@database "New_in_3.0.guide" @author "Eike Michael Lang" @remark "$VER: New_in_3.0 Guide 1.0 (February 25, 1999)" @remark "Created with GoldED Studio 5" @node MAIN "Changes and additions of version 3" Dear User, this AmigaGuide-file contains all changes and additions made to ArtEffect since version 1.1. Before you proceed, please read this @{"note" link note}. @REM Geändert für 4.0; If you are upgrading from 3.x, you should throw a quick glance @{"here" link from3}. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM geändert für 3.0; The biggest change has been made between version 1.5 and 2.0, although you will most likely not notice this - the entire program, which was formerly based on the bgui.library and compiled using SAS/C, now uses the wizard.library for its GUI and was compiled using our own StormC compiler. @REM Änderung--Ende; However, you as a user will be more interested in the "òeal" additions and changes made: If you'd like a little more information on each topic without having to read each section, go here for a short description of all @{"new and changed features." link content} @{"ARexx " link AE_Rexx.guide/main} through the addition of ARexx, ArtEffect has become even more flexible and powerful. @REM Neu in 3.0; @{"Gradient dialog window " link gradients} Convenient manageýent of gradients @REM Neu--Ende; @{"Layers " link layers} Working on several planes @REM Neu in 4.0; @{"Text Layers " link textlayer} A very special layer @{"Process Layers " link effectlayer} Even more special @{"Stencil functions " link alpha} Alpha channels and more @REM Neu--Ende; @{"Eraser " link erase} Erasing made easy @{"PopUp-Menu " link winpop} more comfort in the project window @{"virtual Memory " link virtmem} 1.745.604 Chip RAM, 320.435.769 other RAM... @{"multiple Undo/Redo-steps " link undo} Should I? Wasn't it better before? @{"new plugins " link plugins} Well, yes, plugins... @{"Emergency Exit " link emergency} The life-vests are under your seat @REM Neu in 2.6; @{"Important note " link important} Users of TurboPrint/StudioII should read this section. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; @{"Frequently asked questions" link faq} Answers to frequently asked questions @REM Neu--Ende; @{"Program-Settings " link newprefs} important changes @{"Smudge/Fingepaint " link smudge} are now functions in their own right @{"Toolbox " system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Toolbox"} How it looks now @{"Menu-Items " link menugone} Gone with the wind! @{"Lighten/Darken " link lightdark} Now works slightly different @REM Neu in 2.5; @{"Color-Manager " link colorman} Now supports loading, saving and resetting the color set @{"Brush-Editor " link brushed} Now has additional options @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; @{"Images with indexed colors" link palette} ArtEffect is now capable of working with pictures that use indexed colors. These pictures can be manipulated using simple tools such as scaling, rotating and flipping as well as almost any painting tool. On top of that ArtEffect can now reduce any image to an arbitrary number of colors from 2 to 256. In the same way ArtEffect can create grayscale images. @{b}Bubble Help@{ub} ArtEffect now makes use of the bubble help feature recently introduced into the wizard.library, making your work with ArtEffect even more simple and convenient. @{b}Memory@{ub} ArtEffect's memory management has been vastly improved, as a result images and undo steps require much less memory than they used to. @{b}Refresh-Behavior@{ub} When refreshing window contents ArtEffect now behaves according to certain rules set by the user, greatly speeding up your work in many cases. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Moved!@{ub} "Blur" now resides in the Blur-submenu @{b}Transparent Background@{ub} When you generate a new project, the background may now be transparent, too @{b}Arithmetic Operations@{ub} "1+1", "3*5", etc. are now valid entries in integer-gadgets @{b}Copy/Paste@{ub} The @{b}Copy@{ub} and @{b}Paste@{ub} items from the @{b}Edit@{ub}-Menu now affect the current @{u}brush@{uu}. @REM Neu in 2.5; @{b}JPEG@{ub} In addition to "normal" JPEG, ArtEffect now also supports several JPEG-formats that are used by the manufacturers of digital cameras (e.g. Fuji). @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; On top of that ArtEffect can now save those "progressive" JPEG images, that you will most likely have seen on the WWW. @{b}GIF@{ub} ArtEffect isn't limited to loading GIF images anymore - it can save them at any color depth from 1 to 8 bit and will optionally store transparency information as well. @{b}IFF/PNG@{ub} The IFF as well as the PNG module can now save images using a color depth of 8 bits (of course you can still save 24 bit truecolor images). @REM Neu--Ende; @endnode @node content "Overview" @{b}Additions ---------@{ub} @REM Neu in 4.0; ArtEffect now offers text layers for easy and covenient text placement and editing in your projects. Process layers offer dynamic effects, allowing for a lot more experimentation with a lot less need for undo/redo and reloading of your pictures. The new stencil and alpha channel functionalities make masking and selecting desired areas of you images a piece of cake. You can even create stencils from color information and render stencils into grayscale images. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; ArtEffect now offers a lot more options for defining and using color gradients, for this purpose a @{"new dialog window" link gradients} has been created. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.6; In addition to the Tableau drivers ArtEffect now also support the graphics tablet driver by R. Schwingel as well as the Accupoint drivers. Customer reports indicate that the "Accupoint" setting of ArtEffect also works in conjcunction with the OpalPaint drivers, but please understand that we cannot guarantee this. You must select the driver to us in the "Other" part of the program settings @{"requester" link newprefs}. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.5; ArtEffect now supports a number of JPEG-formats of the kind used by the manufacturers of current digital cameras. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; On top of that ArtEffect is capable of saving so-called "progressive" JPEG images that are decoded in a coarse-to-fine fashion instead of the usual line-by-line. (Only by programs which support this, e.g. web browsers). ArtEffect supports the editing of images with 256 or less colors as well as grayscale pictures and can save those images using the GIF, IFF and PNG formats. @REM Neu--Ende; With the introduction of @{"layers" link layers} we place in your hands a very powerful tool to work on several parts of a picture without risking to loose vital parts of it. ArtEffect now features a dedicated @{"Eraser" link erase}. Every project-window now has its own @{"PopUp-Menu" link winpop}. @REM Neu in 2.6; ArtEffect now ships with a small plugin that enables ArtEffect to communicate with the Kodak DC-20 digital camera. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.5; The @{"color manager" link colorman} now has a PopUp-menu that allows you to load and save color sets as well as to reset the colors back to the default. The tabs used for choosing between the different color-models have been replaced by a single, less space-consuming cycle-gadget. The @{"brush editor" link brushed} has two additional functions now, see there for a complete description. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM geändert in 2.5; Furthermore we have equipped ArtEffect with a complete @{"virtual memory-manager" link virtmem} thus eliminating the need for VMem or other 3rd party virtual memory handlers. Virtual memory allows you to work on more and bigger projects and to modify images that are bigger than the available RAM of you computer. Access to virtual memory is done fully asynchronously if you so desire. @REM Änderung--Ende; As a direct result ArtEffect now also offers @{"multiple undo/redo" link undo} - there is no longer the danger of completely destroying a project by making more than one accidental change to it. Last but not least we also created a couple of @{"new plugins" link plugins} for ArtEffect. @{b}@{u}Changes:@{uu}@{ub} @REM Neu in 2.6; The Gaussian filter was replaced by a much more powerful version which is based on the Gaussian filter of the GIMP. The amount of blurring can now be controlled with a slider and is no longer limited to certain pre-set values. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; The caricature plugin was equipped with some additional options. @REM Neu--Ende; The space in the Toolbox that was formerly occupied by the trashcan is now taken by the REDO-icon. Also, we added @{"two new icons" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Toolbox"} to the toolbox. Due to the increased number of prefs-options we have changed the @{"preferences" link newprefs} a little bit. For all those of you who have always enjoyed fingerpainting we have made the airbrush-modes @{"Smudge/Fingerpaint" link smudge} a tool in its own right an gave it an icon in the toolbox. In the process of converting the program to StormC, a few @{"menu items" link menugone} have become temporarily unavailable. The @{b}Lighten@{ub} and @{b}Darken@{ub} modes now work slightly @{"different" link lightdark}. You can use arithmetic operations into integer-gadgets: 1+1, 2*3+4, etc. are all valid entries. When generating a new project you can now choose a transparent background. The menu-items @{b}Copy@{ub} and @{b}Paste@{ub} in the @{b}Edit@{ub}-menu no longer affect the current @{i}project@{ui} but the current @{u}brush@{uu}. Finally, the @{b}Blur@{ub}-plugin has been moved from the @{b}Pixelate@{ub}-submenu into the @{b}Blur@{ub}-submenu. @REM Neu in 2.6; Stencil painting now happens depending of the brightness of the foreground color. If the foreground color is white, no stencil will be painted at all, while a color of black results in full masking of the image. In conjunction with the air- brush tool this enables you to paint stencils like you would paint with a normal color. @REM Neu--Ende @endnode @REM Geändert für 4.0; @node from3 "Changes since version 3.0" @{b}Changes since version 3.0 -------------------------@{ub} Some changes have been made to the program since version 3.0, therefore you should take a look at the following paragraphs to get an impression of the new options and functions. @REM Neu für 4.0; @{b}Heavily improved stencil functions@{ub} ArtEffect now allows you to associate as many stencils with one image as you want - each of them is available at the click of a button and you can combine several alpha channels using boolean functions. @{b}Automatic stencil creation@{ub} ArtEffect now offers the possibility to create a stencil from the grayscale information in a picture and can likewise render the current stencil into a grayscale image. @{b}Text Layers@{ub} As of this version, ArtEffect can create text layers that exist independently of the other layers and can be edited at any point in time without affecting the contents of the other layers. So, text no longer turns into a bitmap once it is entered, instead it remains as a separate object that can be moved, scaled edited, etc. @{b}Effect Layers@{ub} Along with the text layer another entirely new layer type has been created and places its power in your hands: Effect layers do not contain any imagery but instead apply the effect associated with them to the layers below. This allows you to apply certain effects much more conveniently, since the effects of the layers are calculated dynamically while the application of a filter would always result in the permanent alteration of the image. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Small improvements, optimizations and bug fixes@{ub} As always, numerous small improvements and bug fixes have been made, most of which are not directly obvious to the user. @REM Neuerungen 3.0 gelöscht; @REM Neuerung 2.6 gelöscht; @endnode @REM Änderung--Ende; @node LAYERS "Layers" @{b}What are layers? ----------------@{ub} Layers are several "planes" you can split your project into - just imagine painting on several transparent films that are then placed on top of each other. You could, for example, paint the background of a picture on one layer, the sky on the second, and the foreground on the third one. No changes made to a particular layer will affect any of the others. @{u}@{b}How do I work with layers?@{ub}@{uu} @rem geändert in 3.0; By default, every document consists of @{b}one@{ub} layer called "Background". If you open the @{"Layers-Requester" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layers"} you can add layers to your project (as many as your available RAM permits), delete them, rename them, set their opacity, and decide whether you want them displayed at all. You can access the Layers-Requester by choosing @{b}Layers@{ub} from the @{b}Windows@{ub}-Menu or by pressing @{b}F6@{ub}. @rem Änderung--Ende; In this requester you can see a list of all layers currently available in your project with the active layer being highlighted in a different color. Each entry in the list has three parts: · The area to the left (with the lightbulb in it) allows you to switch the layer on and off - just toggle-switch the bulb by clicking on it. · to the right of that there is a small preview of the layer · and to the far right you can see a big area that contains the name of the layer The order of the layers in the list equals their order in your project - this means the topmost layer will be completely visible with only its transparent areas letting the layers below show through. @{b}Arranging layers@{ub} By simply dragging and dropping the layers up and down in the list you can put them in any order you want. While using @{i}Drag&Drop@{ui} a white-and-black dashed line shows you where the layer will end up. In case you don't know what @{i}Drag&Drop@{ui} means - just click left on the layer to move and keep the left button pressed, move the mouse to the desired position and then let go of the button. (@{b}Note@{ub}: if you chose a non-transparent background for your project, the background-layer will completely cover all layers below it. You could then use the @{"eraser" link erase} to punch holes into this layer in order to let the other ones show through.) @{b}Combining layers@{ub} If your project contains two layers that you don't need to edit separately anymore, you can combine those two layers into one. First of all, make sure these layers are next to each other in the list - then @{i}drag&drop@{ui} either one of them on top of the other - they will be combined into one layer. @REM Neu in 3.0; @{b}Combining all layers@{ub} If you want to combine all layers of a picture you only need to call the "Flatten Layers" item from the PopUp menu in the lower right corner of the layers dialog window. @{b}Moving layers@{ub} Any layer can be moved laterally with respect to the remaining ones - click on the button with the four-sided arrow which can be found in the lower left corner of the layers dialog window. Once you have done so you can click and hold the mouse over the current layer in the project window and ýove it. This movement can only be undone right after it has taken place, i.e. before you have used any other paint or`plugin operations. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Setting layer opacity@{ub} At the very top of the layers-requester there is a slider that controls the current layers' opacity. The higher the value set by this slider, the @{b}less@{ub} transparent the layer will be. @REM Neu in 3.0; @{b}Shadow@{ub} Any layer can optionally cast a shadow onto the layers below it. To make a layer cast a shadow, follow these steps: Call "Adjust Effects" from the PopUp menu in the lower right corner of the layers dialog window - this will open another dialog window in which you can toggle the shadow for the current layer as well as adjust the following parameters (which will of course have no effect if the shadow is switched off): @{b}Opacity@{ub} - controls the shadow opacity as a percentage of the layer opacity, i.e. if the layer has an opacity of 50%, a shadow opacity of 100% will result in an actual opacity of 50%. @{b}Angle@{ub} - controls the angle of direction into which the shadow is cast. @{b}Use global angle@{ub} - all layers which have this option activated will use the same angle for casting the shadow. Changing the global angle for one layer will affect all others layers also using that global angle. @{b}Distance@{ub} - controls the distance from the shadow to the layer casting it. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Naming layers@{ub} Directly below the slider you'll find a string-gadget which allows you to change the name of the current layer. @{b}Creating/deleting layers@{ub} Finally, at the very bottom of the Requester, you'll find buttons to create and delete layers. If your project has only one layer, this layer can not be deleted. If this last layer still contains transparency information, this information will be deleted if you apply the @{b}Delete@{ub} button. @REM Neu in 3.0; @{b}Duplicating layers@{ub} In order to duplicate a layer you need to activate it and then call "Duplicate Layer" from the PopUp menu in the lower right corner of the layer dialog window. ArtEffect will then create a duplicate of the current layer and place it in the list. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Saving Layers@{ub} Please note that pictures containing more than one layer can only be saved in IFF (ArtEffect will generate a separate chunk for each layer). The Save-Requester also gives you the options @{b}flatten Layers@{ub} which will combine all layers into one (not recommended unless you don't need to edit the separately anymore) and @{b}include alpha channels@{ub} which will preserve all transparency information. @{b}Important Note@{ub} When used with anything else than the cloner, the @{b}impressionist@{ub}-mode only "sees" one layer - this leads to very strange effects if applied to layers that contain transparent areas. @{b}@{u}Examples:@{uu}@{ub} 1. @{"Here" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer_Req1"} you can take a look at the layers-requester. The corresponding project-window would then look @{"like this" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer1"}. 2. In @{"this case" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer_Req2"}, the layers "Foreground" and "Middle" were exchanged. @{"See" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer2"} how the planet is now in front (or on top) of the logo. 3. Here you see a @{"picture" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer_NoBack-Req"} of the requester with the "Background" layer turned off. And here the corresponding @{"project-window" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer_NoBack"}. 4. And here, to top things off, an @{"example" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Layer_Trans"} for an opacity of 84 set for the topmost layer. @endnode @node textlayer "Text Layer" @{b}Text Layers -----------@{ub} Before proceeding with this section, please make sure you are familiar with the concept of @{"Layers" link layers} in general. ArtEffect's text layer makes it a lot easier and convenient to use text in your pictures and illustrations @{b}Creating a text layer@{ub} All you need to do in order to create a text layer is to call the appropriate menu item from the popup menu in the lower right corner of the layers window - this will open a window into which you can enter the text to be displayed and where you can choose the size, style and font for that text. Once you have done so, you can use the layer just like any other layer, except that you cannot paint on it and that you can come back any time to edit the text and/or font style and size. @{b}Hint@{ub} Keep in mind that you can basically create as many text layers as you wish, and that all effects associated with single layers (such as shadow casting, opacity) apply to text layers in the very same fashion. Use the "Move layers" function to accurately place you text. @endnode @node effectlayer "Process Layers" @{b}Process Layers --------------@{ub} Version 4 of ArtEffect offers one entirely new type of layer that is very different from normal graphics layers. While it is possible to arrange them just like any other layer, these so called process layers do not contain any graphics but instead a special effect that is applied to all layers below it. @{b}Creating a process layer@{ub} Creating a process layer is very easy - simply call the appropriate menu item from the popup menu in the lower right corner of the layers window - this will open a window in which you can set the options for the layer (this window is described further below) - closing it will cause the layer to be created. @{b}Setting process layer options@{ub} When creating a process layer or double-clicking on an existing process layer, the process layer window will open and offer the following options: @{b}Correction@{ub} If this tab is active, you can use the sliders to affect the Brightness, Contrast and Gamma correction of all layers that are located below the process layer. @{b}Effect@{ub} If this tab is active, you can use the radio buttons to select one of three effects which affect all layers that are located below the process layer. The effects are "Negative", "Posterize" and "Threshold", all of which work just like their counterparts in the filters menu, except that the process layer dynamically affects other layers while the filters make permanent changes. @{b}Special@{ub} If this tab is active, you can select one of three different special effects that will be used to tint all layers below the process layer. "Fire" will apply a bright orange tint, "Space" tints the layers to shades of blue and "Landscape" tints all layers below the process layer using a palette of reds and greens. @endnode @node alpha "Alpha Channels" @{b}Improved Stencil Functions --------------------------@{ub} ArtEffect 4 offers a number of advanced stencil functions: Multiple alpha channels per image and a number of ways to automatically create or convert stencils. @{b}Alpha Channels@{ub} Alpha Channels provide a means of conveniently associating several stencils with one image and making them available at a click of the mouse. @{b}Creating an alpha channel@{ub} In order to create an alpha channel you need to create a stencil for the current image, then click on the "Alphachannels" tab of the layers window and then on the "Put" button in the lower left corner of the window. Another window will open - leave the "New channel" tab active in it and enter a name for the alpha channel, then click on OK. A new alpha channel will appear in the list and a small black&white preview will show a preview of the stencil contained in the alpha channel. @{b}Deleting an alpha channel@{ub} Click on the alpha channel you wish to delete and then click on the "Delete" button. @{b}Applying an alpha channel@{ub} In order to use an alpha channel as the current stencil click on the desired alpha channel and then on the "Get" button. The stencil of the current image will now reflect the one stored in the alpha channel. @{b}Alpha composition@{ub} When creating a new alpha channel it is possible to compose it from the current alpha channel and an existing alpha channel in the list. ArtEffect provides four operations to aid you in this process: Replacing an existing alpha channel with the current stencil, adding the current stencil to an existing alpha channel, subtracting the current stencil from an existing alpha channel, and intersecting the current stencil with an existing alpha channel. @{b}Replacing@{ub} In order to replace an existing alpha channel with the current stencil click on the "Put" button below the list of alpha channels. In the window which then opens click on the "Existing channel" tab, select the alpha channel to replace, select "Replace channel" as the operation and click on OK. @{b}Adding@{ub} In order to add the current stencil to an existing alpha channel click on the "Put" button below the list of alpha channels. In the window which then opens click on the "Existing channel" tab, select the alpha channel to add to, select "Add to channel" as the operation and click on OK. "Adding" in this context means that all areas that are not masked in the current stencil will be unmasked in the alpha channel as well. @{b}Subtracting@{ub} In order to substract the current stencil from an existing alpha channel click on the "Put" button below the list of alpha channels. In the window which then opens click on the "Existing channel" tab, select the alpha channel to subtract from, select "Substract from channel" as the operation and click on OK. "Subtracting" in this context means that all areas that are not masked in the current stencil will not be masked in the target alpha channel. @{b}Intersecting@{ub} In order to intersect the current stencil with an existing alpha channel click on the "Put" button below the list of alpha channels. In the window which then opens click on the "Existing channel" tab, select the alpha channel to intersect with, select "Substract from channel" as the operation and click on OK. "Intersecting" in this context means that all areas that are masked in the current stencil will be masked in the target alpha channel in addition to those areas which are already masked. @endnode @REM Neu in 4.0; @REM Neu in 3.0; @node palette "Working with indexed color pictures" @{b}Working with indexed color pictures -----------------------------------@{ub} The current version of ArtEffect is capable of processing images that used indexed colors, i.e. images with a color depth from 1 to 8 bit and grayscale images. The "Edit" menu contains three mutually exclusive items that allow you to switch between grayscale, indexed color and truecolor operation. When switching from truecolor to indexed color a dialog window will open that allows you to select the amount of colors you want the image to be reduced to as well as whether or not Floyd-Steinberg dithering should be employed in the process. You also have to select whether or not all masked areas of the picture should be assigned the color '0' which is necessary in case you want to create transparent GIF images. When switching from truecolor to grayscales the image is automatically reduced to 256 shades of gray. When switching from grayscales or indexed colors to truecolor you will not magically end up with more colors in the picture than you had before, but you will be able to edit the picture using the full palette of 16.7 million colors. @{b}Limitations@{ub} Grayscale and indexed color operation is subject to the following limitations: No plugin/filter can be used. All paint tools operate using the "threshold" mode, i.e. the color used for painting will be that color from the picture's palette that comes closest to the color currently selected in the color manager (which still offers all 16.7 million colors). When saving grayscale/indexed color images, only GIF, PNG and IFF are available as target formats. @endnode @node gradients "The gradient dialog window" @{b}The gradient dialog window --------------------------@{ub} Version 3 of ArtEffect still allows you to use drag&drop in the color manager to create simple color gradients, but a the same time the @{"gradient dialog window" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Gradients"} places in your hand a much more powerful and flexible tool tailored for this purpose. Please note that any gradient created in the color manager is strictly a tool for creating an amount of smoothly blended colors for use in your "hand" painting, gradients intended to serve as fills must be defined using the new dialog window. The dialog window is opened using the appropriate item from the window menu or by pressing F9. The bar that spans the entire width of the window doubles as the editing area and a preview. @{b}Gradient types@{ub} There are two fundamentally different types of gradients: color gradients and alpha gradients. The "Type" cycle menu is used to toggle between the two. @{b}Color gradients@{ub} When editing a color gradient you will have to define the color and transparency values separately - the "Color" and "Transparency" radio buttons are used to switch between these modes. Any color gradient is defined using two or more markers that define the color value to be used at a particular point of the gradient; three kinds of markers are available. Color marker - this marker places the current foreground color in the gradient, the marker will not change once you select a different foreground color. Foreground marker - this marker places the current foreground color in the gradient and will always change to reflect the current foreground color. Background marker - this marker places the current background color in the gradient and will always change to reflect the current background color. Those last two types of markers allow the creation of dynamic gradients that depend on the current foreground/background color. In order to place a marker in the gradient you simply have to click on the desired marker type and then directly below the gradient on the desired place for the color - the new marker appears and the preview will be updated. In order to move a marker within the gradient you need to click on it, keep the mouse button pressed down and move the marker to the desired position. Alternatively, you can single-click on the marker and then enter the desired position (as a percentage of the gradient length) into the "Position" input gadget. In order to remove a marker from the gradient all you have to do is click on it, keep the mouse button pressed and move the marker away from the preview in a downward direction. In order to change a marker type you can simply click on the marker and then on the gadget for the desired type. In order to change the roughness of the gradient you can simply move the "roughness" slider around - the further you move it to the ride the larger the radius around a color marker will be, within which the assigned color can still be found. The transparency of a gradient is also controlled using markers, but there is only one type of markers and their opacity is controlled using the slider of the same name. The transparency mode also has a roughness slider which controls the roughness of the transparency gradient. @{b}Alpha gradients@{ub} Alpha type gradients do not create any colors and thus only offer the transparency edit mode, other than that alpha gradients can be edited just like color gradients. When using an alpha gradient, any area filled using that gradient will be masked out using a strengh corresponding to the opacity setting of the gradient. If you have the stencil display switched on you can easily see that the gradient uses the stencil color combined with the transparency settings made by you. @{b}Management@{ub} ArtEffect saves all gradients into a database so that you can re-use gradients as much as you want. At the bottom of the gradient dialog window there is a list of all gradients. You can use the buttons to the right of the list to create new entries, copy entries, rename entries and delete them. The current gradient will be highlighted in the list, can be edited using the controls described above, and will be used for all operations requiring a color gradient. Instead of selecting the gradient from the gradient dialog window you can also select it from the tool dialog window (if you have selected a tool that allows gradient fills and the gradient mode is active). No matter which dialog window you use to select the gradient, the respective other window will always reflect the selection you have made. @endnode @rem Neu--Ende; @node ERASE "The Eraser" @{b}The eraser ----------@{ub} The eraser is located in the @{"toolbox" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Toolbox"}, directly below the airbrush. The function of the eraser varies: if you only use one @{"layer" link layers}, the eraser will always paint with the current background color while it will completely remove all color if you use several layers, thus allowing lower layers to shine through. Erasing on the lowest layer will cause the chessboard-pattern of the window-background to appear. In the prefs-window for the eraser you will find the usual slider for the strength and the "pressure" switch. Additionally, there is an "Erase Image" gadget which takes the function the trashcan-icon in the toolbox used to have. You can also achieve this by clicking on the eraser-icon with the shift-key held down. Either way, if you have more than one layer in your project, only the current layer will be erased. @endnode @node winpop "Window-PopUp" @{b}The popup-menu in the project window ------------------------------------@{ub} If you have already taken a look at ArtEffect 2.0 before reading this manual, you will probably have noticed the new gadget in the top left-hand corner of every project-window. Using this gadget opens a @{"popup-menu" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Window-PopUp"}. This menu has five items: · @{b}mark as Source@{ub} - has the same effect as clicking on the top left corner of the window with the @{b}left@{ub} ALT-key pressed. · @{b}mark as Destination@{ub} - has the same effect as clicking on the top right corner of the window with the @{b}right@{ub} ALT-key pressed. · Pixel · cm · Inch The last three items allow you to select the unit of measurement used for the project's ruler. Please note that this replaces the menu-item @{b}Settings/Ruler@{ub}. @endnode @node virtmem "Virtual Memory" @{b}Virtual Memory --------------@{ub} You probably know already: Working with computer-based graphics takes lots and lots of memory and you can never have enough of it... Granted, the prices for RAM have been quite low for a considerable amount of time, but not everybody is willing or able to get another 32 MByte-SIMM for his computer. Therefore some smart person came up with the idea to use the computer's hard drive as a (slow, but big and cheap) RAM-expansion. Programs for providing and managing virtual mem have been around on the Amiga for a good while now, but those are often difficult to set up and/or use. For this reason, the current version of ArtEffect features its own built-in virtual memory handler - some of the new functions even require the use of virtual memory: without VMem you cannot make use of @{"layers" link layers} and there is no @{"unlimited undo/redo" link undo}. @REM Neu in 2.5; On top of that, the virtual memory of ArtEffect allows you to work on images that do not fit into the amount of RAM your computer has available. @REM Neu--Ende; As long as you are not extremely low on harddisk-space, we suggest you give ArtEffect a @{u}generous@{uu} amount of virtual memory to use - about 32 MB (or more) are ideal for most tasks. In the @{b}VMem@{ub}-area of the @{"program-settings" link newprefs} you can set the size and location of the swapfile that serves as your virtual memory. @REM Neu in 2.6; By activating the appropriate checkbox you can cause ArtEffect to delete the swap file when exiting the progòam. This might be desirable when the swap file does not reside on a dedicated partition and you need the space for` other purposes while you are not working with ArtEffect. @REM Neu--Ende; @endnode @node undo "Multiple Undo/Redo" @{b}Multiple Undo/Redo-steps ------------------------@{ub} One disadvantage of many graphics programs is the lack of undo-buffers. Most of the programs (including older versions of ArtEffect) would only allow you @{i}one@{ui} step of undo, making it öirtually impossible to revert more than one false step without loosing hours of work. ArtEffect 3.0 allows you to save as many undo-steps as your (virtual) memory permits - this means you can actually click yourself "backwards in time" by repeatedly applying @{b}undo@{ub} until you reach a stage when everything still was to your liking. If you have gone back one or more steps too far, you can @{b}redo@{ub} any number of steps to finally end up where you want to. If for example you have undone 10 steps and then come to the conclusion that you liked the situation better before undoing those, you can simply use @{b}redo@{ub} 10 times to get back where you came from. If you are low on RAM and/or HD-space, you can set a maximum number of undo-steps to save in the @{b}Other@{ub}-area of the @{"program-settings" link newprefs}. Furthermore, UNDO can now take back @{u}all@{uu} operations, including @{b}Imagesize/Canvassize/Crop@{ub}. @endnode @node plugins "New plugins" @{b}Description of new plugins --------------------------@{ub} @REM Neu in 3.0; The plugin menu was extended by the new @{b}Video@{ub} submenu which currently contains only one entry: @{b}Deinterlace@{ub} The purpose of this plugin is to remove interlace artifcats from images. Such artifacts can occur e.g. when digitizing video images. The two plugin options controls whether the odd or even lines of the picture are assumed to be in the "correct" position - you will have to see for yourself which option yields the better resulsts, since the optimal setting depends on the image itself. In the Distort-Submenu you will find: @{b}Polar coordinates@{ub} This filter transforms the image from cartesian to polar coordinates, bringing the picture into a circular form. The slider controls the radius of the circle the circumference of which is assumed to be the origin of the polar coordinates. @{b}Caricature@{ub} This filter is not entirely new but now offers some extend functionality. Apart from the "Standard" mode which copies the behavior of earlier versions of the plugin there are now options for pinching the image as well as applying the effect only in horizontal or vertical direction. In the Stylize submenu: @{b}Edgefiner@{ub} This plugin isn't new either, but it was extended with the "Lineart" option. Using this option results in an image that resembles a pencil drawing but the success strongly depends on the original image. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.6; The @{b}Project@{ub} menu now contains an additional entry called "DC-20..." If you own a Kodak DC-20 digital camera you can use this plugin to download pictures from the camera, delete pictures from the camera's memory and have the camera take a picture. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.5; This @{b}Color@{ub}-Filter has been added: @{b}@{"Colormanipulation" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview ColorManip"}@{ub} This plugin enables you to modify the hue, saturation and brightness of each of the red-, yellow-, green-, cyan-, blue-, and magenta-components of the picture. The "Range" slider controls how different a pixel may be from the respective color in order to be affected by the modification. @REM Neu--Ende; The following @{b}blur@{ub}-filters have been added:. @{b}@{"Radial Blur" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Radial_Blur"}@{ub} Generates a circular blur-effect around the middle of the picture. You can control the strength of the effect with the slider or the integer-gadget. @{b}@{"Zoom Blur" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Zoom_Blur"}@{ub} Generates a blur-effect very similar to the distortions generated towards the rim of a strong magnifying-lens. Again, the strength can be controlled through the slider or the integer-gadget. @{b}@{"Motion Blur" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Motion_Blur"}@{ub} This filter generates the popular effect of an object that moves very quickly past a camera. The sliders control the speed and angle of the simulated movement while the two radio-buttons determine whether the movement occurs at constant speed or is accelerated. @{i}Note@{ui}: the @{b}Blur@{ub}-Plugin has been moved from the Pixelate-submenu to the blur-submenu. These plugins have been added to the @{b}Other@{ub}-submenu: @{b}@{"Make Tile" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Make_Tile"}@{ub} This plugin generates a tile out of a picture by generating a smooth transition between the left and right as well as the top and bottom edge. Tiles generated in this way can be seamlessly placed next to each other using the Tile-plugin. The strength-slider determines how many pixels of each edge are taken into account for making the transition - the higher the value, the better the result. Tiles that are generated this way are ideal for use as textures in ray tracing programs or as background-pictures for WWW-pages @{b}@{"Tile" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Tile"}@{ub} This plugin completely fills the active project with the current brush. It is ideally used with a brush that was generated by the @{b}Make Tile@{ub}-plugin - to do this, use @{b}Make Tile@{ub} on a picture then use "Pic->" from the brush-manager and finally use @{b}Tile@{ub} in the desired destination-project. @endnode @REM Neu in 2.5; @node colorman "Changes to the color manager" @{b}Changes to the color manager ----------------------------@{ub} In the @{"color manager" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview ColorManager"} window the tabs for selecting the color model were replaced with a cycle-gadget. The space gained through this was used to place a button which opens a PopUp-menu that enables you to load, save or reset the content of the color fields. @REM Neu in 3.0; In addition, the buttons for copying and swapping colors as well as for creating a color gradients have been made smaller, now are image buttons instead of text buttons and have been moved up into one line with the PopUp and cycle menu. @REM Neu--Ende; @endnode @node brushed "Changes to the brush editor" @{b}Changes to the brush editor ---------------------------@{ub} Two buttons were added to the @{"brush editor" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview BrushEd"}: @{b}Tangentially@{ub} The brush does not have a fixed angle. Instead it is always drawn orthogonally to the direction you are painting in. Please note that this direction can not be correctly determined at the very moment you start painting and when you are painting very slowly. @{b}Render Brush@{ub} For every brush, ArtEffect generates a number of "cache-brushes" that are used to accurately simulate the density and roughness of the brush. Usually these cache-brushes are calculated when a brush is first used, resulting in a slight delay. If, however, you first click on "Render brush", the cache-brushes will be rendered right away and you can start painting without any delay. @REM Neu in 3.0; @{b}Size@{ub} The second size option (towards the top of the window) controls whether the brush will have a fixed size, have a randomly varying size or will vary its size depending on the pressure of the pen on the graphics tablet. The slider to the right of the option controls the minimum size as a percentage of the original size of the brush. @{b}Displacement +/-@{ub} This slide controls the amount of tolerance that is to be applied when placing the brush. Instead of placing the brush right at the mouse position it will be placed at a random position within a circle the radius of which is controlled by the displacement slider. @REM Neu--Ende; @endnode @REM Neu--Ende; @node EMERGENCY "Emergency Exit" @{b}The "Emergency Exit" --------------------@{ub} To keep crashes from happening, ArtEffect now monitors the condition of several parts of this program, automatically terminating itself if everything is not well, but allowing the user to save all his work before doing so. If this case ever occurs, ArtEffect will mostly output the number of an "internal error" - please note down the number and send it to Haage&Partner along with a detailed description of the steps leading to it, we will then try and remedy this in future releases of the program. @endnode @node newprefs "Changes made to the preferences" @{b}Changes made to the preferences -------------------------------@{ub} The four tabs in the prefs-window now have the following names and functions: @{b}Screen@{ub} This section has remained unchanged @{b}@{"VMem" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Programsettings-VMem"}@{ub} Here you can set everything concerning @{"virtual memory" link virtmem}. @REM Neu in 2.5; In the upper area you can select how much RAM ArtEffect is supposed to allocate for its own use while the value below controls how much memory ArtEffect has to leave free for the operating system and other applications. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Geändert in 2.5; In the lower area you can specify a pathname and the size for the swapfile, as well as the minimum and maximum size for the swapfile. The swapfile will grow up to the minimum size set buy you. It will, however not automatically grow to the full maximum size, which means the size of the file could very well stay significantly below the limit you have set (assuming you have a sufficient amount of RAM in your machine). Finally, there is a switch that allows you to toggle asynchronous access to the swapfile. Whether or not you should activate this switch can not be said authoritatively - this strongly depends on which type of hard disk and what brand of SCSI-hostadapter or IDE-controller you are using. We suggest that you simply try both settings and the stick with the one that works best for you. @REM Neu in 2.6; The bottom-most checkbox controls whether the swap file will be deleted when quitting ArtEffect. @REM Neu--Ende; @{b}Important:@{ub} All memory-related settings do not become active before restarting the program. @{b}A note for advanced users@{ub} In order to improve the speed of the virtual memory, we suggest that you keep the swapfile on a dedicated partition with a blocksize of 16384. @REM Änderung--Ende; @{b}@{"Priorities" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Programsettings-Priority"}@{ub} With the upper slider you can specify a task-priority for ArtEffect and its plugins when you are actively using it. The lower slider allows you to set a priority for the occasions when ArtEffect has do do time-intensive calculations in the background (such as the twirl-effect). The Plugins will always have a priority that is one lower than ArtEffect's thus keeping your machine usable even if ArtEffect has to some heavy calculations. @{b}@{"Other" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Programsettings-Other"}@{ub} In the upper area you can control how ArtEffect frees undo-memory if your (virtual) memory starts to run low: · @{b}oldest@{ub} : the oldest undo-step of the active project is freed · @{b}all oldest@{ub}: the oldest undo-step of all projects is freed · @{b}other@{ub} : only undo-steps of non-active projects are freed Please be aware, that this only controls the desired behaviour - even if you chose @{b}other@{ub}, ArtEffect will delete Undo-Buffers from the current project as soon as there aren't any left in other projects. The slider below controls the maximum number of @{b}undo@{ub}-steps to save - if you move this slider all the way to the right this means "unlimited undo/redo". In the lower half you will find a slider to control the number of available colors (formerly located in the "Other 1" section of the prefs). @REM Neu in 3.0; Below the slider there is a checkmark to toggle the @{b}Bubble help@{ub}. @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Geändert für 3.0; Below that there is a second checkmark to toggle the @{b}One picture path@{ub} option that used to reside in @{b}Other 2@{ub}. @REM Änderung--Ende; @REM Neu in 2.6; At the very bottom of the requester there is a cycle gadget which informs ArtEffect of the graphics tablet driver you are using. The following drivers are supported: · Tableau · R. Schwingel · Accupoint According to customer reports the "Accupoint" settings also works with the OpalPaint tablet drivers. However, we could not test this and therefore cannot guarantee that ArtEffect will works with these drivers under all circumstances. ArtEffect unter allen Umständen mit diesem Treiber zusammenarbeitet. @REM Neu--Ende; In addition to the @{b}program settings@{ub}-requester there also is a @{"settings-requester" system "SYS:Utilities/Multiview Settings"}. In this requester you will find the options for @{b}Brush display@{ub}, @{b}Anti-Alias@{ub}, @{b}Snap windows@{ub}, @{b}auto Preview@{ub}, @{b}Auto. activation@{ub}, and @{b}Stencil color@{ub}, all of which used to be in the @{b}Other 1@{ub} and @{b}Other 2@{ub} sections of the program settings. @REM Neu in 3.0; Another option you will find here is the cycle menu for setting the refresh behavior of ArtEffect, the different options of the menu have the following effects: @{i}Immediate @{ui}- Identical to the behavior of previous ArtEffect versions. @{i}Delayed @{ui}- Refresh will take place at regular intervals. @{i}When Idle @{ui}- The window will only be refreshed if ArtEffect has not other operations to perform. @REM Neu--Ende; @endnode @node SMUDGE "Smudge/Fingerpaint" @{b}Smudge/Fingerpaint ------------------@{ub} The Smudge/Fingerpaint-tool provides these two paint-modes that were part of the airbrush in earlier version as separate tools in their own right. The behaviour of the tool is toggled with the @{b}Fingerpaint@{ub}-checkmark in the tool-settings: @{b}No checkmark@{ub} - the tool acts as "Smudge" @{b}checkmark@{ub} - the tool acts as "Fingerpaint" The actual function of the tools is still identical to the description provided in the printed manual. @endnode @node menugone "Removed menu-items" @{b}These menu items are not available anymore ------------------------------------------@{ub} - Window/Create Workspace - Window/write back Workspace - Settings/Crosshair The item @{b}Settings/Ruler@{ub} has been rendered obsolete through the introduction of the @{"window-popup" link winpop}. @endnode @node lightdark "Lighten/Darken" @{b}Lighten/Darken --------------@{ub} The function of these paint-modes has been slightly changed: @{b}Lighten@{ub} only lightens up to the current pencolor, while @{b}Darken@{ub} only darkens down to the current background-color. Using a white foreground and a black background reproduces the behaviour you are used to from earlier versions. @endnode @node note "Note" @{b}Note ----@{ub} To make this manual even better we have included links to graphics in several places - these graphics are there to help you understand certain functions of the program better and are displayed through the "Multiview" program. For this rõason, Multiview should be located in your SYS:Utilities/ drawer, where it is very likely to be unless you run a very customized workbench. Because these graphics are displayed in a separate window, the manual should be opened on the workbench screen, so that the text and images can be viewed at the same time. If this manual does open on its own screen, just de-select the @{b}Use separate screen@{ub} item from the @{b}Window@{ub}-menu. @endnode @REM Neu in 2.6; @node important "Note to TurboPrint/StudioII users" If you install TurboPrint or StudioII after installing ArtEffect, you must  delete the "plugin.db" file from ArtEffect's "Settings" directory so that the appropriate plugins can be properly initialised. In order to delete this file you can simply click on the button below: @{"Click here to delete plugin.db" system "delete ArtEffect:Settings/plugin.db"} @endnode @REM Neu--Ende; @REM Neu in 3.0; @node faq "Frequently asked questions" @{b}Frequently asked questions --------------------------@{ub} Below you find a list of frequently asked questions as well as the corresponding answers. Q: Why doesn't ArtEffect use "Smart Refresh"? A: When using Smart Refresh, every window needs an amount of memory equal to the width times the height the size of all occluded window areas (for 8 bit screens). On 15/16 bit screens twice that amount is needed, windows on 24 bit screens require three times the amount, and on 32 bit screens even four times the amount is needed. For this reason ArtEffect does not use Smart Refresh and the use of any patches that cause system-wide smart refresh or patch the ArtEffect wizard file to use smart refresh are strongly discouraged. Q: I have problems loading/saving GIF and PNG images. A: Configure ArtEffect to leave at least 2 MB or more for other programs. Q: Virtual memory is slow, even when placing the swapfile in RAM, what is the reason for this behavior? A: NEVER EVER PUT THE SWAPFILE INTO RAM!! ArtEffect automatically uses all free memory (minus the amount you configured in the "Min. free" option of the preferences) to cache the virtual memory. If you place the swapfile in RAM there is no memory left for ArtEffect to use as a cache, forcing the program to resort to DOS I/O which is significantly slower than direct access to the cache. Q: How can I turn off the virtual memory? A: You cannot actually turn off ArtEffect's virtual memory, but you can simulate a similar effect. Set the maximum size of the swapfile to the size of your computer's main memory + 20 MB and set the minimum size to 0 MB. Make sure that "Async. I/O" is deactivated. Q: Painting is very slow and my hard drive is busy all the time, is there nothing I can do about this? A: Most probably you have activated the "Async. I/O" option in the VMEM preferences. Async. I/O was born from some theoretical considerations and was found to not cause any performance improvement on most systems. When using async. I/O a separate task takes care of writing the dirty memory into the swapfile. On very fast systems with HDs that use very little CPU time this option might still improve performance, but on most systems it does not. Q: ArtEffect crashes when I select a different color model in the color manager, how do I stop that? A: Obtain the "newwpa8.lha" archive from Aminet. This patch fixes a bug of the OS and at the same time improves the operating speed when using ArtEffect on an AGA screen. Q: The pen pressure of my graphics tablet is not interpreted correctly. A: Make sure that you have selected the correct tablet driver in the preferences. Don't hesitate to try all availabel drivers and find out which one works best for you - in case you are achieving better results with a driver other than the one you would consider "right" for your tablet please send a short message to Haage&Partner. Q: How can I optimise GIF images for WWW applications? A: First of all you should keep in mind that transparent GIFs always need one additional color, i.e. when creating a 16-color GIF with transparency, 17 colors will actually be needed. Therefore you should always reduce transparent GIFs to one color less than the maximum allowed by the desired color depth. @endnode