In our September competition we've been giving you the chance to win a copy of Ulead's Pro photo editor PhotoImpact 11 (we reviewed it for you too) and now Ulead have released a new version of it, taking it to PhotoImpact 12. This new version will be given away instead of 11, and here is a run-down of the new features.
One main feature of PhotoImpact 11 was its photo editing ability, and Ulead have made these tasks a bigger part of 12. A new mode has been added called "ExpressFix" and this is a simplified interface with the main photo editing tools available in either guided or automatic forms. For example, colour adjustments can be made with the help of a wizard showing both before and after views. There are similar "SmartGuide" how-to panels available for running through editing a photo from beginning to end, and there are others for web or DVD tasks. ExpressFix isn't a mode that is just for users, as it is intended for professionals doing often monotonous tasks on all their photos.
One of the good features of PhotoImpact 11 was its huge amount of customisable filters and effects, and 12 adds even more (over 3,250 effects now), ranging from the complex to the silly and for all uses. A three-step Photo Project wizard has been introduced for cards or CD labels, and other sharing options include customisable templates for calendars, web albums and for smaller screens like PDAs. Much like Photoshop is now used for more than just photo editing, PhotoImpact 12 can be used for webpage, video or DVD menu use and more templates and components for those have been added - there are 1,300+ images and 2,200 objects for this.
Finally the program has been optimised even more for Professional users, with more RAW file support, better selection tools and 16-bit colour depth. A White Balance correction tool has been introduced to make pictures look more natural and this analyses photo colours and lighting conditions and offers suggestions to the user - which you can either accept or refine. Reduce Noise has been improved to be more powerful and faster.
Both the box and download versions are available in October. The boxed version is £49.99 or £29.99 for an upgrade, and the downloadable version is £5 cheaper on both - a nice idea for encouraging people to download. UPDATE: Ulead have announced a special promotional price until Jan 2007 meaning you can get it for merely £29.99!
When we reviewed PhotoImpact 11 we found it to be a nice alternative to Photoshop, especially since it offered a lot of similar features for a very good price - infact we found it so nice we decided to give a copy away. Of course it wasn't without its faults, but these should be improved in 12 - we'll have a review of it very soon.
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