The Ever-Growing V5
Features List
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:
Add some transforms in the timeline, make frames loopable, ...
... or throw some colored edge detection and animated wave deforms for
psechodelic experiments... Hyperspace jumping at warp 10, gone bad :-0)
You've gotta see this at full screen, and sitting down...
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
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. We don't
agree. After all, you're still reading, looking for more... At the risk
of being redundant, here are a few more highlights and
teasers to try to convince you. You know, those nitty gritty little
details which make a world of a difference and that may tip the balance
between you sitting on the sideline while waiting for more to come at
the risk of seeing the price go up, vs. you rushing to (pre-)order PD
Pro 5 today if you haven't done so yet.
- 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. In short:
- 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.
- integrated
"transform plus"
- Performance:
Several areas have seen improvements including brushes, scaling, and
onion skin mixing.
- The countdown filter
renders a 10 frame countdown over a NTSC colorbars.
- 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.
- Levels adjustment improved
- 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 dogwaffle.info/dogwaffle/lua
for sample scripts. Some are gui-less, others can have sophisticated
user interfaces if using the guiserver extensions. Also see www.gluas.org for more examples from
other applications too.
- countless hugs and
prayers included :-)
- personal invitation to support the fight against MS, make a
donation to the National MS
Society
|
|
3D for everyone:
- easy -
- fast -
- affordable! -
Discover
Carrara
new version 8 and many more versions, some very
heavily discounted!
Finally! 3D for everyone:
Carrara
(boxed or download)
free shipping for
orders from Purplus of $50 and up! (US only) Hurry before
they're gone - this is a limited inventory blowout sale
|
and now for something (almost) completely different:
And now for
something completely different...
Have you
tuned your Ukulele,
lately?
UkeTuTu.com
the Ukulele Tuning
Tube |
from
2D to 3D in just seconds!
Just trace
an
outline and see it automagically
turn into
fully textured 3D shapes for Second Life, Google Sketchup / Google
Earth, Direct X & Games, Wavefront OBJ and other popular 3D file
formats!
Archipelis
Designer
rapid
3D model creation and prototyping from mere images - for 3D content
creation, games, IM Avatars, SL models, 3D illustration in Photoshop(R)
and more
New!
now also for Mac, for iPad and iPhone/iTouch!
|
Can't afford
PD Artist
at $19?
Someone
else will pay for your copy of PD Artist, if you buy
something from them first - and there are many products and services to
choose from!
|
Can't afford
PD
Particles
at $19?
Someone
else is willing to pay for your copy of PD Particles, if you buy
something from them first - and there are many products and services to
choose from!
|
Uketutu.com
ukulele tuning, and then some
HOT!
Archipelis for iPhone
3D sculpting
on the iPad!
 |
|
