CompuServe Messages

Scala is very good for transitions not only because it can handle AGA and mixed palettes but because the included DVEs are extremely slick. Also, it will actually average palettes on the fly using Floyd-Steinberg dithering. So if you have two images with different palettes, each of which has no more than 128 colors, it will handle them in AGA mode. Even where that's not possible, it makes very smooth transitions using color fades. The Scala transitions have to be seen to be believed. They look like they're hardware-based. I don't believe I mentioned that Scala comes with AnimLab, a utility to optimize any animation so it will play back at the fastest possible speed, even from disk. Scala is so good, even if you use only a few of its features, you'll fall in love with it. For instance, you can arrange scenes (stills, anims, CG, sound effects, whatever) via the "shuffler" screen, which is a storyboard that shows you each scene as a page. You can drag the pages around and then click on them to edit details, like palettes, fonts for CG, etc. Simple. I really think Oxxi's VideoStage product might offer potential. Apparently, it's based on Animagic, the first Amiga software transition creator, but has a storyboard format much like Scala. What it does in the area of anims, though, I can't say. Noticed one review of it in a euromag a few months back but didn't pay close attention. — Ron Legro / MILWAUKEE WI USA via AUTOPILOT ["Phun, phun, phun on the Infobahn…"]