PrintMaster

PrintMaster is a Design & Print software package. Released originally in 1986. Company was sued for its similarity to The Print Shop product and was eventually acquired and sold as another software title. Products were bought and sold, partnered with, many times by MicroLogic, Mindscape, The Learning Company, Mattel, ExpressIt, Riverdeep, Broderbund and currently Encore systems. Released in Windows and Macintosh compatible versions.

Early versions of the PrintMaster desktop publishing software stored clip art in a pair of files: an .SDR file containing names, and an .SHP file containing graphics. The file formats are fairly similar to those used by The Print Shop.

A related(?) program named NewsMaster also used .SDR and .SHP files, and added an .SDX index file.

Format Compatibility
Most PrintMaster files from version 2 forward are cross compatible with "The Print Shop" and "American Greetings" software.


 * PrintMaster version 1 files by MicroLogic Software have file header beginning with "".
 * PrintMaster version 2, 3, and 4 produced by MicroLogic or MindScape software. All are in the "OLE2" document container format.
 * PrintMaster 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 18.1 produced by The Learning Company & Broderbund). All are in the "OLE2" document container format.
 * Versions 2 through 18.1 are in OLE container containing a file named "PMW Document" with a file header beginning with the ascii ""
 * PrintMaster Platinum 2.0, 2011, 2012, 5.0, 6.0, 7.0 and current 8.0 all use a new file format for all project types. >PMX is a ZIP/XML format

Project File Types:

Click Art
An SHP file consists of a sequence of image segments. Each segment consists of a 4-byte header that includes the height and width, followed by the image data, followed by a 1-byte trailer.

Specifications

 * PM_PS_BS.ZIP → PM-PS-BS.DOC - Has a description of SDR/SHP format

Software

 * PrinterMaster v7 (Windows 95)
 * PrintMaster Gold v1 emulation/download

Sample files

 * PrintMaster 4 Card project sample
 * http://cd.textfiles.com/swinnund/disk3/CLIPART/ → BOBPMGR?.EXE, KENSPM.EXE, MONEYPM.EXE, PEANUTS2.EXE, PM*.EXE, SYMBOLS.EXE (Self-extracting ZIP format)
 * http://cd.textfiles.com/somuch/smsharew/CLIPART/ → PM-*.ZIP
 * http://www.page6.org/st_lib/standard/st0140.php
 * offwall.zip
 * https://telparia.com/fileFormatSamples/image/printMasterShape/

Links

 * PrintMaster
 * Project File version compatibility