xRES 2.0.1 Special Edition ReadMe May 1996 Welcome to Macromedia(R) xRes(TM) Special Edition - the most powerful creative tool for hi-res images. No matter what your skill or experience level, Macromedia xRes Special Editionoffers you the tools to compose and create -- fast. No matter what your needs -- image layout and design, retouch- ing, creating compositions, collages, or photomontages, xRes provides enhanced creative functionality and productivity with its advanced handling of hi-res images. or combining painted and photographic effects -- Macromedia This file contains exciting information on the upgrade to the full version of Macromedia xRes, late breaking news that you should be aware of, and an explanation of how to get the best results creating images for the World Wide Web. And if you are creating for the web or for multimedia, you'll find that xRes' Direct Mode provides you with an excellent solu- tion for creating and editing images and compositions for online display. Web file formats like GIF89a, Progressive JPEG, and PNG make creating web images from hi-res images a snap! Macromedia xRes Special Edition offers a limited set of features the full version of Macromedia xRes. As an owner of this limited edition, you qualify for a special upgrade price to the full version. (See the offer included with your packaging for more information.) The complete version offers more powerful features like: *CMYK editing and color separations *Unlimited floating objects *Additional filters including Curves, Calculations, and artistic filters *Additional artistic brushes and presets *Additional textures *Path functionality, including path import from Macromedia FreeHand(tm) *Custom color libraries from Trumatch and Pantone *Batch conversion to and from Macromedia xRes' native file formats The full version of Macromedia xRes also includes other great goodies not included with the Special Edition: XTRAS Kai's Power Tools 3.0 S.E. Macromedia Edition including the Gradient Designer, the Texture Explorer, the Spheroid Designer and a sampler of Compact Filters using the new Lens FX interface.These filters ship with over 700 Graphic Presets exclusive to Macromedia customers! STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY & GOODIES Over 450 MB of high and low resolution photography in xRes' native LRG format from vendors like PhotoDisc, Visual Language, Texture Farm, Classic Photographic Image Objects, Image Kit, Digital Stock Corporation and Xaos Tools. GOODIES Goodies include fonts and demos of other Xtras from 3rd party vendors! ADVANCED IMAGING TUTORIAL Included are sample files and a step-by-step of basic and advanced techniques. FULL DOCUMENTATION Included are a Getting Started manual and User Guide. To upgrade to the full version, contact Macromedia at 1-800-457-1774 in the United States and Canada, or 415-252-2000 in the rest of the world. LATE BREAKING NEWS There is so much good stuff in Macromedia(R) xRes(TM) 2.0 S.E.,we just couldn't fit it all into the User Guide in time. Included in this ReadMe is any last minute information that you might need about third-party plug-in filters, file formats, documentation, corrections, and more! USING THE ACCESS SHELL When trying to run the xRes application from the xRes 2.0 Access Shell, it is possible on some configurations to run out of RAM. If this should happen, try closing other applications that may be open. INSTALLING xRES 2.0 WITHOUT USING THE ACCESS SHELL Insert the xRes 2.0 CD. Click the start button (click File Menu in Windows 3.1 and Windows NT) and then click Run. Type D:\xres20\setup.exe (where D is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.) Follow the directions in the installer. USING PLUG-IN FILTERS Windows 3.1 Plug-in filters do not work in Windows 3.1 in the S.E. version The full version of xRes has complete plug-in support for Windows 3.1. Windows 95 and Windows NT To use plug-in filters, either install or drag already installed plug-ins into the Xtras folder in the Program Files/Common Files/Macromedia/Xtras directory. Then make sure "Support Plug-ins" is checked in the Preferences > General dialog. Access Preferences > Set Plug-In Folder, locate the Xtras folder, and click Select at the bottom of the dialog then relaunch xRes. The following plug-ins have been tested with Macromedia xRes: *KPT 3.0(TM) (In Windows95 and Windows NT), by Meta Tools *KPT 2.0(TM) (In Windows 3.1), by Meta Tools PLUG-IN TIPS Correction to the documentation: Plug-ins are designed to work in the Direct Work Mode and are disabled in the xRes Work Mode. If you are using a plug-in that is not on the approved list, then try it on a dummy file before using it in an important project. USING KPT FILTERS Take note of the following issues when using KPT filters: The Gradients on Paths features of KPT 3.0 may not work on larger files. The Angular Shapeburst of the KPT Gradient Designer will apply as a Rectangular Shapeburst. If you are working in the CMYK Mode, keep in mind that the filters in KPT 2.1 and 3.0 preview the effect as if it were applying in RGB Mode. Macromedia is currently working on ensuring compatibility with other plug-in vendors. WORKING WITH FILE FORMATS Recommended File Format: Macromedia recommends that, whenever possible, you use the TIFF file format to go back and forth between xRes and other applications. DCS DCS 2.0 has no TIFF preview in this version of xRes. JPEG Documentation Correction: The xRes User Guide states that Progressive JPEG's are lossless. This is incorrect. Progressive JPEG's, like all JPEG's, use a compression scheme that may cause data loss in files. When you are saving JPEG files, a Quality slider may be set between 1 and 100; a value of 100 generates a lossless JPEG file. Photoshop 3.0 Files: In order to open Photoshop 3.0 files in xRes, make sure that 2.5 Compatibility is turned on in the Photoshop General Preferences. When exporting a PSD file for use in xRes, you must have a background layer in the file. If you make the background into a regular layer, then the file may cause problems in xRes. PERFORMANCE & COMPATIBILITY Rendering Times: The time it takes to render a file depends on the type of machine, the processor and memory installed, the size of the image, the number of objects in the image, and the commands applied to the image. Note that painting operations take longer than others to render because xRes must play back each individual brush stroke. Do not be disillusioned if you have done a lot of painting and the image takes a long time to render; simple image editing operations will render in a fraction of the time. Updating: In the current version of xRes, there are situations in which the application updates without an Updating Composite slider appearing on the screen. The program may appear frozen. In a few seconds the cursor will re-appear. Importing files into Indexed 256 Mode Files Importing Grayscale or Indexed files into Indexed files will cause problems because this type of import yields two different color tables that are incompatible. To bypass this situation, open the Grayscale or Indexed file you wish to import, then change the color mode to RGB or CMYK using Modify > Color Mode. Low Disk Situations Macromedia recommends that you have at least 50 MB free swap disk space at all times. To view the amount of free swap disk space, access Window > Inspectors > Info, and check the number next to Free Disk. xRes may operate at a slower pace or may experience update problems in low swap disk situations. If you are experiencing low swap disk problems, save your file as an MMI file (other file formats may not save in low disk situations), exit xRes, free up swap disk, then relaunch xRes. Text at Large Sizes: Some fonts are designed for use only up to a specific point size, after this size, they will not appear in the rendered document. (A rendered document is a file you have exported to any file format except MMI.) If you are using text at a point size of 400, test it out in a dummy document before using it in an important project. Preview Box The preview box will only work in True Color (24-bit) mode. It does not work in 16-or 8-bit mode. Switching the Color Depth of the Monitor If you are switching to or from an 8-bit display mode, quit xRes, switch modes, then relaunch. Switching to 8-bit while running xResmay result in corrupted floating panels. Wacom Drivers in WINDOWS NT Eraser support for the Art Pad II and Art Z II does not work in xRes in Windows NT. For more of the latest information concerning xRes tablet support, see New Pressure-Sensive Preference under Working with Brushes, Textures, & Gradients below. CUTTING, COPYING, & PASTING TO THE CLIPBOARD The Cut and Copy commands are used to copy information to the clipboard. The Cut command cuts the entire object from the document, even if there is a selection. When you Paste after applying the Cut command, the entire object will be pasted. The Copy command copies the image area inside of a selection. When you Paste after applying the Copy command, only the image area inside of the selection will be pasted. When you paste an object into a document, that object appears in the top left corner of the zoomed out view of the document. You may not see this object if you are in a zoomed-in view; to see the object (and move it around), zoom out until you can see the entire image within the image window. To copy and paste between different applications (such as from xRes to Photoshop(TM)), use the Cut or Copy commands from the Direct Mode of xRes. The Direct Mode will copy the information to the system clipboard. WORKING WITH OBJECTS New Objects: When you click on the New Object Icon in the Objects Window, a dialog allows you to specify the size of the new object. For most new objects, you will want to uncheck the Transparency box in this dialog; otherwise, the object will appear as a clear sheet of acetate in the document. Filling Transparencies: In this version of xRes, you may not fill transparent objects with the Gradient Tool, the Bucket Tool, or the Edit > Fill command. Resize Error: A checkbox called Maintain Size appears in the Resize Document dialog (Modify > Resize > Document.) In some very large documents, xRes may generate an error message when you attempt to type in a new height, width, or resolution. If this error occurs, change the pop-up menus in the dialog to pixels before checking this checkbox. Rotate Commands: The Modify > Rotate > CW 90 and Modify > Rotate > CCW 90 menu commands rotate the entire document, not just the active object as documented. These commands allow a fast and easy way to rotate multi-object documents. The Modify > Rotate > Arbitrary command can be used to rotate the topmost active object. WORKING WITH BRUSHES, TEXTURES, & GRADIENTS New Pressure-Sensitive Preference: A new preference has been added to the General Preferences for customers using pressure-sensitive tablets. The Tablet Pressure, accessed by File > Preferences > Set Tablet Pressure, is now set on a scale of 0 to 255 to allow more flexibility in setting the tablet pressure. "Set Tablet Pressure" refers to the minimum pressure needed for xRes to register tablet input. Older tablets may require higher values. Scaled and Non-Scaled Textures: The Scale checkbox on the Textures palette is used to scale textures inxRes Mode. A texture is scaled according to the current zoom level. Forinstance, if you draw with a scaled textured brush and then zoom in or out, the view is magnified or reduced, respectively. If the texture is not scaled, then the textured brush strokes are played back at the screen size of each zoom level. In other words, non-scaled textures appear differently depending on the current zoom level. Therefore, Macromedia recommends that you use scaled textures to ensure that the textured brush strokes will reproduce accurately in the final rendered document. Default Gradient Set: A new feature has been added to Gradient Options--a menu command called "Default Gradient Set." You can access this command by the submenu on the Gradient Options Inspector. When you access Default Gradient Set, xRes resets the preset gradients to the shipping gradient set. Adding New Gradients: The list of gradients in the Gradient Options does not scroll at this time. If you are working on a low-resolution monitor and wish to add new gradients, it may be necessary to delete existing gradientsto makespace in the scroll-down list. To delete a gradient, selectone and then choose Delete from the Gradient submenu. PREVIEWING FILTERS One way to preview filters is to use the preview box, accessed by checking Use Preview Box in the General Preferences. The preview box previews the image as if you were applying the effect at the 1:1 zoom level. If you are working at a zoom level such as 1:4 or 1:8, the effect appearing in the preview window will not match the effect as applied to the image at the current zoom level. The preview box does not work in CMYK Mode or Indexed 256 Mode. CROP TOOL The documentation states that a cropped area may be resized propor- tionately by dragging out crop handles while holding down the Shift key. This is incorrect. The Shift key may be used while dragging out the initial crop rectangle to constrain this area to a square; however, the key cannot be used to proportionately resize the crop area. CROPPING OPTION A new dialog has been added that appears when you have cropped an image, applied alpha channels, and saved the file. This dialog only appears if you are working with a one-object document and saving the file as a format other than the MMI format. In this instance, a dialog allows you to either: a) keep the cropped boundaries of the document but delete any extra channels, or b) return the image to its uncropped size and keep the alpha channels. KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Windows substitutions: If you are reading the User Guide, make the following substitution for all keyboard shortcuts: *Use Alt instead of Option *Use Ctrl instead of Command *Ctrl-F4 is a reserved Windows(tm) shortcut used to close the current document. *Ctrl-F6 is a reserved shortcut used to switch the active document. *Ctrl-F may be used to toggle in and out of Full Screen Mode. *Caps Lock (not Shift) turns all tool cursors into crosshairs. Documentation Errors: The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+ and Ctrl- can be used to zoom either in or out. The function keys F1 through F12 control brush sizes; F1 creates a very small brush, while F12 creates a very large brush. The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl-13, Ctrl-14, and Ctrl-15 do not exist, because these function keys are not present on the Windows keyboard. PATENT INFO Macromedia has a license from the Unisys Corp. for the GIF compression used in xRes. The compression scheme is licensed under U.S. Patent No. 4,558,302 and foreign counterparts. (c)1996 Macromedia, Inc. All rights reserved.