Amiga Computing - Commodore Is Awesome

ou could not but help notice the prolific
nature of the Aminet CDs -
turn your back for one moment
and bang another one flies
Al through the office door and hits
you in the back of the head.
Currently, there seems to be a
net one every month, which is
Li testament to how lively the
Amiga PO scene has been and
s stil very much so.
In amongst all the stuff you
find on Arninet, there is a type
of program distributed under
the title of shareware. This is
the concept where the author
ibis you to test their program,
which they could have spent
years developing, to decide if you
wars to keep it If you do keep the
program you are obliged to send the
author a set fee which can be as little as
Re pounds.
Paying your shareware lee gives the author
an incentive to keep on developing their program,
and gives you direct support horn the author
for that program. This is along with the fact that the author
of a program you have registered for is much more likely
ilD listen to any additions you want to that program.
It you use a shareware program you really should go
Our and pay the fee. Not only will you have that nice
warm glowing feeling that you have done something
righteous and good for once in your life, you will also
OMAGESTUDIO
ImageStudio should be fairly well known to
everyone. Programmed by a couple of local
Macclesfield lads, this is a very well supported
and put together image processing program.
The main improvement for the latest version is
the addition of full colour windowed previews
that let you get a better impression of what
the final picture will be like.
The package comes on two disks and is
instaled using - everyone together now - the
standard Amiga installer. For people that have
never used ImageStudio before, there are a
good few tutorials to guide you through the
different aspects of it. These are in with the
AmigaGuide manual which also doubles as
the on-line help.
You now have the option of the preview
window working in either grey scale or colour
modes, You will be glad to know that the
colour previews seem to be redrawn as fast as
the grey scale ones, but you will need a Hi-res
screen mode with at least 64 colours to get
the best out of it
ImageStudio has the normal array of colour
control effects like balance, gamma and con.
trast, along with the standard image manipulation
tools, such as flip, scale, cut, grey scale,
negative and pixellated. The more interesting
pans of ImageStudio come in the form of its
convolute effects and the comprehensive
ARexx port.
Convolute is a normal image processing
function, and through it you can produce hundreds
of different effects. With ImageStudio
you get a number of standard convolutes
which you can select from the handy convolute
list view. It is also possible to add your
give the author another reason to keep on developing
their program. You also get support from them which
normally includes them sending you the next few updates,
and they are usually very helpful when it comes to
problem solving. So all you people who have unregistered
own to the list and save them for future use.
Some of you might be quite surprised when
you look at the system requirements at the small
amount of memory needed, because normally
image processing programs need as much
memory as possible. ImageStudio gets round
this by implementing internal virtual memory
which allows the image data to be stored on
your hard drive, therefore taking up no memory.
The down side is that all the disk access slows
down the preview redraws. If you do have
enough of RAM then you can tell ImageStudio to
use the RAM Disk as the virtual memory storage
space to gain a large speed increase.
With a good modular program design allowing
you to add your own convolutes and ARexx
scripts at a later date, and regular updates being
he best things in life
are free, well almost.
Neil Mohr looks at some
of the best Shareware on offer
The va st a rra y of
lina ne Studio's functions
are a lwa ys a t ha nd via
its e xce lle nt in e rfa ce
AMIGA COMPUTING
1-EBRUARY 1996
programs lurking on your hard drive, nip down to the
bank, get your wallet out, and give yourself a huge karma
boost.
All the following programs have demos available on
Aminet, where you can also find full ordering details.
released, ImageStudio is a very well thought
out and written program. Supporting 12 of the
main image formats as well as Datatypes,
imageStudio is going to be able to support
virtually all of your needs.
Bottom
line
REQUIREMENTS
RED esseottth BLACK recommendird
5Mb Herd dink
sp
Overall
RAM Workbench
410"020/
' 030
PRODUCT DETAILS
Product
ImageStudio
Supplier
Graham Dean,
14 Fielding Avenue,
Porton, Stockport, Cheshire.
5K12 1YX England
Registration
E 10, 520 Overseas
SCORE
90%