Can it really doo that? (MS PhotoDraw 2000 2.0)

Member Name: fluffypup

Product:	MS PhotoDraw 2000 2.0
Date:	03/09/00 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very useful, smart and professional graphics package which comes free with MS Office 2000!

Disadvantages: No manuals supplied with Office2000 - which you don't really need! But on the other hand if you want to be really good at unknown features it would be good to have a manual!

PhotoDraw 2000 comes as a package with Microsoft Office (Professional) 2000. Being mainly users of mainly Word2000, Excel 2000 and Paint Shop Pro 4 we didn't touch PhotoDraw. The little red and white icon stood on our desktop for over 6 months before finally getting used. Now it is getting used all the time!

I've been used to PSP4 for months and knew it inside out, but as many of you might be aware it lacked a professional touch. It was coming up to my girlfriend's birthday. I wanted to make something special. I decided on a heart shaped background (to fit a photo frame) with a montage of photos of her and us together. I knew and have discovered that PSP4 was a pretty limited graphics tool and I needed to do exceed it's capabilities. At this stage, I decided to experiment and use PhotoDraw.

I found it easy and simple to use. Most of my software knowledge is gained by click, experiment and then use - PhotoDraw 2000 was no exception. It has 'fancy texts' options (which I didn't need for my project). The 'crop options' were very good. There were multiple shape cropping/cutting, eg (heart!), options available which I did use extensively. The assortment of 'templates' also came in handy for my heart shaped background. The designer edging/outlines played another great part. I wanted to blend the edges of the hearts and photos rather than use straight lines. I liked the charcoal edging used in a red blend. The fill options also came in handy with some great textures for inside of the heart. I found the other main options of 'touch ups' and 'effects', although very good and easy to use, didn't play a large part in my photo montage. I experimented with them all and then undid things that I didn't like and managed to come up with a very professional design, which exceeded my expectations. It took me just over the hour and a half to complete my montage from start to finish - from scratch!
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All my experiments and achievements were done by clicking on the main icons and then scrolling down on all of the sub-options (icon based, with text descriptions). Very easy to use and if you go wrong then just use the 'undo' button. I didn't need a manual (not that you are given a manual when you buy MS Office 2000) to achieve my results. The knowledge I have gained by experimentation and implementation on PSP4 transferred easily on to PhotoDraw and then some more!

A very useful, smart and very professional graphics package, which I love to use. Can it 'doo' that? It surely can plus extra and then some more...! BTW my girlfriend loved the photomontage.

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