perry@madnix.UUCP (Perry Kivolowitz) (03/29/91)
This information was specifically requested by an amiga.graphics
posting. I have sent this three times to announce@<etc> and have
not gotten so much as an ack. I must assume that my connection
to that moderator is silently broken somewhere.
This press release was distributed months ago and touches on the
differences between TAD and ADPro. If you do not wish to see it,
please hit ``n''.
Art Department or
Art Department Pro?
That is the question
Now that Art Department Professional is available, many Amiga owners have
begun asking how it differs from ASDG's other image processing product, The
Art Department.
The answer is simple: Art Department Professional is a superset of The Art
Department. This means that Art Department Professional has all of the
features of The Art Department, plus many additional features of its own.
Considering the price difference between the two ($89.95 for The Art
Department vs. $240.00 for Art Department Professional) anyone who wants
to work with Amiga graphics will want to match the right product with their
specific needs.
In general, The Art Department is all you will need to make the best
possible rendering of graphics for display on the Amiga. Art Department
Professional, meanwhile, is right for professional users who require image
format conversion, batch processing, control of graphics peripherals or 24
bit-plane image compositing.
Here is some more specific help in deciding which Art Department package
suits your needs.
The Art Department is the right choice if you need any of the following
capabilities:
To load and work with a wide variety of Amiga and
non-Amiga image file formats. Art Department comes
with Loader modules that read Super-IFF, DV21, Sculpt
4D and Turbo Silver image files. Other Loader modules
are available separately that read Targa, GIF, TIFF,
PCX and EA Deluxe Paint II Enhanced formats.
To perform image processing on 24-bit true color
images, including renderings of 2-32 colors, HAM and
Extra Halfbrite images. In addition to providing 6
dithering methods, Art Department will create
negatives and color separations (3 and 4 color),
convert images from color to gray scale, create line
art from bitmaps and remove isolated pixels. Art
Department can also flip images (both horizontally and
vertically), rotate images at 90 degree angles, and
scale images up or down. Special effects include
Posterization and Solarization.
Art Department will also address the Microillusions
Transport Controller for single frame video recorders.
Art Department Professional will do all of the above, plus:
Read and write to Amiga and non-Amiga formats,
including Super-IFF, Sculpt 4D, Turbo Silver, GIF,
PCX, Deluxe Paint II Enhanced, EPS (Encapsulated
PostScript), PostScript and Color PostScript.
Control external imaging hardware -- such as video
display boards, scanners and film recorders. Includes
direct support for the Mimetics Frame Buffer. (Recently
added are the PP&S FrameGrabber and IMPULSE FIRECRACKER).
"Composite" together new images. Art Department
Professional lets you cut and paste image elements
together in up to 24 bit planes (16.7 million colors).
It allows variable mixing and transparency, masking,
ghosting and many other special effects. You can even
make your own filled or unfilled rectangular
backgrounds with gradated color transitions (from top
to bottom or side to side).
Support ARexx. Every aspect of Art Department
Professional can be controlled by ARexx, which makes
it an excellent tool for batch control of repetitive
operations. It can even be integrated with other
ARexx-compatible programs to form custom solutions to
real-world problems.
Perform these additional image processing functions:
o Render in up to 256 colors
o Crop Images
o Create color or gray scale negatives
o Compensate for video smear
o Support the Enhanced palette, used by EGA and VGA systems
o Dynamic Range modification
Learn more about the Art Department Series by contacting ASDG Incorporated,
925 Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713, or by calling (608) 273-6585.
--
Perry Kivolowitz, ASDG Inc. ``We look for things. Things that make us go.''
UUCP: {harvard|rutgers|ucbvax}!uwvax!astroatc!nicmad!madnix!perry
CIS: 76004,1765 PLINK: pk-asdglimonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) (03/30/91)
In article <1780@madnix.UUCP> perry@madnix.UUCP (Perry Kivolowitz) writes: > The Art Department is the right choice if you need any of the following > capabilities: > To load and work with a wide variety of Amiga and [...] > Art Department Professional will do all of the above, plus: > Read and write to Amiga and non-Amiga formats, There is a point that most people miss. TAD will read many formats and convert them to IFF. TAD will ONLY SAVE IFF files. ADPro, on the other hand, will READ AND WRITE just about any format. TAD: (many formats) ----> IFF ADPro: (many formats) <---> (many formats) I just wanted to clarify this point. I hadn't realized this until I started seriously looking for conversion software. Tom