Multimedia tools are nothing new to Corel, a company now responsible for titles in the Ulead family and Video Studio Pro. But the particular combination of features in Corel Digital Studio 2010 (Windows) is something new. Or rather, a it's a fresh take on Corel's existing technology.

The software suite marries editing and project creation tools for photos and videos, giving the application interfaces a tinted look and rounded corners that share the philosophy of Apple's iPhoto and iMovie. Corel's goal was to provide an entry-level media manipulation package for home users that is also appealing to look at and natural to get around, and the company has largely succeeded.

Corel Digital Studio 2010 is comprised of main four applications: the photo studio, video studio, DVD burning app, and WinDVD, Corel's video player. (There's also a desktop gadget with its shortcut buttons to each of the four programs.) With them you can open media from just about anywhere, edit videos and photos, and fashion a whole lot of fun photo and video projects. The video studio, known formally as Corel VideoStudio 2010, has a built-in movie maker that looks good and is approachable for novices looking to get their feet wet. There are a few templates (but a few more wouldn't hurt), for automatically creating videos out of video clips or photos, or both of them together--you'll have an opportunity to tweak transitions and other details later.

The photo app harbors a creation workshop for collages, cards, calendars, and photo books, all of which you can print from your home computer or order from Corel online, if you'd like to turn your digital media into physical form. As with the movie maker, there are templates for getting started (the same ones, in fact.) The limited templates may get old pretty soon.

Corel Digital Studio 2010--screenshots

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Corel Painter Essentials 3.0

From Corel :

Built on the award-winning power of Corel Painter IX, Corel Painter Essentials 3 is a complete home art studio for novices and experts alike. It includes everything you need to explore digital art, and to create stunning paintings from your photos.

Corel Painter Essentials 4 is a slimmed-down version of Painter for home use, but don't let that fool you into thinking that the average home user will be disappointed. For those who like to play around with their photos, tweaking them artistically, Essentials provides a deep toolbox under its intuitive layout.Read the entire Corel Painter Essentials review

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GrowFX 1.2.2

GrowFX - a new system of modeling and animating plants for 3D Studio Max. Now you can recreate digitally a lifelike 3D model of any plant, from grass and trees to woodland using a refreshingly simple interface and an essential set of parameters that you can set up yourself. GrowFX lets you create broadleaf trees, conifers, palm trees, flowers and many other vegetational compositions. Its unique model building tools will help you create creeping plants, entwining scene objects, and shearing plants of any shape. Plants may bend around different objects. GrowFX is fully compatible with 3D Studio MAX. All parameters can be animated. You can, for example, create a wind animation, plant growth animation and other kinds of animation you can imagine. There is also an opportunity to edit the parameters using MAXScript.

Version 1.2.2 adds compatibility with 3ds Max 2010 (32-bit and 64-bit), New option for Leaves mesh and fixes small bug with activation.

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TuneUp Utilities 2009 8.0.3300

Reviewed by: iFR

To call TuneUp Utilities 2009 useful would drastically understate the situation. The app provides users with a powerful, well-designed utility that accesses the entire Windows maintenance tool set and more in a fast, organized, and easy-to-use series of connected modules.

Temp file management, registry cleaners and start-up program controls are the bread-and-butter of these utilities, and these basics work in TuneUp more quickly and easily than most. However, the app also sports great add-on tools you don't usually see in a utility program. It offers a variety of Internet and program-acceleration tweaks as well as Windows performance enhancers. The crash-preventing MemOptimizer, a file shredder, deleted file recovery, and a respectable uninstall utility round out the suite. You even can automate maintenance tasks with the scheduler or tweak Windows' appearance with the styler tool. The built-in RescueCenter can restore all changes completely or one by one.

The system-analyzing wizard, with its thorough reporting and upgrade suggestions, is worth the program price alone. Between the guts of steel and the stylish, logically arranged interface, TuneUp Utilities suits all users--from complete beginners who will appreciate the one-click optimization to more daring users who will experiment with all the settings.

Publisher's description

From TuneUp Distribution :

You can easily solve PC problems and at the same prevent others while effectively increasing the system's performance with TuneUp Utilities. Your PC intelligently adapts to your individual needs. The new TuneUp Start page, the new TuneUp Speed Optimizer, and the improved 1-Click Maintenance make the optimization of your Windows system even easier, faster, and more comprehensive.

Version 8.0.3300 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes.

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Ulead GIF Animator 5

Reviewed by: CNET Staff

This tool creates Web-optimized animations more effectively than a general image editor does. Ulead GIF Animator's clean interface keeps you oriented among the multitude of tools, frames, and objects. You can edit images within GIF Animator or invoke an external editor. Adding banner text with neon, scroll, or zoom takes mere seconds. The 130 transition and filter effects make creating animations easier. The program optimizes the GIFs in a variety of ways for faster download, and preview helps you to judge whether the quality remains high enough. You can also view animations directly in the browser. Besides GIF, you can output your work as Flash, video, or even standalone EXE files. The start-up wizard ensures that designers of any level, from beginner to expert, will find GIF Animator worth its price.

Publisher's description

From Corel :

Ulead GIF Animator 5.0 makes it easy to create fast-loading, high-impact Web animations. Version 5.0 cuts production time in half with simple drag-and-drop object-based editing, round-trip auto-updating from external image editors, and tweening features. Advanced optimization delivers the smallest possible file sizes, while output to video, EXE, and Flash formats makes it one of the most versatile animation tools available.

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Microangelo Toolset 6.10.0070

Reviewed by: iFR Staff

With four extremely intuitive icon-processing utilities, Microangelo Toolset works like the Swiss Army knife of icon and cursor manipulation. Its Studio and Animator components let you create and edit icons and cursors, while the Explorer and Librarian components help you find and manage icons on your system. For producing high-quality custom icons and cursors quickly, it's hard to beat this top-rated utility.

The program includes image-editing features such as effects, filters, rotation, and cropping, as well as a huge color palette. Each component performs specific functions, but it might be less intimidating to first-time users if they were bundled in one interface. The Studio/Animator and Explorer/Librarian combinations seem ripe for integration into two tools. The extensive help files, which now include specific valuable information about creating icons for Windows Vista, are quite beneficial for users who need to familiarize themselves with the program's many features.

There aren't step-by-step wizards for novices, but the addition of project templates in version 6 make it easier to create the full icon sets you need. Also lacking is an uninstall icon, so to remove it you have to go through the Control Panel. Nevertheless, would-be designers willing to learn and power users alike should appreciate the wide range of Microangelo's functionality.

Publisher's description

From Eclipsit :

Create icons and cursors for Windows with Toolset's icon editor. View, locate, extract and replace icons, eliminate duplicates, and manipulate all image formats. Toolset provides an icon creator plus The Master's set of icon tools, specifically designed to make icons for all Windows platforms. Officially "Certified for Windows Vista" by Microsoft.

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