Thanksgiving 2015 Promotions through Cyber Monday
Hello again,
here is another update from the "Dogwaffler of the
Moment", our sporadic newsletter newsletter. You can see and learn more about it in prior, recent online editions, with added images and links to
related videos, tutorials, free content and ideas and lots more. Start here to see all past
newsletters:
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter
PD Howler 9.6 and PD Artist 9.6 on sale
As we're getting closer to releasing PD Howler 10 (probably around mid January), we want to offer you one last chance to get v9.6 at a super discount. This promotion does not yet include a free upgrade to v10, but if you've been planning to get ready for v10, this may be the best thing yet.
For a very limited time, we're offering both PD Artist 9.6 and PD Howler 9.6 at 61% off their respective regular price. Here are the details:
PD Artist 9.6
regular prices: $27
Your cost after discount: $10.53
PD Howler 9.6
regular price: $64
Your cost after discount: $24.96
Wow, for less than the usual price of PD Artist, you can get PD Howler!. What's not to like?
Now remember, this is for a limited time. This promotion expires right ater Cyber-Monday, on December 1st.
Of course, you could keep waiting for PD Howler 10. After all, we know it is coming soon. DO you need Howler right now? Then don't wait, start with v9.6, and in 1-2 months or later, you might want to upgrade to v10, and save even more. The best discounts will be reserved for those who have v9.6 already.
Why start with Howler 9.6 or Artist 9.6?
If you don't do animations, and just want to enjoy creating landscapes and painting on them, PD Artist is great. It has the 3D Designer tools and Puppy Ray ray tracing features from v9.2 through 9.6. It has almost every filter seen in Howler, without the animation. (one exception: the Particle Modeler to make new volumetric clouds, that one is only found in Howler because it is in the Animated Filters sub-menu.)
PD Howler also adds animation and tools for working on video. For example, it has the motion estimation, i.e. motion prediction module. If you work with 3D and make animations, or if you work with video, that alone is a great tool that you might speand $99 on with other motion estimation tools or plugins.
If you want to learn more about PD Artist, here is a recent introduction for a promotion done with Shareware On Sale: http://www.thebest3d.com/sos
If you want to learn about the differences between PD Artist vs. PD Howler, read more about it below in this newsletter.
Ready for Howler 10? Well, we're not yet, but almost.
If you already have PD Howler 9.6 and are ready to pre-order the upgrade to v10 from Dan directly, contact him here:
As you know, it's the time of year for big, crazy deals, and Howler, PD Artist, and Particle 9 are no exception.http://dan-ritchie.wix.com/howlerpromotion
Right now, you can pre-order Howler 10, and get a full version for the price of an upgrade. If that isn't awesome enough, you can also save on upgrades too.
Get Howler 10 full version for an upgrade price
http://squirreldome.com/Cart.htm
Don't have a lot of cash left because of all those other Cyber deals? Don't forget our mid-range PD Artist, which features the drawing tools of Howler, minus the animation, and there's PD Particle 9, our entry level art program, perfect for your tablet and notebook or computer with touch support.
If you haven't seen Howler 10 yet, you're in for a treat. Usability gets a big boost with new visual browsing of particle brush types, undo browsing, new particle tools and settings, new tools for video enthusiasts, new color picker, better memory utilization, and a whole lot more.
Don't keep us a secret
If you're already a Howler fan, then please share us on your social media, forums, and blogs of choice, and let others know about us. Don't keep us a secret anymore! We'd really appreciate it.
See all our deals at and what's new in Howler 10
See what's new in particles in 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoj_9HdKBtE
See what's new in video editing in 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8ENo9z-gpM
See what's new in usability in 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osiDfdJAmBg
See what users are doing in 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L2DbBk-c0s
And don't forget about PD Particle 9.
If you haven't seen it yet, you may be surprised all it can do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y59C6eb8Utw
Get PD Particle 9 for just $7.99
http://squirreldome.com/Particle_9.htm
Tutorials and Videos
Look for new videos and tutorials in our pdhowler channel at YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/pdhowler
Some recent additions:
Let's howl with PD Howler 10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L2DbBk-c0s
New Orbicle Brushes coming to Howler 10 - with Gradients!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoj_9HdKBtE
nopun undo static
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnKHtfyg0qI
Send us your special requests for new tutorials if you have questions about how to create a special type of graphics.
Differences between Artist and Howler
We often are asked this question: what do you miss if you stay with PD ARtist and don't go with PD Howler?It is a good question. After all, we decided to make the artist edition for those who can't afford more than about $20-$30. The Howler edtion goes for around $45-$70, depending on where you shop (Steam, Daz, thebest3d,...). PD Howler 10 will be at $74.
PD Artist is usually released after PD Howler. We first build PD Howler, and update that edition more often. Everyone once in a while we then take a subset of PD Howler, by removing a few features. For the most part, these are the animation features. We then have PD ARTist for the same core release version. For example, when we started with v9.0, we had the Howler edition, and a little later still Howler 9.1, nut no Artist edition yet. When Howler .2 came around we were ready to also make the Artist edition, v9.2.
So, by staying with PD Howler, you also get more frequent updates and releases for bug fixes and new features. When PD Howler 9.5 came out, we again didn't have PD Artist of that version. Only after the final Howler 9.6 release was made did we also have the Artist edition 9.6. And again, we had some extra minor updates in forms of patches, for PD Howler 9.6+ and 9.6++, not for Artist edition. There is just no time to do it all with our limited resources.
So from a development point of view, you will likely see better updates more often in PD Howler, simply because that's where the code development is focused at first. And frankly, also, because this world is not just round. It is animated.
So what else do you miss by not going with the Howler edition?
Most filters in the Filter... menu have the option to be applied to all frames of an animation. The Artist edition doesn't do animations, so that animated filter option is reduced to work on just the one and only current image. Also, there is an entire category of filters that is missing: Filter > Animated...
And of course, the entire menu: Animation is missing.
You won't be able to load animations or videos. Well, with one exception: PD Artist lets you load animations and image sequences into the brush, as an animated custom brush. You can still paint with animated brushes, but only onto still images, not onto other animations like you can in PD Howler. With PD Howler, you can paint with video over video.
There are a number of tools only found in Howler, such as the Frame painter. That's again a great tool for traditional animators who like to draw, sketch and paint each or most frames but are often under time constraints. You may have just one or a few frames, but need to make them appear in an animation lasting several seconds, at 30 frames per second! The Frame painter is your best friend when it comes to 'cheating'. That tool has been around for a while,... here is an early look from PD Pro 5.x:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwOApFrsimM
Let's take a quick look at the animated filters: Filter > Animated...
So, this is one of the menus you won't see in PD Artist. Here are the details on this: (as seen in PD Howler 10).
Starry night...
This filter creates static and animated starry skies, with a variety of effects such as novas and flares. It's a quick way to fly into a starfield, warp speed!
Wiggle warp...
Wiggle warp will wiggle your image and warp it, no surprise there. The point is that it turns a single still image into one that appears to be alive, to breathe. If you're a traditional animator, you know how this will save time. You draw one key frame of a scene, and this filter can turn it into a 3-second animation that appears to be made of dozens of unique frames. Wiggle Warp is also a sure way to induce nausea... and cheaper than a roller coaster ride for the same effect.
Time shift RGB...
Sometimes you look at an image and wonder: what if I only saw one of the RGB channels, or all of them but with some delay? The red, green and bleu channels are separated in time. Weird, wicked and wonderfully howler. You may recognize our passion for certain space-themed science fiction TV series.
Tunnel...
Tunnel is a filter that wraps the current image to the inside of a cylinder and places you inside of it. The cylinger is endless, tiling the texture along it. ANd it turns, and you move into it. Very hypnotic!
Wave in breeze...
This filter is meant to be used on foliage such as bushes and trees, or tall grass. The resulting animation can make it look like the foliage object is gently swaying left to right, moving in the breeze.
Film flicker...
Film flicker is something from the past, but sometimes you want to re-introduce it to your animations and videos, to give it an extra old look.
Confetti...
We're not exactly sure why you'd want to spend extra money for confetti.... oh wait, yes, it will come in handy on New Year's eve!
Time slice by alpha...
If you like time travel, this one's for you. When you see an animation, such as a head turning, you can use the alpha channel to delay some parts of the image from showing the latest image. It's special. Some parts move faster than others. It can tear apart your mind, literally.
Stabilize...
Ok, we know how it feels when you shoot a short video with the phone, and it's a bit shaky. This can help, sometimes. The stabilize can apply corrective counter-moves to bring some sanity in the frames, then you can paint on them, and then you can even restore the original motion. Yep, that's worth $50 right there.
Here's a very early version going back to Howler 7.1: Taming the monkey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACh1cD7FzWM
Merge (selection is opaque)
MErge is for merging two animations, main and swap, through a controlled alpha channel. If the selection in alpha is 100%, the pixelsfrom the Swap buffer are fully opaque. Otherwise, the Main mage still shows, to some degree depending on the alpha value. The selection mask in alpha can be animated too, just like the swap images can be animated, coming from a stored animation. So essentially, you combine two animations through the eyes of a third one.
Fill selection
You've got a selection, in the alpha channel. Now you want to fill it with the current fll settings. And not just in this one current frame, but across all frames of the animation too, optionally. Again, the selection may be animated if coming from a stored animation.
Stroke an animated curve
Ok, so this goes into using the Curve tool. You've created a curve, and you've also got a brush that's an animated cutom brush (animbrush). You want to have the animbrush rendered along the path of the curve? Easy, use this tool. Be sure to store your original animation first, you might want to experiment a few times.
Motion prediction module...
This tool is worth $99 by itself. Trust us. If you've never this article about the sheer madness of number crunching in the MPM, read this:
http://www.thebest3d.com/howler/7/motion-prediction-mania.html
Apply mirror
You know the mirror and symmetry tools, and the kaleidoscope mode, right? The mirror can be applied across all frames of the animation. You might think it is enough to just scrub through the animation in the timeline, but you might miss some frames. So this is more thorough.
Neutrons...
Time for a little animated particle magic. Neutrons won't charge you, and we won't either. It's a great tool for animated thingies that orbit around themselves, based on size and mass and all that metaphysical jazz. There's an option for motion trails, and glow effects with those awesome lens flares.
Here's an example of creative use of neutrons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWga7ToXL5A
Subtract frames...
For each frame, you might ask: what if I subtracted the prior frame from it? Enough said? no, not enough. This function has a few interesting options, related to the math and edge conditions of the subtraction. But essentially, if you want to see the difference between frames along the timeline, try this. And be prepared to ask more questions.
Particle modeler...
This is a new tool introduced with Howler 9.5, It is used to make volumetric clouds. And they can animate too, which is why we keep them in the ANimated filters category. If you want to make your own, you'll need Howler. PD ARtist can use existing clouds in the 3D Designer, but you will be limited to what's included. If you want to make your own, get Howler, and get howling!
Example: Little man and big galaxy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sNYf9_CoSM
Undo stack to animation...
You paint and use various tools, and occasionally you use 'undo' such as Ctrl+Z or the 'u' for undo shortcut, and you keep painting and adding brush strokes and applying filters. All that stuff is collected in a series of images. The undo memory that was allocated in order to hold a certain amount of images, that's where those images are, invisible until you ask to return to it with undo. But there's another way. This filter will show you all images currently in the undo memory. It will convert the whole sequence, the entire undo stack, to an animation.
And that's it, for now.
Thanks for waffling and howling!
How to Unsubscribe - so sad....
No longer interested? We'd be sorry to see you leave us, but nonetheless.... To remove yourself from our newsletter, please unsubscribe here: http://www.thebest2d.com/feedback/
We know, we know, some of the images or info on that page are, a bit, outdated... Old, yes, but not obsolete.
The good news: You can also use the above link to take other steps: such as to add yourself as a new recipient, or to change your email by adding yourself with a new email address and then remove the old email address. Or, contact us Phil and Dan here with clear instructions about which one of your multiple emails to add or remove, or with any other questions: http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/about - Please do not send attachments unless invited to do so and beware of the format and file sizes.
(The Goddess of Sadness, artwork by nBT painted with Project Dogwaffle)
All content presented herein is
owned by their respective owners. No reproduction is
permitted without written consent from the copyright
holder.
Trademarks and registered trademarks are used for identification purposes only. No affiliation, endorsement or commercial favors are implied or intended.
Trademarks and registered trademarks are used for identification purposes only. No affiliation, endorsement or commercial favors are implied or intended.