INTRODUCTION

Hypersnap is a full-featured screen capturing, image editing application. The user may snap screenshots of entire windows, regional areas, and any game that uses DirectX, Voodoo, or Glide drivers, and edit the screenshots how they wish with the built-in image editor.

INSTALLATION & SETUP

The installation is fairly standard, the application can be installed to the folder of choice; users may choose to have an icon placed on desktop, etc. Hypersnap is ready to use upon installation, the user may want to reconfigure the hot keys, and setup game screenshots through the configuration, all instructions are generously documented in the help menu.

INTERFACE & EASE OF USE

Hypersnap's interface looks like Microsoft Paint? on steroids. With that in mind, everything is already somewhat familiar to the user. All image capturing options are located at the top, while all image editing options are located to the left hand side. Users can relocate toolbars to where they wish on the screen. The interface proves very easy to move around and options are easy to find. A great ability worth noting is the region capture zoom tool, which accompanies the user when selecting a part of the screen to snapshot.

FUNCTIONALITY

1. Screen Capturing. Hypersnap can capture full screen, active windows, regional areas, games, and many other available types. The program makes it very easy to perform these snapshots by allowing the user to map the different screenshot types to key combinations, customizable in the options menu. By default, captured images are imported directly into the Hypersnap image editor, but can be setup to automatically save files or even directly upload snapshots to an ftp! There is a multitude of capture settings available in the configuration, to customize how you want the program to respond. Previously, most games were difficult to capture screens from; Hypersnap's new technology resolves this issue.

    

2. Image Editor. With the included editor, you can manipulate your captured images how you wish, type text over them, draw lines, spray paint, stamp other images on it, resize, etc. Hypersnap can download images from a scanner, open all types of formats, and export images to the format you wish, and size. Images can be made black& white, gamma can be corrected, and saturation and colors can also be changed, there are many other options available to edit your screenshots how you wish. This included editor could almost compete with the high-end image editing applications.

Hypersnap also has additional features like, voice activated commands, which let the user control the application by speech, capturing images directly to the clipboard, and automatically printing out captured images.

CONCLUSION

Hyperion has done an excellent job in leading the market of screen capture utilities, their updates are frequent, and the features are always getting better. Many web sites and review companies have already adopted Hypersnap as the application of choice for product and game screenshots. I have been completely satisfied in quality of this product, and recommend it likely. An evaluation copy is provided that stamps a 'Created with Hypersnap' box on every screenshot. The software is available at a good price $35 USD.