Scrapbook Factory Deluxe
In the words of the vendor, Scrapbook Factory Deluxe "provides the ultimate collection of tools for creating one-of-a-kind keepsake projects." It could scarcely be easier to use: from a selected category you choose an event, occasion or theme from 5,000 different designs, then you personalize it with your own photos, captions, and embellishments, and finally print it on any printer. Another output option is to convert the page to PDF for sending to friends and family.
Scrapbook Factory's key selling-point is the bewildering quantity of templates, graphics and fonts which come with the software. There are 60,000 graphics, consisting of watercolors, illustrations, vector drawings, fine art and other styles, any of which you can use in your scrapbooks. 6,000 different projects are categorized into Special Occasions, Family & Friends, Journals, Holidays, (no concessions to U.K. users: Holidays are Halloween, Christmas, etc., nothing to do with the beach), Vacations (that's the beach), Albums & Bragbooks, Paper Crafts, Iron-On Projects, Photo Frames & Calendars, and the intriguingly named Spectacular Scrapbook Additions. And Much More.
If all this is not enough, the vendor has thrown in another 5,000 "photorealistic embellishments" consisting of buttons and bows, alphabets, tags, charms and other decorations. There is also a built-in digital photo editor and support for traditional 12" x 12" paper.
Comment
In an online comparative review of the top ten scrapbooking software packages organized by TopTenREVIEWS, Scrapbook Factory Deluxe took top honors. There is no doubt that loading the user with lots of templates and fonts is often going to win against better photo enhancement or superior layout facilities. In this case, the vendor can be excused because there is also an image editor called Photo Explosion Deluxe to take care of picture quality, cropping, and so on (but it's another $50).
Scrapbook Factory tends to do what it thinks is best for the user, such as compressing JPEGs automatically to a mid-range value when saving -- but there is also an override to maximize quality. The program and its truck-load of artwork will keep scrapbookers happy for hours, and, of course, it is a lot easier to use than Photoshop.
Tech info
- OS: Windows 98 onward
- Price level: Approx. $40
Nova Development
Founded in 1984, Nova Development is a leading developer and publisher of consumer software products for Windows and Macintosh platforms. It is part of the Avanquest Group.
Note: this product is available from Amazon at a heavily discounted price (see right-hand panel).
From the same vendor:
- Print Artist Platinum
- Photo Explosion
- MediaNow CD & DVD Burning Suite
- PhotoImpact
- Disk Accelerator Pro
- many others
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