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Picture Publisher earned the highest overall rating in our last comparison of image editors (August 10, 1992, page 51), turning in top scores in both tools and ease of use. Then Adobe Photoshop migrated to Window earlier this year, setting new standards for high-end prepress capabilities in Windows. And Fractal Design released a new version of Painter for Windows that added scanning and prepress tools to the program's already stunning brush controls.
With Version 4.0 of Picture Publisher, Micrografx Inc. has responded to the challenge admirably. We scored Picture Publisher using criteria from our August 10, 1992. comparison (page 51).
FEATURES:
The most noticeable enhancements in this new version improve ease of use. An image browser lets you track image files. The program also has an Effects Browser (first seen in Micrografx's lower end PhotoMagic program) that makes applying filters and special effects easier than ever. And with Version 4.0, you can change such characteristics as color balance and brightness by visually selecting them from a range of thumbnails instead of by entering values.
One of Version 4.0's most interesting innovations is FastBits, which allows you to open only a selected section of an image. That can be a godsend when you're dealing with very large images that take a long time to load and manipulate. Unfortunately, FastBits works only with uncompressed .TIF images.
Version 4.0's new "object layers" bring to raster image editing the concept of layer editing long employed in vector draw programs. You can, for example, place bit-map objects--ones you haven't yet decided you want fully merged with the image--in an object layer. You can then edit the object without affecting the underlying image, making it easy to undo work if necessary.
The program's enhanced set of editing and painting tools enable Picture Publisher to remain very competitive when it comes to power features. The only program to which Picture Publisher must dip its flag is Photoshop for Windows, which provides prepress controls and vector-drawing capabilities that are lacking in Picture Publisher. But Picture Publisher is so much easier to use than any other high-end image editor that, unless you need one of the very few capabilities it lacks, Picture Publisher has to be the program of choice. And that's even...