=========================================================================
        ONLINE CONFERENCE - NOVA DESIGN, CREATORS OF IMAGE FX 2.0
=========================================================================

[Recently, Portal held a conference with Nova Design, the creators and
publishers of ImageFX, the graphic processing system being reviewed in AR
as we speak. -Jason]

Harv: TONITE WE HAVE THE HONOR OF PRESENTING TO YOU....  THREE GUYS WHO
      FORM A COMPANY...  THAT IS A RARITY THESE DAYS...  NOT ONLY DO THEY
      MAKE *ONLY* AMIGA PRODUCTS...  BUT THEY SUPPORT IT, AND HAVE NO
      PLANS TO DO ICKY STINKY PEECEE PORTS OF IT...  :) THIS COMPANY IS
      NOVA DESIGN INC...  THEIR PRODUCT IS IMAGEFX2...  AND THEIR NAMES
      ARE KERMIT WOODALL, TOM KREHBIEL, AND BOB FISHER...

Kermit: Actually, we're only porting to the VIC-20.  <grin>

Harv: IMAGEFX2 HAS BEEN FAVORABLY COMPARED TO ADOBE PHOTOSHOP IN ITS POWER
      AND FLEXIBILITY...  AND IT IS A MASSIVELY WONDERFUL PROGRAM DO YOU
      GUYS HAVE ANY INTRO REMARKS?

Harv: BEFORE WE START TAKING QUESTIONS...  LET'S POLL THE AUDIENCE
      HERE....  DEAR ALL ....  IF YOU CURRENTLY OWN IMAGEFX 1.5 OR 2.0
      PLEASE ENTER "1.5" OR "2.0" RIGHT NOW

Harv: 2.0
jcompton: 2.0
jpawluk: 1.5
DrGandalf: 1.5
Bob: 2.1
Kermit: .90, 1.0, 1.01, 1.5, 2.0, and... :)

Harv: IF YOU CURRENTLY OWN A COMPETING PRODUCT, ENTER "ADP" FOR ADPRO (ANY
      VERSION) OR "IM" FOR IMAGEMASTER (ANY VERSION)

soft-logik: IM
DonnOK: ADP  ...
DrGandalf: ADP
Harv: ADP
Lyonking: ADP
jpawluk: ADP IM
ted-c: adp,im,TV Paint
ScottJ: ADP & IM
Drakon: ADP
grog: adp

Harv: OKAY KERMIT.. LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE A GOOD CROWD TO SELL TO :) WE'RE READY
     FOR QUESTIONS.
     
DonnOK: Does the product support 24 bit cards like the retina on a A2000??

Kermit: Yes.  On the Retina Z2/Z3 we can put up windowed 16/24bit
        previews.

Harv: KERMIT...  HOW ABOUT A LIST OF WHICH BOARDS YOU DRIVE?  IF YOU CAN
      REMEMBER THEM ALL..

Kermit: Ummm...it's easier to say which ones we DON'T preview on
        actually...  We don't preview on the Mimetics Framebuffer, the
        Harlequin and such...  We don't currently preview on Picasso II,
        EGS based boards or the Toaster...

Drakon: :(

Harv: DCTV, HAM-E, ETC. 

Kermit: Not right now.

Kermit: We do render out to all of these boards except the Mimetics.

jcompton: Well, ok, I'll be the first to two-part you.  Followup to the
          last question: Do you plan CyberGraphics support?

Kermit: Yes, we plan full Cybergraphics support.

Harv: JASON IN 25 WORDS OR LESS, WHAT IS THAT, FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW?

jcompton: CyberGraphics is a new shareware RTG system designed for most
          graphics boards, including the soon-to-be-released CyberVision.

Harv: AND WHO MAKES CYBERVISION

jcompton: CyberVision is made by Phase 5/AS&S Germany.  AS&S currently has
          no US distributor.

jcompton: Secondly, how serious is your Amiga support?  Even some of the
          most prolific companies are now in the "We'd like to continue
          supporting the Amiga" rather than the "We WILL continue
          supporting the Amiga"...

Bob: WE WILL continue to support AMI

Harv: (TOM ALSO WROTE VIEWTEK AND REND24 FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO MAY NOT KNOW
      THAT)

soft-logik: Does FX do virtual memory?

TomK: Yes.

Harv: (has its own built-in VM. doesn't need gigamem, etc.)

Kermit: Definitely.  However the virtual memory is only for images, not
        for the software itself.  This allows it to be much faster and
        work on ALL Amigas, not just those with MMUs.

TheDuck: excuse me, very off topic question...  do you have any plan in
         the future for non-graphics software?...  ie: music software? 

Harv: that's a legit question.

Bob: uh...

Kermit: We've got ImageFX EGS 1.61 ...thats just got a little graphics in
        it.  <grin>

TomK: I wish... :)

Bob: But it sounds really bad...

Kermit: Seriously, our future software plans aren't set in stone.  We'll
        make public announcements when something is ready.

ScottJ: Kermit, will IFX ever add support for Video For Windows &
        QuickTime?  The source code for some of the codecs is in the Xanim
        source code.

Kermit: Scott...that's being investigated now.  We certainly don't want to
        move on it too fast and have another GIF-like problem.

Bob: QT sux

Kermit: (The above is a reference to the GIF/LZW controversy from CIS)

TomK: Tell us what you _really_ think, Bob.. :)

DonnOK: What does IFX feature that ADP doesn't like functions on image or
     output??..

Kermit: Don, for a full list I'd have to refer you to the press releases
        we have online here and everywhere.  It's a LONG list.  Big items:
        Visual image loading and thumbnail image previews, lightning
        effects, PaintFX - turn your images into simulated paintings or
        animated paintings, natural media painting modes, painting, more
        loaders/savers which are all included, etc.

Bob: It would take HOURS to just list what IFX does that adp doesn't

Harv: (don't forget arexx macro recording.  hit one key, record all your
      mouse clicks for playback later)

DrGandalf: Kermit, I am unclear, did you say you currently do or don't
           support the Harlequin?...  [can't fall behind ADPro, Y'know
           :)]...

Kermit: We do support the Harlequin for rendering.  Actually Xi wrote it
        for us.

DrGandalf: Included with 2.0?

Kermit: Yep.
Harv: Tom....  you are aware, of course, of this new very fast jpeg code
      such as in...  "FastJPEG_AGA" yes?...  will you implement that in
      ImageFX?  and if not why not :)
      tom, fjpeg loads .jpg files about 2-3x as fast as viewtek with less
      artifacting.

TomK: I personally haven't seen "FastJPEG", but I have heard it mentioned
      a few times.

Kermit: It's my understanding the author rewrote the IJG jpeg code into
        assembly. 
     
TomK: That's probably on the list of things to look into though (if I know
      Kermit).

Harv: tom..  okay...  viewtek question for you...  I'd like to see you
      expand what it does a bit...  i.e.:::: say i'm using it to view pics
      off a cd rom...  something I do a lot...  and I see one i want to
      copy to my hard drive...  how about puting something in vt's
      interface to let me do that?  GA (so I don't have to use opus AND
      viewtek to do what one could do alone) (or maybe i should just
      config opus to use viewtek :)

TomK: I'm not sure that I'd want to put a dirutil into VT, there's really
      not much of an 'interface' there for that.  For now, I'd recommend
      just configuring DirOpus to use VT.  :)
 
Harv: well not a whole dirutil.. just a "copy to" button. (beg beg).

JeffW: I have image fx 2.0 and I am very pleased. Does the program support now
     or in the future the epson 1200c scanner at 2400 x 2400 dpi. and how much
     memory would be needed at that dpi? GA

Kermit: ImageFX 2.0 does support the es1200c ...as for memory usage...Tom?

TomK: 2400x2400dpi 8.5x11 @ 24-bit == c. 1577MB according to my calculator
      
      [Yes, IFX 2.0 supports 2400dpi.]
      
Harv: (you wouldn't really want to scan the whole 8x11 bed at 24 bit color at
     2400dpi unless you were tottally insane, of course)
     (at 2400dpi you could fill the screen with the head of a pin..
     literally)

grog: speaking of GIF, do you guys support gif 89a with transparency?

Kermit: We do not support GIF89a with transparency.  Given the state of
        affairs that Compuserve has created with GIF, it's not likely to
        happen now.

soft-logik: A series of questions inspired by ImageMaster: How fast is IFX
            vis-a-vis IM
            Is it style Guide Compliant
            Do you get a manual?
            What scanners are supported?
            
Kermit: Whoa!  Ok...here goes...

TomK: AUISG compliant:  Yes.

Kermit: We're faster in about everything than any competing package on the
        Amiga...

Kermit: You get a great manual...heavily illustrated and around 400 or
        more pages...

Harv: (fantastic manual)

soft-logik: So, it's nothing like ImageMaster. ;-)

jcompton: (Harv particularly likes the online manual)

Kermit: We support the Epson line of scanners, Sharp JX100, and most all
        framegrabbers.

Harv: (I wrote the online manual :) (IFX2 has *tons* of online help key
      help)

Kermit: Our online HELP system is second to none.  Actually readable and
        well put together.  Right Mr.  Laser?

Harv: ;)

ScottJ: Kermit, do you know if IFX will work on any of the 060 boards?

TomK: Scott:  It should.

Kermit: Never seen one.  Totally unknown.  Are they even available???

jcompton: Kermit- No, but they're always nice thoughts. :)

Bob: Scott, could you loan me one for testing? :)

Kermit: Tom's the authority on that though.  Since he said "yes", I'll say
        yes too.

TomK: I just flipped a coin... :)

Kermit: Darn...that takes all the mystery out of it now. ;)

DonnOK: I am a loyal Amiga fan, don't get me wrong, but ......Are there
        any problems with IBM or mac OS s/w or h/w such that you will not
        port to them??

Kermit: Yes. ;)

Harv: get photoshop

Kermit: Seriously, why should any Amiga owner care?

jcompton: What is Nova's policy on development documentation for hooks,
          and are you planning to release hooks on any sort of regular
          basis?

Kermit: Tom?

TomK: The developer info for IFX 2.0 should be ready this week.

Kermit: We have plans for updates, similar to our past schedules.

Bob: and it only costs 5,000 dollars...make checks out to Bob Fisher
     [Bob's kidding.  The developer information is free, and hooks can be
     freely redistributed or sold at the developer's discretion.]

Harv: okay me again..  another one for tom probably...  when using
      paintfx, sometimes I get into a situation....  where i've asked it
      to do something totaly stupid....  such as use 3000 brush strokes or
      something....  I can pound on the cancel button but often it takes
      forever to cancel....  besides "don't do that, stupid" is there a
      way....  for the cancel button to be recognized before the gas gauge
      hits its first marker?

Kermit: The simple answer is...oh, I see you mentioned that, well the
        moderate answer is that PaintFX is internally quite complex and it
        has to setup lots of stuff.  Cancelling simply isn't implemented
        until it's actually doing sometime to an image.

TomK: Actually it checks the cancel gadget in between the fuel gauge
      markers, but sometimes (like probably in the case you mention,
      depending on the brush size), it just takes a while to get around to
      checking for the cancel.  Or, what kermit said.  :)

Harv: is there no way to make it see cancel immediately?

TomK: Harv - I'll have to look into that some more.

Lyonking: Is Cinemorph included in IFX 2.0 and if so was it improved over
          the previous version?

Kermit: Yes.  CineMorph, as always, is included with ImageFX 2.0 ...  it
        has several improvements.  It has color displays and can use the
        thumbnail image requestor and has had ARexx added to it.

ScottJ: Kermit, what about Photo CD support and the new TIFF-JPG picture
        format?  Also, when is the demo version of IFX 2.0 going to be
        uploaded?

Kermit: We've included that public domain PhotoCD compatible loader as
        part of an "extras" package on our disks.  The TIFF/JPG format has
        been somewhat of a philosophic issue here...we tend to agree with
        the Independant JPEG Group that no one should imbed JPEG images
        inside another file format for no productive reason, but as we are
        a conversion package we are looking at possibly support for
        LOADing these but not saving them.  As for the demo...real soon
        now!

Harv: ifx's photocd loader works perfectly. use it all the time.

ted-c: Any plans for ImageFX to run natively on graphic baords because
       while 24 bit is nice, the increased resolution is now a
       necessity, not a luxury.

Kermit: What would "natively" mean?

ted-c: paint, run the program on a separate screen (i've got the picasso
       board) rather than just a preview or render screen

Kermit: ImageFX 2.0 can run in windows on a single screen on the regular
        Amiga Workbench and in 24bits on the Retina Workbench.
        Cybergraphics support for similar displays is coming.

Bob: If those companies would be more AMIGA friendly there'd be a lot of
     s/w for them

Harv: (If you have an AGA machine you can run imagefx on a 256 color workbench
     including its preview window which is pretty cool)

ted-c: kermit, I was just tryin' to say that editing files in a 1280x1024
       screen is really very productive.

Kermit: I agree...it's fully possible in ImageFX 2.0.

ScottJ: As the only image processing program still being upgraded, how
        much longer do you think you can continue to support the Amiga?
        Also any chance of CDXL support being added to IFX 2.0?

jcompton: As a point of order, I wouldn't go so far as to call IFX the
          only image-processing program still being updated.

Bob: Easilly through 1996 even if there is never another Amiga made!

Kermit: There's darned little call for CDXL support and darned little info
        on it.

DonnOK: Do you work with NS's Vlab framegrabber, and how much menmory on the
     average do you need for imputting images from this source fro manipulating
     these images (aprox 75 dpi??) ....
     
TomK: A hires lace overscan framegrab would use about 1MB of memory, I
      think.