Finding That Perfect Photo is Much Easier with Hemera Photo Objects

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=search-handle-url/store-name%3Dsoftware%26index%3Dsoftware%26search-type%3Dss%26field-manufacturer%3DHemera%2520Technologies' target='_blank'>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/r...520Technologies</a><br /><br /></div><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/hemera50k.gif" /><br /><br />You know those little featured review graphics I made every couple of days? Quite often, I can't find an appropriate product image to use in the graphic, so I turn to a very useful tool that I wanted to tell everyone about: Hemera Photo Objects. If you have any sort of Web site, make any sort of printed newsletter, design anything in HTML, or do PowerPoint presentations on a regular basis, this tool will be very useful to you. Photo objects are objects that can be placed seamlessly on any type of background and look perfect. They are pre-masked, which means they are "cut out" and can be dropped into any image and look like they belong. Excellent! Keep reading to learn more about this handy tool.<!><br /><br />Hemera has released their third collection of 50,000 images, so with all three I have a massive collection of 150,000 images to search through. I can normally find what I need from that collection, but if I can't, their desktop software search tool can tap into several online collections to further broaden your results.<br /><br />I've been using Hemera Photo Objects for several years now, and I can honestly say (with no amount of exeggeration) that next to <a href="http://www.ulead.com/pi/runme.htm">Ulead PhotoImpact</a>, this is the most vital tool I have in creating Web graphics. Years ago, I used to buy clipart collections, photo collections, and any other sort of graphics resource I could find, just in case one day I needed a certain image. The problem was, I never used them - the search tools were atrocious on every product I tried. What's the point of having 1 milllion clipart images if you can't quickly find what you need and export it? The Hemera search tool is amazing - you simply start typing the keyword you want to search for, and it brings up the image thumbnails immdiately. I typed in "cell phone" and within seconds had 1490 different images of cell phones, people holding cell phones, etc.<br /><br />If I had any criticism of the Hemera packages in general, it would be that they don't bundle a DVD version in the box: you have to wait 6+ months (usually) for them to release the DVD version. Swapping seven CDs is no fun - DVDs were designed for this type of use. I'd be a happy guy if they'd just include a DVD version in the box - I doubt it would cost them more than an extra 50 cents anyway.<br /><br />All in all, I'm always excited whenever I see a new collection being released, and I highly recommend this product to anyone that needs to create graphics on a regular basis and requires a pool of images to draw from. If you're interested in purchasing any of the Hemera collections, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=jasondunn-20&path=search-handle-url/store-name%3Dsoftware%26index%3Dsoftware%26search-type%3Dss%26field-manufacturer%3DHemera%2520Technologies">Amazon.com sells them all online</a> but I've also seen them at many local computer stores. [Affiliate]

[JackTheTripper]

I have volume 1 of this and it's great! Been meaning to get Vol 2 just to have around.

[MikeUnwired]

CompUSA has the 100,000 piece package called Photo Clip Art for just $9.99 after "Instant Savings." I took the ad to Best Buy and they price matched. It's funny that the 100,000 piece package is only 7 CD's and my Volume 1 Photo Objects package of 50,000 was 8 CD's. For the life of me, other than a difference in the desktop interface, I can't see a content difference between Photo Clip Art and Photo Objects, but, maybe there is...

[Scott R]

Thanks for the tip Jason. I was just thinking about this about a week ago. As a web designer (among other things), I really should have had this sort of thing in my toolbox a long time ago. I was recently making use of someone else's desk at work who is a formally trained web/graphic designer (I pretty much have just hacked away at it since I was a kid and had my Amiga 1000). I noticed that he had a bunch of these sorts of photo CD-ROMs on his desk (his came with thick, full-color books showing every picture - not sure if those kinds are pricier). I made a mental note that I needed to look into these things. How timely.

So how do you like PhotoImpact? A friend of mine recommended this to me a long time ago but I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro. I tried the demo of PhotoImpact but didn't feel comfortable with the completely different interface and it seemed like there were some features Paint Shop Pro had that it lacked, but my friend swore by it. I've also thought about biting the bullet and buying PhotoShop. Paint Shop Pro has a new version out now, but the list of improvements didn't overly impress me.

Scott

[JackTheTripper]

Scott, the PhotoObjects suites come with a book as well. The pics are a little small compaired to some photo suites that are more expensive, but for the price these can't be beat.

Otherwise there are a ton of other photo suites out there.

[Jason Dunn]

CompUSA has the 100,000 piece package called Photo Clip Art for just $9.99 after "Instant Savings." I took the ad to Best Buy and they price matched. It's funny that the 100,000 piece package is only 7 CD's and my Volume 1 Photo Objects package of 50,000 was 8 CD's. For the life of me, other than a difference in the desktop interface, I can't see a content difference between Photo Clip Art and Photo Objects, but, maybe there is...

I can't remember what the exact difference is (I don't have the Photo Clip Art products), but I think it's the resolution - I think the Photo Clip Art package is limited to 100 dpi or something similar, whereas the Photo Objects version I'm talking about is full of 600 dpi images suitable for printing. If you're doing just Web work, the Photo Clip Art might be perfect!

[Jason Dunn]

So how do you like PhotoImpact?...I tried the demo of PhotoImpact but didn't feel comfortable with the completely different interface and it seemed like there were some features Paint Shop Pro had that it lacked.

PhotoImpact? I like it so much I bought the company! :lol: Ok, no, but I did write two books about it (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-keywords=Jason%20Dunn&search-type=ss&bq=1/103-5657786-4065421). It's an amazing tool - the speed of workflow is light years beyond any other application I've seen. It's a true Windows program, unlike Photoshop, so there's no Mac legacy thinking behind it. I can do things so FAST in it, which is why I love it so much. :ppclove:

Unless you're doing CMYK pre-press work or are such a heavy user that you need certain Photoshop features, it's overkill. Check out the demo version of PhotoImpact 8 - they have a 30 day trial.

What features was PhotoImpact missing that Paint Shop Pro had? I'm not very familiar with PSP anymore...

[Jason Dunn]

Scott, the PhotoObjects suites come with a book as well.

Just a small correction - volumes I and II do (did?), but volume III does not. That's ok with me, because the search engine is much better than flipping through the book.

[myung]

Oh YES ... been the happy user since Photo Object volume 1 and PhotoImpact 2.0 (now 8.0). The best tools so far ... and best value for money.

[myung]

PS ... all images in my websites were done by these two tools. :wink:

[Chairman Clench]

If I had any criticism of the Hemera packages in general, it would be that they don't bundle a DVD version in the box: you have to wait 6+ months (usually) for them to release the DVD version. Swapping seven CDs is no fun - DVDs were designed for this type of use. I'd be a happy guy if they'd just include a DVD version in the box - I doubt it would cost them more than an extra 50 cents anyway.

I have the Photo Clip Art 100,000 collection and had the same problem with swapping CDs too much. Then, I started poking around the options menu and I found there is a CD-ROM tab. In it you can add other locations to look for the images. So, if you copy each CD to its own folder on your hard drive and then add the locations, it will look in your hard drive instead of requesting the CD-ROM. I am much happier now.

The product you are talking about may use a different application and that may not work on yours. It works in GraphicsDesk, which is the app that the 100,000 collection and the online collections use.

I hope that helped.

[Chairman Clench]

CompUSA has the 100,000 piece package called Photo Clip Art for just $9.99 after "Instant Savings." I took the ad to Best Buy and they price matched. It's funny that the 100,000 piece package is only 7 CD's and my Volume 1 Photo Objects package of 50,000 was 8 CD's. For the life of me, other than a difference in the desktop interface, I can't see a content difference between Photo Clip Art and Photo Objects, but, maybe there is...

I can't remember what the exact difference is (I don't have the Photo Clip Art products), but I think it's the resolution - I think the Photo Clip Art package is limited to 100 dpi or something similar, whereas the Photo Objects version I'm talking about is full of 600 dpi images suitable for printing. If you're doing just Web work, the Photo Clip Art might be perfect!

The resolution is different and also the 100,000 collection doesn't support 32-bit transparencies, all you can do is add a fill color to the pic when exporting it. I think it's kind of misleading because the packaging and instructions all lead you to believe that you can export the image with a transparency. No great worry, though... it isn't too hard to make a color transparent.

[Ed Hansberry]

So how do you like PhotoImpact? A friend of mine recommended this to me a long time ago but I use Jasc Paint Shop Pro. I tried the demo of PhotoImpact but didn't feel comfortable with the completely different interface and it seemed like there were some features Paint Shop Pro had that it lacked, but my friend swore by it. I've also thought about biting the bullet and buying PhotoShop. Paint Shop Pro has a new version out now, but the list of improvements didn't overly impress me.
Oooh... we do agree on some things. ;) I am a Paint Shop Pro user too. Try v8 - lots and lots of little tweaks. For me, the ability to set up infinite preference settings for all of the tools makes it worth the $50 upgrade price. One word of warning - it takes twice as long to load now, but once running, it is as fast as ever.

[Scott R]

Ed, we agreed on something else before. I don't remember what it was exactly, as it was quite a while ago. ;) I use the vector tools a lot (logo design, sketching out a design template for a web site, etc.) and didn't remember seeing much in the way of improving on that. It looks like they're aiming their product more and more at digital camera owners. I'm sure I'll go ahead and buy the PSP upgrade since a couple of the enhancements I saw on their list looked interesting and I'm hoping, as you say, that there may be some other tweaks here and there.

But maybe I'll go and get a copy of PhotoImpact as well. The cost of these two products combined would still be a lot less than buying one full version of PhotoShop and combined would probably have more to offer.

Regarding the "Mac legacy" stuff, are you talking about "floating windows"? PSP uses those too, but I've learned to live with them. That was one of the things I played with Dreamweaver a while back. I much prefer the MDI interface (ancillary "windows" snapped to the sides/bottom of the primary window), although it does require using a higher-res monitor.

Scott

[ctmagnus]

You'd think the marketing guys could come up with a better name. It sounds like a condition that makes it difficult to ride a bike. :)

[MikeUnwired]

CompUSA has the 100,000 piece package called Photo Clip Art for just $9.99 after "Instant Savings." I took the ad to Best Buy and they price matched. It's funny that the 100,000 piece package is only 7 CD's and my Volume 1 Photo Objects package of 50,000 was 8 CD's. For the life of me, other than a difference in the desktop interface, I can't see a content difference between Photo Clip Art and Photo Objects, but, maybe there is...

I can't remember what the exact difference is (I don't have the Photo Clip Art products), but I think it's the resolution - I think the Photo Clip Art package is limited to 100 dpi or something similar, whereas the Photo Objects version I'm talking about is full of 600 dpi images suitable for printing. If you're doing just Web work, the Photo Clip Art might be perfect!

The resolution is different and also the 100,000 collection doesn't support 32-bit transparencies, all you can do is add a fill color to the pic when exporting it. I think it's kind of misleading because the packaging and instructions all lead you to believe that you can export the image with a transparency. No great worry, though... it isn't too hard to make a color transparent.

Yeah, and it was only nine bucks after the price match, so I don't mind too much.

I'll probably pick-up Photo Objects III just because I would hope it has the most up-to-date tech graphics of all the packages. For instance, the laptops in version I and the Photo Clips are circa 1993 stuff. The only PDAs in the Photo Clips are a couple of old Visor units -- that's it!

Whatever pack you get, they are much nicer than the typical clip art that most programs come with.