Very Cool, Easy to Use 3D (Ulead Cool3D)

Member Name: Nat_test

Product:	Ulead Cool3D
Date:	19/06/06 (161 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Simple program, cost effective

Disadvantages: You get what you pay for

At first I was skeptical of this program because it was just so cheap! My requirement of this program was that it produced slick 3D text suitable for broadcast, and that the render times were fast.

Text/Fonts:
This program handled all fonts that were installed on the system bar some of the symbol fonts. Even free to download fonts worked fine.

Text Tools:
The text tools in Cool 3D are limited. I found the text editor box to be quite primitive and often hard to type into. Leading and kearning options are available along with a bold and italic styling.

Execution:
Once text is in place it is fairly easy to manipulate in 3D space. The ease of use is deinately a plus for this product. There are also pre built animations if you are not feeling very creative, though they are a little cheesey.

Render:
The rendering times were not so bad. We trialed this on many computers and it did not seem to matter the spec of the machine (pentium 3/4). Sometimes errors in the renders were returned but this was limited.

Result:
The final result was very good considering the price. It was suitable for broadcast if rendered at the highest quality. Very complex animations resulted in some frayed edges but nothing beyond fixing.

Overview:
I found this program easy to use and value for money.

Summary: Quick 3D graphics, especially useful for generating 3D text.

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