Illuminatus OPUS Pro
Digital Workshop (www.digitalworkshop.co.uk
Single use £249.95 (educational discounts available)
Upgrades: £89.95 from standard Opus; £149.95 from Illuminatus
Multi-user site licenses also available: details from Digital Workshop

Some time ago I reviewed Digital Workshop's Illuminatus OPUS authoring tool*. This has now been complemented by an even more powerful version, OPUS Pro.

As the name suggests, OPUS Pro is a beefier version of OPUS offering many additional benefits, some fairly basic additions to the programmes utility but most offering additional professional level features. These include database support, scripting (based on JavaScript), advanced vector drawing tools, advanced variable expressions and others too complicated for me to understand!

At a more obvious level Pro offers extra features such as rollover frames, e-mail screens, PowerPoint style forward/back buttons, an on-screen stopwatch and improved resource management. It also offers the ability to both publish resources directly to your Web Server and to preview them in any of ten viewing options (to check out how well it works with different set-ups).

So, as an admittedly low level user, what do I think? Well, the simple answer is that I will persevere with the basic OPUS package for the moment. As a non-specialist this is enough to keep me developing my skills and the ability to produce usable packages. However, if I were buying for the first time and felt that I will need the higher level features I would consider buying OPUS Pro and just sticking to the basic manual until I feel confident enough to delve into the extras.

However, I am sure that there are many higher level techies out there who will relish the opportunity to do even more with what is already a good programme.

* Illuminatus OPUS (basic edition) £99.95 (plus upgrade routes from other presentation programmes)

Neil Wellman, NetWork Associates, wellman@aol.com