Lorigraph

Sinclair User

Overall 4/5

Graham Taylor 4/5

Label: Loriciels Author: Dr R Arrandmado Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: Various Reviewer: Lorigraph is a curiosity. A graphics package which has many of the features of Art Studio but no colour. It sounds absurd, but it isn't. Where Art Studio was a general package, Lorigraph is specifically concerned with technical designs and geometric shapes. Whilst there are various types of shading effect available, there is no colour option. Joystick and icons control the program. On the left-hand side of the screen are a series of boxes representing the main options for drawing style - pen, airbrush or shape based. Along the bottom are a number of fill designs, and along the top are more general functions. There are a variety of pen options giving various forms of thin, thick and intermittent lines or a spray can option for more general effects. More sophisticated features include magnify and the usual cut and paste options. More unusual are some set geometric shapes which Lorigraph handles in an unusual way. They are treated as though they are objects in 3D space and, by setting the drawing point and moving the joystick, you can 'spin' them around an imaginary middle axis, thus it is easy to draw an ellipse 'edge on'. Art Studio is more powerful but Lorigraph is well designed, easy to use and for those whose graphics tasks tend to be more technical than artistic, it could be the right choice.