| Real-DRAW Pro, Real Powerful | |
MediaChance is a Canadian software company that provides affordable multimedia and graphics software with the goal of "giv[ing] hobbyists the tools of professionals." The company was founded by Roman Voska, better known as "Oscar" to his software's users. (Continued below...)
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Just browsing the site and the associated Web boards, you get the impression that this is a company that prides itself on quality and a personal touch. Currently, MediaChance offers the following products:
- Mutimedia Builder, for creating Autorun CD browsers and small multimedia presentations.
- Photo-Brush, an artistic media painting program, image editor, and retouching tool.
- PhotoSEAM, a seamless texture painting tool.
- UltraSnap, screen capture and image processing utility.
- CompactDraw, entry level Web graphics illustration tool.
- Real-DRAW Pro, illustration and effects tool with integrated vector, bitmap, 2D and 3D capabilities.
- Plus a host of free digital photo enhancement tools.
Real-DRAW Pro is the latest offering from MediaChance, and that's the product I'd like to tell you about today. Real-DRAW is an evolution of the MediaChance CompactDraw program which is an entry-level vector drawing package that features a host of easy-to-use special effects. Real-DRAW takes this to the next level, bundling vector drawing, bitmap editing, painting, 3D effects, lighting, special effects, transparency, texture, and photo correction into one application. There are a few minor limitations, but this combination of functionality and effects offers amazing flexibility at an equally amazing price. This software is available for all flavors of Windows as a 30-day trial download. If you choose to purchase the software it is currently being offered at an introductory price of $49 US (this price will increase to $55 at some time).
I've spent the last several days exploring the software and I have repeatedly been blown away by all the features that have been packed into this program. To show you all the features of Real-DRAW would be time-consuming (and redundant, since the MediaChance Web site is a very thorough source of this information — including the entire help file for the software), but I am going to focus on some of the highlights.
Click to see
more screen shots
When you first open Real-DRAW you are presented with a blank canvas, several toolbars, the Quick Styles gallery, and 10 floating property bars. The tools allow you to draw, select, move, and manipulate various objects, and the property bars allow you to adjust color, texture, transparency, lighting, and apply other effects. These property bars take up a considerable amount of screen real estate, but they can be rolled up or moved onto a second monitor display if you have one, or you can close the bars you don't use often and switch between them by right-clicking on the title bar. The property bars include: 3D Lights, Layers, Color Space, Color Memory, Color & Texture, Sizes, 3D Bevel, Effects, Transparency, and Outline.
In addition to working with vector objects, you can insert a number of bitmap formats into your project. Real-DRAW will also import WMF and SVG files. When importing WMF files, you are given the option of importing the image as vector objects or as a bitmap object. When importing any type of file, you are presented with an image browser dialog. In the image browser, you can browse your disks and preview all supported formats, plus you have the opportunity to crop the image for inserting a portion of it into your project. You can also resize the image before bringing it into Real-DRAW.
Page Two: Vectors & Bitmaps in One Neat Package -->
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