{fb1800000PHOTO-CD
COMPATIBILITY
{fb1000000I had a few problems with the PhotoCD section of this package, the manual says that if you have CDFS 2.20 then you will be able to use the pictures on the CD, however, I have this version and for some reason the CD Filer kept reporting an error when I tried to catalogue or use it; this could be either something to do with my CD-ROM (a Toshiba) or a misinformed manual. However, I was able to test the PhotoCD capab- ilities by using the _RiscDisc_"Reviews.Apps.Publisher3", which has a handful of files. Importing the pictures is a dream, you simply select the menu option "Show CD Album", a few seconds later a dialogue box showing thumb- nail pictures is shown. Double-clicking on any of the thumbnails loads it up into ProArt24 ready for editing.

I found that ProArt24 locks your CD-ROM drive if it finds a PhotoCD in it. When ProArt is loaded, you can't eject the disc and insert a new one, without clicking on the "Eject CD" menu option. I found that to be quite a pain, and I don't really see why they need to lock the drive.

{fb1800000TOOLS
{fb1000000The tools available in the package are very pleasing to use too; If a dialogue box is blocking where you want to draw, it doesn't matter, as the brush will just draw on the sprite (but it won't display it). I found that I liked the unique "emboss" tool too; it made my images stand out from the page, and if used in moder- ation can make pictures very stylish. There are so many tools available to the user, I cannot mention them all, but what I can say is that if I wanted to be able to professionally retouch photos, then ProArtisan 24 would be the first package I would turn to.

One menu I did find very useful when retouching PhotoCD images was the effects menu. It has some very useful entries, like sharpen and halftone which allow you to edit images in a very subtle way, making them look slightly different, but the general onlooker won't know any difference. The general tools like "Add water" were very useful too, I tested them out on a photo of the queen I had, and I was able to get rid of people in the background. It made it look much better!

{fb1800000CONCLUSION
{fb1000000In conclusion, I think that this package is extremely good and would be a must for any serious graphics artist. Unfortunately, it only works on the RiscPC, but I suppose anyone wanting graphics editing this powerful would have a RiscPC anyway!

I've given the package nine and a half out of ten, because it's extremely good, but the price (although very little compared to PC photo- retouching packages) is a bit more than the poorer DA's Picture. It's professional, it's easy to use, so if you want a photo-retoucher, buy it now!

Rating: 9/10
{ssou
{fb10000C0
Product:{fb1000000 Pro Artisan 24
{fb10000C0
Price:{fb1000000 169.95
{fb10000C0
Availability:{fb1000000
Acorn RiscPC machines
{fb10000C0
Contact:{fb1000000
Clares (01606) 48511

Chris Jackson

_Win a copy of ProArt24!_"Regulars.700Comp"
{l2{n3
{fb1000000Advertisement
{sdfi
{fb1000000
 If you happen to have read the review of _PDCD-2_"PD.Apps.PDCD21" then why not consider the second release of PDCD-1. This CDROM now contains over 490Mb of archived PD, freeware and shareware. It has the long awaited "click on the filename" database, enabling any archive on the ROM to be opened without resorting to searching through endless directories and sub- directories. The CDROM is now supplied with a 60 page printed booklet of contents; very useful if you want to note down comments on what's worth using. At 36 fully inclusive it's got to be great value; to buy the same amount of PD on discs you would have to spend around 622 and that assumes the discs are all 100% full and you only pay 1 each for them.

 PDCD-3: don't hold you breath as it's going to take a long time to collect another 500 archived Mbs of good PD and shareware. I have got around 100Mbs so expect the next one in about 9 months!

 Keep an eye out for a _Star Trek_"NonComp.Music+Film.SF-Films" CD (with the permission of Paramount) and a very high quality Red Dwarf collection that will include Replay movies and some great 24bit JPEG files.

 I hope to see a lot of you at stand 44 at Harrogate in May. We could have our first hardware product available!

All the best,

Dave and Sue at The Datafile.
