ArtEffect 2.0
Alexey Emelyanov
* crossposted in CHAT.AMY
* crossposted in RU.AMIGA
ArtEffect 2.0
The readers of German AmigaPlus magazine voted ArtEffect 1.0 "Product of the
Year 1996".
Swedish
Amiga-Magazine SAM gave ArtEffect 1.5 a rating of
92%
Version 2 of ArtEffect is completely new programmed and revised. You will still
find the successful concepts and the GUI of version 1.0, but there are many new
features:
[Image] 1. Layers
Layers are especially useful for doing complex compositions. Now you can
arrange the objects on different laysers and manipulate them individually. E.g.
a filter will only effect the elements of one layer and not the whole picture.
With layers you can paint bevor the background, but you will not destroy it nor
effect it.
2. Virtuel Memory
ArtEffect 2 hast its own Virtuel Memory for layers, multiple Undo/Redo and
some internal functions.
[Image] 3. Multiple Undo/Redo
In combination with the new Virtual Memory you can now undo more than one
step. This will make it much more easy to try things out.
[Image] 4. New Effects
ArtEffect 2 got some new filters like "Motion Blur", "Radial Blur", "Zoom Blur"
and functions like "Tile" and "Make Tile".
4.1. New PlugIn Interface
The new PlugIn Interface now offers even more possibilities to do own ones. The
Develpment Material can be ordered at Haage & Partner.
5. HAM8 Mode
[Image] ArtEffect 2 supports the specail HAM8 mode of the AGA/AA chipset of
Amiga 1200 and 4000. Now you can have a look at your pictures in nearly
TrueColour, even if you ae not owning a graphics card. HAM8 mode is especially
useful for image processing.
6. ARexx Interface
To access ArtEfffect with ARexx scripts there is a special ARexx interface
built in. This is very import to work on Video sequences.
System Requirements:
Amiga with Hard Disk, AGA Chipset (A1200/A4000) or CyberGraphX software, min.
6 MB FastRAM, min. 68020 processor
The
Featurs
Of
ArtEffect ArtEffect is the first art program that gives the Amiga artists the
power they need to do their ArtWork.
ArtEffect unites painting and image processing under a particularly productive
user interface. We emphasise on productive functions which are quick and simple
to use in your daily work. However not only beginners will like it but also the
professionals who are looking for high quality and who want to get the job done
quickly and efficiently.
ArtEffect is not "just another" graphics program for the Amiga. ArtEffect is
not oriented towards the current "standard" programs on the Amiga, but rather to
the classic programs for professional image processing such as Photoshop (TM)
and for creative painting like Fractal Painter (TM).
Proven concepts and ideas of these classic products were merged with the
uncontested advantages of the Amiga. You see the result before you. Naturally
these are only advertising statements if they are not supported by facts. Here
then is the demo version of ArtEffect, which giving you an opportunity to
convince yourself of the advantages.
[Image]
This picture shows ArtEffect's tidy User Interface with the Toolbar (left
side), another view of the picture (left side) and one filter window. The lower
area shows the brush manager, the context sensitive options requester and the
colour manager.
Professional Image Processing with ArtEffect
Processing scanned images and graphics of all kind has been the Amiga's domain
ever since the machine appeared. Nevertheless the products available for the
Amiga have not been widely recognised by the graphics world during recent years.
ArtEffect is the first program to provide productive image processing functions
under a uniform and effective user interface in the typical Amiga style.
Selection Functions
Particularly important are the functions to select certain areas of an image
for processing. Of course some filters are often applied to the entire image,
but when dealing with image errors it is necessary to select a particular area.
So one can retouch a scanned photo in a narrow area without influencing the
quality of the rest of the picture.
ArtEffect offers a wide range of selection functions (they are also known as
mask functions) such as: rectangle, circle, freehand and specialities like
colour selection, running masks and "Magic Wand" (selection of connected areas
with similar colour). With this all cases of selections of certain areas can be
done quickly and easily.
More than 30 Effects
ArtEffect offers more than 30 different effects with countless options. All
effects are used the same way and they all have the same user interface. Each
effect has e.g. a Preview in which the effect is applied to an image section.
The range can be zoomed in and out. A progress bar shows the progress of the
operation. The options are very extensive so every effect can be adapted to your
personal wishes.
List of all effects
Colour Filters
Antique
Dynamic Range
Colour Correction
Colour Space Process
Histogram Equalisation
Negative
Posterise
Solarise
Threshold
Blur Filters
Gaussian
Strong Gaussian
Blur
Strong Blur
Smooth
Sharpen Filters
Sharpen Fine
Sharpen Coarse
Stylise Filters
Displace Pixels
Edge Find
Laplace
Oil Paint
Relief
Wax Paint
Distortion Filtrs
Caricature
Twirl
Curl
Pixelate Filters
Median
Mosaic
Polar Mosaic
Segmentate Picture
Special Filters
BumpMap
Convolution
Mirror Picture
Shift Picture
Natural Painting with ArtEffect
While most of the paint programs will only be able to paint in full colour with
full intensity and density, "natural painting" means to simulate natural drawing
tools like paintbrush, crayon, airbrush, chalk, coal, oil colour.
Coal, chalk, paintbrush, crayon, oil colour
To do a good job on simulating all these drawing tools ArtEffect offers many
controls for mode, opacity, intensity, density, roughness, form etc. All values
are freely adjustable. With it the transparent colour of a water colour brush
looks very realistic and also harsh chalk can be simulated excellently.
Painting on different materials
ArtEffect still goes one step further and even offers simulation of different
materials. You can paint on canvas, wood, stone, marble etc.
Attributes of Painting Tools
The properties of the three basic tools stencil, brush, airbrush can be
redefined completely. Form, intensity, density, roughness, transparency,
opacity, pressure sensitivity (only on graphic trays) and Fade Out can be
adjusted freely. With all these properties, natural drawing tools can be
simulated very well and without any fringes.
The properties of the tools are stored in the brush manager. Image sections
(brushes) which are needed more often may be stored here as well.
Strong Effects of ArtEffect
Perfect Retouch of Images
Scanned pictures often have scratches, specks of dust or similar distorsions.
With Median filter one can remove these automatically, but the image will
however loose its sharpness. It is better to retouch only the respective area.
The tools "Smear" and "Smooth", but also "Lighten" and "Darken" are used often
and with pleasure. These tools only work in the area coverd by their tip and so
they can be used with great precision.
Other effects like "hue", "saturation" and "luminance" may also be used this
way.
Endless Possibilities with Masks
Masks are one of the most productive functions of ArtEffect. Therefore we have
provided several possibilities of defining them. Thus masks are also selections
and masking is the same as selecting.
1. Rectangle Masking: The fastest masking function is the masking of
rectangles.
2. "Magic Wand": This is certainly the most powerful function for masking. One
click with the Magic Wand will select/mask all connected pixels of the same
colour.
3. Colour Selection: With it all pixels of the same colour anywhere in the
whole picture are selected.
4. Stencil Masking: The stencil option also has a mask mode, allowing you to
work with very fine details.
A very special thing are running masks. These are masks that get increasingly
permeable (oblique). It can be used for sophisticated effects.
The many Extras of ArtEffect
o ArtEffect is a pure 24-bit art package. All operations and manipulations
will always be carried out in the highest possible quality.
o All functions of ArtEffect are very fast. Some time-critical filters are
even optimised for higher processors.
o ArtEffect can display multiple Views of the same picture.
o A special light table allows pictures to be overlayed.
o A special perspective tool supports the creation of perspective
drawings.
o The pantograph lets you copy one part of a picture to another place of
the same one or to another picture. Many effects can be used by this
operation.
o Further important features are: Zoom, Pipette (for colour selection),
lasso (for freeform selections), colour interpolator, undo function.
o ArtEffect offers many loaders/savers (IFF, JPEG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, BMP)
but also the Amiga datatypes and the new 24-Bit datatype.
o ArtEffect offers an efficient 24-bit printer driver that uses the
standard Workbench drivers. There is additional support for the printer
enhancers TurboPrint and Studio.
o ArtEffect supports the graphic tray Wacom ArtPad II (a special driver is
needed!). With the graphic tray all drawing modes become pressure
sensitive. This is very important for natural drawing.
o ArtEffect can be extended externally by a flexible Plug-In interface.
With it 3rd party companies can offer new functions. There is also a
special GUI for these Plug-Ins, so programming them is very easy.
ArtEffect's GUI
Operation of ArtEffect is very intuitive. This was a primary design goal for
this product. The GUI is a very important part, because if it is not good, you
will not be able to use the full power of the program.
ArtEffect uses a unique GUI for all its parts. Different managers help you to
control the different options. They can stay open so they show you the tool's
current status.
Because of the well thought-out user interface most of the functions of
ArtEffect can be used without having to look into the manual. The positions of
all windows and managers are stored and show up next time you start the program.
(These features are subject to change without notice!)
NEW FEATURES
o localised (German, English)
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS
o any Amiga model
o AmigaOS 3.0 or higher required
o ECS or AGA system or CyberGraphX software
o Hard disk
o a minimum of 2 MB RAM (with limitations), 4-8 MB RAM are recommended.
LIMITATION OF THE DEMO
o can not save and print
o some loaders/savers are missing (only iff and jpeg are available)
o the word "DEMO" will be written into the picture every 10 steps
With best regards,
Alexey Emelyanov.
__
a...@pmc.ru /\ /// ***************************
-------------------- \/ __/// *** Member Team Amiga ***
Amiga A4000/040 \XX/ ***************************
*** Registered Amiga/Phase5 developer ***