CD-ROM PROVIDES BIG HELP FOR LITTLE BARBIE DESIGNERS.Byline: Mike Langberg San Jose Mercury News The San Jose Mercury News is the major daily newspaper in San Jose, California and Silicon Valley. The paper is owned by MediaNews Group. Its headquarters and printing plant are located in North San Jose next to the Nimitz Freeway (Interstate 880). If you have a multimedia home computer and a daughter who collects Barbie dolls, just try not buying the new Barbie Barbie in full Barbara Millicent Roberts A plastic doll, 11.5 in. (29 cm) tall, with the figure of an adult woman that was introduced in 1959 by Mattel, Inc., a southern California toy company. Fashion Designer CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). . As soon as your daughter sees this cleverly designed system for creating her own Barbie clothing, she'll probably hound hound, classification used by breeders and kennel clubs to designate dogs bred to hunt animals. Most of the dogs in this group hunt by scent, their quarry ranging from such large game as bear or elk to small game and vermin; ground scenters trail slowly with the head mom and dad until parental resistance is stomped under Barbie's tiny feet. Not that mom and dad should mind - this is one of the most creative pieces of children's software I've seen in a long time. Barbie Fashion Designer, a $45 Windows CD-ROM introduced in October by Mattel Media ((888) 628-8359 or http://www.mattelmedia.com on the World Wide Web), is a wonderful new way to produce Barbie clothes. A Macintosh version is due sometime in the first half of 1997. The design process begins on the computer screen. Pointing and clicking with the mouse, girls go to the Theme Workshop where they select one of five fashion categories: Cool Careers, Dream Date, Party Surprise, Vacation Fun and Wedding Fantasy. In the Fabric Design Workshop, girls can select from a dozen patterns such as floral prints or polka dots polka dots Noun, pl a regular pattern of small bold spots on a fabric - or leave the design blank so they can later do the decorating themselves. In the Color Workshop, they choose colors for each part of their fashion creation. The finished work can be viewed in a three-dimensional, fashion-photograph pose or in an animated 3-D fashion show, where Barbie walks down a runaway under the spotlights. Creations can also be stored in a ``closet'' or printed out in black-and-white to be used as coloring-book pages. But the real magic in Barbie Fashion Designer is turning the designs into actual clothing. Inside the box with the CD-ROM is a kit including eight 8-by-11 sheets of thin fabric with a paper backing. These sheets go through either inkjet or laser printers. If the inkjet can print in color, then the fabric emerges with the same color scheme as girls see on screen. If the printer only works in black and white, girls can use the kit's four color marking pens. The kit also offers adhesive stickers, hook-and-loop fasteners fasteners In construction, connectors between structural members. Bolted connections are used when it is necessary to fasten two elements tightly together, especially to resist shear and bending, as in column and beam connections. (better known by their trademark name Velcro), sparkle glue, sequins, tulle Tulle (t  l, Fr. tül), town (1990 pop. 18,685), capital of Corrèze dept., S central France. Firearms and other goods are made there. Tulle was built around a 7th-century monastery. fabric for wedding veils and several pairs of shoes. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Barbie Fashion Designer, a way to create Barbie clothes, is a $45 CD-ROM by Mattel Media. Knight Ridder-Tribune Photo Service |
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