14 DAY TRIAL // What do you do for fun? I am past the games I used to play when I was little and as you grow old the tendency is to have a good laugh only on those double meaning jokes. And geeky humor is a bit limited to computer pranks (installing a screensaver that shows the blue crash screen, rotating the desktop, inverting the mouse buttons etc.) which are not to everybody's taste.
Also, finding a birthday present able to generate a fit of laugher is pretty tough and there is always someone with a better gift than yours. Zeallsoft comes with a $39.95 product designed to modify the pictures in such a way so as to achieve the laughing goal.
Magic Mirror uses warp technology in order to create funny pictures of you and your friends. The application also features a very light editing tool designed to adjust the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminosity) of the image.
Installing the product is easy and there are no obstacles in the way. Care should be taken after the install is complete and the software is launched and you have headphones on or the speakers are on as the sound is enabled and the laughter of the kids in the splash screen may come as a startle for you (I know it scared the hack out of me).
The seven days trial period allows the user to test it properly and there are no other limitations imposed by the developer.
The interface is very simple and in the first window there are only three options. On the left, there is the warp tool which contains four options: pinch, punch, eddy and lens (magnifying glass). On the right, you have a scale to strengthen the effect (it goes from 0 to 100). The slider above the image will actually set the size of the area to be distorted. Just drag the red button to the right and the distortion will include more of the face.
After finishing the warping and the distorting the user has to apply the modifications and then the picture can be saved on your computer and ready to print. Printing is not supported by the software.
The image formats Magic Mirror supports are not too many, but the developer made sure to include the most popular formats: BMP, PNG, JPEG and GIF. The limited range of file types makes even larger the gap between features and the price of the application as for a few dollars more you can get yourself a piece of editing tool that can achieve the same results (Photo Pos Pro for instance).
Editing options are not too advanced, but they will make the necessary basic adjustments to the picture. Thus the simple options of rotating the picture or making it fit the frame are available. Also, if you want a 1:1 display or zoom in or out in the upper part of the Edit Form window there are the appropriate buttons to do it with. If the loaded picture is out of the frame of the software you can press the Fit button in order to make it visible in its entirety.
Sometimes the face you want to distort may need to be taken out of the context. Crop tool is there to assist you and make the proper selection. There is no need to worry about mistakes you may make. A reset button will undo all of your changes. This option can create a discomfort for the user as there are times when only the last action needs to be undone. There is no such possibility in Magic Mirror.
Adjust button in Edit Form's lower part will allow the user to change the HSL levels and lock them to what value is suitable. An option I was not expecting is Lock Preview. Enabling it will automatically perform the changes in the preview window as you make the Hue, Saturation or Luminosity modifications.
There is one more thing to add about the application. It comes not empty handed and provides the user working material to test the distorting "skills". The testing picture provided is a very nice image of President Bush. So play with the president until your skills grow strong and then get to more serious stuff like distorting the faces of your buddies.
The Good
Very easy to handle tool and my colleagues and I had a lot of fun warping every picture we could get our hands on (including mine).
The editing tool is not the best there is nor is it getting close to number one, but a minimum adjustment of the HSL can be done.
The Bad
The price is the issue on the table in this section. For a few dollars more you could purchase a very good image editing tool that can create the same effects (not as fast as Magic Mirror, but still...) and more.
A downside every user could easily notice is that you cannot distort the face by parts. I think a pinch on the nose, a punch in the chin and a lens on the eyes would create a much better result.
The Truth
Very fun to play with during the trial period. After the seven days are gone, I am sure that there aren't too many users to cry over it.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
