2001 BEST PRODUCTS for Graphic Artists and Designers
DT&G Magazine Selects the BEST products for designers, desktop publishing, graphics and digital photography

BEST MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION SOFTWARE Bill LaCommare, and our good friends over at Interactive Solutions has done us all a huge favor by developing and making available their wonderful new MovieWorks Deluxe 5.1. It's been some time since I heard from Bill, and the arrival of MovieWorks at our studios has caused quite a stir of creativity! ___ Now listen up. I'm not really into video. That's a whole different career, and believe me, it takes the hardware, software and knowhow that any full-fledged career demands. However, for quick presentations, slideshows, portfolios, client reviews, and just plain fun at home with digital photos or video footage, MovieWorks is just what the doctor ordered. ___ Unlike Apple's killer FinalCut Pro, MovieWorks doesn't take a master's degree in cinematography to open. Unlike Apple's low-end iMovie, MovieWorks includes the timeline savvy and special effects to do a knock-out project. MovieWorks is THE easy-to-use suite that puts exciting and versatile production capabilities into the hands of everyday Windows and Macintosh users. You can quickly and easily produce Web movies in QuickTime or AVI format, interactive CD-ROM titles and portfolios, personal and corporate videos, dynamic slide shows and polished multimedia presentations. But it's not just a video editor like many of the programs available. MovieWorks Deluxe suite is the first and only multimedia "works" product. It incorporates simple-to-use video, sound, animation, paint, and image editing tools, enhanced by a powerful time-based, object-oriented sequencing and authoring program. And, the five functionally related production applications work together seamlessly, through an intelligent, intuitive user interface. ___ Until now, the only way to create multimedia productions of this caliber was to spend $1,000 and invest weeks in learning complex software -- with this new powerhouse from Interactive, schools, families and businesses get all the tools they need to create their own professional-quality multimedia productions with unprecedented ease, speed and affordability. And, for the paltry $149, just about any serious desktop computer user can dive right in and start producing some exciting works. ___ Interactive Solutions, Inc. is out in Pleasanton, California, and you can buzz them at (925) 734-0730 or zip (quickly) over to http://www.movieworks.com/ On the downside: Getting the hang of the timeline sequencer takes some doing, and sometimes produces unexpected results. We wish there was a way to "convert" sound and midi files to work more fluidly with MovieWorks. Some multimedia QuickTime files would not play correctly, or became jumpy. This we feel is the fault of QuickTime and not MovieWorks, although a converter, or integrater of some kind would solve the problem. Back to the BEST for 2001 Index [ The Design Center ] _ [ DT&G Magazine ] _ [ DTG Newsletter ] _ [ Designers' Bookshelf ] Want to discuss it? Subscribe to The Designers' CAFE