CompuServe Messages

Ben, I agree with part of both messages, Erik's complaints about area selection and your reply. One thing I hate about working in IM is the inherent lack of precision that arises when trying to outline a 24-bit region on my .31 dot pitch 1950 monitor. When I work in DPaint's hi-res mode, and I'm trying to pick up a bevelled plaque, say, as a brush, I can confidently release the mouse button because DPaint's XOR-type area selection border visibly changes color when the edge of the brush falls on the plaque rather than the background. This is something I can't have in IM, but I can't really complain about it, because IM is simply overlaying a 2-color selection area display onto the 24-bit image displayed by my 24-bit card. There's no interaction between the two images; IM doesn't care what each 24-bit pixel's color is. The only reason I can't easily see whether my selection accidentally includes one row/column of background is my monitor's limited sharpness, and there's nothing you can do about that. The alternative would be for IM to actually draw the selection area onto the 24-bit image, a slow process. The way things are right now, area selection is snappy, because all IM has to keep track of is a white selection border on a 1-bit black background. I have to agree with Erik, that selection areas and text/number displays can be hard to read when the area/text/number color is similar to the underlying region of the 24-bit image. Here are two ways for you to solve the problem: 1) Use a key, Shift for example, that alternate the palette color with which you draw areas/text/numbers. This way, there would always be a way for the user to get a readable display. 2) do what Impulse did in Imagine 2.0's menus: draw everything with a dropshadow! White text with a black shadow would be very effective, regardless what the 24-bit card is displaying. Finally, I have to agree with Erik on the lack of precision when selecting areas. I too have had the feeling that Imagemaster's selection was off by one pixel on [ MORE ]