Photo Impact Version 4 (Ulead Photoimpact 5)

Name: callancool

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Product:	Ulead Photoimpact 5
Date:	18/09/03 (1010 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, Good features, Great results

Disadvantages: Some features only in full version

This ones yet another example of the great 'Coverware' that I pick up, and a fine piece of software it is too should you have the inclination to take time using it. For those of you that don't know what coverware is, it's those programmes supplied on magazine cover discs, and I've had some remarkable software off many a great cover: Two different versions of Lotus organiser (including the penultimate one) two full Smartsuites, Word pro 97, Pressworks, Encyclopaedias galore, and They're all full versions. One of the most used programmes of mine is version 4 of photo impact in it's SE version. SE was basically a cut down version of the programme given away with OEM hardware, such as digital cameras.

So how does it differ from the competition and is it any good? Well In my opinion its the perfect image editor for beginners, because it allows you to select the adjustment you want without a lot of trial and error.

Fingers or Thumbs?

The biggest difference between photo impact and others is the way you select the adjustment you want. With most image editors there's a lot of guesswork involved in editing the image. Often you are presented with a sliding scale, and unless you have the manual in front of you, you will have no idea what numerical value to set it at to get the right effect. However, Photo impact presents the user with a series of thumbnails representing the various levels of the command you want to apply. You can see a miniature representation of what each level will be like if selected and choose the one you like best. Double clicking on it will immediately apply that level of your chosen effect, whereas a single click will select the level but allow you to preview it before you decide to apply or not. Many effects will also let you choose the variation between thumbnails as well so you can fine tune them, as well as letting you do it manually like in PSP or Photoshop. Previewing an effect is easy
as you are presented with OK, undo/redo, cancel and continue opinions. However if you undo an effect in the preview mode and then click OK or continue, the effect is applied, and you have to use the undo button in the toolbar.

Layout.

The layout is simple and effective. Across the top common tasks such as you'll find in most programmes like new, copy, paste, scan along with an easy palette that's simply brilliant, but more on that later. The left hand side features all the modes, such as clone mode, paint mode, text mode, and selection modes. The right hand side has selections for Red Green and Blue channels and brightness and contrast, making a doddle to add more change the colour balance by individual colours or to brighten or darken an image. Also on the right side is a colour selection chart that lets you choose from one of the 16 primary DOS colours, or click on a detailed colour map to get the right colour.

Easy Palette.

The easy Pallette is photo impacts hidden gem, that lets you add frames and other special effects not catered for by the filters. Ironically, on the taskbar there's an icon for frame and shadow which leads you to a box allowing you try the effect but not apply it as its 'only' in the full version, but pottering around the easy palette brings you a selection of frames you CAN apply (several of them being among the styles you're told you can't - naughty one U-Lead), as well as galleries for effects like adding Clouds and stars and snow, weather and time of day effects, and a cool painting effects gallery where you can do things like painting brick walls on your photo's. It's in this gallery that you select the size and style of your brushes and as always they are represented by thumbnails, making it incredibly easy to get the right brush and size. However, there's no minimise feature to the palette which is a shame as it would be most welcome by its many users.
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Post processing.

There's a handy Format menu where you can adjust brightness, contrast, focus, colour balance either via thumbnails or by an auto process mode which never seems to get things right. There's also a brilliant post processing wozzard that allows you do all the above things, as well as crop, straighten and remove red eye. There's 48 filters to choose from. These include Sharpen, blur and unsharp mask, all of which can be achieved with the one focus command in the format menu. It's sad but almost all images editors make this mistake, which can confuse a novice. More filters such as Kai's power goo plug ins can be added to the package giving virtually unlimited potential.

Selection Tools.
Photoimpact features the usual selection tools common to nearly all editors like circle, rectangle and freehand (lassoo) which are easy to apply. A good tip for improving a photo is rather than freehand around a face for example before sharpening it, is to draw a quck rectangle or circle as this way if you don't oversharpen it will blend in with the whole photo. I use this for improving my daughters face on photo's and find that the image an be sharpened by one thumbnail, then the face or another object can be sharpened by another thumbnail without looking out of place. Cloning is straightforward, although it must be said that the clone tool moves about too much when cloning so that if you're not careful extra objects will be cloned - most annoying.

Glitches.

The programme is not without its glitches. It has a Digital Camera mode in the file menu, but this will only work with cameras with twain drivers and not mass storage ones favoured by today's camera manufactures. Also the rotate command is in the edit menu and not the view one, which is confusing for a novice user. Also the easy palette which is off by default is only represented by a small icon (that doesn't even give a hint o
f what it's for) on the
Toolbar. Also if you have an image open full screen, then all other minimised images are hidden behind it making it difficult to switch between full screen images without minimising open ones first.

Overall.

Overall, PhotoImpact is the perfect image editor for the novice as the thumbnails take all the guesswork out of the settings to apply, unlike other programmes like Paint Shop Pro. However, a lot of experimenting will uncover modes and features that are hard to access, so root around the menus and easy palette to your hearts content. Once you're competent with it you'll be amazed at what you can do. U-lead are now on version 8, and a demo can be downloaded from their web site, as well as extra filters and effects, so take advantage of them.

Happy snapping,
GBU all,

Callan Cool

Summary: