CompuServe Thread

Hey! I gpt TV Paint 2.0 from Creative Computers back in Feb. Suposedly, Realsoft will be offering TV Paint 3.0 as a deal w/ Real 3D 3.0. My last account of Tv paint though was that it was made by Activa in Holland or something. The program's great, I use it on an EGS system. Incidently, I'm a professional Paintbox artist in Post Production, and I've used paint systems that cost as much as BMW! So when I say TV Paint is good, Its good! The stand alone works on all boards. CyberCruising at ya from Brooklyn, NY on Autopilot, —Archie

Paul, in Germany the distributers are: Activa International GmbH Bramfelder Chaussee 324 D-22177 Hamburg Tel: +49-40-6424020 Fax: +49-40-6424034 The price for TVpaint 3.0 is DM 1675.00 (!) System requirements: CPU : 68020 with MMU FPU : 68881/2 or 68040/68060 RAM : 8 MB, 16MB recommended MISC: 24bit graphics board (supported: Retina, Picasso-II, Piccolo, Piccolo-SD64, Spectrum, Detail 3) Amiga Magazin has a review of it in its May issue. Bottom line: "TVPaint 3.0 is the best 24bit paint program – at a ridiculous price." A few tidbits from the review: -Unlimited number of open windows on the screen (tool windows, that is). -Only one project (plus one auxiliary page) at a time (not unlimited in separate windows like for example XiPaint offers). -the abundance of paint functions and tools with which TVPaint 2 already excelled are still there and have been improved in detail, for example extensive parameters for paint tools represented in a clear window. -practically new text function allows input in string gadget. One can switch between bitmap and vector fonts which are handled differently. At a click of the mouse the text turns into a brush and can be manipulated and placed at will. -new paint modes "Pantograph" and "Impressionism". -"Replace" allows to change the colour value of a pixel or range without affecting the transparency. -"Behind" is a kind of 'foreground mask' in that it allows to only change the transparent parts of a picture. Helps if you want to create a background for an existing object. -absolutely new and unique layering technique! Similar to CAD programs, TVPaint 3.0 allows up to 3 separate layers which can be manipulated independently. The picture results from putting the layers on top of each other where parts of the rear layers can only be seen where transparent front layers let them shine through. With the help of the 8bit transparency Alpha channel (256 levels of transparency) you can create interesting picture compositions. You can independently manipulate/delete each layer, load a different picture into each layer, combine 2 layers into one, switch layers back and forth. You could for example createa project with independent background, object and labelling -many picture manipulation filters which can be applied to the whole picture, single layers, or parts thereof. Even special effects like Wave and Whirl are in the repertoire and can replace a separate post processing program. -speed is swift even with a 68030 CPU (much better than DPaint V with 24bit buffer!) but you really need a lot of memory. 8 MB is the absolute minimum, all functions of the program can only be explored with 16 MB or more. -the implementation of the "Redo" function needs some getting used to as it always uses the current paint mode settings, which OTOH allows to compare the results of different settings for an action. On the down side: -still no multiple "Undo" which you need if you want to undo an action consisting of several steps. -no online help either. -still no dongle 'thru'. -still no print from the program These are mostly relatively minor niggles, but if you look at the price of nearly DM 1600 (TVPaint 2.0 only cost about DM 400!) you could expect that bit more functionality and comfort. Cheers, // Christian "ELP" Busse \X/ near Frankfurt, Germany