PC Paintbrush IV Plus
                         Copyright 1990 David Batterson

     Like other software companies that are doing well in today's competitive
marketplace, ZSoft continues to improve its products by leaps and bounds.
I recently spent several hours testing out their new PC Paintbrush IV Plus, the
latest member of the PC Paintbrush family.
     PC Paintbrush IV Plus conforms to the CUA (Common User Access) interface,
with pull-down menus and dialog boxes.  This gives it a look similar to
Windows, WITHOUT the buggy problems many have experienced with Windows.
     Other new features include three levels of online help, as well as a
constantly changing information line.  There are multi-levels of zoom-in and
zoom-out.  It supports .TIF as well as .PCX files.
     The seven special effects include blend, smudge, gradient, tiling, tint,
brightness and contrast.  These can be used for sections of a graphic image, or
can be applied to the overall image.
     You can draw all kinds of lines, curves and geometric shapes.  Editing
capabilities include rotate, shrink and grow.  You may also customize the
screen and palette style sheets.  A new eye-dropper allows for precise editing
of your color images.
     There are both bitmap and outline fonts.  Effects such as outlining,
shadows and gradient are easily accomplished.  For systems with no EMS or
extended memory, PC Paintbrush IV Plus can still handle large images through
disk swapping.
     I don't own a scanner, so wasn't able to test the new scanner commands.
However, you can fully control your scanner from within PC Paintbrush IV Plus.
This means you can choose resolution, halftones, page size, positive/negative,
scanning area, and rescaling (25 to 400 percent).
     The FRIEZE screen capture program now captures in VGA mode.  ZSoft also
offers an optional version of FRIEZE for Super VGA (640x480, 256 colors or
800x600, 16 colors).  There are several utility programs.  One translates
your HP soft fonts into XFR bitmap fonts.  Another converts gray scale images
into b&w images for use with Ventura Publisher.
     While most users will use PC Paintbrush IV Plus for DTP purposes, others
will find it useful for slide shows.  That's because there's a new service
bureau which turns any .PCX files into high resolution slides for $8 each.
     PC Paintbrush IV Plus requires a hard drive, DOS 3.0 or higher, and a
drawing device (mouse or drawing tablet).  Expanded or extended memory is
highly recommended.  Virtually all display adapters, printers and scanners are
supported, so "no worries mate."  All in all, quite a nice graphics package.
     Suggested list price is $199.  Owners of PC Paintbrush IV may upgrade for
$69; owners of PC Paintbrush Plus pay $50 for the upgrade.
     For more information on PC Paintbrush IV Plus, contact ZSoft Corporation,
450 Franklin Road, Suite 100, Marietta, GA  30067; 404-428-0008.  For more
information on the slide service, contact Accent Presentations, Inc., 12780
High Bluff Drive, Suite 250, San Diego, CA  92130; 800-222-2592.
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     David Batterson enjoys playing around with graphics software when he's
supposed to be working!  Contact him via MCI Mail: DBATTERSON.