The
Dogwaffler of the Moment: our
very sporadic newsletter
issue #15 - October 2010
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter
issue #15 - October 2010
http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter
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Hello wafflers, digital artists and users of Project Dogwaffle digital painting and animation - here's another sporadic issue of our newsletter about digital painting and animation with Project Dogwaffle and other related 2D&3D Graphics tools & topics.
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Project Dogwaffle - PD Pro Digital Painter 5
|
Digital
Painting has never been
so much fun: Learn to paint with Particle Brushes!  PD
Particles - $19
A fun companion for your digital photo image editor! powered by Project Dogwaffle  |
PD Pro 5 has been released! Thanks again to you if you pre-ordered. By now you should have received your download instructions. If not, please contact us.
To learn more about PD Pro 5, go here:
IMPORTANT: some of the new features and plugins included require the use of the Microsoft .NET framework 4. Be sure to install this before installing and using PD Pro 5. See our website for more details.
Here is a brief overview of new features:
New interface.
In version 4, we started with a new layout for panels that was more friendly and used less screen real estate. Now we are continuing what we started in version 4, moving away from a panels interface, to a sleeker sidebar. Tools are better organized and there are considerably less panels to wade through. More features are available on the context strip across the top of the interface.
Improved workflow.
There are numerous improvements to speed workflow. There are now "quick buttons" to clear all settings on the fill panel and bush settings panels, as an example. Features that previously were accessed through a file dialog box now have dropdown menus for quicker access. All gradients are now selectable from a dropdown list at one time, for example. Features that were previously hidden, "secret" features are now out in the open, such as interactive undo.
Improved algorithms.
Quality was one of our primary concerned in this update. There are improved algorithms for gradients, image scaling, and even the lightning tool.
Improved media browser.
You can now quicly select any of your media categories from a list on the side of your media browser.
Batch browser.
In the past, you could batch convert images with the batch converter. Now there's a browser that lets you visually batch convert and rename images with just a few clicks.
Soft contrast improvement.
We don't usually tout filters that can "improve" an image, but this one was kind of an accidental discovery that seems to make just about anything we throw at it look a little nicer.
Gradient editor.
There's a new gradient editor with support for cubic curves, and the HSV color model, if desired. It creates some really nice stuff, and it can be used along side our classic gradient (sweep) editor (which is just so peculiar, we decided to keep it too).
Animation features.
This didn't start out as an animation update, but it veered that way. There's a new category of animated filters. There's a filter that lets you fly through a star field. Options include flares. Another filter lets you emulate the effect of "color timing" in film, by time shifting the R, G, and B channels independently. Put them together, here's what you can get:
Wigglewarp is a fun filter that wiggles, and there are several other new animated filters. There is also an optimized brush keyframer. It's a lot faster. We've also made efforts to address animation problems on 64 bit operating systems.
No swimming.
There's no more swimming when working while zoomed. If you've used earlier versions of PD Pro you'll know what we mean. As for new readers, let's put it this way: this doggy is potty trained - a clean bundle of joy!
Additional improvements.
There's an improved hexadecimal color picker and a new color by name feature. There's a new "widget" category in the misc menu with an updated Dog Player that plays mp3's. There are new animation features, such as "array to animation" that let you work with image arrays from other applications. There's a new feature to quickly blur the alpha channel, along with numerous improvements and bug fixes.
Need we say more? ok then here's more:
Netbook support...
A few things have changed in the computer market since our last release. Netbooks is one of them. The processors are slower, the screen is smaller, but they fit in your backpack and run on less electricity than a pigtail light bulb. We've organized our panels so they're happy on a big screen or a little screen. We've ensured that everything will fit in as little as 1024x600, if needed. Our development system is an Acer Aspire One.
There are several features on a netbook's Atom processor that help boost the speed above mere gHz clockspeeds. Hyperthreading helps run multiple threads at one time, and the multimedia instruction set is also utilized. Overal, PD Pro is quite usable on a basic netbook.
Miscellaneous
* New Brushes: larger versions of effect brushes similar to 'Total Oil' or 'Modeling Clay'.... so if you work in 300 dpi at A3 sizes (translation: 5000-6000 pixels) and your first name starts with 'A' then you'll be a very happy camper. One of these brushes will test your computer, it's called something like "hope you have a fast cpu". Who would have thought that pushing pixels could ever be this exciting... oh and there are also a bunch more, such as water drops.
* The Curve tool, now also better known as the Path tool. In a few words: See the teasers. But to sum it up and put it together succinctly in a detailed, complex data-flow-and-process diagram, here's how we truly feel about it, before (left) and now with PD 5
* Symmetrical Painting. If you like to draw faces, humanoids, bi-peds, centipeds or other time-consuming and symmetrical creatures from imaginary universes, alien worlds and peculiarities of nature, this may amuse you. (plus it will keep your boss happy when you can work twice as fast).... Look in the teasers for examples.
* Relstep.... medias can now have a step value relative to the size of the brush. This makes a brush stroke look smooth and nice when scaling via a tablet pressure.
* Brush sets...The working brush set is now saved with a media and reloaded when the media is loaded.
* Draw a curve... You can now draw a curve and stroke a brush along it automatically. You can get some nice painterly results with just a mouse, and you can edit your curve after the fact, if you like and repeat the stroke. It's something of a hybrid between a vector and bitmap function. The best of both worlds.
* Medias... We've got lots of new medias, everything from sponge dabs to water droplets. Users have asked for some bigger brushes, and we've got some of them too, 50 megs of them, give or take. Don't worry, they compress nicely.
* Textures... We've got some new render filters, new noises, woodgrain and brick texture.
* premultiply correction (remove white or colored borders when keying!)
* plastic wrap fx filter
* glowing edges fx filter
* Status bar window would occasionally freeze when the computer was very busy and have to be closed manually.
* Build palette from colors in buffer still needs mention and a screenshot.
* Abs (absolute value) complements the high pass filter. It can be used for building edge preserving masks.
* 4 new noise types
* LUA scripting for filtering, inspired by gluas, powered by DogLua courtesy of Marco Pontello. Share your Lua filters in other apps that support gluas. See www.gluas.org for examples
and there's more...
3D for the iPhone  3D sculpting on iPad(!) HOT! |
Free! Gertrudis for Dogwaffle (GREAT VALUE!)
In brief tests it appears to work well with PD Pro 5 and should also work of course with prior versions. Gertrudis 'PS' is there too.
If you like Gertrudis for Dogwaffle, you might like the new GMX Photoshopainter even more. They have a WIndows version and now also a Mac version! See http://www.gertrudisgraphics.com for more...
You can also see more about Gertrudis for Dogwaffle at
Check out the artist behind Fine Line Webdesign, and how she uses Project Dogwaffle as well
as Xenodream and other 3D tools. Very cool!
http://thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/dotm/finelinewebdesign/index.html
Two videos make up this new tutorial, showing a new feature from PD Pro that let's you throw a wooden frame around your artwork.
The first part focuses on loading the image through a new option, the General File Converter.
Once you have imported your picture, the second video then takes you straight into the new matte cutter plugin, to put the picture into a beautiful frame.
If you own an iPad or tablet PC with little or no decorative borders around the screen, we
encourage you to try this: add a wooden picture frame around a few pictures, and then run a slideshow of your modified pictures on your device. Place the device against a wall such as on a fireplace. It will add a totally new look to your "digital picture frame" device.
| And now for
something completely different... Have you tuned your Ukulele, lately?  UkeTuTu.com the Ukulele Tuning Tube |
UkeTuTu, a free ukulele & guitar tuner!
| |
This is a project we've started to make free tuning tools for musicians: tuning the ukulele came first, next is a guitar tuner, and more are planned: banjo, violin, .... There will also be more features and skins, powered by Project Dogwaffle. We have just released a version for iPhone, check it out:
http://www.uketutu.com
UkeTuTu iPhone apps are free and sponsored by highly coveted, engaging and visually stimulating multimedia iAds (Apple's ads). We also will seek out great causes and charities that we encourage you to make a donation to, such as to fight Multiple Sclerosis or support the re-opening of Camp Wamp so that kids with MD or other ailments can once again enjoy a great outdoor adventure setting like Steve Wampler did as a kid.
Thank you again for your trust and support and for using Project Dogwaffle. We wish you happy painting, animating, sketching, modeling and sculpting with Project Dogwaffle, Curvy 3D, Gertrudis and an related tools and resources!
-Philip Staiger
TheBest3D.com - beyond digital painting
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| HOT! Archipelis for iPhone/iPad 3D sculpting on the iPad!  & the iPhone & iTouch:  |