Fresh Fish 5/FreshFish_July-August1994.bin/bbs/biz/adpro25pr-2.5.lha/ADPro25PR/ADPro25PressRelease.txt

Text File | 1994-01-29 | 6KB | 204 lines

ADPro 2.5 is now available for upgrading.  For the first time, you can
upgrade  your  ADPro  over  the phone via credit card.  Here's a press
release detailing some of the changes made in ADPro 2.5.  Mailings are
going  out  now to registered users.  Since you can upgrade via phone,
however,  we wanted to post this electronically sooner that we have in
the past.

Upgrade line is: [phone]

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                                                 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE





AMIGA'S TOP IMAGE PROCESSOR GETS BRAND NEW LOOK AND MORE





In  what  the  company  terms  "the  most  significant  upgrade in its

history",  ASDG's  Art  Department  Professional  (ADPro)  now  offers

unmatched  display board support, over 100 pre-written ARexx programs,

direct support for the Fargo Primera dye sublimation printer, new file

formats  and  operators,  and  an  entirely  new  look  and feel which

dramatically boosts ease-of-use.



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Madison,  WI,  January  14,  1994  ----  ASDG  Incorporated, a leading

supplier  of  color  imaging  and  special  effects  solutions for the

television  and  motion  picture  industries,  announce Art Department

Professional (ADPro) version 2.5.  According to the company, ADPro 2.5

is "the most significant upgrade in the product's history".



ADPro  version  2.5  offers a choice of several completely style guide

compliant user interfaces.  According to company president, Mr.  Perry

Kivolowitz,  "A  new and thoroughly modern user interface was our most

requested  improvement.  We surveyed our customers and found that some

preferred  a  list  oriented graphical user interface (GUI) for speed,

while  others  preferred  a  button  oriented GUI for ease-of-use.  We

implemented both and allowed them to be intermixed configurably."



The  result,  says  the company, is an easier-to-use ADPro in which no

major  feature is more than a mouse click away.  Comments which typify

beta  tester  feedback  to the new user interface include those of Mr.

Brick  Eksten,  of  Expert  Services.   Says  Mr.  Eksten, "I find the

interface  to  be  much faster, and that helps me get more work done."

These  sentiments  were  echoed  by Mr.  Kenneth Wilder, Head Animator

with Marmalade, who found the new user interface alone gained him a 20

percent increase in productivity.



ADPro's  GUI  now runs on many third party display boards, such as the

Picasso,  using RTG (ReTargetable Graphics) technology.  ADPro can now

render  images  in  a window on the same screen as its user interface,

bringing  new  levels  of  WYSIWYG  performance to the product.  Other

newly  supported  third party hardware includes:  DPS PAR, EGS, Retina

Z-III and Retina, and the Video Toaster.



The  Amiga's  finest  image format support has gotten even better with

the  addition  of 6 new file formats in ADPro and 3 new formats in the

(optional)  Professional Conversion Pack (PCP).  To ADPro, the company

has  added  support  for  Commodore's  CDXL  animation format, Digital

Broadcaster  JStream  files,  FLC  and  FLI  animations, ICO files and

direct  reading  and writing of Workbench icons.  The PCP has grown to

support  files  in the SGI, Alias, and Wavefront (both the RLA and RLB

varieties)  formats.   Owners  of  the PCP should note that, as in the

past, their PCP modules will be upgraded as part of the ADPro upgrade.



ADPro 2.5 directly supports the revolutionary Fargo Primera printer in

its  dye  sublimation  mode  (its  thermal  transfer  mode was already

supported   by   ADPro's   PrefPrinter  saver).   "The  Primera  is  a

breakthrough due to its low price," said Sales Manager Gina Cerniglia.

"We've  adapted  our  state-of-the-art  printer  support  to drive the

Primera in dye sub mode including the ability to print huge posters in

amazing color."



ADPro  2.5  includes more than 100 pre-written ARexx programs, many of

which are interactively customizable by the user.  Used in conjunction

with  the latest version of FRED, these ARexx programs can be combined

in  an  infinite number of ways, producing a huge array of full motion

special  effects automatically.  And, ADPro now allows users to define

their  own  ARexx  programs  which  can  be incorporated directly into

ADPro's configurable user interface.



Many  other  improvements or additions have been made to ADPro such as

the  ability  to perform alpha channel blending with nearly every file

format,   not  just  those  that  support  their  own  alpha  channel.

Composits  can now be performed over a range of colors permitting more

flexible  chroma keying.  New operators include Histogram Equalization

and a brush-based Pattern operator.  A new program called CineMorph is

included  which converts streams of images between 24 frame per second

film style and 60 field per second video style time bases.



ADPro  2.5 also sports greatly improved documentation.  ADPro's manual

now  includes  9  tutorials,  many  more pictures and diagrams, and an

expanded   ARexx  programming  section.   The  manual  has  also  been

reorganized  (and  its  index  expanded)  based upon customer feedback

making it easier to use and more helpful.



ADPro  2.5's price will remain unchanged at $299.  Existing owners can

upgrade for $45 plus shipping and can, for the first time, upgrade via

telephone using Visa, MasterCard, or AmericanExpress.



For  more  information,  please  contact  Ms.   Gina Cerniglia at ASDG

Incorporated,  925 Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273

6585.   Expert  Services  can be reached at [phone].  Marmalade

can be reached at [phone].


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