CompuServe Messages

Yo Tom — Assuming that you're working on a Mac, the strongest solution I know of is DeBabelizer, by Equilibrium Technologies in Sausalito CA (415/332-4433). Program lists for $299, and it converts between 45 formats in PC, Mac, SGI, Amiga, Sun, Abekas and X Windows environments. QuickTime for Macintosh is supported — no word yet on QuickTime for Windows or Video for Windows. (Here's where I get evangelical…) But that's not all! It also creates optimal palettes better than Photoshop, dithers to nearly any color depth, scales and crops pictures too. You can automate level or channel adjustments, or create and use alpha channels, or merge multiple images using various schema. AND…it allows access to 3rd-party Photoshop filters like Aldus Gallery Effects and Kai's Power Tools, so you can "paint" 3D animations, all batch-processed while you sleep! I'm enthusiastic about this. It's more than just a translator. Right now, I've got an animation being processed in the background with Fresco and Film filters from Gallery Effects. Tonight I'm going to set it up to composite a Director animation with 2D transparent type…even though Director doesn't support alphas! I'm amazed and way buzzed! If you're in the SF Bay Area, drop me a line…a bunch of us are having a "field trip" to Equilibrium in April…using DeBabelizer is much faster than translating thrugh Director, and there's a wealth of additional features, besides. Best wishes, John "Next week it's hair commercials" Dowdell