Product Reviews

Now bundled on all Apple's professional machines, GraphicConverter 4.5.1 from LemkeSoft can no longer be considered the Mac's best-kept software secret, but that doesn't mean it's not capable of springing the odd surprise. This version has shocked many fans of the image converter and editor, no doubt because it's the first time an upgrade fee has been imposed. Are there enough new features to justify it?

If you're a Mac OS X user who regularly needs to batch-process folders full of files, the answer is yes. Not only does version 4.5.1 offer full Quartz text rendering and improved Twain scanner support, but it also adds PDF import to the 160 or so supported file conversion formats.

GraphicConverter, unlike Photoshop, lets you open multipage PDFs directly from the Open menu at the resolution specified in the Preferences dialog. Once imported, you can navigate through PDFs by selecting the target page in a drop-down menu at the bottom of the image window. Navigation isn't without visual glitches - the program

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closes the active window before reopening it at the destination page, but it's a lot faster than using the bundled OS X Preview application, and it's a powerful method of quickly repurposing multipage PDFs.

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File conversion options elsewhere have only been tinkered with. There's now full support for JPEG 2000, but still no ability to read EPS files. Single or batch file conversion routines can be created with AppleScript or the program's Convert dialog, where you can set source and destination folders and apply a suite of filters or file commands, with support for limited conditional branching.

One of GraphicConverter's hidden gems is the Image Browser, which lets you navigate folders of images via image thumbnails. In this version, you can import and rotate EXIF thumbnails generated by digital cameras, and create HTML-based image catalogues.

GraphicConverter will never be a first-choice image editor, but version 4.5.1 has addressed one limitation: you can now enter any standard measurement when choosing a new document's dimensions. And while it still doesn't let you layer images or edit in CMYK mode, it does support named Photoshop layers.

Some users might find the toolbar and palette system idiosyncratic, where toolbars and palettes relate to individual windows rather than the whole document. They may also require more detailed help than the brief PDF provides. However, for new users, GraphicConverter is a must-have tool, and even if version 4.5.1 isn't as compelling in Classic as it is in OS X, it still represents unsurpassed value for money.