: A comprehensive multimedia presentation/creation program.
AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION
1 Name: Scala Inc. (USA arm of Scala AS Norway)' Address: 12110 Sunset Hills, Suite 100
Reston, VA 22090
USA
Telephone: (703) 709-8614
LIST PRICE
E I'm not sure what the list price is; mail order is around $300 (US).FScalaMM200 was included with the Amiga 3000P [A3000 packaged with someIsoftware], so find someone who got it for free and buy it from them! The
upgrade to 210 is $40 (US).
*SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
HARDWARE
7 RAM: 1 Meg of Chip RAM (2 Meg for some wipe effects)
2 Meg of Fast RAM
; Hard drive is not required; but for creating new scripts,9 (Scala's term for the presentations you create) I would
HIGHLY recommend one.
? An accelerated processor is not required; but like most video" programs, the faster the better.
SOFTWARE
; ScalaMM200 will run under Workbench 1.3. The 210 upgrade# requires Workbench 2.0 or higher.
9 Version 200 would crash constantly under Workbench 3.0,5 but the upgrade seems quite stable, and I have been= able to crash the ANIMLAB utility program only a few times.8 (The main program has never crashed since my upgrade.)
COPY PROTECTION
E Dongle (hardware device attached to either mouse port). It could beKworse, but I dislike dongles, and I have heard that this dongle makes usingGGVP's G-Lock troublesome if not impossible. (I don't own one so I can't
confirm this.)
C The dongle is invisible as far as the user is concerned (unless itFis missing of course). It is a small, approximately 1-inch-square redLdevice, and it has a pass-through; but the manual warns of using any programHthat writes to the mouse ports (hence the trouble with G-LOCK). My main>gripe against this dongle will follow in the DISLIKES section.
MACHINE USED FOR TESTING
< Amiga 4000, 2 Meg Chip RAM, 10 Meg Fast RAM. NTSC monitor.
REVIEW
A If you think ScalaMM is only for multimedia presentations, thinkJagain! Here are the features, and just about ANY animation/video user can$get some real muscle out of ScalaMM:
E * Video backdrops/titling (includes over 75 backdrops and 15 fonts).? It uses standard BITMAP fonts! You can even title over your
animations
E * WIPES (transitions between screens): OVER 80 different kinds, andD each item (text brush, or whatever) can have its own wipe both onD and off the screen. Scala dynamically changes the screen palette? during the transitions. This allows it to be the ONLY Amiga@ program (that I know of anyway) to fade from one picture intoD another with completely different palettes. You have to see this
to appreciate it.
? * Play animations anywhere in your script, and even chain themB together easily. Plays anims directly from the hard drive too.. Also includes ANIMLAB a utility program to:
Build anims from pictures7 Convert anims to Scala's own 32bit anim format (which" plays much faster I might add!)
Rip pictures out of anims< Index anim frames for playing directly from the hard drive
G * IFF sampled sound and music MOD file support. (And you can sync your: presentations to the music with the click of the mouse!
< * On the multimedia side of things, you can make completely= interactive presentations with buttons, loops, etc. ScalaE supports MIDI, laser disks, Canon ION still video, CDTV links, and
is ARexx addressable.
E * ScalaMM comes with the main program (the editor), a runtime player< which still requires the dongle, Animlab for building andF converting animations, and ScalaPrint which prints out the pages of
your presentation.
? * ScalaMM210 has complete AGA support including 24-bit paletteE "sliding", Scala's term for its cool fading technique. ScalaMM200: tries to support AGA, but it is very buggy at doing so.
B * Completely multitasking and OS friendly. Reads DEVS:Monitors to@ work in all video modes of the system it is running on. (See BUGS for some video hiccups.)
E Building presentations could not be easier. The editor is very wellLdesigned and simply lists all the pages you have made. To create a new page,Kjust click on "New." The program then asks for a background. If you don'tLwant one just click on OK, and the program will ask for screen format (size,Mcolors etc.). Then, it opens that page and you get a flashing cursor waitingGfor you to enter whatever text you want. (You can also load brushes orFsymbols and they are treated just like text.) Even making interactiveGpresentations is all done in the editor graphically with no programmingLknowledge required. At any time during your creating process, you can clickKon "SHOW" to see the current page or the complete presentation so far. TheHmain program also has what Scala calls the "Shuffler" which replaces theIline-by-line text listing of your pages with little thumbnail pictures ofDeach screen. This is great for storyboarding or for getting a quick
overview of your presentation.
DOCUMENTATION
D The documentation is EXCELLENT! It even tells you on the first fewJpages where to start reading based on your computer knowledge and previousMScala experience. Of course, it has a "quick-start" at the beginning for allMus impatient people who read manuals only when we can't figure out something.EThe promotional version that ships with the 3000P comes with a cheap,Lpaperback-style bound manual, while the retail version's manual has a nice 3Hring binder. The only problem with the manual comes (I assume) from theMtranslation to English because there are a lot of misspelled words. But even4so, it is very easy to understand and very complete.
LIKES AND DISLIKES
LIKES:
> The capabilities of ScalaMM210 and the range of applicationsF for this program are enormous! If it has anything to do with gettingF video on the screen and music out of the speakers, ScalaMM can do it.D I have seen some of the multimedia presentation programs for the PCE world and this puts them to shame easily. (For a lot less money thanB some PC programs as well). The speed at which Scala can do thingsF (even on stock machines) is phenomenal. With the 32-bit anim format,A even 150K delta 256-color anims play at a good speed. (Around 15
FPS.)
DISLIKES:
= I still have some trouble building 256-color anims with theC ANIMLAB program. Sometimes it will result in a crash, but usuallyF it errors out. They do play fine, but only ANIMLAB can build/convertF to Scala's 32bit format. (It is not anim8.) Anim-5 works OK, but ofG course it's not as fast. My main complaint is that there is NO freelyB distributable player for the animations. So making presentations? for clients means they have to fork out the full price for theF program just to run my scripts. If CBM can fix AmigaVision for this,2 then anyone can. I hope Scala changes this soon.
$COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS
F I have never used AmigaVision, which is probably the closest thing toKScala. I know it lacks some of Scala's features, but AV is cheaper. So ifLyou can, I would suggest checking out both at a local dealer to see if Scala is worth the extra money to you.
A For some reason, the 210 version will not display non-interlacedJoverscan pictures full screen. I'm not sure, but this may be OE (operatorKerror 8^)). I don't think Tech Support knew what I meant when I was tryingKto explain it to them. (They were helpful, albeit a little curt with me, IIthought.) If an overscan non-lace screen comes up, Scala will display itKquarter-screen size, centered in the middle of the monitor. Scala uses theHmonitors in the DEVS: drawer, so that must have something to do with it.JAlso, as mentioned elsewhere, I managed to crash the program every now andMthen trying to build AGA anims from stills, and sometimes if fails to convert-anim-5 format anims to Scala's 32-bit format.
VENDOR SUPPORT
F Scala Inc. sent me the 210 upgrade 2nd Day Air, and the whole processKtook only 5 days. (I had to mail in my registration and upgrade money.) IKwas impressed. I called about the non-lace overscan problem, and they kindJof blew me off since I was going to genlock the output anyway; they said IKwould have to use an interlaced screen. (My Super-Gen does this internallyIautomatically, so it was NOT the answer I wanted to hear.) For now, I am0using the MM200 version Player which works fine.
CONCLUSIONS
C I am very happy with ScalaMM210. It makes syncing my anims to MODLmusic a snap, and the titling software is the best I have seen. It is a bitIpricey, but I got it from a 3000P buyer. If you can see it at your localHdealer, the demo scripts that come with Scala will knock your socks off.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
C This review is completely in the public domain. Do with it as you
like.
"- Adam Benjamin, af987@yfn.ysu.edu
4 Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews9 Send reviews to: amiga-reviews-submissions@math.uh.edu: Request information: amiga-reviews-requests@math.uh.edu, Moderator mail: amiga-reviews@math.uh.edu
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