MAKING ORNAMENTS WITH SANTA'S ELVES
A Review of Christmas Ornament Workshop
by Susan Davis
Santa's Elves invaded the computer stores last night to secretly
distribute their latest toy for children and adults of all ages. With
the help of KittyHawk Software,
they have introduced Christmas
Ornament Workshop, a holidayware product that brings out the child in
all of us. Making simple, yet enjoyable, Christmas ornaments has never been so
much fun!
The program opens with Christmas music to put you in the
right frame of mind. You are standing in front of a quaint winter
cottage. You can either open the door to the Christmas Ornament
program, or you can click on the Bonus to enter the award-winning
Greatest Paper Airplanes program.
When you choose the ornament making program, you are brought into a cheery room filled with objects to click on. Anything you can select, you can learn to make. The program offers you three levels of difficulty in ornament-making: Simple, Moderate, or Challenging. And that reindeer really is Challenging.
The first ornament I tried was the Cross. The directions take you step by step through the process, showing you both visually and with written directions how to complete your construction. With its help, the process is remarkably simple. You also have the option of printing the design, with or without fold lines, and using that piece of paper in your ornament.
Santa's elves built in a few little extras, as well. For additional
help you can print either one or both sides of the design. The visual
directions include advanced options like 3-D rotation and spatial
movement. You can even print to a color printer for more visual
pizzazz. And the accompanying soundtrack offers you the choice of six
favorite songs performed by the Philadelphia Brass on their Christmas
CD.
The installation process is a real present from Santa. It's simple, quick, and painless. The entire program, sound effects and all, runs directly from the CD. The only thing on your hard drive is the icon!
And if all of this isn't enough to make you run out and buy Christmas
Ornament Workshop in an instant, the bonus ought to provide just
enough extra incentive. KittyHawk Software has included their
shareware version of The Greatest Paper Airplanes. Like your new
ornament-making program, you are provided with instructions and visual
aids for building some wonderful paper airplanes. These origami paper
toys will surely bring back memories of grade school paper airplane
contests.
Organized into a notebook format, the airplane-builder uses VCR-like
controls to guide you through the process. Much like Christmas
Ornament Workshop, The Greatest Paper Airplanes controls are intuitive
and functional, and take only minutes to grasp. Children and adults
alike will find these programs a breeze to use. My husband and I took
a few minutes to
build a Manta Ray Dart plane that really looked like
the real creature. It even flew; in fact, it flew farther than any
airplane I'd ever built before. My Manta Ray was an unqualified,
roaring success. And, unlike many bonus programs, a full commercial
version of the airplane program is available, with more planes and a
screen saver for only $29.95.
Between these two fascinating programs, children and adults alike are bound to find hours of entertainment as they experiment with the various designs. Best of all, Christmas Ornament Workshop and The Greatest Paper Airplanes are arranged so that everyone in the whole family can be building their own personal version of the origami design at the same time, providing a fun family experience that everyone can enjoy together! Santa's elves really came through this Christmas.
Multimedia Cafe Scorecard
| Product: |
Christmas Ornament Workshop |
| Company: |
KittyHawk Software and Strategic Alliance Software , Inc.
|
| Cost: |
$19.95 |
System Requirements:
PC Running Windows 3.1, Windows for Workgroups,
or Windows 95, A CD-ROM drive, 256-Color VGA Display; or Macintosh
computer running System 7 with a CD-ROM drive.
Breakdown:
Entertainment Value 5
Educational Value 5
Concept 5
Depth 4
Interface 5
Overall Score:
Copyright © 1997 InfoMedia, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.