Autorun MAX
Reviewed: Geetesh Bajaj
Date Created: January 6th 2007
Last Updated: February 23rd 2009
Introduction
About Autorun MAX
Download and Installation
Working with Autorun MAX
Pricing and Support
Conclusion
Introduction
Creating an autorun CD/DVD is the best way to present your work professionally -- for anything from a presentation to an interactive demo, or even a portfolio. If you thought that it was too difficult or technical an endeavor to create CD/DVD interfaces with an autorun feature, then you should check out Autorun MAX, the product that I am reviewing. Also, if you are graphically challenged, you'll want to explore this product.
About Autorun MAX
Autorun MAX is from Indigo Rose Software, a company based in Winnipeg, Canada -- they also create a more featured autorun product called AutoPlay Media Studio 6 that I reviewed a while ago.
Their other products include Setup Factory, Liquid Cabaret, Style Workshop, etc. You can download a trial version of Autorun MAX from their site...
Autorun MAX creates high quality CD menus and easy-to-use interfaces. It is aimed for beginners, and a huge variety of prebuilt templates, which can be edited allow you to quickly create your own autorun CD/DVD.
Autorun MAX has two versions -- Home and Business. The Business version is more advanced than Home version -- in this review we are looking at the features of the Business version of Autorun MAX. For a comparison of both versions, look at the order page for the products here...
My contact at Autorun MAX for this review was Colin Adams - thank you, Colin.
Download and Installation
Download the installer from the link given above, Run the setup routine and follow the instructions. You'll end up with a Autorun MAX program group in your Windows Start menu (see Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: Autorun MAX Start menu Group
If you buy a copy of the product, you'll be prompted to enter your unique serial, and thereafter activate the product.
Working with Autorun MAX
Here's how you could work with Autorun MAX:
- Whenever you launch Autorun MAX, you are presented with an welcome dialog box (see Figure 2) that allows you to choose from either of these options:
- Create New Project
- Open a Project
Figure 2: Working with projects
- Select "Create New Project" which opens the Create New Project dialog box (see Figure 3) with an impressive collection of prebuilt templates -- enter the project name and choose a template, you can also opt to start with a blank template. I chose the Documents (Book) template.
Figure 3: Templates
- Based on the template design, you can change the logo, the interface background, background music, change the text, and perform other changes. Most of this involves right-clicking the object that you want to change, and then choosing the Properties option, as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Making changes and edits
- This opens the Properties dialog box, as shown in Figure 5. The Properties dialog box has several tabs including a Action tab (see Figure 6), which can be used to apply "events" that can be seen when the project is running, such as opening documents, viewing websites, etc.
Figure 5: Properties
Figure 6: Actions
- After making the edits, save the project and click the Publish | Build option. This opens the Publish Project dialog box (see Figure 7) that creates any of these outputs:
- An autorun CD or DVD
- Hard drive folder
- Web/E-mail executable
- An ISO image
Figure 7: Publish Project
- If you chose to burn a CD, make sure that you have a blank CD in your optical drive.
Pricing and Support
Autorun MAX's Business version costs $159. The Home version costs $79.
Support options include a manual, knowledge base, online FAQ and e-mail.
Back
Conclusion
Autorun MAX is simple to use, and can create uncomplicated designs for CD interfaces in minutes using any of the prebuilt templates. You can also start with a blank page -- either way, the entire technical details of creating autorun enabled CDs or DVD's is shielded from you. The product is also priced competitively, and the support is great.
