Vikki Dawson August 15, 2001

Illuminatus Opus is a multimedia publishing application that allows you to combine sound, video, animation, text, and the internet (via web browser object). With it you can create all kinds of electronic publications for distribution on CD or the web. These publications can have user interaction and they can be streamed over the internet. The end user must download and install the Opus plug-in.

Key Features & Benefits

• Built-in Drawing Tools & Auto Shapes
• Animation Paths & Effects
• Hotspot Editor
• Custom & Animated Textures
• Master Pages
• Timelines
• Sophisticated Video/Audio Support
• Drag & Drop Simplicity
• Transparent Backgrounds
• New Transitions & Effects
• Built-in Spell Checker
• Scrolling Frames
• Multiple Sound Channels
• Blends & Fades
• Rotate & Shear

Above is a screenshot of a page in an Opus publication. A really neat attribute of Opus is that you can embed a web browser in your publication. I can think of a zillion things that this would be valuable for. You can place images, buttons, hot spots, scrolling text boxes (and load text files into them) and much more in a publication.

You can use your own icon and title in the title bar of your final publication which really allows you to customize the look and feel of your publication.

Include sounds, animations and videos in your publications also.

Opus is extremely easy to work with and the learning curve is minimal. Opus is very powerful in a lot of ways in what you are able to include in your publications as well as your choices in how you want to distribute your publication.

When you create a publication it is arranged by chapters and pages. In the main interface screenshot at the beginning of this review you will see a pane on the left side of the interface. Your chapter and page information as well as all the objects you have on your pages is listed there in a tree format. You can expand and collapse the tree making it easy to see everything in your publication quickly.

You can set the size and resolution of your publication from full screen to exact size.

You can create many different kinds of interactive publications including games, tests and training publications. One of the powerful tools that allows you these options are the variables that come with Opus and you can create your own.

There is so much you can create with Opus I think the possibilities are just about limitless.

Visit Digital Workshop to get an evaluation version and try it out for yourself!

Copyright 2001, Vikki Dawson, All Rights Reserved