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Transcript of Desktop Publishing Conference held in the Real Time Conference area of the ST RoundTable on GEnie, date October 21, 1991, with Codehead Software's Charles F. Johnson ================================================================================ (C) 1991 by Atari Corporation, GEnie, and the Atari Roundtables. May be reprinted only with this notice intact. The Atari Roundtables on GEnie are *official* information services of Atari Corporation. To sign up for GEnie service, call (with modem) 800-638-8369. Upon connection type HHH (RETURN after that). Wait for the U#= prompt. Type XJM11877,GEnie and hit RETURN. The system will prompt you for your information. ================================================================================ <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Good Evening, DeeTeePeople, and welcome to the Codehead GT Real Time Conference!! Tonight, Charles F. Johnson of Codehead software will be talking about their entries into the Desktop Publishing Market, namely the simply superior suite of software applications known as Avant Vector, Avant Plot, Repro Studio, and Genus Fonteditor. Now, I'm sure you all know how this works, but for those who haven't seen this before, here's some tips on how a formal RTC works. (You old pros can take a quick nap.....) The Room is now in Listen-Only mode; during the time that it is in this mode, you can only address our guest when I let you talk. To get my attention, just /RAIse your hand. To do this, just enter this from your keyboard: /rai I'll acknowledge your raised hand as soon as I can, but please be patient. I -WILL- let you know when your turn is coming up. Some other RTC commands are: ? - Lists all RTC commands. /sta - Status (list) of everyone in the RTC room. /exi - Exit the RTC, but you remain logged onto GEnie. /bye - Log off of GEnie directly from the RTC. /rai - Raise your hand. Lets me know you wish to address our guest. /nam - gives you a 'nickname' in the BBS, and allows us to talk to each other a little less formally. And now, let's get right to it. Charles, do you have any opening remarks to make? (You folks can start /RAIsing your hands now.) <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Hi folks..... We're very excited about our new products. They represent a level of graphic sophistication that has heretofore been sadly lacking on the ST and TT. Avant Vector is a truly amazing auto-tracing and vector editing program, that compares with (and surpasses in some ways) the products available for other platforms, like Adobe Streamline and Corel Draw. Avant Vector will take a bit-image graphic (such as an IMG or TIFF file) and convert it into vector graphics that can be scaled, rotated, skewed, etc., without any loss in resolution or the dreaded jaggies. And the auto-tracing functions of Avant Vector are, hands-down, the best on the market for any computer. Repro Studio is another amazing application with many features that are only available on other platforms, in programs like Adobe Photoshop. Repro Studio allows true 256 grey scale image editing, with many professional features like raster screening, pixel filtering, grey-scale protection, and a whole lot more. Our new font editor, Genus, is another fantastic piece of work, allowing you to create and edit Calamus fonts, convert Pagestream to Calamus, and a whole lot more. And there's even more great new stuff on the horizon, including a version of Avant Vector that will be able to load and use Adobe Type 1 fonts, for starters. Anyway, enough for the opening remarks....any questions? <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Well, quite the preamble, Charles! Let's start our questioning off with D.D.Martin (Don't be shy to /RAIse your hands, folks!) <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> thanks, Ron and Charles... BTW Charles.. I was impressed with AV at WAACE!! great stuff for the ST/TT machines... <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Thanks, DD. <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> I have a couple questions about the font converter... <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> will it convert Type 1's for ST use... for applications such as PageStream? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> The current version doesn't load Type 1 fonts, but there may very well be something like that in the works. Too early to state anything definite right now, though. GA <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> Does it build in hinting at smaller point sizes? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Unfortunately, the current Calamus font format does not support hinting. So Genus can't, either. But if (when) Calamus does support hinting, Genus will too. <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> thanks... charles.. and huggers <[Ron] R.GRANT11> OK, Thanks, D.D. Next up is Brian Schantz <[Brian] B.SCHANTZ1> The GENUS/Type 1 question has just been answered, so all I have to ask is: When does it ship? (You got my money at WAACE.) ;^) <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> We're just waiting on the binder inserts at this point. We expect to be shipping Genus inside of 2-3 weeks. GA <[Brian] B.SCHANTZ1> Thanks! ga <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Any other questions, Brian? <[Brian] B.SCHANTZ1> Not right now. <[Ron] R.GRANT11> OK. Charles, when you say binder inserts, does that mean the Genus will be like an add-on for Avant Vector? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Nope, I mean the cut-out inserts that go in the plastic covers of the manual binders. Genus will be a separate product. <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Ah, I see. OK, next is Jim Ness.... <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Although there are many similarities between the way Genus and Avant Vector manipulate vector graphics. <[Jim] J.NESS> Charles, I am wondering how it feels to be a reseller, rather than a writer, for these products? Does it make you feel any different a bout the market, or your future in it? Do you want to do more of this, maybe with other applications? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Well, Jim, to tell the truth, it's a little strange to be selliong products that I had no hand in writing! :) But these programs are the kind of applications that the ST really NEEDS in order to catch up with the rest of the computing world, so I am excited about them. And we're always open to new products. <[Jim] J.NESS> I'll bet it's tough to handle suggestions, etc. You can't just dive in and change the code. ga (I'm done) <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> We do have excellent lines of communication with the author of Avant Vector however, so suggestions can be quickly passed on. In fact, this is a good time to bring this up.... After all the comments about Encapsulated Postscript we received, we made a concerted effort to convince the Germans to add EPS load and save to the mid-level version of Avant Vector and the effort was successful! We're now going to be able to offer that (vital) feature without forcing users to pay close to $1000. And Avant Vector's EPS abilities are _awesome_. GA <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Gee.. That's sounds cool, Charles. Now you've got THREE levels of the program? Can you take a moment to list them? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Nope....the mid-level version (Avant Vector, as opposed to the high-end Avant Plot) will become the EPS version. <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Oh, so there is no real 'Low-level' version, then? At least, not anymore? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Actually, we may still market the low-end version (Avant Trace) as well, if there's enough demand for it. <[Ron] R.GRANT11> OK, Matt is up next... <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> I'm *very* interested in autotracing; how detailed are the features traceable? For example, would Avant Vector be able to follow the Publish magazine Sailboat test, i.e. recognizing the inside and outside of thin lines and greyscale graduations? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> I'm not familiar with that test, Matt....but I can tell you that I made a point of testing Avant Vector's auto-trace functions against almost every other tracing program when we were at the Seybold show, and AV blew them all away for accuracy. I'll be uploading some example traces soon. GA <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> Sounds Great! Maybe this has been asked: is Avant Plot more drafting oriented or just more professional-grade features? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Avant Plot has the ability to output to HP-compatible plotters and sign-cutters. That's the main difference at this point. <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> Similar then to the CAMM-1? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> As well as more levels of tracing resolution. GA <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> Thanks Charles, GA <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Any further questions, Matt? <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> Are all versions of the program waiting for binder spines? ...pant...drool...:-) <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Actually, we've sold out of our entire first shipment of Avant Vector now....the next shipment will be the EPS version, and we expect to have it within 2 weeks. <[Matt] M.WEILERT2> I look forward to using these, I've lusted after them for months, having read about them in Atari PD Journal. Thanks mucho. GA Ron :-) <[Ron] R.GRANT11> You gotta have the binders, to keep the manuals dry..... <grin> Right-o, next up is Vern... <[Vern] V.HUTZ> AV seemed to be faster and smoother than Arabsque can you tell us what it's other advantages are? If you don't mind the comparison <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> All I can say is that if you want auto-tracing, you _don't_ want that other program you mentioned. At the WAACE show, I demonstrated the difference between those 2 programs, and let's just say that only one of them was suitable for real professional work. (Guess which. <grin>) GA <[Vern] V.HUTZ> Can you direct me toward any router plotters whioch are known to interface with AV? GA <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Avant Plot is optimized for use with Hewlett Packard plotters. GA <[Vern] V.HUTZ> Do they actually make the mechanical panel routers? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> I'm afraid I don't understand the question, Vern. My experience with plotters is quite limited. Can you expand a bit? <[Vern] V.HUTZ> Thanks. I own AV since WAACE and am enjoying learning it. I'm done. { the actuale act of mechanically cutting out a sign board for ins tance.} GA <[Ron] R.GRANT11> OK, Thanks for being with us, tonight, Vern This plotter stuff is completely over my head, I'll confess. :-) I'm just glad YOU know what HPGL is, Charles. OK, let's have D.D. up again... <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> Charles.. AV's tracing ability was great. Are there any drawing features in the program.. like graduated/radial/postscript filles... rotated text etc? ga <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> The current version does not support those kinds of features, DD. However, there IS a version now in beta test which will do all that and more. Can you say, "Type 1?" <grin> <[Swampy] D.D.MARTIN> oh WOW!!!! You get my attention every time when ya say it hon... <wink> The ST platform really NEEDS this kind of stuff ...GCR is the only way we can get it right now.. so it's a step forward <[Ron] R.GRANT11> OK, folks, we're taking last minute questions before we go into informal mode. Just /RAI your hands and we'll chat a bit further with Charles! <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> You're so right, DD. Avant Vector is one of the programs that will help bring the ST/TT to the heights we all knew it was capable of. And I ended a sentence with a preposition, and don't even CARE! :) <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Welp, that about wraps it up, here, folks. Charles, do you have any final words? <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Final words? Gee, that sounds kind of ominous! :) <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Last cigarette? <grin> <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Yes: ...... We really are excited about this new line of products, and the initial response has done a lot to change our attitudes toward the US Atari market. Avant Vector (and Repro Studio and Genus) are going to make a lot of smug Mac and PC users sit up and take notice of the ST. And that can only be a good thing. <grin> <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Great, Charles! Thanks for being here tonight... Hey, Ringo, do you have one last question for Charles? (Ringo is from Lexicor) (Can't let him off too easy, folks!) <[Ringo] R.MONFORT1> Hi, Charles this only to say that great products you have. <[CodeHead GT] C.F.JOHNSON> Thanks, Ringo! <[Ringo] R.MONFORT1> That makes the ST a very good DTP system. That is all for now. <[Ron] R.GRANT11> Well, that's it, folks. Next week, Sandy Cerovich will be runnin' herd on you Peepul here on the Regular Monday Night Desktop Publishing Conference, so I'll see you in two weeks! We're going informal now.... Room is now in the talk mode.