Click 'N Design 3D
By Fabian Westerwelle
Senior Editor
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Manufacturer: Stomp Inc.
Price: $19.99 (CD); $14.99 (Download)
Power PC or greater Macintosh
OS 8.6, OS 9 or OS 10.2 (Upd. Feb, 2004: Does not run natively in 10.3)
32MB RAM (64MB recommended).
30MB free hard disk space (Up to 320MB if clipart content is included).
16 bit color, 800 x 600 or better.
Mouse or other pointing device.
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Update (February 2004): Click 'N Design 3D does not run natively under Mac OS 10.3 Panther. A reader informed us of a fix that explains how to run Click 'N Design 3D in Classic on Panther machines that can not boot into Mac OS 9.
(Note: The software was reviewed before Mac OS 10.3 Panther was released. The company has failed to yet make an announcement about a Panther update.)
Click 'N Design is a product from Somp Inc. that makes creating CD/DVD labels easy and even fun. (Oh yeah, and it's not just CD labels, you can also make jewel cases, jazz labels, business card cd labels, videotape labels, 3.5" disk labels, etc..)
Installation:
Installation was pretty simple. Just run the installer from the CD, and install just the application, or the app with one or two extra clip art collections. If you chose to go with the two extra sets, expect to triple the installation time, which isn't too bad. The CD also includes a QuickStart Guide that helps you get started.
Usage:
The first time I ran the app I was surprised by the plethora of templates that are available. First choose from either CD, CD & Jewel Case combos, Jewel Case, Mini CD, Business Card CD, CD HubCaps, 3.5" Diskette, Zip, Jazz, Video Tape, or Audio Cassette labels. You can also just choose to design on a full sheet of paper, or photographic paper. Then under each of the label choices there are dozens of manufacturer specified label templates to choose from. I won't list them all here, but whatever you use, it's probably there. All templates cram as many CD labels as possible on a page, making the most of the available space.
When you choose one of the templates (we chose the Memorex CD/DVD labels),
a quick start wizard opens. You can choose a layout to use. There are several, ranging from formal to shareware. For each layout the Color Scheme, Font Scheme, and background can be specified. Quick and easy. The only problem comes in when choosing a background. Images are named by number only, "B03212845.jpg" for example. This makes browsing through the images painful if you don't have them memorized. (There is a preview window but it takes each picture a while to load.) The software does include a image browser, just click the "Select Image.." folder and select the folder that contains the backgrounds (or any other images). This window previews all images in a folder in a separate frame, this makes browsing easier even though not much faster on our iMac 350hz.
After specifying the layout it can easily be modified to your needs. This is the quick and easy way, but if you want to be really creative don't use the Wizard, and create a label from scratch.
Just leave the wizard and use the tools in the menu to design the label. The interface is pretty much standard with three bars at the top. One for file functions such as saving, printing, and zoom; another one with dynamic updated layout functions; and a third for design functions such as text, circular text, shapes, 3D text, clip art, and even bar codes. There is also a side color bar that lets you chose colors from a fixed or continuous palette. The 3D text option is definitely the most complex option from the design pack. By specifying your font; colors; effects such as curving, slating, arching, arcing; textures; backgrounds; and then positioning point, spotlight, or directional lights to illuminate the text, you can create all kinds of 3D text combinations.
Another interesting option is the circular text. To add circular text around the outside hit the "Circular Text" button (the one with the circle around the "A", yes that one) and select your angle, font and size. The software automatically places the text around the edge in a circle. It can later be moved to anywhere on the CD. Colors are also very well managed by letting the user either use a fixed palette or a continuous palette to pick colors.
Click 'N Design 3D also lets you insert your own clip-art easily, even with drag and drop. Affects can be applied to the pictures by choosing "Affects" from the "Tool" menu after selecting an image. Affects include blurr, mosaic, oilify, emboss, flip, brightness & contrast, HSL balance, and other basic affects such as flipping and sharpening.
After designing a CD label, printing is also very well managed. The software includes printer calibration wizard which makes sure your printer will print the labels correctly. The wizard first makes sure that your Page Setup is correct and then prints a calibration sheet from your printer. The user folds the calibration sheet and then corrects the misalignment on the wizard. Some other great features are TWAIN 32 support, and cloning to easily create mutliple labels on one page.
Problems:
I didn't have any crashes while using the app. The only real problem was the lack of speed (run on an iMac 350Mhz with 192MB ram in OS X). This being majorly the selecting of images, it wasn't a major problem. The system requirements are a little leanient especially in OS X. The more RAM the better, especially for the images.
Conclusion:
Click 'N Design 3D is a very good CD labeling software that has every bang for the buck. If you need or just want to create great looking labels for any kind of storage media, this is probably your best pick. Even though it had some lack of speed, the huge amounts of clip art not only explain this, but also make up for it, at least inside the application.
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Pros: | Cons: |
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Lots of Clipart
Easy to use Endless design options
Easy 3D, circular text, and even barcodes.
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Sometimes slow Confusing background names Clip Art is in PC format
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Rating: 8 out of 10 Mac Faces.
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