Ulead Systems Announces Ulead PhotoImpact 5 Ulead Systems has rolled out PhotoImpact Version 5. This was the first image editing software on the market to fully integrate specific creative and optimization tools for Web site designers. PhotoImpact 5 continues this trend by adding a multitude of new features and tools to support the growing creative ideas of its customers. In addition to a complete arsenal of Web tools, PhotoImpact 5 includes some of the industry's most impressive creative tools. Already the first image editor to include a number of unique special effect engines, PhotoImpact 5 strikes again with the all new "Lighting Effects." Now users can produce still and animated light-based effects like lightning, fireworks, halo, spotlight, meteor, comet and laser. Lighting Effects are customizable and include key frame animation control to deliver awesome effects on and off the Web. Another new feature, added by user request, is the interface to draw shapes, lines, arrows and outline forms. These new drawing objects can be rendered in flat 2D or in 3D raised shapes. The refined Text Tool gives users the power to create editable vector-based 2D and 3D text with control over material and deformation as well as the ability to wrap and curve text around objects. Other new features are: advanced masking, snap-to lasso selections, painting with paper textures and cloning and painting with transparency. PhotoImpact 5 gives users a wide range of creative avenues. Unlike competing products, PhotoImpact delivers professional Web graphics tools that are easy enough for anyone to learn and use. With the Web going mainstream, PhotoImpact 5 gives the everyday graphics enthusiast tools that make Web graphics creation intuitive and natural. The new "Component Designer" makes creating any Web graphic a simple three-step process. It includes 1,000 templates of Web graphical objects -- from buttons and banners to bullets and icons. Users choose a component, then customize and output it directly to PhotoImpact or the Image Optimizer. The enhanced "Image Optimizer" makes it even easier to shrink file sizes and decrease graphic download times by taking advantage of Ulead's proprietary SmartSaver image compression technology and integrates tightly within the PhotoImpact interface. PhotoImpact 5 also includes Java Script Rollover Assistant, which walks the user through every step to quickly creating eye-catching interactive buttons without the need to know how to program Java code. An advanced feature called Image Slicing lets users slice large images into HTML tables for faster previewing on the Web. Creating Web animations is a breeze with GIF Animator 3, the industry's undisputed leader for creating compact, high quality GIF animations. With a whole menu dedicated to Web graphics tools, such as advanced button designer, background designer, image map tag creator, HTML assistant and more, PhotoImpact 5 serves all users, whether professional or novice, with the tools needed to prepare great-looking Web graphics. The estimated street price for PhotoImpact 5 is US$79.95. Owners of the current PhotoImpact 4.2 and earlier versions may upgrade to Version 5 for US$49.95. There will also be a $20 competitive in-box rebate for users of other imaging products such as Adobe Photoshop, Jasc Paint Shop Pro and Corel Photo Paint. http://www.ulead.com Jill Ryan Web Design, Business, Internet, Web, ISP, graphics utilities, html, - Back to the Topic Index