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Hot on the heels of The Advanced Art Studio comes Audiogenic's graphics package for the 128 and Plus 2

Audiogenic's Icon Graphix package was launched about a year ago, at the same time as the Spectrum 128 appeared. The first version to appear was for the 48K machines but, not surprisingly, Audiogenic also announced that an enhanced version for the 128 was on its way and, now that Amstrad's own version of the 128 is well and truly here, they've finally gotten around to releasing Icon Graphix 128.

Unlike the enhanced version of Art Studio, which uses the 128's additional memory mainly for fast data storage/retrieval and which has reativey few new facilities for actually creating graphics, the new Icon Graphix package features a number of options which were absent from the original. Mind you, the original Icon Graphix lacked certain features that could be found in both Art Studio and The Artist (such as text handling and 'cut and paste' commands) so the upgraded version has been brought into lie with what we've all come to expect as standard from graphics packages these days.

The layout of the screen display remains unchanged, with the central drawing area surrounded by a border made up of the various FILL patterns and, along the bottom of the screen, icon symbols for the graphics commands. This icon menu now has an added feature though - a PAGE icon, which, when selected, calls up pages 2 and 3 for the menu containing the new commands.

The FILL, PEN and shape commands (for drawing boxes, lines, circles and ovals) were all standard on the 48K version but the new commands include some for adding text to your pictures (and there is an impressive variety of fonts included on side two of the tape, although only one font at a time can be held in memory).

The other new commands are mainly for 'cut 'n paste', allowing you to define small sections of the screen which can be 'lifted up', moved around, rotated, reflected and otherwise abused. As I mentioned, these can be found on ordinary 48K packages, so while their inclusion now is a good idea, it's not exactly a giant leap forward.

One new feature which is quite original is the TRACE command. Once you've defined a window (or a 'cutting' as the manual calls it) you can use this command on whatever is drawn within it. What it does is to invert the paper and ink within the cutting and to then surround any solid areas with either a black or white outline depending on the nature of the drawing. This might sound a little pointless, but it actually creates a kind of 'polarised' effect that makes even simple drawings look more interesting, and it can be used repeatedly to build up some unusual chading effects which might otherwise take forever to produce if they had to be drawn conventionally.

This TRACE command is the highlight of the package, and, along with the icon menus (which I found simpler to use than on Art Studio or The Artist) is one of the areas where it scores over the competition. However, there are other features which could be improved upon given the 128's potential.

Although the program allows you to control the cursor from keyboard, joystick or (Kempston) mouse, the movement of the cursor is fairly slow and it can take a couple of seconds to move the cursor from one side of the screen to another (good if you're doing detailed work using the "Magnify" option, but irritating if you're trying to quickly move from one icon to another).

The "Fill" and shape drawing commands are also slow, and if you're defining a cutting with the cut and paste commands that is more than about 1/4th of the size of the screen you can almost hear the poor machine straining to keep up as it tries to constantly redraw the window. Finally, the Save/Load facilities are a bit of a mess. You can save or load a normal SCREEN$, a 'document' or a cutting, though the manual doesn't really explain how a document differs from a SCREEN$. The loading option is a bit finicky about accepting names and you can't just load the first SCREEN$ that you come to on tape (i.e. using LOAD"" SCREEN$), as you've got to know the name of the screen to start off with. This is fine if you've saved a picture drawn from scratch on the package, but if you've got some pictures saved onto tape that are taken from anywhere else you've got to make sure you know their names before you can get at them. Icon Graphix 128 *is* an improvement upon the original. I found it easier and more enjoyable to work with than many other graphics packages I've had to review in the past, mainly because the icon menu is so self-explanatory and visible on screen all the time rather than just popping up and down before you've managed to figure out what you're doing.

As I mentioned, the program could be faster than it is, but on the other hand it does cost just £12.95 compared to a fairly hefty £25 for the 128 version of Art Studio, so while it might not match Art Studio in sheer speed and number of options it still works out at quite good value.