SuperMac Technology Inc, based in Sunnyvale, California has struck a deal to bundle Apple Computer Inc’s new PhotoFlash software with its imaging hardware (CI No 2,283). Apple PhotoFlash – designed to simplify the convoluted business of getting photographs into documents – comprises three parts: an integrated browser to help the selection of images; picture enhancement and process tools; and a facility, based on the AppleScript scripting language, for automating repetitive tasks. Combined, the three modules would enable a user to browse through a number of photographic ‘thumbnails’, drag the choice into QuarkXpress or Aldus Corp’s PageMaker and then have the script automatically crop and orient the picture to fit a pre-determined box. Apple, whose core desktop publishing market is increasingly being eroded by Microsoft Corp Windows, is bundling QuarkXpress- and PageMaker-compatible scripts with the product. It will sell for $280, including the necessary AppleScript and QuickTime systems extensions and should ship late in November. Meanwhile SuperMac is pitching at the very top of the pre-press high-end with its two latest products – a 21 screen called the PressView 21 and the Thunder II GX.1360, a PhotoFlash-compatible graphics accelerator. The PressView attempts to provide everything needed for repro professionals to match the colours on the screen with those that eventually appear on the printed output. To that end the package incorporates a number of tricks to keep the specialised, Hitachi Ltd-built screen’s colour balance in trim. One such is a bundled colorimeter, with the three sensors that measure the red, green, and blue luminance levels separately. Apart from keeping screen whites bright, (the display supports the standard daylight colour temperature of 5,000PoK), the information can also be passed to other colour management systems. If that is not enough then SuperMac is also bundling a hood with the machine for use with grotty office lighting. Most of the monitor controls that can normally only be adjusted by twiddling screws in the case, are under software control. Bundled ColorMatch software provides the ability to fine tune items like gamma, RGB intensity, brightness, and contrast; PictureShape allows for easy adjustment over the image geometry while ColorSentry provides software password protection, secures monitor colour settings and display controls for maintaining colour accuracy. Meanwhile the Thunder II GX.1360 is claimed to be the only graphics board that runs natively in the Cyan Magenta Yellow blacK – CMYK colour model favoured by designers as opposed to the Red Green Blue model native to most computers. The board accelerates the conversion of CMYK work to RGB on the fly, says the company, and enables a user to create and work on CMYK files and accelerate the conversion of CMYK files to RGB mode on the fly, thanks to dedicated ASICs. Prices are not yet quoted.
