July 13, 1998 by Misha Sakellaropoulo SRP: $49.95 MetaCreations Kai's SuperGoo Pros: great fun, easy to use, solid upgrade Cons: questionable long term use, requires PPC      Two years ago MetaCreations (then known as MetaTools) revolutionized the graphics world with its highly popular Kai's PowerGoo application. This consumer-oriented tool turned an image into digital silly-putty, allowing it to be stretched, smeared, and smudged, among other things. In essence, it allowed you to alter and distort and image with unparalled ease and humerous results. Kai's SuperGoo builds on that idea and includes a handful of new feaures and tools to turn whoever or whatever you want into something completely different. Welcome to Kai's world     The first thing you'll notice about SuperGoo is the revamped interface, which has been given the usual MetaCreations dose of Kai Krause's "MetaOS." This is a much more graphical interface than the MacOS with cursors that can be any size or shape, tools that glow or move when the cursor is placed over them, dialog boxes that appear to melt away when closed, and menu bars that pop out from the side of the main window. Granted, it may not be as simple as the standard interface, but it sure looks a whole lot better, even if it does require some extra processing power.     The Goo portion of SuperGoo remains relatively the same as PowerGoo, with some added tools such as Noise, which creates a crystal-like effect with the image. You can also now use images of any size or shape, they don't have to be a square (or converted to a square) as in the original Goo, and the number of input devices it supports has been increased to include TWAIN-supported digital cameras and scanners (the most common interface). Although all the Goo Brushes from the original PowerGoo are included, SuperGoo adds Goo Effects, which can completey distort an image beyond recognition. The only problem with the Goo Effects is that beyond the lowest setting, they turn an image into a muddy display of digital liquid. Perhaps the greatest thing about SuperGoo reamins its ease of use, which attracted many customers to the original Goo. Point, click, drag and within thirty seconds you have a wonderful Goo-ified image. The animation also remains as simple as ever: just create a few frames and SuperGoo will fill in the rest the transition.     The major addition to SuperGoo is the revamped Fusion room, where you can mix and match facial features from an included collection or from your own collection. The new Fusion room features many more choices of facial features to choose from than its predecessor, and includes a good number of presets, along with performing all the anti-aliasing and blending on the fly, creating what looks like convincingly real, although awkward looking, photo. Naturally, you can then take your Fusion image into the Goo room, and vice versa. Goo home happy     Kai's SuperGoo represents a solid revision to an already cool and impressive graphics program. Any PowerGoo user will love the new features, and anyone who hasn't used it yet should jump on the Goo-wagon and have some fun with their photos. © 1998 The MacNN Review