If you're looking to add three-dimensional effects to vector-based artwork and text, and maybe even create some basic 3-D designs from scratch, Ray Dream's AddDepth 2 will get you started. New Wizards, step-by-step guides for creating templates and stylized 3-D text, plus a low $99 price tag and 200 included clip-art images make 3-D drawing accessible to nonartists. This latest upgrade also comes complete with a speed boost (courtesy of PowerPC-native code) and a wire-frame view.
Pick a Wizard. When you launch AddDepth, you can create a new document, open an existing document, or use a Wizard. The Template Wizard lets you select among 100 included graphics templates for logos, headlines, and illustrations and steps you through the process of adding your own display text to them. This operation is extremely easy, but its value depends on how appropriate the designs -- including 3-D airplanes, coffee cups, and skylines -- are for your project. On the other hand, you can modify each of these designs to make them more applicable to your work.
A second hand-holder, the Step-by-Step Wizard helps you create stylized 3-D text. You select formatting options by clicking on a series of illustrations depicting the letter m at different extrusion levels, rotation angles, and perspectives and with varying color effects, bevels, and light sources. Annoyingly, these illustrations don't change based on your selections; they'd be more useful if they functioned as previews.
Although the Wizards could be improved, they contribute to an intuitive interface that helps ease you into working in three dimensions. Novices will also appreciate AddDepth's single drawing window, which switches conveniently between 2-D and 3-D views; an uncluttered tool bar; and the program's straightforward floating palettes.
Limited Features. This simplicity comes at a cost, however: AddDepth pales in comparison to the breadth of Adobe Dimensions. For instance, AddDepth doesn't have Dimensions' Revolve command, which lets you quickly draw items with contoured profiles, such as wine bottles and champagne flutes. AddDepth's bevel editor, which lets you design object edges, is limited as well: Front and back bevels must be the same height, and you're constrained to angled, single-surface bevels. On the other hand, Dimensions costs nearly twice as much as AddDepth and has a much steeper learning curve. And AddDepth can export 3-D art as editable PICT files, a task that Dimensions -- which works only with high-end draw programs, such as Adobe Illustrator -- can't do.
AddDepth is an inexpensive program well suited for nonartists who prefer to be on the easy end of the ease-of-use spectrum.
AddDepth 2 2.0 Acceptable/Very Good (3.5 of 5 mice) / Price: $99 (list). Company: Ray Dream, Mountain View, CA; 800-846-0111 or 415-960-0768. Reader Service: Circle #411.
