We’ve all heard that the Web is the Multimedia Medium Of Tomorrow. But most home-brewed Web pages are grayer and duller than a lump of lead. Enter Specular’s 3D Web Workshop 1.0, a graphics-oriented software bundle aimed directly at the Web-lorn. With this smart package and a little ingenuity, even code-challenged non-programmers can come up with a compelling Web site.
Web Workshop centers around Adobe’s PageMill, a graphic interface used to create Web pages without having to deal with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). PageMill works like a page-layout program, although it is not nearly as powerful as PageMaker or QuarkXPress. There are two modes with which to work with Web pages: Edit Mode and Browse Mode. In Edit Mode, you can arrange graphics and text and create links to other pages without typing URLs (although you can, if you prefer to work that way). In Browse Mode, your page acts as if it were on the Web, allowing you to test links to other pages.
PageMill basically sticks to the HTML 2.0 standard. Unfortunately, it inherits some limitations from HTML itself, which do not allow exact placement of images or text, and rely on the browser for page size and formatting. Also, PageMill doesn’t show you HTML at all, which will alienate more experienced Web users. (More direct access to HTML tags and URLs are promised for PageMill 2.0, which Specular says it will offer as an upgrade.)
Logomotion Web Edition puts the “3D” in 3D Web Workshop. While you won’t be making VRML worlds (like you could with Specular’s Infini-D), Logomotion will make snazzy 3D banners. You work mainly with prefab models (or text) and animate them with simple animation assistants called StageHands. Users of non-Web versions of Logomotion will be happy with the new interface. Self explanatory icons and animated previews have taken the place of most menus.
Also included in the package are WebHands-1500 Web-oriented, clip art files that will meet most Web design needs. The buttons, arrows, bullets, and flags are available in a range of styles, are fully customizable, and are optimized for fast downloading. Some WebHands can be animated with GifBuilder, a freeware animated GIF creator. Unfortunately, older Web browsers can’t play animated GIFs and neither can the bundled version of PageMill. You’ll have to view your Web page in a Navigator 2.x-compatible browser to see it in its animated glory.
Specular’s TextureScape Web Edition rounds out the bundle, providing a texture-generation program for creating unique backgrounds, buttons, and textures for use in Logomotion. TextureScape works by using various parameters to tile PostScript shapes. By layering these tiled shapes you can make very complex patterns. The program allows you to bevel and render shapes with shadows and highlights. With TextureScape’s built-in sequencer, you can animate complex shape-morphs and texture changes. But please take pity on your reader’s eyes before going overboard with the background confetti.
3D Web Workshop is a useful, well-thought out package. Specular even throws in Netscape Navigator 2.0 and an introductory subscription to a service provider, Earthlink Network — but the very notion of thousands of Web pages full of animation and flashy graphics is enough to bring the Internet backbone to its knees. Graphics-heavy Web pages scream for bandwidth that just isn’t available yet. So while Web Workshop may cure the proliferation of flat, gray Web Pages, it can also tempt you into graphics overkill.
Anzovin, Raf. (October 1996). 3D Web Workshop 1.0. MacAddict. (pg. 61).
Specular International
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Specular_3D_Web_Workshop.iso
4 / 
2023-01-07 / 
5f56728371c388b3c82484710bf084a2c189d451 / 
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
