Art Explosion: 750,000 Images
reviewed by Robert Pritchett
Nova Development http://www.novadevelopment.com Released: May 13, 2003 $200 USD Requirements: PowerPC-based Macs using Mac OS 7.5 or later. Mac OS X 10.2 or later to use the newer image viewer. Windows 95-XP, with a display that can view millions of colors, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive (for the 5-DVD Version). Strengths: Royalty-free images and fonts. Cross-platform. Weaknesses: Some discs didnÕt read. Reviewed with an iMac G5 with Mac OS X 10.4.6. Other Reviews: MacReviewCast Episode #59 |
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While the rest of the world shies away from the printed word and goes PDF all the way, Nova Development continues to put out 1,800 pages of their Image Library. Only now it comes in one volume instead of two. But it still weighs a lot! And the 48 CDs that come in two ÒCD-ROM PortfolioÓ volumes weigh about as much as the Catalog. What is different with the latest release is that #48 has more fonts on it, instead of also including software (Canvas 7) that came with the earlier version. This set also uses Extensis Portfolio to view images. Of course, they all open up just fine in Preview as long as the discs are readable. (Discs 1 and 2 were not readable in the box I received.) EPS files automatically converted to PDF for viewing on my machine.
You have a choice. Either draw from scratch or choose from 750,000 images as vector or raster graphics, photos, technical symbols or web graphics. Vectored in EPS, rastered in TIFF, technical graphics in PICT, web-ready in GIF or JPEG and the fonts in either AGFA or Bitstream.
Use the catalog, or peruse the CD Portfolio contents by listed alphabetical category, open the file you want on a CD and drag it where you want it to go or copy/paste in any app.
How valuable is your time? Why reinvent the wheel? This beats downloading or searching the Internet for that one, special image And these are all royalty free. Just make sure they all work out of the box and you will do okay.
