Soft District

When I got my first computer, I was 17, so the coloring books age was behind already. If I think a little, I wouldn't change things, if I could. Violent games at early ages can change kids a lot, and also their personalities can be deformed by the lack of childhood's simple things, as hand drawing or playing with other kids outside, not on a network...

It's really hard to keep your kids away from computers these days, and since most of them start using a computer before learning to read, or use it as a tool for learning the alphabet, the best thing to do is give them something to develop their creativity and allow them to have fun in a really peaceful way. This takes us back to the coloring books I was talking earlier, and to be more specific, to a software called Creative Painter.

Setup

Creative Painter was released back in 2006, and I couldn't find any specific information about its current version. Anyway, I don't think that your kids will have a problem with that. The trial version available for free comes in a 14MB setup package and has some functional limitations, but I think there is plenty to be done with it, even this way.












As you can see in the screenshots above, installing this program is just as easy as it is with most usual Windows programs, and since I am sure you're going to do this part, and not your kids, I don't think someone will run into any kind of problems while installing Creative Painter.

Interface

The first thing I really enjoyed was the intro movie that plays before the program starts, because it reminds me of some TV shows for kids I used to watch almost 20 years ago. Other than that, the interface of this program is done so even those that can't read yet should be able to use it. I don't say this program looks perfect, but it's very good, in my opinion (I'll tell you what I don't like in the last part of this article). After all, it's not me who should like it, but those aged between 2 and 15 years, as specified on the official website, and I am sure they won't have many problems with Creative Painter's interface.

Features

Creative Painter allows your kids to create paintings in three ways. First, they can grab one of the available sketches and fill them with colors, just like using a coloring books, but they can also add different objects. Second, they can simply use the built in objects and backgrounds to create nice scenes. At last, there's also possible to create a new work from scratch.

For those that already know the alphabet, a text tool is available, together with the usual painter's tools - paintbrush, pencil, marker pen, crayon pen, or eraser. Once you select a tool, you can choose various effects for it.











The default settings of the program will start playing some nice music each time you start using it, but the drawback of this feature is that when using the eraser for longer periods, the sound made by the tool becomes really annoying.The cartoon pictures included are excellent, and I must confess it was really fun to play with those built in background pictures and cartoon characters.

At last, to make this experience as close to the real thing for your kids, you can also get a graphics tablet for them, because Creative Painter allows them to work with such devices even without a hardware driver.

The Good

Creative Painter is an excellent tool for kids, and even adults can spend some quality time with this program, while guiding their children's first steps into the computer graphics realm.

The Bad

The button used to close this application is not intuitive at all (an icon similar to the Power indicator on TVs and other electronics would be much better), and I don't like to bump into features not available in the trial version, because if a kid that can't read gets to face such errors, there are some serious chances to ruin his day. Also, it would be a really good thing to be able to run this program in a window. On my 1280X1024 resolution, the program doesn't look so good, especially since I can't resize it.

Conclusion

I am not one of those that would drop their kids in front of the computer, fire up Counter Strike, tell them "play now, daddy is going to a meeting", and go away without thinking about the possible consequences. Anyway, let's leave this problem aside, because we're talking about Creative Painter here. For 29.95$, this is one of the best gifts for your kids, and even if you are not going to purchase the program, the trial version can provide some quality time spent in front of the computer to children and, why not, adults.

Developer: Moko Systems, Inc.
Price: 29.95$
Trial Link: Download

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.

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