Editor’s Pick: Create 3D Presentations Using Dryfork

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

Nearly a year ago, I recommended you check out a 3D presentation package called Dryfork. Now Version 2.0 just came out, giving me an excuse to tell you once again that Dryfork is something you need to check out if you ever have to give a presentation or if someone in your outfit has to. I’ve been playing with it and not only is Dryfork terrific stuff, but it is fun to use. It’ll also change the way you think about communicating.

The basic analogy I’ll draw for you is that Dryfork lets you create a show as you do with, say, Impress from OpenOffice.org or MS PowerPoint. The key difference is that Dryfork is for anyone who lives and works in a 3D world. Dryfork is inherently 3D and multimedia ready. This means you can mix the strengths of an everyday bullet-pointed slide show with an audio track, a movie, and zooming and panning images, text, and graphics in 3D. Multimedia just becomes a part of your presentation. Objects can move around as you want them. You can play with lighting effects or just have a quiet 3D image in the background.

You do all of that without anything being particularly difficult. For example, say you have a complicated concept where you could really get your point across with a movie instead of chattering on for a zillion words. Click and drag the video camera icon into your slide. Double-click, tell Dryfork where the AVI file resides, fiddle with settings to run the AVI as you see best, and you’re done. Want to lead your viewers through a series of steps? Try having Dryfork’s little guy walk from point to point, or maybe you can build a flythrough showing your concepts in rich 3D.

The point is that Dryfork is for communicating to the visually attuned, 3D minds of 2008. And it’s easy to use, even for a dumbbell like me. But what excites me most about Dryfork is not how easy it is to use. It’s what it can do for you after you make a cool presentation. I get a lot of PowerPoints to show me how way cool something is. The next day when I fire it up to see what’s going on, well, I hope that I had a chance to take notes and maybe an audio recording because most of the slides are almost useless without the narrative. You can avoid this happening with a Dryfork presentation. Do it right, and your Dryfork presentation will be as fresh as a newly beached cod whenever your client or potential client gets around to firing it up. That is worth its weight in gold.

Speaking of gold, the full enchilada Dryfork package costs something like $299, which is not a lot of money for the ability to make presentations that will blow the socks off potential clients. Check out Dryfork. You can start with the free trial download linked off of today’s Pick of the Week write-up or contact the company for a live demo. This is really different stuff. Spend the time to get to know Dryfork.

Thanks, Pal. — Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering Magazine