lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Chris Lishka (hang loose...) ) (02/04/90)
On January 26th I posted a request for both a good paint program and a versatile draw package for the IBM PC. I promised to post a summary to the net of all the replies I received. This is that summary, as well as some suggestions I got from several friends who write graphics-related software (some work for Point-Line Inc., another for Syndesis). About one third of the information I received was from the net; the other two thirds was from discussions with friends and reviews in magazines. First, I'll give a summary of what everyone has recommended for the two types of software. Then I'll list the replies (only three) that I received via email. The Recommended Paint Program ============================= The paint program of choice by a *wide* margin was Deluxe Paint Enhanced by Electronic Arts. This is a port of the most popular paint program for the Commodore Amiga, and has all of the features of the Amiga version. The big difference, I was told, was the the PC version sometimes ran significantly slower because PC's don't have the graphics hardware support that the Amiga has. Another person found the Z-Soft paint programs to be OK, but they were not what he would really like. The Recommended Draw Program ============================ The *only* draw program that was really recommended was Corel Draw, and it received very high marks. Everyone seems to agree that this is an excellent package, from PC Magazine to all of my friends to a person who uses it regularily to aid in newsletter creation. From what I have read/heard it is easy to use, powerful, and has really good support for text. One problem that was noted with version 1.0 was that it requires MS Windows (although it is *not* bundled with a run-time version), and sometimes has trouble refreshing the window (apparently this is a glitch in its interaction with MS Windows). I hope this information helps others who are searching for good draw and paint programs for the IBM PC. Because my computer graphics background comes from work with the Amiga, I was *really* surprised to find that the PC graphics market is relatively slim. With the Amiga, paint programs are a-dime-a-dozen; with the PC, I guess one needs to look hard to find good paint packages (although it is nice to see that Deluxe Paint is a choice on both machines). Thankfully, the PC does have two top-notch choices to choose from: Deluxe Paint and Corel Draw. Below my signature are the other replies I received. Once again, I thank everyone who helped in my search. .oO Chris Oo. Christopher Lishka 608-262-4485 "Somebody said to me, `But the Beatles were Wisconsin State Lab. of Hygiene antimaterialistic.' That's a huge myth. John lishka@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu and I literally used to sit down and say `Now, uunet!uwvax!uwslh!lishka let's write a swimming pool'."--Paul McCartney ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Douglas Hamilton: Noticed your post in the graphics newsgroup. Haven't found a dos bitmapped graphics editor I really like yet, bbut some of the Z-Soft products are OK. They have a very confusing product line, and as it happens, just today I called Z-soft for some clarification on difference between Paintbrush IV and IVplus (significant, as it turns out). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Jeff Bakke: In your article you stated that you were looking for a good pc paint program. Since you also mentioned that you have used Deluxe paint II/III on the amiga, you should know that Deluxe paint II/III is also available on the PC. That would have to be my best recommendation for a paint general use type program. I hear that PC Paintbrush IV is pretty good but i haven't seen it so I can't recommend it. I've used GEM paint, MS Paint, Paintbrush (old versions), PC-Paint and a few others and Deluxe paint is my personal choice. It allows a fair range of input/output file formats which is nice since I often import pictures into MS WORD 5.0 documents.... I hope this helped... Jeff Bakke bakke@plains.NoDak.edu ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From Ian Farquhar: In article <469@uwslh.UUCP> you write: > >I am currently in the process of finding good, versatile paint and >draw programs for the many IBM PC's that are around my organization. >I have an Amiga at home and I have used programs such as dpaint >II/III and digipaint (as well as having seen demos of photon paint any >many others at the local users' group), so I have a fair idea of what >to look for. However, I do not know what kind of paint/draw programs >are available for the IBM market. >I am looking for both a paint program that will edit "bitmap" files of >two or more colors, *and* an object-oriented drawing program (like >MacDraw or CAD software). The paint program would be used for many >purposes, including editing graphs, pictures, etc. for inclusion in >WordPerfect documents and page layout programs. The draw program >would be used for various tasks, such as adding text to county and >state maps (also for inclusion in WordPerfect documents and page >layour programs). The images produced would be used in annual >reports, test manuals, pamphlets, etc. Deluxe Paint II is available on the PC. It runs under VGA and MCGA plus all the other usual cards, and supports a wide variety of printers (except, unfortunately, postscript). However, don't expect Amiga performance from a mere PC. I estimate the the Amiga is at least ten times faster when manipulating brushes, particularly scaling and rotating them. Oh well, that's the penalty for using a PC. >The targeted hardware is IBM PS/2 30-286 machines with one megabyte >(the bottom end) as well as IBM PS/2 70's (or 80's) with two megabytes >(the upper limit). All of these machines have hard disks, or else only >have floppies and can access the hard disk on a network server. No problems there with Dpaint or Corel Draw. >My requirements and desires for the *PAINT* program are: > >* It should be able to edit many different sizes of pictures (possibly >an arbitrary size) in multiple bitplanes. I would like a program that >is able to handle a one-bitplane (i.e. black and white), 1700x2200 >image; it would be better if it could do a one-bitplane, 2550x3300 >image (which is 8.5"x11" at 300dpi). The size of the bitmap is dependent on your graphic card, though I do not think that even a 256K VGA card would do these resoluions. The manual does not document how the program uses its memory, but it certainly is not capable of dumping the unused portion of the bitmap to disk. >* It should read and write a standard graphics file format (e.g. >TIFF). It would be nice if multiple formats could be read and written >(and converted between), including EPS. It would also be nice if >object-oriented "draw" and/or plotter formats could be read in (e.g. >PageMaker formats, HPGL plotter format, etc.). Hopefully, the program >should write files which WordPerfect 5.0 can use (and WordPerfect >seems to be fairly flexible on graphics formats). It has a format converter program that handles IFF conversion to and from TIFF, PCX and MacPaint, though I have had no need to use this so far. >* The paint program should be able to add text in multiple font sizes >to the image (this is pretty trivial). It can. >* An "undo" feature is desireable, although the ability to turn it off >for large bitmaps is probably needed. It has an UNDO feature, though it does not disable when memory is getting tight. >* It should be fairly easy to use, because non-techies will be producing the >images. It is almost as easy to use as the Amiga version. The only problem that I have with it is that the PC version is slow and I think and work at the speed of the Amiga version. I have taught artists to use Amiga Dpaint, so there should be few problems there. >* And, of course, the paint program should have a wide range of >operations available on image. As an example, the types of operations >in dpaint II are what I would consider good. Color manipulation >functions are not all that necessary, but shape, pen, brush, >and magnification functions are. It has ALL of the Amiga Dpaint II's functions. >My requirements and desires for the *DRAW* program are: > >* It should be able to read and write common object-oriented file >formats. It should also be able to write an EPS file, and possibly a >common bitmap format such as TIFF (although I would settle for a one >bitplane file format). Conversions between the formats would also be >nice. At the very least, it should write a format that WordPerfect >5.0 can read in. Finally, I would like something that can read in >HPGL files. Corel can import quite a few, including AutoCAD (the latest version), PCX, TIFF, and a few others. It cannot read HPGL, which is almost always text plus bitmap - not really a structured file anyway. >* It should be able to add text of varying fontsizes to an image. The latest version comes with 105 scalable fonts, including all of the common ones plus a few unusual ones (like Carta - the cartographic symbol set). >* Again, an undo feature would be nice. It has one. >* Finally, it should be easy to use. What I am *not* looking for is >a CAD program that is aimed at engineers. The users will be >lab-technicians and managers with a scientific background, and >administrative personnel. It is wonderfully easy to use, and it runs quite fast on even a slow AT! The people have done some quite impressive things considering the limited hardware and even more limited GUI (Windows) over which it runs. >As you have probably guessed, much of what will be done with these >programs is to read in an image and add explanatory text in arbitrary >places. I realize I am asking for quite a bit in these programs. >What I need are references to programs that provide a "best-fit" of >the above criteria. I would say that you are asking for basic paint and draw programs. If a product did not have all that you are asking, I would call it a toy. >Please send me your thoughts and suggestions. I would prefer replies >via email, but I do read this newsgroup regularily. I will summarize >to the net all of the replies that I get. Thanks (in advance) for >your help. Happy to oblige. A couple of points you did not ask: DELUXE PAINT o Has its own GUI built in, which looks a little like the Mac o Requires a mouse (which is not a problem to you) o Reads and writes in IFF format which you can take home to work on o Has a non-standard font format, so forget buying extra fonts COREL DRAW o Requires Windows to run (is not included) o Really needs a Postscript printer, but then all draw programs do o Can import extra fonts using WFNBOSS - a format converter o Inbuilt fonts do not include hinting, so that they tend to look a little rugged when smaller than 8 points. Will use hinted fonts in the printer if present. o Does autotracing of bitmapped images o Can produce color seperations I think that's about it. E-Mail me if you have any further questions. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Th-th-th-that's all, folks! -- Porky Pig -- Christopher Lishka 608-262-4485 "Somebody said to me, `But the Beatles were Wisconsin State Lab. of Hygiene antimaterialistic.' That's a huge myth. John lishka@uwslh.slh.wisc.edu and I literally used to sit down and say `Now, uunet!uwvax!uwslh!lishka let's write a swimming pool'."--Paul McCartney