riddle@emory.uucp (Larry Riddle) (09/06/88)
I have Superpaint 1.0. I expect I will upgrade to 2.0 when it becomes
available, but I am intrigued by some of the ads I've seen recently for
Canvas 2.0, especially since they are offering free upgrades to anyone
who buys version 1.0.
Can anyone describe the relative merits of version 2.0 of these
programs? Is it worth having both, or can one do almost everything with
just one of them? Is one better for paint (bitmaps)? for drawing
(objects)?
I would be particularly interested in hearing any comments from anyone
who has seen both Superpaint 2.0 and Canvas 2.0 and can compare them.
I believe that neither has actually been released yet.
--
Larry Riddle | riddle@mathcs.emory.edu PREFERRED
Emory University | {decvax,gatech}!emory!riddle UUCP
Dept of Math and CS | riddle@emory NON-DOMAIN BITNET
Atlanta, GA 30322 | (404) 727-7922 AT&Tedmoy@violet.berkeley.edu (09/06/88)
In article <3162@emory.uucp> riddle@emory.uucp (Larry Riddle) writes: >I have Superpaint 1.0. I expect I will upgrade to 2.0 when it becomes >available, but I am intrigued by some of the ads I've seen recently for >Canvas 2.0, especially since they are offering free upgrades to anyone >who buys version 1.0. > >Can anyone describe the relative merits of version 2.0 of these >programs? Is it worth having both, or can one do almost everything with >just one of them? Is one better for paint (bitmaps)? for drawing >(objects)? I have both SuperPaint and Canvas (not 2.0 yet). The kind of drawings I do are technical diagrams, and Canvas is best suited for this. Its object oriented nature, plus its ability to be able to work at any of its magnifications or reductions proves invaluable in my work. The new version of Canvas is supposed to have multiple Bezier spline capability, like Illustrator and Freehand, and an auto-trace capability. Also, the ruler and grid functions (a weaker part of Canvas) is supposed to be improved. Also, Canvas 2.0 is supposed to multiple layers (like acetate sheets), much like Draw-It-Again-Sam. I think SuperPaint is better at doing large-scale bitmap art. Its bitmap layer is easier to use than Canvas, where you have to create an object and convert it to a bitmap. Oh yes, another advantage to Canvas is color support. While the current version of Canvas supports the standard 8 colors from standard Quickdraw, Canvas 2.0 will support full 256 colors (like PixelPaint). Now if only I could afford to print color..... :-) Edward Moy Principal Programmer - Macintosh & Unix Workstation Support Services Workstation Software Support Group University of California Berkeley, CA 94720 edmoy@violet.Berkeley.EDU ucbvax!violet!edmoy
thomas@uvabick.UUCP (Thomas Fruin) (09/07/88)
riddle@emory.uucp (Larry Riddle) writes:
"Can anyone describe the relative merits of version 2.0 of these
programs (Canvas and SuperPaint)?"
Can't help you with Canvas, but I read this document that describes
an interesting new feature in SuperPaint 2.0 called a "Plug-in".
A plug-in is a piece of code that you can write yourself, using a
documented "external-command"-like format, that behaves like a bitmap
editor. The documented explained how to compile (no globals as usual)
and link the thing, and what parameters it should have. The nice
thing is that you don't have to install the plug-in into SuperPaint's
resource file - you simply drag it into ANY folder where you want to
keep SuperPaint's auxiliary files (not necessarily the System folder)
and designate that folder as a "Pouch", another invention of theirs.
A plug-in basically lets you add tool windows to SuperPaint, and
bitmap windows to edit with those tools. From the users' point of
view, a plug-in is seamlessly integrated with the program. The
document I read said there were already several commercial plug-in's,
but that people were free to write their own. And this construct
is not unique to SuperPaint, but will be incorporated into more
software packages by the same company.
-- Thomas Fruin
fruin@hlerul5.BITNET University of Leiden
thomas@uvabick.UUCP University of Amsterdam
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