Thank you for purchasing Fractal Design Painter 4. We’ve worked hard to create this new version. We hope you enjoy it!
This READ ME file contains late-breaking information on Painter 4.0. Please read the QuickStart Guide for installation instructions. Be sure to either register through our electronic registration, or fill out and mail your Painter registration card so Fractal Design can let you know about the latest changes and improvements to the program. Registering entitles you to free technical support, our Gallery newsletter, product updates and special offers.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Mosaic: The Fill Selection option in the Mosaics dialog works perfectly for circles, but is often not able to totally fill arbitrary selections.
Net Painter:
• When sharing files on the network, first copy the file to your Network Folder. When you have the Green Light, then do Send File on Net to put it on everyone else's Network Folder. Then it can be used by everyone, regardless of who has the Green Light.
• When sending files over the network, Net Painter does not display a progress dialog. Be sure to let the receivers know to expect a file before you send it, by using the chat window.
• Users who have PCI-based Macintosh computers should get the latest version of Open Transport (we recommend 1.0.7 and above) for the best network reliability.
• If you are using Net Painter, be sure to set the same Undo level on all machines. Also, when using Shapes with Net Painter, be sure to have the same Shapes preferences set. This will also prevent inconsistencies.
• Net Painter does not handle low disk space well. Be sure all sites on the network ring have ample space to receive network transmitted files before starting a Net Painter session.
• If you make a gradation edit, save it before using. Otherwise the current script and Net Painter will not work properly.
• Frame Stacks don't work at all with Net Painter and can cause fatal errors that abort the network ring. Avoid this feature during Net Painter sessions.
Printing: The Invert Option in Page Setup doesn't work properly.
Photoshop 3.0: Imported Photoshop 3.0 files with hidden layers become visible floaters in Painter 4. You must manually hide them again.
KPT 3.0:
• KPT 3.0 has been tested and works with Painter 4.
• KPT 3.0 is not compatible with debugging INIT's such as "EvenBetterBusError". Make sure to disable any of these using the Extensions Manager before running Painter with KPT.
QuickTimeLibError: Cannot find Quicktime Lib
• Most often, this error happens on PPCs with 16 MB of RAM installed. What happens is: Painter is using around 13 MB of RAM which doesn’t allow enough memory left over for the Quicktime to initiate. The solution is to lower Painter’s preferred memory in Painter’s Get Info box to a figure that allows QT to open and still leave a memory buffer.
• Painter on PowerPCs requires the extensions, Quicktime and Quicktime PowerPlug to be present and turned on in the Extensions folder. Check to make sure they are present and active.
Apple QuickTime: In order to save Painter movies as QuickTime files, QuickTime needs about 2 times the size of a single frame in free memory to complete the operation. For example, to save full frame video (about 1 MB/frame), QuickTime requires about 2 M of free memory. This memory comes from System memory—not from Painter's memory partition. In order to verify that you have adequate free memory, switch to the Finder and choose "About This Macintosh…" from the Apple menu. The "Largest Unused Block" size listed should be at least 2 times the single frame size. If there is not enough memory available, try closing other open applications, or setting Painter's application partition to a smaller size.
QuickTime Capture: If you have a QuickTime-enabled video capture card, you can capture frames directly into Painter 4 by entering escape mode and then typing the "Q" key. To enter escape mode type the ESC key once, after doing QuickTime Capture(s) type the ESC key again to exit escape mode. The "Q" key will bring up a live-video window. Clicking once will capture the current frame into an untitled Painter document.
EPS Clipping Paths: In the EPS Save Options dialog box, the option to save the current selection as a clipping path has been disabled. This option is not available in Painter 4.
Extra Brushes: These are three very cool brush libraries that we've included with Painter 4. The first time you load any one of these brushes, there will be a slight delay while Painter builds the brush variant. The next time you load the brush, it will load much faster.
Frame Stacks:
• When using Frame Stacks, make sure there is adequate disk space available, especially when importing QuickTime movies.
• Creating a large Frame Stack could take a long time and can't be aborted. Check parameters carefully before you create one.
• Shapes do not automatically drop when the frame is advanced in a Frame Stack.
• Frame Stack Erase Frame erases to white, not the current paper color.
• If two Frame Stacks are set up for clone tracing, advancing the top frame stack does not advance the clone source frame stack.
• If using the "Save Frames on Playback" option with scripts and Frame Stacks: Undo doesn't work, and long brush strokes [long enough to span frames] do not work correctly.
HOW TO CONTACT TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Technical support is free of charge to registered users. Please have your registration number handy when contacting Fractal. When contacting us by phone, it is most helpful to be calling from the computer where you need support. This way we can work with you to solve the problem or demonstrate a particular function of the software.
To get support online or to just exchange tips, you can use Internet to contact Fractal Design.
