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Our main criticism of Picture Publisher 9 when we reviewed it (PC Magazine, August 2001), was that it seemed confused as to who its users were. It contained an odd mixture of wizards and aids aimed at beginners, while also including high-end colour management and correction tools for professional designers.
Micrografx seems to have recognised this problem, as this upgrade has been split into two products. Picture Publisher Professional 10, reviewed here, concentrates on more experienced users. However, Micrografx has also released Picture Publisher 10 Digital Camera Edition (£24.99 ex.VAT), aimed at home users just getting started with digital photography.
This approach makes more sense than trying to cater for beginners and professionals within a single product.
The list of new features in this upgrade is quite extensive. There are several new features for working with web graphics, for example, including new slicing tools. There's a new 'four-up' preview dialog that displays four versions of a file using different compression settings. You can also adjust the compression settings for each preview so that you can see how they affect the image quality.
Picture Publisher's text tools have also been refined, with a useful new option for running text along a curve.
However, it's in the area of special effects that Micrografx has really gone to town. There are new Blur effects, including radial, zoom and streaking blurs, which provide adjustable settings and a live preview option.
Even more eye-catching are the Particle Studio and Lightning effects, which allow you to add flame effects and streaked forks of lightning to images, respectively.
Picture Publisher also includes a feature called the Paint Studio, which lets you transform photos so that they appear to have been painted with traditional materials, such as oil paints or chalk.
Finally, just to help you keep track of all your photographs and images, there's a separate PhotoAlbum utility that enables you to view multiple images and arrange them in albums. This feature also provides a useful 'contact sheet' printing option, which can be used to print multiple images on a single sheet of paper.
The decision to focus on more experienced users certainly seems to have paid off for Micrografx. The package's online help is still a bit scrappy and some of its dialog boxes can be a bit intimidating, but Picture Publisher Professional 10 is both more powerful and focused than its predecessor.
It's cheaper, too, and provides an impressive degree of creative power at a competitive price.
Contact
Micrografx, Grafx House, Forsyth Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 5SB
Tel 01483 747526, Fax 01483 747528
www.micrografx.com/mgxproducts/PicturePublisher.asp
See also:
Manipulating photos for the web is even easier with this upgrade. 26 Jul 2002
Image-editing software that not only lets you manage, correct and enhance photos, but also allows you to create and publish many types of images. 11 Apr 2002
Impressive update with new file handling abilities, extensive palette and 'healing' brush. 26 Mar 2002All Image Editing & Management
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