Kevin & Beth Remhof
11-01-2004, 05:00 PM
<img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-0.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Product Category:</b> Software<br /><b>Manufacturer:</b> Lumapix<br /><b>Where to Buy:</b> <a href="http://www.SellShareware.com/ProgramInfo.asp?AfID=20669&PrID=67070">Directly from Lumapix</a> [Affiliate]<br /><b>Price:</b> Standard: $39.95 USD, Pro: $89.95 USD, Print: $599 USD or $299 per year, a demo is available.<br /><b>System Requirements:</b> Windows 98 or above, Pentium II-350MHz with 64 MB RAM, 800x600 resolution, 3 MB free disk space<br /><br /><b>Pros:</b><li>Easy to learn;<br /><li>Tons of features.<b>Cons:</b><li>Pricing Scheme;<br /><li>Standard edition lacks features;<br /><li>Auto-Cropping occasionally does some strange cropping.<br /><b>Summary:</b><br />Do you have a hard drive full of digital pictures that you don't know what to do with? Want to frame a dozen photos from vacation? Want a better way to share pictures? LumaPix FotoFusion can help you do all of these and more.<br /><br />Read on for the full review!<!><br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Collages</b></span><br />LumaPix FotoFusion 3.0 looked like a fairly straightforward app when we first installed it. Its primary feature is to create collages. FotoFusion's Auto-collage lets you choose a set of pictures and generate a unique layout for them. This feature gives you a great starting point. It will crop and resize your pictures individually to fit on the page. You can then rearrange, resize, and recrop your pictures. The auto-collage feature occasionally made some bad crops, but it was very easy to make changes on the fly.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-1.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 1: Editing a collage.</i> <br /><br />The options for creating collages are quite extensive. Templates include Calendar, Invite, and Playing Cards. You can also choose Grid Collage to make a structured layout or use the AutoCollage feature to let the software do it for you. You can, of course, create free-form collages too. But with choices like these, you might not want to.<br /><br /><span><b>Organizing Photos</b></span><br />Choosing pictures to put into a collage can be a chore. Lumapix FotoFusion does a fair job of helping you out with this. It can scan your drive(s) for pictures and build a timeline for you. You can then pick the pictures you want to use and save them in your working Palette. From there, you're ready to make a collage.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-2.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 2: Organizing a small stack of photos.</i> <br /><br />Before we started using the Organize features, we found it very difficult to choose pictures. We even resorted to using Picasa to grab pictures and then exported them all to a folder. We learned the hard way this isn't an efficient way to choose pictures. The Organize feature is user-friendly and powerful. You can also select a set of pictures and save them as a Photo Moment. You can then pull that exact selection up again later. <br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Sharing Photos</b></span><br />Once you have a collage put together, you probably want to do something with it right? With Lumapix FotoFusion, you can share your photos in a variety of ways. One of the easiest is with the Share tab. Simply take your collage, select who to send it to and you're off. It doesn't get much easier that that. If you want more advanced features though, FotoFusion delivers. You can choose the quality of collage, attach your original photos, and add a banner or watermark. If you buy the Pro version, you can create custom watermarks and banners. With the Standard edition, you get a Lumapix banner on your e-mailed and uploaded images. If you're into commercial photography, these Pro features are aimed directly at you.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-3.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 3: Ready to send some photos to our friends.</i> <br /><br />Sending pictures via e-mail by default uses the Lumapix mail servers. You are limited to the size of e-mails (not quite sure what the limit is though). But as a registered user, you can use your own SMTP server directly. Wait, your own SMTP server? That is pretty slick. Most programs would use your default e-mail program to send e-mail. With this, your pictures go straight to the server saving you time and effort.<br /><br /><span><b>Publishing and Processing</b></span><br />If you want to save a copy of your final collages, you can use the Publish and/or Process tabs. They will render a high-res image of your collage. Publishing is very similar to Sharing via e-mail. You can choose quality, watermarks, and banners. In addition, you can choose to save to a local file or to your web server. <br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-4.jpg" /><br /><i>Figure 4: Processing a collage.</i> <br /><br />With the Process tab, you have similar options as with the Publish tab. In addition, you can also choose from BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, and TIF formats. <br /><PAGEBREAK><br /><span><b>Other Niceties</b></span><br />While working on your collage, you are looking at slow-res versions of the images, so you won't have to worry about stressing out your PC while cropping photos. All of that work is saved until you are ready to Process it. This helps make the app run very smoothly. Everything about it just feels polished.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-5-full.jpg"><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/remhof-aug04-lumapix-5.jpg" /></a><br /><i>Figure 5: A sample of what you can do with FotoFusion. Click for a larger version (92 KB).</i> <br /><br />Our trip to <a href="http://www.aceonline.org">ACE</a> CoasterCon XXVII gave us some really fun pictures of the family having a ball. This sample shows what a great (in our humble opinion) collage that you can make with a set of photos. This one took about 20 minutes to put together. You can spend an eternity tweaking if you want.<br /><br /><span><b>Beth's Take</b></span><br />Creating collages is addictive! It's really exciting to choose pictures and have a collage created in just a few clicks. It's similar to selecting and trimming hard-copy pictures for a pre-fab collage matte, but you can resize, crop, add edges and borders, and then add text on top! Once it's rendered in high-res quality, any digital printing service (or even your own printer) can make you a top quality print to frame. It can take as much or as little time as you have available. <br /><br />The initial startup is quick, but there are so many choices and variables that it will keep you busy for weeks just discovering them all. And as long as you keep taking pictures, you'll keep having fun with this software!<br /><br /><span><b>Kevin's Take</b></span><br />I agree with Beth that creating collages is really cool. This software is just so much fun to use. My only complaints are with the differences between the <a href="http://www.lumapix.com/pages/products/StandardVsPro.shtml">Standard and Pro</a> editions. When you try to access features that are only available in the Pro version while using the Standard version, you get a message telling you that only the Pro edition has those features. I've never been a big fan of notices like these. Not a big deal though.<br /><br /><span><b>This Just in...</b></span><br />We reviewed version 3.0 of Lumapix FotoFusion. Since then, version 3.1 has been announced. Described as a maintenance release, there are some major <a href="http://www.lumapix.com/pages/products/V3Highlights.shtml">changes</a> to what you can do with this software. The biggest change is the addition of a Print version of the software. If you want to use the <a href="http://www.lumapix.com/pages/products/VersionDifferences.shtml">full capabilities</a> of Lumapix FotoFusion, the Print edition will set you back $599 USD (or $299 USD per year).<br /><br />With version 3.0, you could export images up to a resolution 5000 x 5000 with the Standard edition and could export unlimited sizes with the Pro edition. With 3.1, you are limited to 2000 x 2000 with Standard, 3900 x 5700 with Pro, and only get unlimited with the new Print edition.<br /><br />Also, with 3.0, you could print images up to 16 x 20 with the Standard and unlimited with Pro. With 3.1, you can only print 12 x 12 with Standard, 13 x 19 with Pro, and unlimited with the Print edition.<br /><br />These changes are significant. They also set a bad precedent. We're shocked to see such major licensing changes which directly affect existing 3.0 users in a "point" release. 3.1 is a free upgrade from 3.0, but when it comes to export resolution, it's actually a downgrade that many customers will probably want to avoid.<br /><br /><b>Nov. 4th Update:</b> We've been informed by LumaPix that the changes in resolution export are only implemented on new licenses of version 3.1. Customers that bought version 3.0 can upgrade to 3.1 and still maintain the resolution export they were used to. While this is good news, it's bad news for new buyers, and ultimately still confusing.<br /><br /><span><b>Conclusion</b></span><br />Lumapix FotoFusion is a great program. It lets you create great pictures and collages, as well as organize and share your photos. Whether you take casual family snapshots or are a photography professional, this software will add a new dimension to your work. We're hooked and are sure that you will be too. There is a demo of the Standard edition so you can try before you buy. The prices of the Pro and Print editions are quite high. Be careful what edition you choose.