BACKGROUND: PHOTO CD PORTFOLIO SOFTWARE MAKES POWERFUL PRESENTATIONS EASY

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Dec. 28--For desktop computer users, the Kodak Photo CD
Portfolio format represents a dramatic expansion of the Photo CD system.

When Kodak launched the Photo CD Master disc format in 1992, the computer
industry quickly embraced it as a desktop imaging tool.

Photofinishers worldwide provided low-cost, high-resolution scans onto
Photo CD Master discs; computer users played the discs with low-cost
software and a Photo CD-compatible CD-ROM drive. The result: Easy,
inexpensive access to high-quality images in desktop computing
applications.

Today, Kodak is elevating the Photo CD disc from a tool to an art form. The
Photo CD Portfolio disc format--which Kodak is enabling today with three
new software products--combines high-resolution images with text,
graphics, interactive menus and sound to present information in a new
way.

Through the network of Photo CD Imaging Workstations, established in
photofinishers and service bureaus, consumers can continue to take
high-quality pictures with ordinary cameras and have those pictures
transferred economically to digital form on Photo CD discs.

Computer users can employ the new Kodak software to create their own,
interactive sound-and-picture presentations at the desktop. They can copy
images from Photo CD Master discs and Pro Photo CD Master discs, either at
full resolution or at selected resolution levels. And they can convert
other digital images, such as TIFF or PICT files, to the Photo CD Image
Pac file format.

In short, Kodak's new Photo CD Portfolio software lets desktop computer
users create their own Photo CD discs. Thus, the new Photo CD Portfolio
discs serve not only as a way to access high-quality images, but also as a
new medium for creative expression. 

Powerful Presentation Format

The Kodak Photo CD Portfolio discs combine the strengths of many types of
presentations in one convenient new format.

Like slide presentations, Photo CD Portfolio discs can feature high-quality
still images and graphics. They can add music and narration, similar to
the slide/tape format.

Like video, the discs offer the convenience of playback on television
(using a Photo CD, Apple PowerCD, 3DO/Panasonic R.E.A.L. or CD-I player,
all of which also play audio CDs). Kodak recently introduced an especially
convenient playback device the Kodak Photo CD portable player PCD 970,
which connects quickly to any TV, and fits easily in any briefcase.

But unlike slides or videotape, Photo CD Portfolio discs also can be played
on computers. And whether people display them on TV or computers, Photo CD
Portfolio presentations offer the power of interactivity--giving viewers
control over the information they want to see, and when they want to see
it.

Multimedia Made Easier

Although interactivity is a benefit inherent in any CD format, the process
of authoring CD-ROM discs to achieve that benefit traditionally has been
an expensive and time-consuming process. People wanting to create an
interactive presentation have needed extensive programming knowledge ...
not just the ability to tell a story, but also the technical ability,
patience and persistence required to make the technology work.

With new Photo CD Portfolio software, Eastman Kodak Company has given
desktop users the power to design interactive presentations on their own.
In essence, the new Photo CD Portfolio format promises to make anyone with
a desktop computer an interactive storyteller.

To enable this new reality, Kodak offers three software tools:

* Kodak Create-It Photo CD presentation software is a simple-to-use tool
for people who want to design their own presentations, even those who
haven't worked with presentation software packages before.

* Kodak Arrange-It Photo CD Portfolio layout software is targeted at more
advanced users who want to create sophisticated disc layouts with multiple
branching options and other features. These users can import images and
frame designs from Create-It or from other presentation software packages
like Adobe Photoshop or Aldus Persuasion.

* Kodak Build-It Photo CD Portfolio production software is the tool that
actually writes information to disc in the Photo CD Portfolio format. It's
designed for users who will produce a lot of discs, like service bureaus
and corporate presentation departments.

Both Create-It and Arrange-It output a script language that tells Build-It
software how to structure the images, text, sound clips and other content
onto a Photo CD Portfolio disc. To enable users of other software packages
to create their own Photo CD Portfolio presentations, Kodak will publish
the script language and make it available to software developers free of
charge.

With the launch of the Photo CD Portfolio format, Kodak is targeting
multimedia title developers, graphic artists and "power users" of high-end
Macintosh systems (such as desktop publishers). As the new format takes
hold, the company expects that business presenters and other,
less-advanced computer users will want to design and produce their own
Photo CD Portfolio discs.

Create-It Software

Create-It software makes it easy to design image-intensive presentations,
from a few slides or transparencies to a complete Photo CD Portfolio disc.
Users create their presentations frame by frame, selecting from different
"palettes" that let them choose images, colors, backgrounds and other
elements.

With a point-and-click of the mouse, Create-It software users can:

* Select from a variety of template backgrounds and formats, or create
their own;

* Add text from a wide selection of type fonts, styles and effects;

* Employ drawing tools to produce graphic elements in full 24-bit color;

* Incorporate photographic-quality images from a Photo CD disc, or other
images stored as TIFF or PICT files (as well as other file formats);

* Perform simple color adjustments and other image-editing functions,
including red-eye correction and defect removal;

* Attach digital audio files, or record their own narration at the screen;
and

* Provide branching options and interactive controls, including "hot
buttons" that viewers can use to move around easily in a presentation.

When they're done, Create-It software users can output their presentation
as prints or transparencies, as a PICT file to generate slides, or as a
Photo CD Portfolio script. The Macintosh computer version of Create-It
software is available now for a suggested list price of $245; Kodak plans
to offer a Windows version in 1994.

Arrange-lt Software

Arrange-It software is a tool for designing more complex interactive
presentations for output to Photo CD Portfolio discs. It does not offer
frame design options like those in Create-It software, but has more
sophisticated interactivity and disc layout capabilities.

The software employs a graphical interface that lets users intuitively
arrange finished frame designs (shown on-screen at thumbnail resolutions),
audio clips and other elements intuitively. With a point-and-click of the
mouse, Arrange-It software users can:

* Import Photo CD images, audio files in the AIFF format, or images and
layouts created in other applications (and saved as PICT or TIFF files);

* Link audio clips to images by dragging and dropping on-screen icons;

* Create routing paths simply by moving the cursor from one image to the
next;

* Control all aspects of Photo CD Portfolio disc layout, including time-out
settings, delays, transitions and Image Pac settings;

* Use a "verify" command to check automatically for unconnected paths,
overlapping section areas and other common problems; and

* Emulate playback on-screen before producing the disc.

After completing their design, Arrange-It software users can output the
disc layout as a Photo CD Portfolio script. The software will collect all
of the content files (presentation frames, audio clips, etc.) needed to
write the Photo CD Portfolio disc in one folder, for convenient delivery
to the Build-It site. Photo CD images are not copied into the folder, but
are referenced by the script.

Arrange-It software is available now to Macintosh users for a suggested
list price of $395. Kodak plans to offer a Windows version in 1994.

Build-It Software

Kodak Build-It Photo CD Portfolio production software gives users three
disc-writing options for creating Photo CD Portfolio discs.

1) They can output complete presentations created in a Photo CD Portfolio
design application. Build-It software processes the Photo CD Portfolio
script that is output by Create-It or Arrange-It software, or by other
application packages that adopt the Portfolio script language format
(which Kodak is publishing free of charge). Using the script as a guide,
Build-It accesses the supplied images, sound clips or other digital files,
and writes them in the appropriate sequences to produce a finished Photo
CD Portfolio disc.

2) They can copy high-resolution images from Photo CD Master discs, Pro
Photo CD Master discs or previously written Photo CD Portfolio discs onto
new Photo CD Portfolio discs. Build-It software will copy the complete
Kodak Photo CD Image Pac file, which stores images at multiple levels of
resolution, or it will allow users to select specific resolutions. A
professional photographer might use the "copy" feature to show customers
lower-resolution "preview" images from a Pro Photo CD Master disc. Once
the customer selects an image, he or she could order the high-resolution
version stored on the Pro Photo CD Master disc.

3) They also can convert TIFF or PICT files to the Image Pac file format
(up to 16*Base resolution). A person creating transparencies in Adobe
Photoshop, for example, could save his or her work as a TIFF file.
Build-It could then write the entire presentation, or selected images,
onto a Photo CD Portfolio disc for playback on TV and computers.

Along with writing Photo CD Portfolio discs, Build-It software offers a "CD
publish" feature that lets users write data onto any CD-Recordable discs
in the ISO 9660 format or with Rockridge extensions.

Build-It software drives the Kodak PCD writer 200, a double-speed disc
writer that outputs data to Photo CD Portfolio discs or to Kodak Writable
CD discs. In addition, JVC Information Products Company of America has
announced that it will bundle Kodak's Build-It software with JVC Personal
RomMaker products.

The current Build-It product runs on a Sun SparcStation 2 or 10
workstation, and is available now from Kodak for a suggested list price of
$4,995. Kodak plans to offer Macintosh and Windows versions later in
1994.

Eastman Kodak Company, 343 State St, Rochester, NY 14650

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