Review of: |
| Live Art by Viewpoint Datalabs International Inc. is a desktop illustration
program. It is a collection of "objects" (images) to which one applies
"lifestyles" or artistic techniques. There is a library of 4,000 objects
in categories from animals to transportation. You can select from 35 artistic
styles for each object including colored pencil, cartoon (color or b/w),
charcoal, metallics, silkscreen, ink wash and others.
You can download a demo with 50 objects and 12 art styles from the web site. Live Art saves with the .lrt extension but it exports images with the .tiff, .jpg, .png or .bmp extension. To insert a Live Art item into an MS Word 97, Power Point 97 or Excel 97 application, insert the Live Art "canvas" wherever you want the illustration. Make the image selection and customize as desired. Then click outside the canvas and continue in the document. Images exported in one of the export extensions cannot be brought back into Live Art. Live Art images can be imported into Adobe Photo Shop, Page Maker or Page Mill; Quark Xpress; MS Works, Paint, Publisher and Front Page as well as Broderbund Print Shop. The system requirements are as follows: Windows 95, NT 4 or above; IBM PC; Pentium 133 (min); 32 MB of RAM (min); 24 MB of hard disk space; CD ROM; 16 bit VGA display (256 min). Registered owners are eligible for technical help, upgrade information and additional "styles" at no cost. This program is available from the company: Viewpoint Data Labs International, 625 South State Street, Orem, Utah 84058. It can be ordered (cost $99.00) via the web site at http://www.viewpoint.com where you'll also find additional information about the company and the product. The telephone number is 801-229-3000. Tech support is available by fax at 801-229-4669 or via e-mail liveart-support@viewpoint.com or thru' the web site as well as 1-888-535-6468. The manual is clearly written and the CD-ROM has a tutorial as well. I found it to be intuitive, at least for someone already familiar with MS Office Products. The program was introduced in July 98. Currently, there is a free expansion pack of 20 more artistic styles and 2,000 more images — a $49.95 value. Type in a descriptive word for the kind of image that you want. All objects matching that keyword are listed on the left with a preview window on the right. Click on "insert" to add the image to the "canvas". From there, you can customize the image using Live Styles which mimic artistic styles. Adding/changing styles is a simple selection/apply click sequence. Styles include such variations as block print, chalk, fresco, ink wash, gold or silver foil, neon, newsprint, stucco and many more. You can change line weight and color, background color/texture and lighting/shadow using the familiar MS Office interface. ) Many Live Art images have built-in animation and are marked with a directors' clapper in the catalogue. Animated objects can be exported into a variety of other programs for presentation or web site development. You can use the Word 97 or Power Point 97 to create a transparent background, add a shadow, a colored border or customized background. You can create a transparent background on an image and then drag it over text and click the "wrap" control to wrap text around the image. You can adjust the animation in Power Point from the "effects" tab. Lou Harris is a member of Alamo PC and is listed on the "Help Numbers" for MS Publisher. She is a former Air Force Officer and university instructor who now operates her own desktop publishing and web design business. She is married to Bob Harris, APCO Director and SIG leader. |