import

Feb 14 2006

Adobe posts Lightroom Beta 2

Over the course of the public beta testing of Adobe Lightroom, improvements have been suggested and implemented resulting in the following changes:

  • Now a Universal Binary–this version runs on Apple’s latest Intel-based Macs.

  • Crop and straighten your photos with new tools in the Develop module.
  • Add music to your slideshows.
  • Create nested keyword sets for easier organization.
    Import and export XMP metadata (*please see the Known Issues list in Release Notes for details).

  • Try out the improved Edit in Photoshop capabilities.
  • Take advantage of better metadata handling.
    Utilize new white balance support for the Nikon D2X, D2Hs, and D50 cameras.

Adobe is inviting you to download the latest beta and give them your reaction to the changes as well as suggesting what you still want to see added or modified. They say they want to ensure Lightroom is built from the ground up by photographers, for photographers but I’m sure they would like you to get used to using the program so that you will buy it when it is finished and hopefully this will give them an edge over Aperture.

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Dec 8 2004

Swift 3D v4

I approached this review thinking this was going to be a minor, incremental improvement to a decent vector 3D solution, but come to find out, I was wrong.

Version 4 brings the 3D tools up a notch, introduces animation paths and imports 3ds files with textures. Improvements in this version make Swift a full-featured 3D suite at a great price.

The quality of the vector renderings are great. Simple logo-type renderings look as detailed in vector as they do rendered in raster. And with the .swft export format, and the complementary Flash import plugin you can bring in 3D renderings completely edible, with layering.

Shading and highlights bring more 3D to vector that you might thing was possible. I’d have to say that I was very impressed with the quality of the end product. Vector renderings, scaled beautifully, were easy to move into Flash and looked great. Raster renderings were very impressive too. Rendering speed was quick, for the amount of polish.

In my previous review, I mentioned the need for more detailed 3D tools – which version 4 delivers. My other principle complaint has been the interface, which unfortunately has not improved.

Swift’s main window is tiny, compared to the bulky sidebar. The sidebar features contextual options, but is often close to empty. There’s an additional tab to the main window for online help that does nothing more than launch the website. The toolbar along the top sports grayed-out tools that are rarely used.

So, given the nice improvements in rendering and importing, I would say this is a must-upgrade for existing users. For newcomers, this is a very flexible, cost-effective way to get into 3D but perhaps not the most efficient interface.

Swift 3D is $189, $99 upgrade

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Nov 29 2004

Navicat 5.3 (Database Application for Mac OS X – MySQL Client) Released!

This new version of Navicat (MySQL Client) supports Character Set of MySQL and includes a new feature – Filter Wizard, allowing user to quickly and easily locate desired data. In addition, XML Import feature is improved and History Log of executed SQL statements is now available.

An evaluation version of Navicat for Mac OS X 10.1 or later is avaliable for download at http://www.navicat.com/shareware.php3
Navicat, a database management tool from PremiumSoft, is an integrated GUI tool let user perform MySQL administration and database development in a more efficient and easier way. Advanced features enabling to import/ export data, backup, transfer database from server to server, create query and manage local or remote MySQL server. It also includes a full featured graphical manager for setting the users and access privileges and other useful features.

Navicat (MySQL Administrator) is also avaliable for Windows and Linux.
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