CompuServe Messages

Bailey, I don't know about PhotoShop, but I do know that for certain things, HRQFX3 beats the socks off PhotoStyler. Among other things, it has full Alpha support which is usable for masking and effects keying, etc. It has a separate Draw mode whose objects (including kerned text, with fonts convertible from PostScript Type 1 or TrueType formats — it uses FastFont [.FF1] fonts directly — font conversion utility included) render with true anti-aliasing onto the Paint layer when you exit Draw mode. Its emboss, soft shadow, and glow effects are just plain gorgeous. But most importantly, it does true vertical blurring (like VBLUR.IXP) — use Blur filter, Horizontal set to 0 and Vertical set to 1, with Effects Transparency set to 177. This virtually eliminates interlace flicker on horizontal lines. Earlier versions also had a Queue mode (this seems to have vanished in Version 3, but will probably be back in Version 4) which enables you to set up a series of effects and other processing that would then be performed on a SEQUENCE of numbered .TGA or .TIF files! We use HRQFX for most of our title screens, thanks to its effects, its anti-aliased text, and its vertical blurring. We can bat out really nifty looking text screens in a matter of minutes, complete with metallic, wood, marble, etc. effects (you can fill Draw objects with a bitmap!). It's a simple matter to make letters look like they're carved into marble, burned into wood, or beveled and molded out of brass or gold. When used with the 3DS World-Building Toolkit CD-ROM (for its library of .TGA maps), its power is awe-inspiring. Its gradiant capabilities are second only to Fractal Designs Painter 2.0, and then only using Painter's "Apply Lighting" feature, which isn't really a gradiant fill.