Although it has an unorthodox look and feel, Caligari trueSpace offers hundreds of tools, animation facilities and physics simulations, and a collaborative working environment.

There is a wealth of Windows technical illustration software around the sub-$500 mark, but if you want the bitmap and 3-D functionality offered here too, as well as library of 4000 ready-to-use symbols, this suite probably provides better value in the long run. If you work with 3-D CAD models, you should be aware of the import limitations of Deep Exploration CSE, though.

We crashed several times when opening a texture editor, so a few bugs need to be ironed out, but scene recovery was swift and total. Possible glitches aside, if you want to get your hands dirty with realistic particle simulations and real-time shaders, but don’t want mess about with code, XSI 7 is definitely worth a look.

3D[in] is an expensive 3-D authoring environment that slots neatly into Photoshop Extended CS3’s 3-D features.

This simpler approach definitely takes Version Cue out of the way, while keeping its capabilities available when desired. The biggest change is having to switch to Bridge to create projects, manage their file sets, and "promote" older versions over more recent changes — you no longer do such actions in the individual CS4 programs. Administering your virtual servers — the project sets, and the access controls for the — remain in essence the same as in previous versions.

If you currently own Genuine Fractals 5 Print Pro, you’d need to be doing a lot of up-sizing to justify buying Blow Up 2, but for everyone else, Alien Skin’s tool is the best enlargement Photoshop plug-in currently available.

Lightbox Photo is a great idea that allows illustrators to avoid paying commission to a stock library — but the arrangement of features into the different versions is seriously flawed.

Maxon claims R11 renders about twice as fast as version R10.5, and it does seem like a rapid application all round. While its competitor LightWave 3D is slightly less expensive, the core application, bundled as it is with BodyPaint3D, is still well-priced and specified for single 3D artists. Studios, however, will probably find the best value in buying one of the bundles.

Simplified workflow system, increased Flash integration, and community expansion — Adobe Creative Suite 4 certainly looks like a compelling step forward. We'll be updating our review to add more depth to our conclusions over the coming weeks.

FlauntR is nowhere near as frustrating as Picture2Life, but it lacks the elegance and efficiency of FotoFlexer, Photoshop Express, and Picnik. At least FlauntR doesn't claim to be ready for prime time: Although it appeared in 2007, it's still labelled an alpha release.

Splashup's creators say a new version is in the works. But for now, unless you're a fanatical devotee of the Photoshop approach to things, FotoFlexer and Picnik have more to offer.