This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (998 messages)
Mike, Ditto to Jeff's comment. I hope you don't turn the Incremental Release program into a bug fix distribution system; I paid for a list of features promised in Imagine 3.0, and that's what I should get. If some don't work, or are absent from the released version, it's Impulse's…
My hunch is that your objects disappear when you switch the Perspective view from wireframe to shaded because the tri-view center is _below_ the ground plane. In other words, in the Front or Side view, the ground plane must be below the center of the view. In Wireframe mode, all…
Ben, the artist who draws words in a wonderfully twisted manner is Scot Kim; he created a MacPaint-based package once, called "Letterforms and illusions"; I bought it for $5 at a book clearance sale, and had a great time fiddling around with letterforms for an afternoon. For non-Mac users, he…
Enhanced PostScript lib
Message #152121
I'm experiencing some problems when running the new Post and library: when I select "Run file", the requester that comes up doesn't do much — only the slider works. All other buttons, double-clicking on a file, etc. do not work. I have to reboot to exit Post. Has anyone found…
Geir, From what I've seen and read about Photoshop, it's less powerful than Imagemaster, but much more streamlined — typical, everyday functions are easily accessed using the mouse and maybe a modifier key, whereas Imagemaster seems to require 4 steps to do amything. Of course, Photoshop is also 5 times…
Mark, you got it! The blend buffer really is your friend. You can use Imagine and Essence to map a flowing fractal noise texture onto a simple plane facing the camera, and import each image into Imagemaster as a blend buffer. Presto — fancy organic wipes without a Toaster! There…
John, So far, the most appealing scenario is the following: no hardware protection — copy protection in the form of an initial password check (a word from the manual, or that package's license number, with check digits of course), then nothing. But if the software detects a change in its…
Jan, as a workaround until the bug is fixed, you could use Process/Clipping/Pad canvas to temporarily enlarge the image area, apply your Annular effect, then use Clip Region/Replace Primary to return to your normal 750 x 525 canvas. Blaq!
Dick, 1) Select the desired area. (This can be built up in several steps, using the logical operators on the right side of the tool palette) 2) Click "Redo". This button locks in your area selection; from now on, everything you do will only affect this area, until you click…
If the problem is related to Imagemaster's knowledge (or lack thereof) of its environment, why not have Toolmanager launch a small AmigaDOS script file? The script could simply 'cd' to the desired directory, set the stack, and call IM. Blaq!
Mike, well, it's five days later and still no Imagine. I'm a bit sheepish about taking you up on your offer, because we all know if I do that, then my initial Imagine shipment will show up the next day, and… ummm… HMMMMM….. Okay Mike, please send me a replacement…
Sam, the fun has certainly begun, since in Imagine you can morph any numeric parameter. And as you know, there are _a lot_ of numeric parameters. Parameters as far as the eye can see. Blaq!
Michael, Instead of moving bunches of points to change your object's proportions, you could've picked the object, then pressed "s" (for "s"cale), "l" ("l"ocal), then "X", "Y" or "Z" (note upper vs. lowercase). By moving the mouse, you would've stretched/squashed your object in the desired axis. Spacebar would've accepted the…
Steve, Great idea, that 14-day upload list. If I may make a suggetion, how about sorting it by library? This way, I can skip all the Euro-demos or nudie pics if that's not my bag. (Pesky users — always coming up with a change) Blaq!
And Ben, if you do that *simple* tutorial, make sure you show how to process an entire directory's worth of images, too. Lots of DTV types out there would be grateful, and it would show (once again) that Imagemaster isn't that much of a Big Bad Wolf when someone else…
Uhh Mike… Peter's not the last one to receive his Imagine 3.0. I'm still on 2.9 up here. Blaq!
Sam, To morph from object 1 in frame 10 to object 2 in frame 45, follow these steps: In Action, set the "Max. # frames" box at the top left to the number of frames you want in your animation; I often use 999 just to be on the safe…
Stephen, Load an image of a model standing in front of a solid background as primary. Load the desired background (e.g. an alien landscape, if this is a Peter Greci anim B^) as secondary. Choose the desired area selection tool from the palette. Enter Process/Define Color. Outline a background area…
Oops! I forgot to mention one thing… in the second example, be sure to set the transition frame count to 8 when defining the second lightsource.
Greg, On the Amiga, I use Imagemasterm which I believe is the equivalent of Win:F/X. In the File I/O panel, it offers the option of saving or loading an image mask; this is what you would invoke after defining, with the magic wand, the area to be affected. When you…
Or, press LeftAmiga-N and the Workbench will pop to the front right away. Blaq!
Sam, Is tweening possible? GUUURL, can WE TUHLK! One of Imagine's strengths is that it allows you to morph just about any aspect of an object. For example: Morphing textures: Add a grid texture to your object, with a grid spacing of 20, line width of 0 and grid filter…
Awww shucks. That's why I keep coming back to this expensive online service, for the warm fuzzies I get when I turn on someone else's lightbulb. ( that's not a euphemism) Of course, you have to render 5 or 10 images for each final frame, but you'd have to do…
Michael, I would still like to know what manipulation you were trying to effect on those points. (Call me nosy B^) By joining the objects into one, you gave up the flexibility associated with separate, grouped objects; I tend to avoid joining like the plague — but that's just me.…
Vance, I phoned Impulse today. Turns out they made a boo-boo, sending out Canadian orders with the same postage as domestic packages. Of course, they all got turned back, and Impulse had to go through the process all over again. They figure I should receive 3.0 this week. Blaq!
To further Jerry's answer, Imagemaster has a new way to specify color keys, in addition to the old RGB. It now keys by hue as well. This means you can have highlights or shadows in your background, and Imagemaster will pick them up without forcing you to enter a variance…
#Image makes IM choke
Message #82062
I've uploaded a JPEG, of origin unknown (does 3DStudio create JPEGs directly?) which makes Imagemaster crash and burn.
Ben, Your memory management is certainly a big plus. I've been happily multitasking on my 10M A3000 for 3 years now, and couldn't possibly keep track of all the times when memory was tight, but I could still work in ImageMaster after Imagine had been rendering for 3 days and…
Ben, lemme second that motion. With all that's going on in the Commodore world, I decided to pay my local Apple dealer a visit and see what _might_ be in my future a year or two down the road. I'll spare you the hardware prices (I was looking at a…
Jeannine, I agree 100% about documentation. ImageMaster is such a complete program that it sometimes seems like no amount of documentation can cover it. Regarding painting, version 1.50 has a new tutorial in the main help section which covers paint tools and techniques. I've been using IM for over 2…
Vance, you _do_ know you can use ARexx and that ImageMaster you love so much to roll your own motion blur effects, don't you? I know, I know, I shouldn't talk since I haven't done it myself, but the functionality _is_ there. Just scale your timeline by 5, for example,…
Mike, for what it's worth, out of 10 Bitstream fonts on my hard disk, Imagine only loads 4. I've asked Mike if he's interested in getting a couple of the fonts being snubbed by Imagine; perhaps you can do the same. Blaq!
Michael, if you describe what you're trying to accomplish by editing points from several objects simultaneously, perhaps we can offer an alternate solution. Blaq!
Vance, for your reference, I'm in Toronto and as of Friday May 13, I hadn't received my copy either. I'll phone Impulse tomorrow. Blaq!
Mike, would it help if I sent you one or two fonts which don't work in Imagine? It may help you strengthen up your Postscript support. Of course, due to licensing agreements, you'd have to delete them from your system once testing is complete, but I can certainly trust you…
Robert, You paid for 6 issues. You got 6 issues. The end, roll credits. Blaq!
Steve, Please remember that even if you have 5 or 6 screens open, the Workbench is never more than one key combo away. Just press LeftAmiga-N; this brings Workbench to the front immediately. Blaq!
Mike, here are two suggestions for the next version of Imagine; I know, timing is strange since you just came out with a major upgrade, but sometimes an idea stays in the back of your mind and pops up when you start comparing the current and new Imagines, and discover…
Err, you must mean Frank Drebin. Mike is his equally-competent, long-lost brother; he has lead a tumultuous life, including a stint in a California cult, after which he changed his name to make a clean break. He eventually found employment as top executive of a recently-liquidated company. Blaq!
Lou, first off, I'm happy to see the name changed to Digital Video World; it allows for expansion room in the future, a position one wants to find themselves in. In last month's issue, you asked for feedback on the coverage you give to the Amiga vs. other platforms. As…
Lee, if your budget is really tight, you may want to keep ImageMaster in mind. For $80 street price, it does image processing, correction; special effects (tons of them); morphing; 24-bit painting (using any Amiga mode for interim display); file translation to/from 22 formats including TIFF, Targa, PCX, JPEG, Toaster…
Douglas, if you simply want to get your feet wet with a home-quality system, you couldn't go wrong with Video Director by Gold Disk. For less than $150, you get editing software, plus two cables to connect to your source and record decks. One cable is infrared, the other is,…
Harald, thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't have access to any InnoVision products. Your question may stay unanswered, but don't let that stop you from trying again the next time you have a problem. I've been a CompuServe member for about 8 years, and even now, with the relatively-free…
New upload: light graph
Message #80501
Mike, if the decrease is linear, and at 256 units the light has lost 25% of its power, then should I assume that at >= 1024 units, a white plane facing the light would have zero brightness, right? Nope. Here are some results from a few test renders I did…
Peter, Let's see now… 330 laserdiscs, 25% of which are animation… do you mean to tell me there actually are at least 80 animation laserdiscs on the market? Do you know of a specialty mail-order house that carries them? Some friends of mine would be very interested, I'm sure. Blaq!
Peter, (any excuse to talk about my ex-home town, the one still dearest to my heart) Montrealers know a lot about the Toaster, believe me. We have the biggest Toaster dealer in Canada, MDL (Maison du logiciel — Software house) and several networks use the Toaster. Remember a recent Video…
Harald, from your message, I gather that "unpost" is a utility that takes encoded PS fonts and turns them into readable text? If so, where did you find it? I searched all over and came up empty. If this "unpost" does what I think it does, I may be able…
Peggy, if you're doing it for your own fun, I feel you don't need to go full 24-bit. The new AGA machines, the 1200 and 4000, feature improved HAM modes at any resolution, right up to overscan superhires interlaced. on these machines, HAM fringing is a thing of the past.…
It's a change to finally see a company include the _whole_ picture: "the with the ". Usually, from 1 to 4 elements are missing. Blaq!
Glen, yes, ImageMaster will do this Blade Runner-type image enhancement very well, if you start with a high-resolution scan, so that the last zoom still shows some detail instead of a blurry mess. (this enhancement gadget is _science-fiction_, remember. You can't expect your computer to come up with missing information…
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