Welcome to ImageStudio News! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~ o Contents of This File o What the Reviewers Think of ImageStudio o Upgrade Policy o Future Plans o Clarification of How to Send the Registration Fee o The Authors Would Like to Thank... o How to Contact the Authors Contents of This File ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This file is new for ImageStudio-1.2.0 and will be updated with every new release. It will contain any new information that is relevant to the new release, as well as any new ideas and future plans. The format is quite flexible, and is intended just to be an interesting read - we hope you like it. Andy and Graham Dean. What the Reviewers Think of ImageStudio ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since the release of the first version of ImageStudio, the program has been reviewed in many magazines. We include some quotes below: "This program is superb." Amiga Pro, Larry Hickmott, December '94 "This is a real prize program. ... Registration is only 10UK pounds, a sound investment if you ask me... 96%" Amiga User International, December '94 "Perhaps the most impressive feature is the option to use a hard disk as virtual memory ... a feature that would be welcome in many commercial offerings." Amiga Computing, December '94 "It's a promising package... 88%" Amiga Format, November '94 "ImageStudio is an impressive program - all the more considering this is the first revision... 90%" Amiga Shopper, December '94 "It is impossible to choose between ImageStudio and Blackboard, [Blackboard] has better effects, but [ImageStudio] has better overall handling... 89%" C.U.Amiga, December '94 "This is a very stable and useful program with features which are worth a lot more that the asking price. ... I urge you to contribute your shareware fee as soon as possible to get the most from this excellent program." Amiga Pro, Phil South, December '94 Upgrade Policy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When we initially released ImageStudio, we had a "flexible" upgrade policy, i.e. we'd see what the reaction was and judge our response accordingly. Happily, the reaction has been very positive and we have had a very healthy response. Due to the number of people registering, it has become obvious that we cannot continue to give upgrades using the current method; i.e. you send us a disk and return packaging, and we'll send you the latest version. We have therefore decided on the following upgrade method, which should be quicker, cheaper and more convenient for everyone: o We will upgrade all existing users from earlier versions to v1.2.x for free using the existing upgrade method: - Overseas users can simply send us 2 disks and we will send you v1.2.x. We will re-use your packaging and pay for the postage. - Users in the United Kingdom should send us 2 disks and suitable postage (2 first class stamps are adequate). We will re-use your packaging. "Ahh!" scream the users in the UK, "But that means we're paying more for our upgrade than overseas users". This is not entirely true, as the overseas users paid 20US dollars for ImageStudio, which at today's exchange rate is slightly over 10UK pounds. It all works out fairly equal in the end. o From v2.0.0, the version to follow v1.2.x barring any major re-thinks, all users will be able to upgrade their registered version of the program from the unregistered freely-distributable version. This will work as follows: i) The registered user obtains a copy of the new version of the unregistered ImageStudio from their local PD library, bulletin board or InterNet site. ii) This unregistered version will be limited to images of upto 250x250 as before. iii) Upon running the unregistered version, the user selects the new "Upgrade..." menu item, and selects their registered copy of ImageStudio in the file requester given. iv) The program confirms that this is indeed a legal registered version and patches the new unregistered version with the user's details. v) When the user now runs the new patched version, it will be fully operational. We think that this method should work well for everyone - you, the user, don't have to keep sending us disks for upgrades and we can concentrate our time on improving the program instead of dealing with upgrades. If you have any comments on the above method, they can be sent to our address, given at the bottom of this file. Future Plans ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Usually developers are warey of announcing their future plans, but we think it's important for you to have a general idea of where the program is heading; we hope to give some ideas here. As the program has progressed to the current version, we have been listening to the users requests and comments on the operation of the program. As it is the user who ultimately buys the program, it makes sense for us to listen to all the suggestions we receive. The main aim of v1.x.x of the program was to build a solid core from which to expand, we think that with v1.2.x we have now done that. It is now time to expand. It has become obvious that the most requested feature from the users is ARexx support. This will boost the power of the program enormously, allowing for batch processing (e.g. turn all the GIF images in a drawer into IFF-ILBM images, or, turning all 24bit rendered raytracer files into HAM8) as well as the automation of commonly performed tasks (e.g. scale an image down to 80x40, remap to the Workbench palette and copy to the clipboard ready for making into an icon with IconEdit). The ability for packages supporting ARexx to communicate with each other also raises interesting possibilities (e.g. altering the colour balance of an image from within your desktop publisher, or, using ImageStudio in conjunction with the new DeluxePaint5). The possibilities are endless. Adding ARexx to ImageStudio is not a trivial task, and is likely to take some time. We can't guess how long it's likely to take - that all depends on other pressures of work, and such like. Please don't keep asking us "When's the next version out?" - expect it when you see it. Comments and suggestions are still very welcome of course, see below for our addresses. Clarification of How to Send the Registration Fee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have tried to clarify the proceedure for sending the registration fee to us. We can accept a wide range of payment methods, only a few cause problems. We accept: o 10UK pounds cash. o A 10UK pounds cheque, drawn on a UK bank. o A 10UK pounds postal order, purchased in the UK. o 20US dollars cash. o Eurocheque. o International money order. We *don't* accept any foreign cheques drawn on non-UK banks and we *don't* accept foreign postal orders. Note: Make sure that when sending cash, it is well wrapped in the envelope. The Authors Would Like to Thank... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Andy and Graham would like to thank: o Julie Brandon - for her suggestion of, and help with, the dynamic range expansion effect. o All those who've registered the program and made suggestions for improvements. Many thanks to you all! How to Contact the Authors ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Graham is available at: 14 Fielding Avenue Poynton Stockport Cheshire SK12 1YX ENGLAND for orders and queries. Andy is available via Email at: adean@eleceng.ucl.ac.uk for queries only. ------------------------------------------- All trademarks and copyrights acknowledged.