Reviews (7)

Sorry... Final Draft is better... NOT Buggy
I tried this and Final Draft side by side while evaluating what to buy. Final Draft is just less buggy and more professional.

Movie Magic pops the cursor around the screen after an operation. It also has these windows 3.1 looking interface windows. The speech system is too dependent on windows and not self contained like Final Draft.

True, there is more customization with Movie Magic... but I like Final Draft MUCH better. Run them next to each other and u will see.

Mike

Professional's tool
I am both a working screenwriter and script supervisor. I use Movie Magic Screenwriter for both those jobs. Its an excellent, straight-forward, and cleanly built program for formating and writing professionally styled scripts.

Compared to Final Draft Movie Magic's formatting simply looks cleaner - with more accurate and useful spacing, sluglines, and transitions - and is far easier to use. Now this doesn't mean it will teach you how to write or what to write, but it does mean what you do write will at least look good.

Minor problems I've had and things that could change for the better...Screenwriter is a tad unstable with Windows XP and occasionally crashes at start-up (although I have yet to lose a file because of that). Some of the production tools - like scene numbering and CONTINUEDs - are buried deep in the program and not the least bit easy to get to. Also they still have annoying and non-standard formatting in there sluglines and transitions. For instance you can select Continuous and Moments Later for a time portion of your slugline. Any oen that works in production knows that there is no Continuous or Moments Later. Simply either DAY or NIGHT. For transitions they still have CUT TO which is no longer used.

Aside from those minor things Movie Magic is an excellent script writing program.

not as easy as they make it sound!
I am just getting started using the program so I can not yet judge the overall product. I can tell you that the product description said: just load the software and you will be writing scripts in minutes regardless if you are a first timer or a pro.

That is a stretch. I had to get a tech guy to load the program and then it really is not walking me through the "how to" part of script writing.

Just be prepared to spend some time at the beginning.

Good script writing software.
For years, I used to use Microsoft Word to develop all of my scripts in. While it could be done, it wasn't the best nor the easiest way to do it. I had always put off buying specialized software to do something that but the problem is that I spent more time formatting and paginating my scripts than I did writing.

Finally, I decided to break down and buy scripting software. But before deciding on which one to buy I did a little research on the titles that were currently available. I wanted to make sure I got the best product for the right price. What ultimatly sold me on Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 was that both the Writers' Guild of America and Project Greenlight both recommend this software.

One of the claims made by the software company is the ability to get up and running right out of the box. I found this to be--for the most part--true. Upon receiving my copy, I was entering my first script in about 30 minutes (including installation time). There are some things that you may need to know, but the software company was intuitive enough to add booklets that contain this information in it so that you didn't have to hunt through the manual.

There are also a nice collection of templates included with the software that allows you to write for both movie and television (like I do). The templates for the TV shows comes in many different flavors (Sci-fi, sit-coms, dramas, etc.) and are even set up in the format used by several different shows.

What I especially appreciated was the fact that Screenwriter 2000 kept track of the names of my characters. I used to have to do this on scratch pads and Post-It notes or I would have to read back in the script to find a name. In Screenwriter 2000, I can call up a list of names to find the one I'm looking for. I'm able to do the same thing with scene heading, so I can keep my scenes in a consistant format.

Since I post some of my work on Zoetrope.com for review by other writers, the fact that I can create an Adobe file (.pdf format) was also of importance to me. While I could use a translation program to turn my Word document into an Adobe file, such translators have their problem and don't always retain the format that you created. With Screenwriter 2000, my Adobe documents come out looking the same as the original file. But this feature wasn't as intuitive as I had thought it would be. I was expecting this feature to be a part of the file exporting system. Instead, it's part of the print function. (You "print" a .pdf file.)

While there are a lot of pros about the software, there were also several cons, which is why I only rated it four stars. One is that this software is set up to installed on both the Mac and the PC from the same box. Becuase of that, they designed the user manual to address both opperating systems by printing it as a flip book. (One side has the instructions for the PC--flip the book over--the other side has the instructions for the Mac.) This means that the index is in the center. If you use an index as often as I do, plan on placing a bookmark there.

Another problem is that not all of the features available to the PC user is available to the Mac user. As of this review, only one feature--the Storyboard Linking--was not available on the Mac. However, this should be of little consiquence to the average user (unless you're a professional writer in Hollywood with a Mac).

Finally, one feature that was touted to me time and again was the voice readback capability. By using a Text-to-Speech engine, you can have your script read back to you, even to the point of assigning different voices to the different characters. It took a little effort to get this feature working on my PC, and when I did it sounded like a room full of Stephen Hawkings reading my screenplay.

Still, as softwares goes, this is possibly the best product out on the market.

Makes the act of film creation a breeze
I've been using this product for about a year and it's about as easy as a program like this gets without sacrificing its professional end product. It's a cinch to learn, with easy fast-keys, a WORD-like interface, and a ton of features you may never get to. Great for plays, video game scenario building, etc., but its strength clearly lies in screenplay creation. All I have to do is think of the story I want to tell, know a few choice commands, and I'm flying with this program.

Great paper tutorial and a reasonable price for this type of program. ... Read more

Features

• Create amazing 3D graphics that look like today’s coolest cartoons, movies and video games.
• Incredible new computer game works like digital modeling clay to bend, pull, poke and flatten basic shapes into characters, vehicles, animals…anything!
• Decorate with tons of colors and decals to make a one of a kind creation.
• Real computer animations such as running, slithering and jumping bring 3D creations to life.
• • Dozens of cursors and sounds for visual and audible cues to highlight and explain selected tools and options

Reviews (3)

Girl Power
My dad purchased Cosmic Blobs for my birthday. My parents do not let me spend too much time with computer games, plus there are not too many games out there for a young female.

I love to draw and create pictures using pencil and ink. Cosmic Blobs now let's me create and animate images using my computer. The software is very easy to use and within minutes you are creating cartoon characters. I would recommend Cosmic Blobs to any kid that enjoys creating objects using the computer.

Great Gift for Creative Kids!
I bought this as a Christmas gift for my two nieces (ages 8 and 11).They are both pretty creative and artistic to begin with, but this gave them a completely new outlet for their creativity.They both love it and cannot get enough of it!They enjoy bringing their creations to life (everything from unicorns to pink poodles to butterflies).I would definitely recommend this product to any parent/aunt/uncle/etc. who wants to give the child in their life a new twist on expressing their creativity.

Cosmic Blobs
Cosmic Blobs is a really fun game! You can pick differnet 3-D object and push, sull, squeze, bend, color and make it walk around on a course you design! You can make people, animals, alians or anything you can imagine! It is a really a great game for kids if they want to make up their own creatures and play around with it. The only tool you need is your imagination!! ... Read more

Features

• Create, play, and experience music using only your mouse and imagination
• Innovative software by world-renowned composer Morton Subotnick
• Endless possibilities to draw original compositions on your screen
• Cool games teach rhythm, melody, pitch, musical instruments, and more
• Choose from 16 instruments; compose with 23 tools

Reviews (1)

An old favorite remains the best of its kind!
As a third grade teacher, I had this product in my classroom for years, until one day it inevitably got lost. I have been looking for a new copy for a while, and was glad to find it available on Amazon. It is, in my opinion, the best program of its type. The concept is very easy, children paint in a KID PIX type of format onto a white board, and that painting is then translated into music. If you draw at the top of the screen you will have a high note, at the bottom a low note. The longer you draw the same pitch horizontally the longer the note will be held. The simplicity makes it accessible to kids as young as kindergarten, but there's lots of features that make it riveting for older kids and adults as well. You have a wide variety of instrument to "draw" your music with, and there are lots of options that allow kids to experience their compositions in different ways. Hear your opus backwards or learn what it sounds like if it were flipped upside down. This is a program that people of all ages will enjoy (it was one of everyone's favorites on parent night). Sometimes simpler really is superior, and this program is a perfect example. ... Read more

Features

• Learn body and hand positioning for grammar and fingerspelling
• Video lessons and explanations of ASL phrase syntax improve beginners' foundation in ASL
• Hands-on ASL dictionary packed with over 6,000 words - plus synonyms and written sign movement descriptions for each entry
• ASL Phrase Guide offers real-life communication -- over 600 phrases are introduced, with video demonstrations of each entry
• Complete reference guide provides overview of the scope & history of America's third most common language

Features

• Develop critical learning skills for better academic performance
• Learn advanced math concepts with pre-algebra 1 and 2
• Advanced science lessons teach kids about the world around them
• Expands understanding of the world with history and geography
• Improves communication skills with reading and literature lessons

Features

• Prepare for singing with proper breathing and posture
• Understand the differences between jazz, blues, classical, opera and other styles
• See your performance and measure it on-screen
• Includes headset microphone

Features

• Develop critical learning skills for better academic performance
• Provides a greater understanding of advanced math concepts
• Teaches reading, literature, foreign language, and science
• Helps high-school students achieve higher grades
• Award-winning software features 56 CD-ROMs on 5 DVD-ROMs

Amazon.com Review

If you have a young graphic artist in the house, odds are that you havealready seen a range of paint programs for children. All offering a collectionof templates for art projects, clip art to use with the templates, and somebasic drawing tools for users who wish to go freestyle, these programs' primarydifferences have been in their look and user friendliness... at least untilnow.

Disney's Magic Artist Deluxe is one of a new generation of programsdesigned for users who enjoy creating art with computer assistance. In additionto the standard-issue graphic tools, this package makes artwork into a game,with moving animations, sound effects, and some very thoughtful design features.While earlier graphics programs often resembled scaled-down versions of adultpackages, this one is entirely bent on entertaining children and encouragingsprees of creative electronic drawing. Its kit is full of brightly colored,genuinely wacky tools, including robots that run around the screen drawingpatterns on your page and a sprayer that drops animations into the page. Imaginewatching cookies bake onscreen, spreading a line of crawling spiders across apage, or planting roses along the bottom of the screen. Just watching theseimages mutate to their finalized form is delightful--and they come with topnotchsound effects and a good dollop of humor, too.

Another area where older graphics programs broke down was in their reusabilityfactor. Once a child had seen and used all of a package's available images, itwas often time to move on to the next contender. However, Disney's MagicArtist Deluxe offers regular updates. Users can download new graphics andanimations from the program's Web site, including packages designed particularlyfor a coming holiday or event.

For users uninterested in using prepackaged art, Disney's Magic ArtistDeluxe also offers a full set of tools to allow kids to import pictures ofthemselves and their friends, and then to decorate, alter, and distort them totheir heart's content. Whether they want to build static scenes with Disneycharacters, construct animated tableaus, or digitally bend an existing favoritephotograph, this is a graphics program certain to please artistically bent kidsand their parents through project after project. --Alyx Dellamonica ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Magic Artist Deluxe Rocks
I love this game. It is more of an artist painting program. It is fun. I love painting and typing stuff. This rocks. You can even make your own pictures to print out and color. It is so much fun. It is worth buying. I recommend this to anyone who loves art and drawing and coloring.

Needs a manual!!
This is a wonderful product IF you can figure out how to make it do everything it can. It has an electronic manual located on the disc but it's irritating to have to switch back and forth to find what you're looking for. I've even called Disney offering to pay to have them ship a manual to me, but they claim the only one available is the one on the disc. It's a lot of fun but be ready to do a lot of switching back and forth. I definitely would have given it 5 stars if not for this problem.

The Best !
I thank my parents for getting me this. Theres so much things you can do. You can Paint, Create and Edit and so on. I wish my Parents would have got me this before. I love it. As a child I suggest you order this for your love ones.Now that Christmas is here.Thats why I gave the Magic artist Deluxe 5 stars. If you get this I know you will be satified. ... Read more

Features

• Polish and improve language skills with a set of games for English proficiency -- covers Vocabulary, Composition, Spelling and Reading & Comprehension
• Develop a basic working knowledge of Spanish, French, Italian and German
• Expand problem-solving capabilities with a complete guide to Pre-Algebra, Algebra I & II and Geometry
• Retrace the past to better understand the present with presentations on Ancient, World and U.S. History
• take a virtual, visual journey through the natural world and beyond, with guides for Astronomy, Physics and Wildlife & Nature

Features

• Begin reading music notation in just a few lessons
• Instructor Hugh Berberich walks you through 150 lessons -- watch his hands and duplicate their movements as you learn to play
• Learn to play 75 popular songs, through the video-animated lessons
• Work with a full recording studio -mixing boards, level meters, transport function and other high-tech aspects of recording yourself
• Understand important piano concepts like intervals, bars, and sharps & flats -- all explained in a clear and concise manner

Features

• Italian Before You Know It Deluxe Edition includes fun and effective activities that really build your Italian listening, reading, writing, and speaking capabilities.
• Enhance your speaking ability with Pronunciation Practice.
• Test your Italian knowledge with the multiple choice activities.
• Build your writing and spelling skills with Dictation Practice.

Features

• Develop critical learning skills for better academic performance
• Provides a greater understanding of elementary math concepts
• Teaches history, geography, reading, literature, and science
• Helps elementary-school students achieve higher grades
• Award-winning software features 35 CD-ROMs on 5 DVD-ROMs

Features

• Three CD-ROM suite leads you behind the velvet rope in the world's finest museums
• Le Grand Louvre, vol.1 The Masterpieces, and Famous Museums of Europe, vols. 1 and 2
• A guided tour through 10 art categories, over 81 masterpieces, and commentaries
• Famous Museums of Europe takes you through 250 images in seven museums with audio commentary
• All discs allow you to inspect the works in greater detail with a zoom feature

Amazon.com Product Description

Take a fascinating journey through time as you visit historical periods to learn the social, political, religious, and economic context of each era.Discover the rebirth of classical values in the Renaissance and the turbulence and heroism of the romantic era. Witness the impact of modern technology, reshaping art and society dramatically, forever more. By blending creativity and content, these multifaceted programs reveal history through artistic expressions, such as sculpture, paintings, reliefs, and architecture. Four CDs feature periods like the Renaissance and the premodern era. Included are a 100-minute multimedia presentation, over 2,000 high-resolution color art images ready to print immediately, 400 interactive questions and quizzes, a customized glossary, and much more. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Dated but useful CDs
You wish the publishers could indicate the years of production and the original titles. These 4 CDs, featuring the renaissance, romanticism, the pre-modern era, and the 20th century, were part of the 10 CDs of History Through Art, starting with Ancient Greece, copyrighted by Zane Publishing Co. 1994-96. At that time they were considered highly valuable tools, essential for any school libraries. Now they are somewhat dated in the technology and design. The pictures are of slightly poorer quality, but quite acceptable. Besides numerous slides of paintings, sculptures, architecture and photos, there are brief narrations and text encyclopedias. You get a lot of interesting information, especially the historical background. There is lovely background music that matches each period of art. These 4 CDs are still very worthwhile for information and enjoyment. The price is reasonable. (They cost twice as much if you buy them separately from Fogware Publishing.) Please note the following in small print on each CD. "Product not licensed for use in schools, colleges, or public libraries." The copyright date is 2000, which is misleading.

unacceptable image quality
I was sooo disappointed by this set of CD-Rom. The quality of the images is just not acceptable, the resolution is low (not more than 640x480), and the colors are awful. Some images exhibit strong dithering artifacts suggesting that they are 8 bit only. The color fidelity is just incredibly bad. I cannot even believe that one can dare show such bad colors. I do not even know how one can manage to get such bad colors. I am not talking about the slight color shift that you sometimes notice from one book to another, I am talking about terribly wrong and ugly colors, with saturation you would not imagine and soem parts of the paintings completely washed out or darkened. Watching the Van Goghs was a nightamre, I first did not even believe that this was a Van Gogh. Don't buy this CD-ROM ! ... Read more

Amazon.com Review

Encarta Africana is an absorbing interactive exploration of the historyof African culture. From early man's appearance 4 million years ago on theAfrican continent to Sir Mix-A-Lot explaining the technology behind making arap recording, this comprehensive CD-ROM tackles a massive amount of culturalhistory, fully utilizing its multimedia format to make the informationeducational, entertaining, and enlightening.

The program's introduction reflects the ambitious scope ofEncarta Africana; therich harmonies of Zulu choral music swell as a montage flashes across thescreen: Nelson Mandela, art from 4000 B.C., and a raised fist are among theimages. These pictures are superimposed over a patterned background that, uponcloser inspection, is actually a diagram of a slave ship, jam-packed withhumancargo.

The program itself is divided into nine sections: a library of black America;a history and music timeline; a civil rights chronology; a section entitledAfricana on Camera, in which famous blacks discuss different issues; historicsites; an interactive map; a section called Africa to Americas that tracks howAfricans were dispersed throughout the Americas; virtual tours; and TopicTreks, a feature that allows users to explore various topics in greater depth.Each of these sections (with the exception of the library) is vast, easy toexplore, and filled with articles, photos, sounds, dates, and facts. Thoughthelibrary doesn't serve up pictures or sounds, it does include the completetextsof 160 poems, essays, and novels about the experience of being of Africandescent in America.

Sound weaves itself throughout this multifaceted program. Progress along ahistorical timeline, and the soundtrack transitions from spirituals to ragtimeto hip-hop as the people and achievements grow closer to present day. Visualvignettes are present throughout as well: the familiar forms of the pyramids,asmall swatch of Asante kente cloth, a short film of Whoopi Goldberg discussingrace. Encarta's developers adeptly exploit this medium, seamlesslyblendingsound, visuals, and written information to superbly capture the powerful storyof African culture. --Anne Erickson ... Read more

Reviews (7)

great resource
My music instructor suggested this cd rom for intro to music, from my oppinion,I think it is the best thing any student can use while in school. Since then I used it for my art presentatin, and history. Also, I think that every one should have one of this in their library.
I give this a five star rating.

A Must Have
I attempted to locate this software at CompUSA & Best Buy. Unfortunately both failed to have this displayed for sell on their shelves. (Possibly discontinued?) However, I purchased it ... and use it daily in furthering my research on Black History. The Researcher function of the program helps to tie in resources found on the Internet as well. My daughter also has found it helpful in retrieving additional information for school projects.

A Must Have
Certainly worth all of the pennies I paid for it and more!!!!

Informative
I haven't seen any other software like it. Very informative with a reference section for doing papers. A MUST for researchers, students, and teachers alike!

This is a great resource for students!!
I am a college student and this software not onlt helped me projects but has taught me a lot about my history -- Even on topis that I am familiar with! Samples of music, clips, Internet searches - it's GREAT!! Also, you can have the program read articles out load so you can concentrate on your notes. There is also a great reference tool. Colleges make a big deal about citing references and Encarta Africana assists with that. This is a great learning tool! ... Read more