PrintMaster Platinum 12

software

If you want to design and print cards, banners, posters, signs, calendars, and more, PrintMaster Platinum 12 offers a reasonable and downright powerful desktop publishing program.

Ever since personal computers first came onto the scene, there have been print programs that let users combine text and graphics in layouts to create greeting cards, invitations, signs, banners, newsletters, certificates, calendars, and more. The latest version of Broderbund's PrintMaster Platinum 12 is indeed the latest and greatest print program on the market that is powerful and easy to use. Version 12 offers some decent new features. However, those of you who already own version 11, or even some earlier versions, may find little here to warrant the cost of an upgrade.

Lets start with PrintMaster's strengths. The program offers tools that let anyone effectively create attractive printed items and comes with a good selection of fonts, basic layout and image-editing tools, and some 15,000 project templates and 230,000 clipart images. To give you a running start with your printed projects, PrintMaster comes with lots of attractive templates that make it easy to create almost anything. You simply call up a template, for example, "business cards," select a look and layout that you like, and then fill the document with graphics and personal and business data.

Some of PrintMaster's unusual projects templates include bookmarks, math flash cards, garden markers, masks, gift tags, kitchen crafts, and jar labels. In this regard, PrintMaster continues to offer solid capabilities. And at $39.99, it's a relative bargain.

Among Print Master's new features found in version 12, there are few must haves, if any. A Decorative Letter feature helps you construct custom initial (or "descending") capital letters by combining a square graphic background with a single headline letter. I guess this could be useful if you're printing fairy tales, or want to apply such a special effect in a newsletter or flier. A Word Balloon feature lets you add comic book-style word balloons to make characters "speak" in documents. A Color Set Creator lets you apply a signature color palette to every note and letter that you send.

Fairly useful, the Custom Paper Wizard lets you add your own paper stock-new or unsupported paper or label sheets. This way, you may print labels, envelopes, half-fold greeting cards, note cards, business cards, and more, even when the program doesn't already support the layout or paper. This feature lets you add paper stock as you are creating projects, or when you are preparing to print them.

A new Patriotic Collection offers some 100 projects for creating patriotic T-shirt decals, address labels, greeting cards and more. A useful carryover from the last version is the Party Creator Wizard that lets you create a coordinated party set that includes a banner, hats, invitations, place cards, and a centerpiece.

The program's photo-editing features are stronger. An Area Effects photo-editing tool lets you select and control an area of a photo to add colors or apply special effects. A new Repair Tool lets you clone areas of photos, and copy them to other areas to repair damaged sections or create special visual effects.

The new Quick Fix tool lets you easily apply pre-set levels of contrast, sharpness, and color saturation to improve digital photos. A useful feature carried over from version 11 is the "Fix Flaw" tool that helps remove red-eyes and scratches from digitized photos. The Warp & Distort feature, which was also available in earlier versions, lets you bend, reshape, and create unusual photo effects. However, these warp and distort filters are novelties that offer little practical use.

Overall, PrintMaster's photo-editing capabilities allow anyone to easily modify and work with digital photos. The downside, however, is that the program doesn't give you much control over the image-editing process, which will be particularly noticeable to those who have worked with full-fledge image-editing programs. But for novices, the ease of use found in PrintMaster's photo-editing tools should allow these users to effectively modify and work with digital images.

While PrintMaster continues to evolve and is a sophisticated program, it remains easy to use. Overall, I was impressed with PrintMaster Platinum 12. However, for my newsletters, brochures, fliers, post cards, business cards, and other printed materials, I'm planning to continue using Microsoft Publisher. I just prefer the way that Publisher suggests color schemes and offers more-sophisticated graphics, drawing, and layout tools.

But if most of your work involves creating and printing greeting cards and other relatively simple projects, the latest PrintMaster doesn't disappoint. And if you already own version 11, you probably don't need to bother with the upgrade.

PrintMaster Platinum 12- $39.99
The Learning Company
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