determine its angle, colour, opacity, and blur. After you’ve experimented with the live preview, which shows you the effect of each setting, you click on the Finish button and wait for QX-Effects to gen- erate the effect (a process that can take several minutes, even on a PowerPC 750-based Mac). Once you have the effect you want, you can save all the set- tings for later use. Effects are Test Strip 2.02 With QX-Effects 3.0.1, you can easily create wild effects such as this blue glow. automatically added to the QX- Effects menu for easy access (you can also delete them from the menu). Once you create an effect, however, you can’t change it. There’s no undo command, but because QX-Effects retains the original text and picture boxes, that’s a minor omission. QX-Fffects comes with eight predefined effects, but don’t apply them to text that over- prints bitmapped images; you'll want to blend the effect into the image (which must be a TIFF file), something the canned effects can’t do. If you don’t blend the effect, the picture box that con- tains it ends up under the original text and on top of (and thereby obscuring) the bitmapped image. If you do blend the effect, QuarkXPress creates a new pic- ture box containing the effect blended into a copy of the origi- nal, underlying image. Once you're happy with the effect, you can delete the original image’s picture box to save disk space and printing time. Be prepared to allocate a lot of memory to QuarkXPress if you blend effects into images. To use QX-Effects with text overlaying half-page, 300dpi TIFF images, I had to bump up the memory allocation to 40MB. It would be nice if QX- Effects could save RAM by swapping out the image it cre- ates to disk. QX Effects 3.0.1 should be on your shopping list if you use special effects in Quark- XPress. E& Type: XTension Rating = CTE RR $234 Distributor: PICA Software 03 9388 9588 03 9388 9788 Galen Gruman COLOUR PLUG-IN GAINS FEATURES Vi Details’ Photoshop plug-in Test Strip simpli- fies colour correction, and ver- sion 2.02 adds _ several enhancements along with faster performance. Test Strip presents four colour-correction modes: Color Balance, One Color, Exposure, and Saturation. Color Balance displays the original image plus eight varia- tions: darker, lighter, and with greater or lesser amounts of pri- mary colours. Each image’s variants are shown in 15-per- cent increments, but a slider control lets you make modifica- tions. Whereas Test Strip 1.0 displayed its variations in nine sectors of a single image, the new version offers the option of viewing individual thumbnails of the entire image. One Color displays varia- tions of a single primary colour. By default, the image is divided into five vertical strips showing reduced and increased amounts of that colour; the software also provides horizontal and three- strip layouts. A Flip Layout PividDerans Cations) Gove} Glioes ELedere 100% = sen) Test Strip 2.02 includes a new thumbnail layout mode for viewing colour corrections. button lets you rearrange the strips, making it easy to see the effects of colour adjustments on different parts of the image. A similar Saturation mode lets you increase or decrease saturation witha slider. Exposure offers control over brightness and contrast. Test Strip 1.0 adjusted these settings with a linear transfer function, which sometimes caused image data to be lost; the new version includes a curve-adjustment option that better preserves the image. A new Auto White/Black Point button expands tonal range by moving the darkest and lightest pixels to black and white. Test Strip’s Before & After panel allows you to review changes you've made to the image. New in version 2.02, an editable task list presents all modifications you've made and lets you change these settings without going back to the original panel. This capability partially compensates for the single Undo in Test Strip 2.02 (the original version offered unlimited Undos). Image modi- fications can also be recorded in the Photoshop Actions palette. Test Strip ships with 115 effects and 72 photographic fil- ters, but not the kind you apply from Photoshop’s Filters menu. Instead, these presets perform standard image modifications, such as removing casts caused by common lighting conditions. Test Strip 2.02 offers an intuitive approach to colour cor- rection at a reasonable price, but a few features remain missing. Nevertheless, the upgrade adds several useful features to this valuable Photoshop plug-in. & Type: Publishing 1 $230 Distributor: TiiScan 02 9428 3824 Stephen Beale AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 = 27 QuickClicks LANsurveyor4.0 = =| NETWORK MONITOR WEAK ON IP M ac-based LAN adminis- trators are being forced out of their cosy AppleTalk enclaves and into the big, scary world of mixed. IP and AppleTalk networks. The latest update to Neon Software’s LANsurveyor aims to help administrators live with this trend. LANsurveyor 4.0 consists of a central network-management application that scans your net- work for AppleTalk computers and routers, maps them, and monitors their status. It also includes a remote Responder application that you can install on users’ Macs to collect detailed status and inventory information. New in this release are the tallying of hardware and soft- ware components for on- demand inventory reports, scheduled file distribution, SNMP-mail notification, and the ability to launch and quit applications running on remote machines. Also new is the ability to identify IP-based services. Unfortunately, because you need the Responder application to collect most IP-oriented infor- mation, automatic discovery and monitoring are limited to Macs. IP-based printers, non- Macintosh file servers, and routers are all invisible to LANsurveyor unless you config- ure them manually. Part of LANsurveyor’s new IP compatibility includes sup- port for SNMP, the standard network-management language spoken by IP devices. Using SNMP, LANsurveyor can query any SNMP-capable device and read traffic counters that mea- sure the amount of data the device is moving. But because LANsurveyor reports only the current value of the traffic counters, you have to write down numbers and manually compute data rates in bytes per second. Worse, LANsurveyor lets you specify only one SNMP community name; if your net- work has several community names, you can’t monitor every device. Worst of all, LANsur- veyor itself still uses the obsolete AppleTalk protocol to talk to its remote-Mac Responders. That means you can’t use any of LANsurveyor’s new inven- tory features across a TCP/IP- only router. LANsurveyor 4.0 adds some useful new features, but it misses the boat completely by restricting these features to old- guard networks. Coupled with the inability to discover IP devices on its own, that makes LANsurveyor a poor choice. &%& Type: Network monitor Rating: V2 RRP: from $582 Distributor: |idcam 03 9820 9077 03 9866 1245 Mel Beckman VideoShop 4.0/3D & == VIDEO EDITOR ADDS 3D SUPPORT, MUSIC MAKER e Oliver Twist of video editors, VideoShop is an appealing and troubled orphan that has bouned from one home to another. Settled now into the Strata family, VideoShop 4.0.1/ 3D is a good choice if you’re on a budget and want to create multilayer video compositions. The biggest interface change in the PowerPC-only Video- Shop 4.0.1 is the addition of a Premiere-like Bin window that holds a project’s imported media. (Previous VideoShop versions used a confusing folder-and-desktop metaphor.) As in earlier versions, you arrange imported media in the Project window, where you can view a production as a timeline or as a storyboard that displays one frame of each clip. The storyboard view is useful for assembling rough edits and rearranging clips, and it’s unique to VideoShop. Another VideoShop feature you won't find in Premiere is a window that lets you layer and resize clips and draw motion paths for clips to follow as they 28 » AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998, os CT ET Tel Sree VideoShop 4.0.1/3D can map clips onto 3D surfaces, which you can spin and resize using Tween tracks. ore motion- play, opening up animation possibil miere offers. All the usual transitions are here, along with an array of filters that’s more interesting than Premiere’s. Even more interesting is VideoShop’s new support for 3D effects: you can import a QuickDraw 3D-format 3DMF file and map a video clip onto it, though the process is a bit unwieldy (you have to add two types of specialised tracks and ies than Pre- then associate them with the clip you’re mapping). Version 4.0.1 also includes a scaled- down version of AirWorks’ TuneBuilder, which builds cus- tom-length music soundtracks in a variety of musical styles. TuneBuilder is more cumber- some than similar products, but it works. Although Strata has improved VideoShop, weak spots and design lapses remain. Importing PICT images is a cumbersome, multistep process; you can’t nudge clips in the Canvas window by using the arrow keys; the Project window doesn’t autoscroll as you stretch clips or move tracks; and the Preview window always opens at the same location—which happens to be halfway off a 640-by-480-pixel monitor— even if you previously reposi- tioned it. And although VideoShop works with most Adobe Photoshop plug-ins, it doesn’t accept Premiere plug- ins, making a broad array of video and audio add-ons unavailable. VideoShop 4.0.1/3D is a runner-up to Premiere for most uses, though its price may make its weaknesses easier to live with. Type: Video editor Rating: rR I/2 RRP: $799 Distributor: AD&D Telephone: 0298/0 2422 Facsimile: 02 9810 0422 Reviewe! Jim Heid Noesys 1.1 <:c0eo=eeneE VISUALISE YOUR DATA hen you see images from space or a weather map on the evening news, you may be looking at data that’s coded in HDF (Hierarchical Data For- mat), the most common format for graphically representing sci- entific and other technical infor- mation. And Noesys 1.1.2, from Fortner Software, is an indispensable program for han- dling HDF data. Using numbers in a spread- sheet-like table format as a two- dimensional slice for input, Noesys produces colourful 2D and 3D graphics. Unlike Microsoft Excel, Noesys can gracefully accept multimillion point data sets, work with structured subsets of gigabyte- size arrays, organise 3D data into neatly ordered sets of 2D slices, view and edit original data in decimal or hexadecimal tool for this job. Bi Noesys includes a Fortran-based macro language for processing the data in your H tables. Although the macro inter- preter is quite fast, Noesys’s ‘Channel wtan iar raw speed at eon adding ov differ: In addition to translating data tables into 2D or 3D colour images, Noesys 1.1.2 offers unique data- manipulation and file-organisation mode, and use a huge set of eas- ily customised 8 or 24-bit colour palettes (included) to represent your numbers. In practice, finding the right colour scale for representation is often the key to seeing the one important fact lurking in a set of three million data num- bers, and Noesys is the right encing megabyte- featari size tables is even more impressive. And because switching colour palettes is nearly instantaneous, searching for the most revealing visual representation of your data is more a pleasant activity than a chore. I have only two complaints about Noesys. First, although it can convert netCDF, TIFF, and PICT images to HDF, a longer list of conversion functions would make Noesys useful in a wider range of disciplines. And given Noesys’s price, a printed manual should be part of the package rather than a $70 option. The new upgrade to Noesys is an excellent adaptation to the new web realities of document exchange. It’s truly inspiring to see software that can turn a Macintosh into an ideal visuali- sation device. E&, Scientific imaging Techflow Telephone: 02997! 431! Facsimile: 02 9982 3623 Reviewe! Charles Seiter StyleScript™ supports ‘Apple —_StylewriterII, 1200 Apple Color Stylewriter Pro, 1500, 2200, 2400, 2500, 4100, 4500, 6500 HP DeskWriter 550C, 600C, 660C, 680 HP DeskJet 850C, 855C, 870C Epson _Color Stylus 500, 600, 800,1520 Canon BIC 4550 There's a very clear reason why you need StyleScript. The answer is written all over her face. Stylescript™ turns the Apple, Canon, Epsor: and Hewlett Packard Inkjet printers into affordable, high quality Postscript™ printing machines. StyleScript is an amazing product that utilizes genuine Adobe™ PostScript Level 2 software, and works easily with your inkjet printer. Combine the two, and you get the ability to print crisp, clear images anytime you want. StyleScript maximizes the output quality of your PostScript graphics and clip art to the printer's best resolution. So you get the same result as if you used a PostScript printer - for just a fraction of the cost. StyleScript costs around RRP$225. Call (03) 9521 4877 for more information P=) meacsimis= OTneuTOT AUSTRALIAN MACWORLD MAY 1998 # 29 C4 vw my WGS G3 MinTower/233 64/4GB/CD/Ashare I APPLE 720 29" SONY DESIG WYSE COMPUTER SYSTEMS ATIONS (CPU & Keyboard) PowerMac 5500/25 16/2GB/CD aKST IS (PU & Keyboard) B Destop/233M2 32/4GB/CD T (CPU & Keyboard ) G3 Desktop/266MHz 32/4GB/CD/ZIP G3 MiniTower/266MHz 32/6G8/CD/Vin/2P PowerMac 9600/350e 64/4Gb/24xCD SERVERS (CU & Keyboard ) (Inducing Internet Software) PowerBook 1400cs/133 16/13Gb/CD NEW 15" Apple Design 520 $460 extax 15” SONY 100SF2 Digital Trinitron $650 extr $750 inctax 17" APPLE 720 Multiscan $995 extax $1,195 inctax 17” APPLE 750 Multiscan Trinitron $4,250 extax $1,450 inctax 17” SONY 200E Digital Trnitron $1,150 extax $1,350 inctax 20” APPLE 850 Multiscan Trinitron $2,895 extax $3,350 inctax 20” SONY 300SF2 Digital Trinitron $2,895 extax $3,350 inctax $540 inc tax ‘Accelerated fr super high sped redraws & Quicktime AIT 4Mb XCLAIM 3D - Quicktime Accel $395 extax $475 inctax YAMAHA 4x/6x/2x TX $1,095 extax $1,295 inctax ew model performs standard CD Writer functions, plus Re. writes RW CD ROMS. 4x Write, 6x Read and 2x Rewrite. Includes Toast, cables & blank CD. RE-WRITER PC SOFTWARE BUNDLE PC Software to suit above Re-writer, BLANK 650Mb READ/WRITE CD's. $35 extx 10 KODAK INFOGUARD BLANK CD's $50 ex tax $100 notax $40 inctax $60 inc tax $205 extax Rae JOMEGA 100Mb ZIP DRIVE Extra 100 Mb Zip Cartridges IOMEGA 1Gb JAZ DRIVE ., 1 Gb removable disk storage. Imeoae Extra 1 Gb jaz Cartridges $285 inc tax $25 inctax $595 ex tax $145 extax $725 inctax $175 inctax the re Tit wars 720/200 1w/2ce/c0/PC $2,150 extax $2,450 inctax $2,490 extax $2,790 inc tax $2,950 extax $3,450 inctax $3,390 extax $3,950inctax $4,690 extax $5,450 inctax $7,850 extax $9,195 inc tax $5,900 extax $6,450inctax $2,495 extax $2,950 inc tax PowerBook 3400c/200 16/2Gb/CD/Modem $4,995 ex tax $5,795inctax G3 PowerBook 250/32/SGb/CD/Etheret/PC $8,490 extax $9,850 inc tax PI 14006913 3 and = G3 MINETOWER 266MHz 32/6Gb/CD/Zip plus Apple 20" 850 ColourSync Display (Intron) $7,395. end special includes Apple's G3 ; inl-Tower bundled with the superb ‘AppleVision 850 20” trinitron display BUNDLE IWAPPIER GS Apple 2GB $400rpm $450extax $525 inctax Apple 2GB 7200rpm F&W S79Bextax — $9B5 inc tax fepl8. Apple 4GB $400rpm $695 extax — SBBinctax Apple 4GB 7200rpm F&W $1,195 extor $1,560inctax Apple 968 7200rpm F&W $2,150 extax $2,600inctax EXTERNAL HARD DISK CASE Add extra $130 ex tx (Appledrives have a fas $150 inc tax 12 month exchange warranty) MEMORY / RAM MIS 3 168 PIN S To sit LC models, Centr, Quadra & Nubus. Tout G3 PowerMacs 8Mb $60ex — $7Dinc 32Mb $170ex $195 inc 16Mb $95ex $110inc 64Mb $370ex $430inc 32Mb $170 ex $195 inc 128Mb $595 ex $695 inc 64Mb $395 ex $460 inc All G3 RAM is Apple Quality Approved To suit Cl PowerMacs & Perormos. To suit Power PC PowerBooks 16Mb $85ex $100 inc 32Mb $285 ex $325 inc 32Mb $170 ex $195 inc 6AMb 3400/63 $395 ex $460inc GiMb $295 ec $335inc 128Mb 3400/63 $695 ex $815 inc GAMb Hispeed $450ex $520inc Lifetime Warrantee on all Apple RAM! QUARK XPRESS 4.0 (Mac) The most powerful page layout programs is now even better. The all new (QuarkXpress 4.0 includes ALL NEW FEATURES, making it the number one publishing program available today. Upgrades aso available. $2,450 ‘QUARK XPRESS 332 (Mac) $2,050 ADOBE PHOTOSHOP 4.0 (Mac) $1,050 ‘ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR 7.0 (Mac) $750 PHOTODISC CD IMAGE LIBRARY -5 Volume Starter Kit Includes full set of 5 Volumes, & 5 CDs with 10,000 comping images. CDSs of 100-150 Hi Res Images from $395 $95 NORTONS UTILITIES OR ATM DELUXE ORVIREX $130 PUBLISHING Specialists APPLE LW 8500 Sumas, <H scanne Vag ley c 100 ae (77 ~ Ypto 720x360 dpi with Colousync, $420 extox $495 inctax HP 6MP LASER PRINTER - 600dpi, 8 page /minute smiis io Epson Postscript Rip: Add $550 extax sFnomt a 600dpi UMAX Astra 610s, 1200dpi UMAX Astra 12005 $595 extax $690 inctax i 600dpi MICROTEK Scanmaker £3 $365 extax $395 inc tax 1200dpi MCROTEK 9600XLA3 $2,995 ex tax$3,395 inc tax crorex 600K ON TODAY'S MARKET ‘pRODUCT — APPLE COLOUR STYLEWRITER 411 Aiesw2500 Hi-Res 600 dpi Ad Laser with enhanced resolution for superior text quality Adobe level 2 Postscript, 3MB RAM, auto 1BM/Mac, RISC Processor. $1,450 ex tox $1,695 inctax APPLE LASERWRITER 8500 - A3, 600dpi ‘New A3, 600 x 600 dpi Plain Paper Postscript Level 3 Printer with Ethertalk, & Parallel /f. $3,250 extax $3,790 inctax 250 SHEET A3 FEEDER $330 extax $390 inc tax Exceptional Quality up to 1440dpi at an outstanding price. Stylus 1520 does A3 Colour Output with Ful Bled & Cropmarks. Epson Stylus 800 A4 Colour S695 extx $820 ix tax Epson Stylus 1520 Oversize AB $1,695 extax $1,950 inctax Epson Stylus 3000 A3 banner $2,995 ex tax $3,495 inc tax Epson Ethernet Card: Add $595 extac $695 inctax $550 inctax SCANNERS & CAMERAS $325 extax $370 inctax ‘ssimketo; 1200dpi UMAX Powerlook il $2,195 extaxS2,495 inctax 2000dpi UMAX Mirage ISEA3 $5,800 ex tax $6,595 inc tax full PhotoShop V4 sofware bundle ad $395 no tax applicable 2000dpi Agfa DuoScan $5,895 ex tax $6,795 inctax NIKON SUPER COOLSCAN - 2700dpi Slide Scanner Hi-Speed model, 35mm, 2700 dpi $2,195 extax $2,550 inc tax SCREEN CEZANNE- VERY Hi-end Flatbed Scanner Praviding super-fast scanning at an optical = resolution of up to S,300dpi across its entire x ©) 340mm X 530mm scanning area. Supports 7” batch scanning and includes state of the art ColorScope Pro 3 imaging software, $45,000 ex tax $54,000 inc tax = SONY MAVICA - Digital Camera with 10x Zoom ==%Fially a digital camera with real camera features. The SONY Mavicaincludes Point & Shoot, 10x Zoom ‘nd saves up to 40 images on a standard 144Mb floppy disk. $1,150 ex tax $1,395 nc tax KODAK DC210 - Digital Camera New Model! With 1152x 864 pixel. $1,145 ex tax $1,440 inc tax SONY MAVICA == — Masters of Media wy. Authorised Reseller (% PRE-PRESS AND PUBLISHING SPECIALISTS We2seonOTTER ig. ANON 128Mb YARC RIP CARD (For Plotters) IN MELBOURNE CALL CALL NO CHARGE FAX : (03) 9794 0034 E-MAIL: sales@designwyse.com.au Please call for Government, Higher Ed or Bulk Prices. Prices subjec to change without notice, E&EO 54” MODELS (137 Imm) NOW AVAILABLE Wide range of RIP’s and inside/outside consumables available to suit all HP Large Format Plotters, ‘Stunning 600 x 600 dp full colour Photo Quality Posters or proofs with a new No-Mess Bulk inking System. Use HP3000 with YARC RIP ‘<r HP3500 with builtin Postscript RIP 2GB H/Disk, 24Mb RAM & Ethernet HP2000 36" model $15,950 extax $18,500 inctax HP2500 36” with RIP $18,950 extax $21,900 inc tax | @ | NEW HP3000 54” model $22,500 extsx $26,250 inc tax NEW HP3500 54” with RIP $26,900 extax $31,390 inctax FOR LARGE FORMAT PRINTERS: & CANONCOLOUR LASER COPIERS A high speed Postscript RIP on a Mac PCI card that turns any PCI based Mac into a sizzling networked RIP for large format Plotters as well as standard Canon CLC Colour copiers. Includes ColorSync 2.0 calibration, Advanced Screening Technology & OPI mae for superb colour and fasteffcient printing, i $7,950 extax $9,450 inc tox Suits Large Format Plotters from ENCAD Novajet, HP, Techet, or Lasermaster ‘128Mb YARC RIP CARD\(Canon Copiers)