#AlphaPaint
6 messages in this thread
Could you please put up some kind of press release that explains
AlphaPaints features and advantages over other s/w besides TPaint (Thats
not difficult these days :^).
I love the thought of Realtime painting to the Toasters buffers like DCTV
Paint works. How about it? Being able to use features of other s/w like IM
R/t or ADPro as filters for image processing. Will it work with
super-bitmaps or just Video res.? Does it work with a 1 meg Agnus on an
A2000 sys? How about a demo, you guys aren't exactly give Alpha Paint
away. And I wouldn't expect that but any Amiga s/w may require a Hard Sell
these days :^)
I'd Really like to here from some users here in open forum.
Thanks,
….John
John,
>>I'd Really like to here from some users here in open forum.<<
I have been using Alpah Paint for some time now and I think I can answer a few
of your questions.
You don't need a 2 meg Agnus, but your system ram must be at least 12 meg.
There is a demotape available from InnoVision that should be at your local
dealer or user's group which shows the program in action.
The image processing filters are quite nice, such as watercolor, oilpaint,
emboss, negative, etc. They can be applied on cutout brushes or the entire
image.
Compositing images is extremely easy with the Onion Skin feature. This saves a
lot of time when using rub thru.
The stencil masking is very flexible and allows reverse protection. I use this
feature a lot when I want to apply a texture to a logo or other shape. I
recently took a B&W logo that was a circle design with a lot of internal detail
and lettering, embossed it, filled it with a golden gradient with the reverse
stencil and viola!! A medalion! Took about 5 minutes. Would have been an hour
long project with Tpaint.
The real time painting on the program output is very responsive. Practically
unlimited undo/redo. It supports pressure sensitive drawing pads, but allows
variable pressure emulation on your mouse strokes thru menu selectable weight
settings.
Brush manipulation is way cool, with automatic drop shadow and border
attributes, even with neon or glow effects. Resizing and 3-D manipulation
(including rotation to any degree) either from text entry or interactive on
screen.
The way it handles text effects is extremely nice. When using postscript
Toaster Fonts, the output is very clean on any size text. Because the text is
actually a brush once it is rendered, it can be rotated on angles. There is a
special option that allows rendering of the text in circular curves as well.
I haven't used EVERY feature that the program has to offer, but I don't think
anyone who requires a lot of time with paint oriented projects is going to be
dissapointed with Alpha Paint. The price may bit a bit high for an Amiga
software package, but IMHO, it adds more than enough professional paint box
capabilities to the Toaster to justify it's cost.
Frank
Thanks Very much for your description. You make it sound very desirable
for a Video paint system. Sounds like a great combo for Toaster users.
….John
Frank- Thanks for the report on APaint- I've played with it a bit and it seems
fantastic! (the most impressed I've been with aa Amiga/Toaster piece of sw in a
LONG time!)- I have a friend who has been using TVPaint SR. (and ToasterPaint
for some stuff) and loves it except the transparency controls only work with a
very limited number of modes, whereas ToasterPaint's trans. controls is one of
it's great (and useable) features. How does Apaint handle this area; and is
there anything else you can think of in Tpaint(origninal) that Apaint doesn't
do? (Can APaint do texture mapping with brush images?) Thanks in advance – I
really appreciate your insightful input (I really do- not just saying it so
you'll answer me!)
Mike
Mike,
I'm by no means an expert with Apaint, but I'll try to answer your question as
best I can.
Apint's transparency controls are determined by the greay scale luma value of a
selected brush OR palette button. Gradient transparencies can be modified by
either slecting a cutout brush with the desired spread, or by modifying one of
the existing palette buttons in the palette menu. Once you have modified or
selected your palette button or cutout brush, you can then make that item's
grey scale content the transparency value of the next item you fill or apply
your textures/pictures/brushes. You do this by pressing the CTRL key while
selecting the palette button or brush.
Texture mapping is handled a bit differently in Apint as opposed to the Tpaint
method. The manual covers it in more detail than I can explain here, but
suffice to say that I haven't found anything that is available in Tpaint that
isn't also available in some form or another Apaint.
Frank
Hi,
Thanks! I'll post one this week as there are many things which Alpha Paint does
which ToasterPaint 4.0 does not and also some things that TPaint 4.0 will do
when its released that are planned for AP 2.0. Alpha Paint is now shipping as
well. It's difficult to know what will happen for 4.0 because we have yet to
recieve our Flyer for Testing with Alpha Paint and MONTAGE. We and other
professionals who have used it view Alpha as a replacement video graphics
system that puts the Toaster on the level of higher end platforms. To see for
yourself check us out at the VTU Toaster Expo in LA Dec. 14th & 15th should be
a great show! The Dec. VTU, Nov. A/V Video and Jan. Amiga World will also have
reviews of Alpha Paint. If the reviews are anything like the comments from
users we've recieved…Wow!, Cool!, Finally!, Awesome! $$$, Etc. Here on CIS as
time permits I'll try my best to answer any and all questions quickly and
completly and I'm sure others more qualified than I will share their views.
Thanks!
Tom Patrick
InnoVision Technology
PH: 510.630.0800