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Magic Visual Communicator Pro Serious Magic's Visual Communicator Pro might, at first blush, seem to be a bit far afield from EMedia's usual focus, A decidedly consumer-oriented presentation software package, it doesn't do much that can't already be done with more professionally targeted tools from established players in the video production market.
But just as Sonic's MyDVD and Pinnacle's Studio have brought powerful, near professional-quality authoring and editing capabilities to within the grasp of consumers and hobbyists, so does Visual Communicator Pro bring broadcast-quality effects and compositing to the masses. What's more, it reaches down and lifts up PowerPoint users with the ability to create dynamic presentations for business, school, or fun without having to know the ins-and-outs of professional videography. With real-time video effects and transitions, attractive templates and graphics, music loops from SmartSound, and a version of MyDVD, Visual Communicator Pro delivers both a video studio and a post-production facility in a single box.
Its ace in the hole is Serious Magic's own Ultra software, which lets novices explore the heretofore pro-only territory of chroma keying. With the supplied "V-screen" backdrop and either a webcam or a DV camcorder, it's possible to chroma key in less-than-ideal environments and achieve results that can stand toe-to-toe with the kind of composited video you see every night during the television weather report.
In a former life, I was a music journalist and teacher, and so when it came time to create a test presentation, I stepped back into those shoes and quickly put together a brief overview of pop music in the 1990s, one that would be suitable for the classroom. Visual Communicator Pro is perfect for distance-learning applications, or even to make lectures available to students who miss a class. Heck, who am I kidding? With the ability to incorporate still images, video, and music clips, a VC Pro version of a lecture (or a client presentation, for that matter) is probably going to be more effective than the in-person variety.
Start Making Sense
VC Pro opens with a wizard that first asks if you want to create Professional Content for high-resolution presentations designed for television viewing or Web Content for projects to be viewed on the computer screen. Then, you're asked to create a...