THE BIG BOX OF ART 615,000

Hemera

www.hemera.com

Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG

I have had the good fortune over the years to review some excellent software. I have found companies that consistently release software that meets or exceeds my expectations. Hemera is one of these companies. I have loved their software from the first version of PhotoObjects to this latest product The Big Box Of Art 615,000. They have something for everyone in this latest collection of images.

It’s no secret how much I love graphics and working with as many applications as I can to create my images. Every time I have needed some special object for an image, I have been able to find it in my PhotoObjects collections. From the every day items to the unique and unusual, I have never been disappointed when searching for an object. When I was asked if I would like to review this product, I said yes immediately.

When I got the box, I looked at the name, saw that it said 615,000 images but somehow my brain failed to process the size of the numbers I was seeing. Even when I opened it and found 27 CD’s, it still took time to register! It finally dawned on me when I was scrolling through the thumbnails, having looked at hundreds of images, and the scroll bar indicator had barely moved. I stopped and wondered why it wasn’t getting further down the scroll bar and then it hit me just how many images were in this collection. It is huge!

The Big Box Of Art uses the same interface as the PhotoObjects collections and can also include them in the search engine. To search for an image, the name is entered in the top line, the image type or types to be searched checked, and it can be narrowed down further by checking a category.  Image types are: Black and White Photos, Color Photographs, PhotoObjects, Raster Illustrations, and Vector Clip Art.  Categories range from Abstracts & Backgrounds, Agriculture & Industry, Architecture, Holidays & Special Occasions, Nature, People, Science & Mythology, Social Issues & Government, to Wildlife & Animals. (This is only a partial listing of the categories)  The interface is called the GraphicsDesk.

The thumbnail images appear in the left column which scrolls through all the images available. This view can be set either for thumbnails or thumbnails and descriptions and tells you what CD the image can be found on. When the CD is placed in the CD ROM drive and an image is selected, it will appear in the large preview window.

Double clicking the image will launch a new Window that allows you to choose the application or method of exporting the image.  The application choices are Word Processor, spreadsheet, or other software that can have an image pasted into it; Slide Presentation software; Web Authoring tool or other software that builds web pages; Graphics Applications that supports 32 bit images with a transparency mask, or Export to a popular image format.

Click “next” and then in the next Window view you have the option to crop or size the image before saving it. The resolution can be changed to a higher or lower quality and the image can be flipped horizontally or vertically. It also tells you the size the image is in memory. The image in the screen shot is 1.12 MB.

Click “next” one more time to save the image.  There’s a wide variety of image formats to select. They include keeping the original format, JPEG, GIF, TIFF with transparency, BMP, and PNG.  There’s also a batch export option. Clicking “Save” will save the image to the default folder (or application) and clicking “Save As” allows you to select the folder where you want the images to save to.  Images can also be dragged and dropped into a folder, document, or software.

This process of selecting, editing, and saving works exactly the same way as the PhotoObjects application. No new learning curve is required if you are familiar with Hemera products. If not, you will find that the software is very easy to use and you can be working with it as soon as it is installed. Click here to see a movie demo of how to use The Big Box Of Art.  

The 615,000 images include:

A fun feature of The Big Box of Art and other Hemera applications is the PhotoFont Maker. You can create text with any kind of texture you like or image. Many textures come with the software or you can add textures of your own to the collection. It can be used to create holiday text or any type of text that you would like to add a design element to. From fun designs to beautiful colors, it will add something special where ever it is used. Click here for a demo of PhotoFont.

 I used a blue agate texture to create the NJPCUG image.

Also included in the Big Box Of Art is a T-Shirt Creator as a bonus product. You are given the option to install it with The Big Box Of Art or later as a separate installation. Another bonus is the Greeting Card Creator. Both of these products can be launched through the GraphicsDesk interface.

The Big Box Of Art is perfect for many types of projects. It can be used for banners, brochures, business cards, greeting cards, web page art, CD labels, newsletters, presentations, reports, T-shirts, and more.

The GraphicsDesk online: another feature - A free application download, click icon on the interface to connect to it when online.  There is a subscription fee to download the images in this collection. The information below was taken from the web site and quoted for accuracy.

           “The GraphicsDesk application is available for FREE download from the Hemera web site.

           Simply by creating a FREE user account within GraphicsDesk, you can use GraphicsDesk to manage and export your personal, local image collections browse the available online image collections and view their thumbnail images.

           If you wish to access the larger preview images from the online image subscriptions, or export online images for your own use, there is a charge to subscribe to those collections.

          The first online image subscription available in GraphicsDesk is the Premier Image Collection, available at:

                        $19.95 USD for a one week subscription

                        $69.95 USD for a three month subscription

                        $149.95 for a one year subscription

          All subscriptions allow for the unlimited download and use of all 187,396 images in the Premier Image Collection for the duration of the subscription period.”

The Big Box Of Art sells for $69.99. When you see all that you get with this purchase, it’s a great deal. With all the various types of images in this collection, plus the bonus software, I can recommend it without hesitation to anyone looking for a multi-featured image collection that contains very good quality images and not the junk that can be found in some collections. You won’t scroll through endless garbage images looking for something good. The ease of use and the excellent search engine feature make working with it a snap. Please visit the Hemera web site to learn more about The Big Box of Art and their other products.

System requirements (minimum): Pentium Processor (233MHZ), 64 MB RAM, Windows 95/98/ME or NT/4.0/2000/XP, 100 MB hard disk space, 256 color display, CD ROM drive

Recommended system requirements: Pentium Processor 400 MHZ, 128 MB RAM, Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT 4.0/2000/XP, 400 MB hard disk space, High color (16-bit) display adapter, CD-ROM drive