WebVise Totality is a graphics suite consisting of Photoshop plug-ins and standalone applications. It is meant to help turn your Photoshop (Or Photoshop compatible graphics software) graphics into web safe graphics. It is made up of six different plug-ins: a Digital Watermarking System, a JPEG Compression Engine, a GIF Compression Engine, an Optimized Dithering Engine, an Animation plug-in, and a Hybrid Web Safe Colors plug-in. The first four are also availible as a stand-alone application.
After I installed WebVise Totality (I was surprised there was no AutoStart, but that's not a big deal), I started up the stand-alone version of WebVise Totality. Just taking a quick glance at it, I didn't see how to switch between the different modules. But, after either clicking around a little or reading the manual, you will see that you click on the logo for WebVise Totality to change between modules. I think that's a very unique way to switch between - you just need to be able to tell quickly that you click there to switch (Maybe a little arrow pointing out from the logo or something). I also noticed little controls at the bottom of the image, and I couldn't figure out why they were there. They seemed like tools to work with image maps, but I was in the Watermarking module. There wasn't a button to save the HTML for an image map, or even the image itself! I later found out that when you go into the JPEG or GIF Compression modules, you can save the image map HTML and image there. I think they should either include all of the buttons in all modules, or get rid of the image map tools when you can't save the image map.
The Digital Watermarking System is well done. You can enter: the copyright owner's name, the company name (optional), the copyright date, a password (Anyone opening the image would need to enter the password to see the information that is watermarked), comments (optional), and interlaced data (It will be interlaced so that even if they do not know the password, they can see at least the interlaced data). Overall, it is pretty cool, and recommended for anyone concerned about copyrights.
The JPEG Compression Engine is great. It reduces image sizes a lot, without much noticeable difference. It reduced my base image from 7K to 3K. It's only slightly blurred, and you'll have to look closely to see it. Here is the original (7K) vs. the compressed (3K):
That may not be much, but it reduces much larger JPEG at a much higher ratio. I don't have any to post here, though, sorry. You can also change the actual image size and much more easily, but the automatic settings are very good. There is even a way to watch how the image will look as it is downloading, and it tells you the amount of time it will usually take to download the image at different modem speeds. Overall, this module is very good, and recommended for anyone who uses JPEG images.
The GIF Compression Engine is almost as good as the JPEG Compression Engine. You can change the dithering, type of color palette, and amount of each color in your image. Now, the dithering in the GIF Compression Engine is very good, especially for the file size, but I think that the built-in dithering in Paint Shop Pro 5 looks better. How, you ask? Well, in Paint Shop Pro, you should set the dithering to Optimized Octree with Error Diffusion and Reduced Color Bleeding. Here's a comparison of the WebVise Totality Dithering (13K) vs. my PSP5 Dithering (15K):
As you can see, the WebVise Totality dithered image is grainy when you look closely, while the Optimized Octree dithering is not nearly as grainy. There's only a 2K difference, so you can take your pick, a slightly smaller size or better image quality. Overall, if you do not have an Optimized Octree dithering engine in any of your graphics programs, this is highly recommended if you use GIF images.
The Hybrid Web Safe Colors plug-in is not much, just a little plug-in allowing you to choose a color or variation of that color. Using it to pick your colors will help make the image look nicer when you are dithering for use as a GIF.
I really didn't see a need for the WebVise Totality Animation module because I have Paint Shop Pro 5 with Animation Shop, but I found that it is really nice for Photoshop because it is an export filter, not a stand-alone application. It is ok for an animation program, but its major feature really is that it is an export filter so you do not need to save every single frame of an animation before putting them together in another program. Overall, if you have an animation program, chances are that this isn't much better, but if you're really annoyed by saving every frame, switch to the WebVise Totality Animation module.
WebVise Totality is overall worth its price if you are a web designer and you REALLY need to make your images smaller in size, and safer for wider audiences. If, however, you are just making graphic for personal use or for something other than over the web, WebVise Totality is not worth its price to you.
WebVise Totality 1.0
Price: $129
Website: http://www.autofx.com
