Micrografx Inc has unveiled PhotoMagic, an entry-level editing and painting program that provides users with 250 stock 24-bit colour images and 35 special effects for under UKP100. The company claims that PhotoMagic is faster than other Windows paint programs and aims to offer users one button control of image editing and effects. It also features an option for users to keep images compressed on floppies, so saving hard disk space. Users preview images using ImageBrowser, a library containing visual extracts of image files. Once the compressed images are selected from ImageBrowser, they can be de-compressed automatically and opened in PhotoMagic for editing or adding effects. Here the fun really starts. Users can choose editing tools such as rectangles or use their own freehand shapes to adapt images. They can use retouching tools to smear, fill and clone images and can also alter sharpness, smoothness and contrast with correction tools. They can create effects such as chalk, crayon, neon and airbrush with the system’s painting tools, and can pick further special effects like splattering and embossing from EffectsBrowser. The ScreenMagic feature enables users to select an image as a background for screens. PhotoMagic’s ‘remove pattern’ feature clarifies screen patterns created when scanning newspaper or magazine images. An interactive slider ZoomBar aids viewing and Zoombox enables specific parts of images to be focussed on quickly. PhotoMagic supports all TWAIN-standard scanners and the Kodak Photo CD, as well as the TIFF, JPEG, PCX, BMP, GIF, TGA and EPS file formats. Minimum requirements are MS-DOS 3.1 or 80386 processor; 10Mb hard drive; 4Mb RAM; Windows 3.1; VGA display and mouse. Available from Micrografx dealers initially in the UK and US, where it costs $170. European translations are to follow. Also shipping from Micrografx is Windows OrgChart 2.0, its first organisation charting software package. It is a revamped version of the Instant ORGcharting product, acquired along with creator, Roykore Inc, this year (CI No 1,878) and Micrografx has lowered the price to $150 from $190. It can now reduce large organisation charts to a page, and can automatically resize all fonts. Other new features are the ability to show different managers of equal status at the same level; provision for changes to be instantly made and saved; support for object linking and embedding; and facilities for importing MS-DOS files from Banner Blue Software’s Org Plus. System requirements are MS-DOS 3.0, minimum 80286 with 1Mb RAM (2Mb recommended), hard disk, Windows 3.0 and Windows-compatible graphics adapter. Upgrades are available for $50.
