Crayola Magic 3D Coloring Book

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Crayola 3D Magic

Produce Cool 3D Artwork with Crayola’s Magic 3D Coloring Book

Kids 2 & up will find irresistible the coloring in pictures with this creative software package. Imagining selecting a deep forest green to color in the back of a sea turtle and when you fill in the color with the paint bucket, it creates the texture and shadows for the turtles back automatically! This software is the first intelligent coloring package colored.

The user is given a choice of 70 images arranged in 7 themed books, 21 crayon colors which can be used with or without glitter, 13 textures and patterns, crayon and eraser options (large for large spaces, small for finer details), and the added option of having the computer maintain all coloring within the lines of the drawing, presumably for younger users.

Overall, the program can be likened to the "Magic Pen" books found in many toy stores. The colors seem to magically appear as the user moves the crayons over the intended space. The 3D effect makes the final printed drawing attractive, but the actual act of coloring is disassociated with the outcome. The colors in the box don't really match the colors that appear in the coloring process, mixing of colors is not an option, and the drawings are, overall, rather uninspiring. Still, some of our child reviewers spent a fair amount of time with the program, especially liking the glitter crayon options.

This program is without a doubt intended at the young child, who enjoys coloring prefabricated drawings to print and display. Because it focuses on the effortless act of coloring alone, it works best for children who don't value the noise and distractions of some other drawing programs.

Children get to pick from 7 coloring books:

* Under the sea (our favorite, with fish, sharks, octopus and sea turtles)

* Teddy Bears

* Dinosaurs

* Wild animals

* Insects

* On the farm

* Flying machines

Each book contains 10 pictures ready to color in. Children get to pick from 21 classicand fun colors, 21 glitter crayons, and 13 cool textures and patterns. To add to the fun,Crayola throws in over 100 fun and surprising sounds.

Windows 3.1 or Win95

CPU Type and Speed  486/66 (Pentium 75 or faster recommended)

Hard Drive Space 10 MB minimum

Memory (RAM) 8 MB minimum, 16 MB recommended

Graphics SVGA 640x480x256 colors

CD-ROM Speed 2X

Audio Windows compatible sound card

Other Needs mouse; color printer recommended