Software Review of:
PhotoFantasy 
2000 

Would you like to send a friend or family member a weird picture, perhaps of themselves? With PhotoFantasy 2000 you can create something really wacky, not only to let a loved one know that you were thinking of them, but also to enjoy a good joke together. This product is very easy to use and comes with a simple Quick Start Tutorial that gets you up and running in a snap. Let’s briefly go through the process of creating a wild and crazy picture with PhotoFantasy 2000. I think when we’re done. you’ll agree that it was both fun and easy to do.

After installing PhotoFantasy 2000 (which is a breeze), click on the icon to bring up the program. I should mention at this point that I was disappointed in the program’s appearance on the main screen. It is very dark and the icons are hard to discern for my tired old eyes. The software engineers obviously wanted to give the program a fantasy-like look. While they succeeded, the result does not render the program very inviting to work with. In fact, it tended to drain my few creative juices just to understand the screen commands! That said, everything else about the program was very positive. 

At any rate, at the top left corner of the main screen is the Get Fantasy button. Click it and you will get to the Get Fantasy screen. Once there, you can choose a Fantasy template from among 200 options (including those on your CD-ROM). You can also create your own templates by scanning them in from books and magazines, or by capturing still shots from movies using a video capture device. For the purpose of this review, I chose the Mt. Rushmore template included with the software. 

Once the template appears on the screen, you will notice some mask areas where you can place figures or faces. The Mt. Rushmore template has three masks, so you can place three faces there in place of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Teddy Roosevelt remains as the sole president who cannot be altered. Having read a biography on “TR” many years ago, I am not surprised at his stubborness in not allowing himself to be desecrated, even for fun!
Next, click “okay” in the top right corner and go back to the main screen and click on the Get Photo button with the number 1, 2, or 3 in it. Of course, you could supply pictures of family members or friends. However, I chose three pictures included in PhotoFantasy because I wrote this review on a computer that did not give me access to my personal family pictures. When I first inserted the pictures, I was quite disappointed, for they were too big for the spots and were in a tilted position. It was obvious that they did not belong there at all. But soon I was relieved to find tools for resizing and placing the photos. After some small adjustments, they fit pretty well. The final result still doesn’t look entirely natural, but that is sort of the point with this software. It is supposed to look silly! Tools include, shifting from left to right, rotating, color and shade enhancing, zoom in/zoom out, a writing tool for messaging, enlarging, and tilting. 

I very highly recommend this product for those who do not want to invest the time or money in a high-end graphics package and who simply want to have some fun with images. It is enjoyable and easy to use. In fact, the learning curve is almost a straight line! It comes with a 26 page manual, but you probably won’t even need it! PhotoFantasy 2000 was reviewed on a Dell laptop with a Pentium III, 800 MHZ, and 128 MB of RAM running Windows 2000. However, it runs on most any Pentium-based PC or equivalent (AMD for example) with at least a 16-bit color display. It is also compatible with Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT. In addition to the Windows version, ArcSoft also has one for the Mac. You can buy it direct from ArcSoft for $19.99.

ArcSoft
46601 Fremont Blvd
Fremont, CA, 94538-6410.