---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ANIMATION ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aegis SpectraColor ($149.95), by Oxxi, is a paint and animation system created by a profound transformation and enhancement of the company's earlier program, "Photon Paint". According to Oxxi, Aegis SpectraColor is the first program to support the full animation of HAM brushes. With an entirely new user interface and a color management system that prevents HAM 'fraying' or 'fringing', SpectraColor includes a wide variety of brush modes, as well as rotatable brushes, transparent brushes, and the wrapping of brushes onto spheres, cones, boxes or other shapes selected by the user. What is more, it includes both key-frame animation support, and a drawing tool called "Pantograph", which allows the creation of art by the simple tracing of an object on screen -- along with the more usual ways. Digimate III, Version 1.1, ($39.95), by Mindware, is an enhanced version of Digimate III that allows Digimate's animation capabilities to be used with NewTek's DigiPaint 3 paint program. ProImage 1.1, by Communications Systems Engineering, is a menu-driven software program that displays and updates color IFF images -- including those that are hi-res -- in up to 4096 colors. Interestingly, ProImage may be controlled remotely by anyone with a telephone, a modem, and the proper password(s). For it permits the establishment of a multiple user base, together with password controlled levels of security. At the same time, it also contains a powerful scripting capacity that provides its user with complete control over the sequences, dates, and times of display used in its automated mode. Additionally, the program allows images with a resolution of up to 736 X 482, and may be customized to fit the user's precise requirements. (No price available) ART: HARDWARE MaxiSketch ($499.95), by Centaur Software, is a 1000 DPI electronic sketch pad one can attach to any of the Amiga 500, 1000, or 2000 series. It is autoconfiguring, requires no software, and is able to emulate a number of similar devices, along with the Amiga keyboard. ART: SOFTWARE 3-D Professional Ray-Tracing System (free to 3-D Professional users), by Progressive Peripherals and Software, is an expansion module for the 3-D Professional modeling system. An advanced ray-tracing program, it enhances 3-D Professional by adding to it the capacities to produce umbras and penumbras able to render fuzzy shadows, flawed or blurred transparencies, reflections and refractions. The result is an increased degree of 3-D realism in the objects created with this program. Other features include the capacity to export pictures in IFF 24-bit format or to Progressive's own "VideoMaster" framebuffer board, along with the ability to distribute the work of the ray-trace calculations among several Amigas by linking them either with serial cables or with Progressive's "DoubleTalk" network Art Department Professional ($240.00), by ASDG, is an image processing and manipulation program able to load images from -- and later save to -- a wide variety of 'native' and 'foreign' graphics formats. The user is then able to adjust their size, dithering, palettes, and number of colors as desired, as well as compositing them into 24-bit (16.7 million color) images, separating their colors, creating graduated backdrops for them or manipulating them in hundreds of other ways. Among its other features are 208 rendering or video modes, six dithering methods and an open-endedness allowing it to be enhanced with the addition of various software modules. Among the companion modules released so far by ASDG are "The Art Department Professional Conversion Pack", which includes sub-modules such as TIFF, Targa and Rendition; and "The Art Department Presentation Graphics Pack", allowing one to combine business graphics and multiple images. FractalPro, Version 4.0 ($99.95) is an enhanced version of MegageM's fractal art and animation program. It now is able to create both 'tween' fractal sequences or Julia Set Cascade sequences between any two Mandelbrot or Cube Mandelbrot sets or images. It is also able to generate Digital Elevation Maps of fractals for 3-D scene creation with the Vista software packages by Virtual Reality. Last, FractalPro has six new animation modes, including the ability to 'pan' in eight directions. Jim Sachs Signature Collection 1991 Calendar, by Oxxi, is a collection of 14 images created by Sachs. Among these are not only his favorite works, but a number of useful tips for would-be Amiga artists. And though it is probably far too late in the year to obtain one from your local Amiga dealer, fans of Jim Sachs' work may wish to contact Oxxi to see whether any copies remain available. (No price available) Stone Surfaces, by MicroSearch, is a five disk collection of pictures of rock and marble surfaces. Useful for backdrops and 3D-brush wraps, the images were originally 24-bit overscans that were later reduced to the HAM mode (4096 colors) for use in the more common Amiga graphics and video programs. (No price available) VistaPro ($149.95), by Virtual Reality Laboratories, is an enhancement of the original "Vista" program (which also remains available). Using mapping data from the U.S. Geological Services (or from NASA, as the case may be), this program generates accurate 3-D images of landscapes as diverse as Yosemite's El Capitain and the Olympus Mons of the planet Mars. VistaPro requires 3 MB of RAM, unlike the original Vista, which needs only one. But this additional memory usage allows VistaPro to have a wider variety of displays (IFF 24-bit, hi-res, HAM or interlace); four animation modes; including a proprietary mode and player; an unlimited number of lighting positions; dithering, blend and roughness controls; Gouraud shading (eliminates polygons and sharp edges); a scripting mode to facilitate the creation of animations; and the ability to either save images in a variety of formats or to export them for display with graphics enhancers such as the "FireCracker" or "DCTV". The program includes a generous number of renditions of actual landscapes in addition to over four billion fractal creations; but fo those who want even more, additional sets of landscapes are available for $80. ART: TUTORIALS The Buddy System for DeluxePaint III ($49.95), by Help Disk, is an on-line tutorial for those new to DeluxePaint III. With this program installed, the user is given access to either an audio narrative or a more detailed audio-and-on-screen demonstration to help the user master the intricacies of the program -- all at the press of a key! VidZeen Volume 1 ($14.00), by Michael Brown of MBZ Products, is a two hour videotape tutorial for users of DeluxePaint III. It is filled with tips, tricks and techniques -- the secrets used by experts to create dazzling graphical special effects. Clearly, tutorials such as this (or The Buddy System described above) can greatly shorten the time it takes to achieve competence with DeluxePaint III.