The new version of the all-round 3D suite comes with many improvements, demonstrating that DAZ 3D is capable of making a viable alternative to the other well-known 3D programs. Though Carrara has never aspired to be as comprehensive as 3D Studio Max, Maya and Softimage XSI, the sixth version can easily be compared to the “titans of the 3D world.” Being developed by DAZ 3D, Carrara features extended compatibility with the Poser series and this makes it particularly proficient at integrating human figure models into elaborate scenes.

The first important advantage of this new version is its $274.50 price tag, and for all I know it seems to be the lowest one among programs of such diversity. Another strong aspect is the content support and this is easily understandable when we think of the huge community spinning around DAZ 3D’s website. Moreover, Carrara is still compatible with DAZ Studio and can now import DirectX models and scenes.

<-120x240 Vertical Banner - left->As part of the advanced human modeling features, Carrara comes with a new set of hair/fur tools users can simulate, paint, cut and brush realistic hair onto created and imported Poser models or any object modeled within Carrara. Remaining in the modeling area, we find quite a few useful additions, including displacement modeling, symmetrical modeling, a bridge tool and an extended figure editor that allows users to manipulate morph targets on human figure models.

On the animation side, the most notable addition is the non-linear animation technique, which allows users to reuse and combine previously saved clips with new ones in a multiple track environment. As far as character animation is concerned, Carrara 6 has been redesigned to support the rigid body simulation standard, with results calculated ten times faster than before.

The rendering engine can now handle realistic light absorption through transparent objects, while environments can now reflect in-scattering particles for added photorealism.

Last but not least, the scene builder received improvements such as scene scaling, a fully controllable ocean primitive and displacement terrain. In this sense, Carrara tries to offer an alternative to Terragen and Vue.

Of course, most of the additions mentioned here have been included for some time now in 3D Max,Maya or 3rd party plug-ins, but Carrara catches up. The extended set of tools is supposed to familiarize the new users with those high-grade and most of the time hidden options found in expensive suites. While Carrara may not feature all of today’s techniques, the results are most of the time comparable.

Slowly becoming a more diversified suite, in my mind Carrara still remains one of the most advanced and easy to use scene builder on the market.

Depending on the technical possibilities of your ISP and the type of subscription you got from them, your IP address can change every time you connect to the network. I don't want to get into technical details, because I am not a networking specialist and, to be honest, I am not really interested about networking either. Anyway, all I want is to have a steady connection and to know exactly what is my IP, when I need it.

Of course that are various system commands that can give you detailed information about your network settings, but what about having your internal and external addresses displayed all the time in a floating window? With IP Helper, this can be done in a flash!

Setup

Developed by Rebrand Software, IP Helper has reached version 3.0. Its setup package has 3.1MB in size, and installing it was a piece of cake. Now, I have one big question in my mind - being given the complexity of the program, why a 3MB setup package? Well, that's not a problem after all, but if you have a really slow connection, downloading this may take some time...












The trial version of this program has a nag screen that appears each time you open and close the application, but you can run it without any other limitation for as long as 15 days(I suppose that the full version also displays the animated banner from the trial).Interface

The interface of this program has three components: the main window, the system tray icon and, at last, the IP overlay window. While the system tray icon is only able to bring up the main window, close the program or display/hide the IP overlay window, the main screen of the application comes with a bit more, but not much. Almost everything there is to know about this program can be spotted in the screenshot to the left, so let's move on to the next part: features.

Features

As I already said, the best thing about this program is the fact that you can have your internal and external address on view all the time. If you are wondering about this, I guess I can tell you - the internal address is the one used by those from your LAN to "see" you computer, while the external IP is the one that identifies to the outside world, so various websites will only retrieve that address. Good, now...let's see what else do we get from IP Helper, shall we?

First of all, I must tell you that the File menu is useless, because you can also minimize and close the program by using the system buttons located in the upper right corner of the main window, just like with most Windows applications.

Additional services provided by this program include a DNS converter, Whois Lookup and, of course, the notification features. When one of your addresses changes, you can choose to receive an alert through email, by starting a program or by accessing a certain web address.

I wish there was more about this program...but unfortunately that's all, so let's get to the conclusions!

The Good

IP Helper is a program built to accomplish one main task, and that's what it does. Its additional features could make it a bit more interesting, but they don't seem enough for me.

The Bad

Although it has a nag screen, this program also has a banner inside its main window, and a button that leads to the producer's website. If these were not enough, you also have a Purchase menu inside the menu bar. At last, considering its features, and the so-called "Help" file which looks less than basic, the price is simply too high.

Conclusion

In the last years, I had the occasion to encounter applications that were completely useless. This time, it's not one of those cases, fortunately, but we're not that far either. If you wonder about your IP addresses, you can grab the trial version of this program and give it a shot, but I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you are really-really sure it's worth your money. After all, it's your money, in the end, but I would get some beer instead!

Developer: Rebrand Software, LLC
Price: 14.95$
Trial Link: Download

Axialis, a software company specialized in the creation of Windows based applications for home users, professionals and companies, released a new version of IconWorkshop with support for Vista’s PNG-compressed icon format which allows creating icons up to 256x256 with alpha channel with smaller file size.



The program is the first editor which allows the creation of Windows and Mac icons and also converting them between the two operating systems in batch-processing mode.

The two operating systems have a type of icons that uses variable transparency which permits designing of beautiful icons with smooth borders and shadows.

The last version of the program comes with an Axialis Object Pack for icons including 150 image objects with which you can create a large number of icons with glossy effects and shapes.

It also has the ability to create icons from any image or screen capture.

With IconWorkshop you can easily create images formats using one command, import/export images, resize, adjust with numerous filters, change hue, contrast, lightness or drop shadows.

You can buy the program for a starting price of 39.95 or you can download the 30-day tryout version from here.

Text editing is one of those basic tasks that can be accomplished using a simple tool, an extremely advanced one, or something that keeps features, price and ease of use nicely balanced. It's like digging - you can use a shovel, some high tech device, or simply dynamite.

Anyway, I can't say that I have seen too many text editors to blow me away, but there's always a new one expecting to be tested just around the corner, and today's candidate is called EditPlus. If this program will manage to make fall off my chair, that's what remains to be seen...

Setup

EditPlus has reached version 2.31 so far, and this release is less than two months old. The trial can be downloaded and used freely for as long as a month. Other than that, there is no limitation during the trial period.










When reaching the install part, there's nothing special I would expect from a text editor's setup package. EditPlus comes in a self extracting file that's a bit smaller than 1MB, so downloading it should be a piece of cake for almost every computer user in this world, while the setup program looks a bit old, but the good part is that there are only a few steps to follow until EditPlus is all ready to go!

Interface

 All that I expect from most programs that I use is to be highly customizable and have the features I use frequently at hand, and not 5 or 6 clicks away. EditPlus managed to achieve these goals, but it's sad to see that the icons on the toolbar look so old, and the overall look of the main window is "dusty". I know it can't be done too much to enhance the interface of a text editor, but I've seen better, and that's what I want - at least some nice icons on the toolbar, first of all, would be great.

Features

The first thing I check with a text editor is the ability to edit multiple files at once. No problem with that, and I guess most of us won't reach the limit, as long as there's a decent one (for example, I can imagine someone editing 100, maybe even 300 files at once, but not 100,000!).

Of course that syntax highlighting is a very good feature, and also a "must have" for every commercial text editor out there. Again, nothing wrong with it, EditPlus has built in highlighting for HTML, CSS, PHP, Java and so on, but you can also create your own syntax files to support additional programming languages.

Do you need spell checking, a built in FTP client and, of course, a built in browser to preview your HTML pages? No problem, they are here, and that's not all!












As it happens with powerful text editors, the possibility to add user tools allows you to compile code from within EditPlus, and the auto-completion feature enables programmers or heavy duty writers to type in short abbreviations and have them turned into complete strings at once.Did I mention the cliptext window or the document templates? I guess not, but I'll leave to you the pleasure of discovering them, because I'm moving to the conclusions now.

The Good

EditPlus is a fast program, supports most features that I can wish to get from a text editor, and is also very easy to use and decently priced.

The Bad

I hope I'm not asking too much, but I want to get a better interface. After all, at least some new icons shouldn't be that hard to get...

Conclusion

EditPlus is one of those programs that can be useful to a very large crowd, starting with bloggers that need to be quick and have built in preview features and ending with programmers that work with huge projects and need project management capabilities. Since the price and features are not bad at all, you have to try it and then decide what to do next. I just hope this review helped you clear some things from the start. Good luck!

Developer: ES-Computing
Price: 30$
Trial Link: Download