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COLLAGE
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1994-09-08
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Collage Complete
by Nathan Kay
My first impression of Collage Complete for Windows and DOS was
formed long before I ever thought about reviewing this top-notch
product by Inner Media, Inc. My first impression was formed while
reading The Mother of All Windows Books, an excellent guide to the
universe of Windows. As a side comment, the authors mentioned that
their screen shots were taken with Collage Complete. Since then,
it's been in the back of my mind, so I was overjoyed when I received
a copy to review.
The first thing I noticed upon opening the package were the two
versions, one for DOS, the other for Windows. My simple review had
just turned complex. While this gave me a few moments of unease as
I thought of the extra work, I've found in working with the two
versions that they complement each other well, and having both the
DOS and Windows versions adds extra value to the package.
I'll start by talking about the Windows version, as that's the
part I worked with first. The Windows install program, like most
install programs for newer pieces of software, is easy to use and
simple enough that just about anyone could get through it without
much trouble. From the beginning, my impressions were all positive.
The Windows software consists of a capture program and an image
manager, which work separately from each other. The image manager
is provided to view, catalog and perform basic manipulation of
images, while the capture program exists to take screen shots in the
Windows environment.
The capture program runs like any other application, and offers
many options. When I ran it, I was presented with the main capture
program, which allowed me to set capture options, and to capture to
preview, or to capture to file. In taking several screen shots, I
found that each has its time and place. For taking several screen
shots in rapid succession, capture to file is unquestionably the
method to use. When taking a single shot, the capture to preview
option allows for better control of the end result. Of course, from
the preview window, it's easy to save the preview to a file. When I
wanted to capture a screen, I found it easiest to minimize the
capture program, then arrange the screen the way I wanted it. From
there, all I had to do was press the correct hot-key combination,
and wait a few moments. In a few seconds, I either had the screen
captured to the preview window or to a file. A wide range of file
types and color depths are allowed, including black and white,
gray-scale and all depths of color.
The image manager is designed for easy access to basic image
manipulation tools. It's not an image editor, and doesn't have
flashy features. It's practical, easy to use, and flexible. It can
scan in graphics from any TWAIN compatible scanner, and decode many
different file types. Images may be cropped, cleaned up, combined
and re-saved. I found it easy to perform such functions as adding
text, lines, borders and other objects. I had no problems changing
color depth, or altering image size.
One of the great strengths of the image manager is a feature
called collage. Using collage, I created libraries of my various
graphics files, and was able to use collage to view them by their
filenames, a description that I entered for them, or by a thumbnail
sketch that is essentially a small version of the graphic in
question. Without a doubt, I found collage to be one of the most
useful functions I've found in a image manipulation program.
When I installed Collage for DOS, I had to spend quite a bit
more time reading the operations manual than I did with the Windows
software. Where the Windows software had obvious features, and
obvious ways of doing tasks, the DOS software wasn't quite so
obvious in it's uses. However, a few minutes reading the well
written manual solved that problem.
The primary component in Collage for DOS is the TSR. Because
the full TSR takes a sizable amount of memory, Collage for DOS
provides three TSR's: SNAP, SAVE and VIEW. SNAP is the largest of
these, and does the work of both SAVE and VIEW. SAVE is the second
largest, considerably smaller than SNAP. SAVE's only use is to take
a picture of the current screen in either PCX color, or TIFF
gray-scale. Despite seeming a little simple, SAVE does it's job
very well. VIEW exists to allow the user to view a PCX or TIFF
picture from within any other program. SHOW is a non-TSR program
that views PCX and TIFF images, allowing zooming and normal viewing,
but nothing else.
The main weakness of the DOS software is that there is no real
equivalent of the Image Manager. The VIEW and SHOW utilities are
only for viewing. Neither has the manipulation abilities of the
image manager.
Working with Collage, I found that the minimum configuration I
would recommend using would be a computer with a least four
megabytes of RAM, a VGA card capable of displaying at least 256
colors, and a 386-25 CPU. A less powerful CPU would still work, but
the speed of graphics manipulation would be slower than I'd want to
work with on a regular basis. For hard disk space, I found that I
only needed a megabyte or two for the programs, and another five
megabytes for storing graphics images.
Simple yet powerful is my basic description of Collage Complete.
It's managed to do close to everything I've asked of it, often
without requiring me to read the on-line help or manual.
Inner Media, Inc.
60 Plain Road
Hollis, NH 03049 USA
(800) 962-2949 (Voice)
(603) 465-7195 (Fax)
Suggested Retail Price $199
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