Amiga Plus Extra 1996 #6/AmigaPlus-eXtra-6-96.iso.7z/AmigaPlus-eXtra-6-96.iso/demo-versionen/xipaint/3.0-3.2_e

Text File | 1987-06-24 | 39KB | 1,587 lines

                     Xi-Paint  3.2

                    Thomas Dorn
                Herbert Beilschmidt

                     August 1995


                 Changes  3.0 -> 3.2
                 ===================

   Contents


   1   New Output Driver
       1.1   Overview
       1.2   Features of the Drivers
            1.2.1   Picasso II
            1.2.2   EGS
            1.2.3   HAM6, HAM8
            1.2.4   AA 256 Colors
            1.2.5   CyberGraphX
            1.2.6   VD2001
            1.2.7   Framemaster
            1.2.8   Graffity
            1.2.9   Merlin
            1.2.10  Retina

   2   Improved Features
       2.1   Support of Graphic Tablets
            2.1.1   Overview
            2.1.2   Pressure Menu
            2.1.3   Some Hints
       2.2   Zoom
       2.3   Brush Operations
            2.3.1   Antialias at Brush-Manipulations
            2.3.2   Changes at the Brush Queue
            2.3.3   Creating a Brush out of a Picture
       2.4   Image-Processing Functions for Projects
            2.4.1   Frame/Field Conversion
            2.4.2   Rotating Projects
       2.5   Improvement of Paint-Functions
            2.5.1   Antialiasing for Lines
       2.6   Support of Extrenal Programs
            2.6.1   Printing with Studio 2.0
            2.6.2   Printing with Turboprint Professional 3.0
            2.6.3   Improvements of the User-Port
       2.7   Comfort Functions
            2.7.1   Drag & Drop
            2.7.2   Saving of System Settings
            2.7.3   Switchable Mini-Pic Generation
            2.7.4   Minipic File-Requester
            2.7.5   Notify at the Filerequester

   3   Requester and Menus
       3.1   Brush-Requester
            3.1.1   New Menus
            3.1.2   Manual Brush-Queueing
       3.2   System-Configuration by a Notebook
            3.2.1   Overview
            3.2.2   Line
            3.2.3   Brush
            3.2.4   Picture
            3.2.5   Printer
            3.2.6   In/Out
            3.2.7   Load
            3.2.8   Save
            3.2.9   Scanner
            3.2.10  System
            3.2.11  Paths
            3.2.12  Maus
            3.2.13  User-Port
       3.3   Color-Requester
            3.3.1   Simplified Handling
            3.3.2   New RGB-Triangle
            3.3.3   CMY instead CMYK
       3.4   Shade-Requester
       3.5   Cycle-Requester
       3.6   Mask-Requester
       3.7   Lighttable-Window
       3.8   Filter-Requester

   4  New Load- and Save-Modules
       4.1  Overview
       4.2  Loaders
       4.3  Savers

   5  Fixed Bugs

   6  Frequent User-Errors

   7  The Future







 Chapter  1


 New Output Driver


  1.1   Overview
  1.2   Features of the Drivers
       1.2.1   Picasso II
       1.2.2   EGS
       1.2.3   HAM6, HAM8
       1.2.4   AA 256 Colors
       1.2.5   CyberGraphX
       1.2.6   VD2001
       1.2.7   Framemaster
       1.2.8   Graffity
       1.2.9   Merlin
       1.2.10  Retina





 1.1    Overview


Because of the splitting beetween painting and output functions in
Xi-Paint, it's easy to support new graphic boards.  The result of
this efforts can be found on this CD: a variety of new drivers for
Xi-Paint.

Although it's been said many times, once more: Regardless of the
output driver you choose to for use with Xi-Paint, the program
internally works at a color depth of 24 bit.  This means, every
picture you save is 24 bit deep.  Even if the driver dithers your
output screen, there will be not dither patterns in the resulting
picture.

After correct installation of the package, you can choose the output
drivers within the Xi-Prefs program.  For more detailled informa-
tion, please refer to the "Manual 3.0" section 3.2 "setting of the
graphic adapter".





 1.2    Features of the Drivers


  1.2.1   Picasso II
  1.2.2   EGS
  1.2.3   HAM6, HAM8
  1.2.4   AA 256 Colors
  1.2.5   CyberGraphX
  1.2.6   VD2001
  1.2.7   Framemaster
  1.2.8   Graffity
  1.2.9   Merlin
  1.2.10  Retina





 1.2.1   Picasso II


For the Picasso there is a 16 bit and a 24 bit version available. The
16 bit version offers a limited range of 65535 display colors, but
can be used with higher resolutions or refresh rates than the 24 bit
driver.  The available resolutions depend on the size of the video
memory installed on your Picasso. They can be selected using the
Picasso screenmode requester.





 1.2.2   EGS


The EGS driver can be switched beetween 24 bit and 8 bit displays
with the EGS-Mode requester.  It doesn't depend on the type of
graphic device you're using.  But notice that in 8 bit setting the
EGS system uses software dithering (Xi-Paint has no influence on
that). The algorithm used leads to regular patterns at unicolored
areas (there is nothing Xi-Paint can do against ist).





 1.2.3   HAM6, HAM8


Xi-Paint supports the HAM mode of the Amiga custom chips as
well (even HAM-8 at AA/AGA machines). Xi-Paint uses a special
mapping algorithm for converting the internal 24 bit colors into
HAM display.  This sometimes causes the typical HAM stripes,
but they have (as mentioned above) no influence at the resulting
picture.  You can select the available resolutions at the standard
ASL screenmode requester.

The Xi-Paint screen is also an Amiga Public-Screen. This means,
programs like the Clock or the Shell can open their windows at this
screen (try the parameter "PUBSCREEN=XIPAINT")





 1.2.4   AA 256 Colors


In order to use the 256 color mode of AA Amigas (1200, 4000) a
tricky dither algoritm has been developed, which reduces the appe-
rance of regular patterns on unicolored regions. As with the HAM
drivers you can select a resolution from the ASL screenmode reque-
ster.

If you own a graphic board with a Workbench emulation capable
of doing an emulation of the AA modes, you can use this version
with higher resolutions than the normal AA screens.  For more
information refer to the manual supplied with your board.

The screen is also a Public-Screen (like at HAM modes).





 1.2.5   CyberGraphX


There are 2 different versions for the CyberGraphX system.  One
of them accesses your graphic hardware more directly by using the
special Xi-Paint window system (looks just like the Amiga win-
dows). Here you can have screens 16 and 24 bit deep.

The other is based on the feature of the CyberGraphX of opening
Intuition screens with a depth of 16 or 24 bit. This screen has nor-
mal Intuition windows and is a Public-Screen. With both versions,
the resolution is selected at the ASL screenmode requester.





 1.2.6   VD2001


This driver enables the owners of the VD2001 from Koehler Corp. to
use an up-to-date paint-program. The resolution is fixed by hard-
ware and cannot be changed.





 1.2.7   Framemaster


Things said with the VD2001 apply here, too.  The resolution is
also fixed.





 1.2.8   Graffity


This board is not very common, but is supported by Xi-Paint with
a 24 bit version.  The choice of resolution can be made with the
Graffity requester.





 1.2.9   Merlin


The Merlin from ProDev (former product of X-Pert) is supported
as well. But this driver is only a hack.

A faster and more flexible driver is available directly from ProDev
in Germany.





 1.2.10   Retina


Since the update rights for Xi-Paint Retina are covered by Macro-
System, a retina driver couldn't be included with this CD.

It is available as an update from MacroSystem.  With this driver
you can use all programs on this CD. In the meantime you can use
the AGA 256 color version under the Retina-WB-Emulation.

There are two versions, one for a direct retina screens in resolutions
of 24 bit, 16 bit an 8 bit (dithered).

The second one uses the 24 bit WB feature of the retina software.
With this you can paint in 24 bit or 16 bit at a normal intuition
screen. The choice of resolutions can be made with the ASL screen-
mode requester.







 Chapter  2


 Improved  Features


  2.1   Support of Graphic Tablets
       2.1.1   Overview
       2.1.2   Pressure Menu
       2.1.3   Some Hints
  2.2   Zoom
  2.3   Brush Operations
       2.3.1   Antialias at Brush-Manipulations
       2.3.2   Changes at the Brush Queue
       2.3.3   Creating a Brush out of a Picture
  2.4   Image-Processing Functions for Projects
       2.4.1   Frame/Field Conversion
       2.4.2   Rotating Projects
  2.5   Improvement of Paint-Functions
       2.5.1   Antialiasing for Lines
  2.6   Support of Extrenal Programs
       2.6.1   Printing with Studio 2.0
       2.6.2   Printing with Turboprint Professional 3.0
       2.6.3   Improvements of the User-Port
  2.7   Comfort Functions
       2.7.1   Drag & Drop
       2.7.2   Saving of System Settings
       2.7.3   Switchable Mini-Pic Generation
       2.7.4   Minipic File-Requester
       2.7.5   Notify at the Filerequester





  2.1    Support of Graphic Tablets


  2.1.1   Overview
  2.1.2   Pressure Menu
  2.1.3   Some Hints





 2.1.1   Overview


If you own a WACOM tablet, you can use it for Xi-Paint with
the driver from Roland Schwingel (Shareware, on this CD). Best is
version 1.17 or higher.

Other tablets like Summagraphics are currently not supported (may
change in future).

You can select the tablet in the Xi-Prefs programs at the list "Avai-
lable Mouse-Drivers".  In the main program XiXi-Paint you must
switch on the button "Use Tablett?" in the pressure menu (open
the menu with "Misc/Pressure Menu").





 2.1.2   Pressure Menu


If you switch off the "Use Tablett?" at the pressure menu, you can
adjust the pressure manually by using a slider.  You can use this
feature even if you have no tablet.

You can do so to print fonts with full intensity while using a tablet
(just switch off the "Use Tablett?" and move the slider to full pres-
sure). You can switch on and off more easily by using the shortcut
ALT P.





 2.1.3   Some Hints


If you paint regularly using the freehand airbrush, you should
switch off the Antialias mode in the system settings (notebook,
page "Line"). Otherwise the lines will not be smooth.

TO SPEED UP: Set the Pixel-Current at e. g. 7 (system no-
tebook, page "Line")!  After this you can paint more fluent with
freehand line 'Shift D'. Basic rule: the Pixel-Current should be a
quarter to a third of the diameter of the brush (if possible, an odd
number, so circles are painted correctly).  With an airbrush of 30
pixel diameter the optimum Pixel-Current would be 9.





 2.2    Zoom


Now you can move the zoomed location without closing the zoom
window.

With a zoom window active you can move the location by using the
cursor keys or increase/decrease the zoom factor by the '+' or '-'
keys.

To change from enlargement to reduction you still have to close the
window and change the setting in the zoom menu.





 2.3    Brush Operations


  2.3.1   Antialias at Brush-Manipulations
  2.3.2   Changes at the Brush Queue
  2.3.3   Creating a Brush out of a Picture





 2.3.1   Antialias at Brush-Manipulations


Up to the previous version, any resize or squeeze of a brush resulted
in ugly edges and pixel artefacts. From now on this is elimninated
by new smoothing and interpolation algorithms.

To use this feature, just switch on the button "AntiAlias" at the
page "Brush" in the system notebook. It works for all brush ope-
rations.





 2.3.2   Changes at the Brush Queue


If you switch off the button "Auto" at the brush window, a new
brush is no longer automatically included to the queue. Only if you
choose menu "Misc/Keep Brush", the current brush is stored into
the queue.





 2.3.3   Creating a Brush out of a Picture


If you apply the function "Misc/Make Brush", the contents of the
active projekt window are transformed into a brush.  It depends
on the setting at the brush queue window, if it's included into the
queue automatically. From this on, it's also possible to save it as
brush, too.





 2.4    Image-Processing Functions for Projects


  2.4.1   Frame/Field Conversion
  2.4.2   Rotating Projects





 2.4.1   Frame/Field Conversion


In video processing there is often a need for dividing a frame into
fields or a composition of a frame from different fields.

"Misc/Make Field" produces two fields out of the active project.
You can manipulate or save them as two single pictures (like normal
Xi-Paint projects).

"Misc/Make Frame" opens a list with the projects available. There
you can choose the first field for the frame, afterwards the list pops
up again and you may select the second field. Xi-Paint uses both
to convert them into a frame.

If you have only one field of a frame, you can select it twice in order
to create a frame (called "scanline dubbing").





 2.4.2   Rotating Projects


Now you can rotate projects, without having to cut them out as
brushes:

<Amiga><Z> turns the picture by 90°
<Amiga><Y> turns the picture by 180°

This function is highly optimized in order to keep memory con-
sumption as low as possible. Therefore you can use the function to
convert a portrait into a landscape format (and vice versa) even on
large pictures.





 2.5    Improvement of Paint-Functions


  2.5.1   Antialiasing for Lines





 2.5.1   Antialiasing for Lines


A major drawback of computer painting that straight lines with a
small brush get ugly aliasing defects.  Therefore Xi-Paint offers a
smoothing algorithm designed especially for thin lines.

It is enabled at the system notebook (page "Line", gadget Anti-
alias"). The strength of the smoothing is set at page "Line" with
the slider "Line-Aliasingfactor".

CAUTION!!!
This function should only be applied for painting thin lines (1-
pixel brush). Because of the nature of our algorithm, there may be
irregularities in the thickness of continued lines when used with the
airbrush.





 2.6    Support of Extrenal Programs


  2.6.1   Printing with Studio 2.0
  2.6.2   Printing with Turboprint Professional 3.0
  2.6.3   Improvements of the User-Port





 2.6.1   Printing with Studio 2.0


For high quality printing of pictures, Xi-Paint supports the program
Studio 2.0 by Wolf Faust.

The menu "Misc/Studio-Print" offers the two functions "Synchron"
and "Asynchron".  With asynchronous printing you can proceed
manipulating your picture immediately, but some free space on your
hard drive is required. "Synchron" prints the picture out of the -
Paint memory. This lowers usage of ressources, but the picture is
locked from further painting.  Anyway, the other projects may be
manipulated as normal.

After start of printing, the settings window of the Studio program
will pop up on the Workbench. Please read the corresponding in-
formations at the Studio manual.





 2.6.2   Printing with Turboprint Professional 3.0


Caused by the much more simple external interface of Turboprint,
"Misc/Turboprint" writes the current project to disk and starts the
Turboprint program for printing.





 2.6.3   Improvements of the User-Port


Xi-Paint offers an external interface, the User-Port. In the Xi-Paint
drawer there is a drawer named "User", where you can find an
example program in C describing the use of the User-Port.

Just a short overview on its features:

   o Open a new project

   o Manipulate a project

   o Manipulate a brush

   o Supply DPI-chunk and author for a picture

   o Proceed gauge

   o Error requester

   o Access to the palette





 2.7    Comfort Functions


  2.7.1   Drag & Drop
  2.7.2   Saving of System Settings
  2.7.3   Switchable Mini-Pic Generation
  2.7.4   Minipic File-Requester
  2.7.5   Notify at the Filerequester





 2.7.1   Drag & Drop


The way of choosing colors for shading or cycle in Xi-Paint always
was a bit complicated. Now there is the possibility of doing Drag
& Drop with color registers.

It's simple to use. Just click on a color register (left mousebutton),
hold it down and drag the rectangle with the mouse (without lifting
the button) to its destination (lift the button). Now the action is
started.

The simpliest application of Drag & Drop is within the color reque-
ster. If you drag one register onto another the color is copied there.
This is a simple version of the "Copy" function.

More sophisticated applications are the shade-, the cycle- and the
mask-requester. Please see the sections 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6.





 2.7.2   Saving of System Settings


In order to keep you starting as fast as possible at a new session
with Xi-Paint, the program saves the open windows, their position
and size, as well as the last user font and its size (and a lot more
: :):.

Therefore you must leave Xi-Paint with "Project/Quit" before swit-
ching off the Amiga, otherwise Xi-Paint has no chance of saving
your preferences.





 2.7.3   Switchable Mini-Pic Generation


The generation of minipics by Xi-Paint at saving of a picture can
be suppressed now.

This can be done by switching off the gadget "MiniPic Save" in the
system notebook, page "In/Out".





 2.7.4   Minipic File-Requester


If "MiniPic Requester" in the "In/Out" notebook is switched on, a
notebook with previews of pictures in a directory opens instead of
the normal filerequester.

They are sorted alphabetically in "index-cards". A click on a letter
pops the card in front. If there are more cards than space available
in the window, you can switch beetweeen the pages using the arrow
buttons.

A click on a preview picture loads the picture as project. Is there
is no Xi-Paint-minipic for a file in the directory or the file is no
picture at all, the corresponding field remains empty.

To avoid this you should generate minipics with all your pictures
you want to use with Xi-Paint.  This can be done easily at the
NORMAL filerequester by clicking into the empty preview frame.  A
minipic is generated an displayed.

You can change the displayed directory either by a filerequester
(click on the disk symbol) or entering a text at the string gadget.





 2.7.5   Notify at the Filerequester


If the contents of a directory have changed, it is reread at opening
of the filerequester.







 Chapter  3


 Changes at Requester and Menus


  3.1   Brush-Requester
       3.1.1   New Menus
       3.1.2   Manual Brush-Queueing
  3.2   System-Configuration by a Notebook
       3.2.1   Overview
       3.2.2   Line
       3.2.3   Brush
       3.2.4   Picture
       3.2.5   Printer
       3.2.6   In/Out
       3.2.7   Load
       3.2.8   Save
       3.2.9   Scanner
       3.2.10  System
       3.2.11  Paths
       3.2.12  Maus
       3.2.13  User-Port
  3.3   Color-Requester
       3.3.1   Simplified Handling
       3.3.2   New RGB-Triangle
       3.3.3   CMY instead CMYK
  3.4   Shade-Requester
  3.5   Cycle-Requester
  3.6   Mask-Requester
  3.7   Lighttable-Window
  3.8   Filter-Requester





 3.1    Brush-Requester


  3.1.1   New Menus
  3.1.2   Manual Brush-Queueing





 3.1.1   New Menus


There is a new "Manipulation"-Menu, containing the following
items:

              _____________________________
              | Manipulation   | Shortcut |
              -----------------------------
              | Half           | A-h      |
              | Half X         | A-X      |
              | Half Y         | A-Y      |
              | Double         | A-H      |
              | Mirror X       | A-x      |
              | Mirror Y       | A-y      |
              | Transpose      | A-Z      |
              | Turn 90°       | A-z      |
              | Turn...        | A-$      |
              | Size...        | A-%      |
              | Bend...        | A-)      |
              | Slant...       | A-(      |
              | Perspective... | A-&      |
              -----------------------------


The manipulation function always operates on the current brush.
The smoothing for brush operations can be switched on in the sy-
stem notebook at "Brush" (highly recommended!).

At some operations (e. g. slant) the brush may get black borders.
You can mask them out by selecting the color 'black' at the color
requester and pressing the '/'-key.


Half

Halfes the size of the current brush


Half X

Half size horizontal


Half Y

Half size vertical


Double

Doubles the size of a brush (with interpolation, if switched on)


Mirror X/Y

Mirrors the brush at the X- resp. Y-axis


Transpose

This function transposes the brush (exchange beetween pixel-rows
and -columns)


Turn 90°

Rotates the brush by 90°


Turn...

Opens a requester for input of the rotation angle. This can be done
with a slider.  A preview rectangle informs you about the actual
position (the white border represents the upper edge of the brush).

With the button "Draw Angle" you can paint the angle directly at
your picture, in order to ease the fitting of a brush into a painting.

"Produce" generates the brush.  If auto-queueing is switched on
(see above), the new brush is put into the brush queue.


Size...

Changes the size of the brush arbitrarily. The destination size can
be set at numeric gadgets in the requester, that opens before, or by
drawing directly at the project for fitting purposes (Button "Draw
Size").


Bend...

Bends a brush, e. g. to fit it onto an object at your picture. The
Bend-Requester offers two sliders (accompanied by direct number
input at numeric gadgets) for configuring the effect. The horizon-
tal slider specifies the maximum amplitude, the vertical slider its
position.

A preview rectangle shows you the settings online. A click on "Pro-
duce" generates the brush.


Slant...

Distorts a brush horizontal. The amount of the shift can be set in
a requester.


Perspektive...

Tilts a brush into the depth of the picture.  The Perspective-
Requester has two sliders for setting. The upper one specifies the
effect left and the right on the effect right.  You can check your
setting immediately with the preview rectangle.

With this function you can put a brush three-dimensional into space
and use it as a texture for other objects. Try out the possibilities
of this function, you'll be surprised.





 3.1.2   Manual Brush-Queueing


As mentioned above, now there is a possiblity to do the brush queu-
eing manually (please see section 2.3.2).





 3.2    System-Configuration by a Notebook


The major change in the operation of Xi-Paint is the collection of
all system settings into a notebook.

It combines the windows "System Settings" and "Parameter", but
also contains new settings such as "Load" or "Save". Most of the
buttons occured in version 3.0, too (on other locations).  For a
description of this function, please refer to the "Manual 3.0".

  3.2.1   Overview
  3.2.2   Line
  3.2.3   Brush
  3.2.4   Picture
  3.2.5   Printer
  3.2.6   In/Out
  3.2.7   Load
  3.2.8   Save
  3.2.9   Scanner
  3.2.10  System
  3.2.11  Paths
  3.2.12  Maus
  3.2.13  User-Port





 3.2.1   Overview


The notebook is opened by "Menus/Settings". It contains a index-
card for every group of settings. A click at a name of a card pop
it to front.  Are there more cards than space for names, you can
switch beetween pages using the arrow buttons in the upper right
area.

The settings window is as asynchronous as all other Xi-Paint re-
questers are. This means, you can keep the window open the whole
time.

Now a listing of the different index-cards and the buttons and sliders
contained within them:





 3.2.2   Line


Supplied Controls:

Line-Aliasingfactor: specifies the strength of the antialiasing
     smoothing of lines

Pixel-Current:  see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)

1-Pixel-Current:  see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)

Antialias: switches the smoothing of line operations





 3.2.3   Brush


Supplied Controls:

Darkness:  see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)

Brightness:  see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)

Antialias: switches the smoothing of brush operations





 3.2.4   Picture


Supplied Controls:

Fast-Fill:see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)

Keep Mask:   see Manual 3.0, 17.9 (Parameter-Requester)





 3.2.5   Printer


Contains a list with recognized printer modules.

This function is currently not supported and reserved for future
enhancements.





 3.2.6   In/Out


Supplied Controls:

Save Settings: see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Minipic Save:  generates a preview picture at time of saving a
     project

ASL-Requester:   see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Minipic Requester:   see section 2.7.3





 3.2.7   Load


Shows the list of supported loaders:

                     ___________________
                     | Internal DEEP   |
                     | Multipic_Loader |
                     | JPEG(Xi)        |
                     | Targa(Xi)       |
                     | ReproStudio(Xi) |
                     | PPM(Xi)         |
                     -------------------

You can select a loader by clicking on its name.  In doubt of a
picture format, you should always select the "Multipic_Loader", as
it supports the most formats.  For more informations, please see
section 4.2





 3.2.8   Save


Shows the list of supported save formats:

                      _________________
                      | Internal DEEP |
                      | DEEP          |
                      | ILBM          |
                      | PGM           |
                      | PPM           |
                      | SUNRASTER     |
                      | JPEG(Xi)      |
                      | Targa(Xi)     |
                      | SGI(Xi)       |
                      | PPM(Xi)       |
                      -----------------

A click at a name selects the corresponding format for saving (see
section 4.3).

For the JPEG-Saver there is a Slider "JPEG-Quality" for specifying
the compression rate (100 means good quality but low compression,
a smaller value leads to smaller files but cuts down quality, too).

If a saver is capable of saving the alpha channel (contains the mask
of a picture), you can enable this feature by checking the alpha
switch.





 3.2.9   Scanner


A list of recognized scanner drivers

This function is currently not supported and reserved for future
enhancements.





 3.2.10   System


Supplied Controls:

SystemFontName:     see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

SystemFontSize:   see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Number of Brushs:    see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Number of Pens:   see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Move to Default Copy:    The contents of the color requester are
     taken as system colors.

     CAUTION!!
     Only change the first 4 colors, because the rest is responsi-
     ble for the display of tool icons, etc.  At some 8-bit versi-
     ons (e. g. Retina 8-bit) you cannot choose the color directly.
     You specify the number of the color-register (of the hardware
     screen) by the red part of the color you set at the requester.
     This can lead to unbearable combinations of colors. Be very
     careful with this!  The Amiga-Intuition versions ignore the
     color settings for the first 4 colors since they are take from
     the Amiga system.

     You have to quit and restart Xi-Paint to see your changes
     working!  If you messed up all colors you should delete the
     files "ENV:XiPaint_User" and "ENVARC:XiPaint_User" be-
     fore you start Xi-Paint again to reset to factory settings. This
     kills your other Xi-Paint settings, too (except the ones at Xi-
     Prefs).

Move to Requester Assign:    To set the system colors you must
     copy them into the color requester. But caution: they'll re-
     place your current colors!! If you need them later, you should
     save the palette before clicking on the "Assign" button.

Locale Mode:   see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)





 3.2.11   Paths


Contains three string gadgets for the program paths

Macro-Path:   see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Global-Path:  see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)

Palett-Path:  see Manual 3.0, 17.8 (Settings-Requester)





 3.2.12   Maus


Supplied Controls: (for explanation see Manual 3.0, 17.8)

Eat-first-Click:

Click-to-Font:

Brush-Opaque-Move:

Ticks/s:

Mouse-Queue:

Pointer Offset X:

Pointer Offset Y:





 3.2.13   User-Port


Contains only the button "Free them".

Under bad conditions, it may occur that buggy User-Port appli-
cations leave a picture locked.  As a result such pictures cannot
be saved, manipulated or closed.  "Free them" unlocks the active
project.

This function does no checking, if the lock is needed by an external
program, it just removes it. So be sure, that the external application
really failed, because it may be doing a long calculation. Removing
the lock in the latter case may cause a system crash.





 3.3    Color-Requester


  3.3.1   Simplified Handling
  3.3.2   New RGB-Triangle
  3.3.3   CMY instead CMYK





 3.3.1   Simplified Handling


There is no "Assign"-Button any more, any changes take place
immediately. So you can't undo any more (like done by closing an
reopening the window), but it prevents errors caused by forgetting
to press "Assign".

The undo isn't possible at an asynchronous color requester, because
Xi-Paint cannot know, which state you want to restore.

Further, Drag & Drop is supported.  Dragging of a color register
onto another one copies the color.





 3.3.2   New RGB-Triangle


The new implementation complies better to the natural impression
and to the CCITT standards than the old Maxwell RGB-Triangle.





 3.3.3   CMY instead CMYK


In the color requester, all CMYK operations are changed to CMY
operations.

This became necessary since a conversion from CMYK to RGB is
not definite. A simple switching to RGB and back to CMYK could
cause the CMYK values to change completely, though the color was
still the same.





 3.4    Shade-Requester


The shade requester is handled completely by Drag & Drop. Four
"Drop-Areas" are located around the preview area. If you drag a
color from the color requester into one of them, the corresponding
corner gets this color.  The fifth area in the lower right is for the
fifth color. So you are independent of the setting of the first 5 color
in the color requester.

The "Assign"-Button was removed, changes are shown immediately.

The cycle gadget only allows 4 and 5 colors shades any more. All
other ones can be obtained by arranging the corner colors (e. g. two
corners with the same color). This feature doesn't slow down pro-
gram operations, since every color arrangement is optimized inter-
nally by Xi-Paint!

For a more detailled usage of shades, please refer to Manual 3.0.





 3.5    Cycle-Requester


The usage of the Cycle-Requester has changed completely to supply
you with easy Drag & Drop handling.

At start, the color bar in the lower region of the window is plain
black. If you drop a color of the color requester, it would be taken
as base point for the cycle calculation.  More dropped colors give
more base points. The count of base points is limited by the number
of steps (adjustable by a slider).

Due to the method of generating the cycle range, it is not possible
to delete single base points. "Delete" remove the whole cycle.

The "Cycle" switch arranges the base points, so that no color jump
occurs at resetting the current cycle-color from end to start of the
range.

"Reset" sets the current cycle-color to the begin of the range. You
can use this to start lines with the same colors, regardless of their
length.





 3.6    Mask-Requester


The Mask-Requester also got Drag & Drop support. The slider for
selecting the mask color was replaced by a drop area.  the mask
color can now be dropped in directly from the color requester.

Since this is the only diffence, you can look up the complete usage
at the manual for Xi-Paint 3.0.





 3.7    Lighttable-Window


At the "Misc"-Menu, there is an item "Lighttable".  this opens
the Lighttable-Window, where you can adjust the brightness ratio
beetween foreground and background picture.

The other handling of the lighttable is just as it was in Xi-Paint
3.0.





 3.8    Filter-Requester


The item "Menu/Filter" opens a window with a list of installed
filter modules.

A click on a name renders a preview picture of this filter applied
to your current project. The previews are cached internally, so you
can switch easily beetween filters in order to find out the right one.

A click on "OK" applies the chosen filter to the project. The ope-
ration is asynchron, you can continue working with your other pro-
jects.

Currently there are only few filters available, since this expansion is
still being worked on. The situation may change in future, its pos-
sible for third party vendors to produce and sell their own modules
(the base source and specification is available for free).







 Chapter  4


 New Load- and Save-Modules


  4.1  Overview
  4.2  Loaders
  4.3  Savers





 4.1    Overview


The load and save functionality of Xi-Paint moved into external
modules, which operate asynchronously. This means for you, that
while Xi-Paint is loading one picture (progress shown by a gauge)
you can continue working on another.

So it's no bug that the normal pointer shows up after choosing
"Open".  The progress gauge will inform you about the current
state of the operation.





 4.2    Loaders


The desired loader can be selected at the "Load"-page in the system
notebook.  Xi-Paint only tries to load pictures supported by the
selected loader.

There is no generic loader, which combines all loaders to an unified
module trying every single one to load the picture until success. If
you're in doubt (picture load failed), you should choose the "Mul-
tipic_Loader", since it supports a wide range of formats like DEEP,
ILBM24, JPEG, PPM, SUNRASTER, Amiga IFF, including all in-
stalled DataTypes (OS 3.x only). The other loaders only support
the named format.


Overview about loaders:

     ______________________________________________________
     | Loader          | Formats                          |
     ------------------------------------------------------
     | Internal DEEP   | IFF DEEP                         |
     | Multipic_Loader | all "`multipic.library"-Formats  |
     | JPEG(Xi)        | JPEG                             |
     | Targa(Xi)       | Targa                            |
     | ReproStudio(Xi) | Repro-Studio, proprietary format |
     | PPM(Xi)         | PPM                              |
     ------------------------------------------------------





 4.3    Savers


The current save format is selected at the "Save"-page in the system
notebook.

For a compressing saver (like the JPEG saver) ther is a Slider called
"JPEG-Quality", where you can supply a convenient compression
rate (100 means good quality but low compression, while smaller
values reduce the size of the picture file at cost of poor quality).

If a saver module is capable of saving the alpha channel (contains
the mask of the picture), this feature can be switched on with
the "Alpha"-checkmark. Doing so saves the mask within a picture
(e. g. in DEEP format).


Overview about savers:

       ________________________________________________
       | Saver          | Formats             | Alpha |
       ------------------------------------------------
       | Internal DEEP  | IFF DEEP            | Yes   |
       | DEEP           | IFF DEEP (multipic) | Yes   |
       | ILBM           | IFF ILBM 24         | No    |
       | PGM            | PGM                 | No    |
       | PPM            | PPM                 | No    |
       | SUNRASTER      | SUNRASTER           | No    |
       | JPEG(Xi)       | JPEG                | No    |
       | Targa(Xi)      | Targa               | No    |
       | SGI(Xi)        | SGI-Format          | No    |
       | PPM(Xi)        | PPM                 | No    |
       ------------------------------------------------







 Chapter  5


 Fixed  Bugs


The following Bugs of Xi-Paint 3.0 were eliminated:

   o Error at VLAB-Digitizing fixes, shouldn't crash anymore.

   o Speedup at the color requester







 Chapter  6


 Frequent  User-Errors


Can't choose resolution of display (screen) I like

Help: Look at the Retina-Workbench-Emulation's Xi-Paint entry,
whether the selected group is capable of doing your resolution. In
doubt of that, choose the biggest group listed (e. g. Group 30-38kHz
50-91 Hz).

It's better to switch off the emulation for the retina direct ver-
sion, since its Intuition screen is only for input purposes and there-
fore may stay at the Amiga display hardware. So it uses only few
(Retina-)memory.


Xi-Paint-screen doesn't pop to front

Help: Activate a window on Workbench, then change the screens
by pressing Amiga-M or clicking the screen-cycle-gadget.

Help2: Install the FKey program of your original Amiga OS (>=
2.0) disks.  Map the program "xsend" to any key you like.  This
program is supplied with Xi-Paint in the drawer "User". A presss
on the selected key will pop the Xi-Paint screen to front.


Freehand airbrush lines suffer from irregularities in thickness

Help:  Switch off the Antialias function in the system notebook
(page "Line").


Xi-Paint can't load my pictures

Help: The default loader after installation is "Internal DEEP". It is
only capable of loading IFF DEEP pictures. So you should change
this setting to "Multipic_Loader" and try again.

If you know the exakt format of your pictures, you can choose
another loader carrying this name as well.







 Chapter  7


 The  Future


Up to now, Xi-Paint was a pure 24/32 paint program for still pictu-
res. Although improvements and new concepts like Drag & Drop,
asynchronous load, save, print, scan or notebook handling, Xi-Paint
3.2 is only a step up to Xi-Paint 4.0.

Xi-Paint 4.0 will include many features for animation, like inserting
of text in picture sequences, mixer effects, automatic changes for
hundereds of single frames, an so on. The generated single pictures
can be played and recorded using a hardware like VLAB Motion by
MacroSystem.

Further a raytracer will be included, which renders objects like
bowls, cylinders, rings with various surface materials. So you can
use 3-D objects in conjunction with a 2-D paint program.  This
shouldn't replace a full featured raytracer. It's just a small help for
painting a new object.

Even Xi-Paint 3.2 has the possibility to paint with natural brushes,
you can design for your own.  This will be enhanced in future.
Painting on surfaces without destroying their structure and more
nature pencils will be a major feature of Xi-Paint 4.0.

The concept of brush-queues will be enhanced to support brush-
libraries (e. g. one for each group of projects).

The concept of the system settings will also be improved. So all data
will be contained in a hierarchical and object-oriented database. So
there will be a revision control of your pictures including revision
dates, author, comments, etc.