Fresh Fish 8/FreshFishVol8-CD1.bin/useful/reviews/software/graphics/imagemaster9.21

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-19 | 18KB

Path: menudo.uh.edu!menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Daniel Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Imagemaster version 9.21
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.graphics
Date: 19 Jan 1993 16:13:30 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 380
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Keywords: graphics, image processing, morph, paint, 24-bit, commercial


PRODUCT NAME

    Imagemaster version 9.21


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

    Imagemaster is an image-processing program with hundreds of
    capabilities and special effects, including the ever-popular
    morphing.  It supports ARexx and many image file formats.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

    Name:        Black Belt Systems
    Address:    398 Johnson Road
            Glasgow, Montana, 59230
            USA

    Telephone:    [phone]        (Sales)
            [phone]        (Tech Support)

    BBS:        [phone]

    E-mail:        [e-mail]


LIST PRICE

    $249.95 (US).  I received my copy for free directly from Black Belt.


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS


    HARDWARE

        The box states that Imagemaster runs on the Amiga 500,
        2000, and 3000 series computers.  I am fairly sure it
        runs on the new AGA Amigas as well (A1200, A4000).

        Image processing uses a lot of RAM.  Imagemaster requires
        at least 4 megabytes.

        Also, image processing is computationally intensive.  An
        accelerated Amiga is recommended by the manufacturer.

    SOFTWARE

        Imagemaster is AmigaOS 2.0 compatible.  I did not test it
        under AmigaOS 1.3.


COPY PROTECTION

    None.  The program installs very easily on a hard drive, thanks to
an excellent installation program.


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

    Amiga 3000T (25 MHz 68030 + 68882), 8 MB Fast RAM, 2 MB Chip RAM,
Quantum 200 MB hard drive, AmigaOS 2.1.


OVERVIEW

    Before I begin, I want to say that I have very little experience
with image processing.  Imagemaster is the first such product I have used.
On the other hand, I am a very experienced Amiga user and professional
programmer, and I enjoy playing with graphics as a hobby (who doesn't?), so
I think my review can serve a useful purpose.  If you are a graphics
professional who is trying to decide between several Amiga image processing
programs, this review will not help you compare their features and power.
However, if you want to have some fun with graphic processing and do some
real work too, this review should help you to understand what Imagemaster
is all about.

    Imagemaster is a 24-bit image processing program.  This means that
it stores the images internally using 24 bits per pixel.  However, your
Amiga does not need 24-bit hardware in order to use Imagemaster, because the
program can display an approximation of the the image using HAM mode.  To
use Imagemaster, you load a graphics file (often created by another program,
such as a digitizing or paint program) and then alter it.  Imagemaster can
be used for simple "touch up" operations as well as very complex
transformations of the image.

    Imagemaster is a HUGE program, both in actual size (the executable
program is 1.3 megabytes) and capabilities.  It has so many different image
processing operations that if I typed in all their names, my fingers would
fall off!  Imagemaster separates the processing effects into Standard
Adjustments (Contrast, Brightness, etc.), RGB Corrections, Filters (sharpen,
contour, smear, remove pixel/streak/chunk/feature, anti-aliasing,
low/highpass filters, etc.), Geometric Transformations (flips, rotations,
blurs, spirals, mirrors, wave "ripple" effect, zig zag, etc.), Special
Effects (tile, pseudo-color, pixelize, melt, blueprint, etc.), analysis of
the image, clipping, ...whew!  I am not even done describing the Process
Panel yet!!!  I give up.  Seriously:  there is a LOT of power here!!

    So, does all this processing work?  Are the results interesting and
effective?  YES!!  I had great fun taking my favorite pictures and turning
them into bizarre images.  My favorite effect is called "Caricature."  It is
designed to alter an image of a face (you supply the picture) to look
"cartoonish" -- big nose, funny eyes, and so on.  It works great!!  Another
great one is "Relief" which finds the highlights of the image and make it
look like it has been carved in stone.

    In addition to special effects, Imagemaster is a paint program.  You
can draw all the usual shapes (lines, rectangles, ellipses, arcs, etc.)  and
use images as brushes.  The user interface is nowhere near as streamlined as
Deluxe Paint's (see LIKES AND DISLIKES, below), but it is usable.  Realize
that Imagemaster is *not* a real-time paint program.  After you draw, the
program takes a few seconds to update the image.

    Imagemaster's user interface consists of "control panels" which
are sets of gadgets lined up in rows.  Clicking on one button of a control
panel causes a new panel to be displayed.  For example, to use the
"Caricature" effect I described above, from the main panel you click on:

    "Process Panel", which opens a new panel.  Click on...
       "Geometric Transformations", which opens a new panel.  Click on...
          "Caricature", which opens a new panel.  This is...
          The "select region" panel.  Select one, and...
             A panel appears for selecting the effect intensity.
             Set it and click "DONE", and the processing begins.
             (Note there is no "Cancel" at this stage.)

When finished, you are returned to the main control panel.  Each panel has
anywhere from 2 to 50 (!!) buttons on it.  This hierarchical panel approach
allows Imagemaster to conceal its vast number of options.  (This has
disadvantages, though, as I describe later.)

    Imagemaster supports dozens of file formats:  all of the Amiga
formats, plus JPEG, GIF, Targa, various Amiga graphics boards, and others.
Much of this support is implemented in ARexx, so it's certainly possible
for the user to make Imagemaster support other formats.  Imagemaster read
every image I threw at it.

    Speaking of ARexx, just about every aspect of Imagemaster is
accessible by ARexx.  There are somewhere around 300 commands!  This makes
the potential of Imagemaster truly awe-inspiring.  If I were a graphics
professional with a programming background, I'd be blown away by the
potential.  I did not experiment with the ARexx interface, though, mainly
because this is just a hobby for me and I didn't have the time to spend.

    Judged only on its image processing capabilities, Imagemaster is
amazing.  There is real power here.  However, I have a lot more to say about
Imagemaster's user interface, so please see LIKE AND DISLIKES, below.


DOCUMENTATION

    Imagemaster comes with a beautifully typeset, 200-page manual with
a thorough index.  I found the text fairly easy to read, except that a few
operations were not explained enough to satisfy me, and I would have liked
more example pictures for the effects that had none.

    Unfortunately, the manual is for an older version of the program, so
Imagemaster 9.21 comes with a 250 Kilobyte "addendum" on disk.  I found this
arrangement inconvenient; a complete manual would have been far better.  I
can understand that if Imagemaster is updated as often as the company
indicates, then it's probably not cost-effective to print a new manual for
each version.  If this is the case, then Black Belt should consider using a
ring binder for the manual and distributing new pages as needed.  By the
time the "addendum" file gets to be 7000 lines long, it's definitely time to
print a new manual!

    There are many grammatical errors in the manual, but the writing
is fairly clear and understandable.


LIKES AND DISLIKES

    My main "like" is the sheer power of the program.  There are so
many combinations of effects that I could use Imagemaster full time and not
exhaust the possibilities.  And this is not even counting the ARexx port,
which lets you effectively design your own image processing commands.
In a word:  wow!

    I also liked the painless installation.  With regard to the user
interface, I particular