Copyright 1997 FS Publications

    From: Johan Bjornson (johan.bjornson@rocketmail.com)

    I don't know if I'm allowed to make a 'puff' for my
    Amiga bitmapped typeface "Flodis"...  Anyway.  My
    starting-point is the XEN 9 pts, fixed-width font from
    the Magic Workbench package.  Since kick-off I've
    tidied up quite a little bit and used quite a large
    amount of time ameliorating the font.

    By way of example, it's furnished with
    o serifs
    o medieval digits
    o sigma, omega and pro mil signs
    o 66 and 99 styles of quotation marks
    o lots of ligatures e.g. fi, fl, ff, ffi, ffl, oe
    o integral italic 'f'
    o s with 'inverted circumflex'
    o Polish 'overstroken' l
    o silence mark (three consecutive dots)

    Unlike the bulk of bitmapped fonts, "Flodis" complies
    with the 'Ép height': the diacritics don't encroach on
    the orginal upper-case height.

    You'll find the "Flodis" Web space at:
    http://expage.com/page/flodisxen/

    - I guess here's your answer--yes, you're allowed.
      -Jason

    From: Eike M. Lang (elang@neuss.netsurf.de)

    Hi Jason,

    First of all:

    ArtEffect2.0 absolutely and positively runs on
    Picasso96 and has done so for quite some time (the same
    applies to Version1.0).  You might want to clarify this
    in the next issue of AR.

    As for the loading capabilities you forgot to mention
    that AE2.0 supports Datatypes for image-loading which
    makes the range of supported load-formats actually
    quite extensive.

    Secondly I do not agree with your view that the only
    Image-saving formats of interest are JPEG and IFF.
    Most notably TIFF is still used widely in the
    professional world.  The additional image formats
    provided by SView are more esoteric and will probably
    not be used by anybody.  Another format that deserves
    better than "of little interest" is PNG, which is
    recommended for Web-use by the W3C and slowly gaining
    acceptance.

    As a closing word I have to comment on the new "real
    HTML"-AR: I have not yet seen it but I don't like the
    idea of HTML-pages being "BrowserXZY-optimized" - this
    is a Microsoft-ish attitude IMO.  Proper HTML will look
    good with any proper browser - specially optimized HTML
    contradicts the actual idea behind HTML.

    - Correction made, although I was basing my
      erroneous P96 compatibility information on a report
      from CU Amiga's Mat Bettinson, who informed me of the
      problem he was having after I completed my review for
      that magazine.  As for the HTML being
      "BrowserXYZ-optimized", it was a poor choice of words
      on my part.  The real meaning was that when the pages
      were designed they were primarily TESTED using one
      particular browser (IBrowse) so we were certain that
      the magazine would look good in that browser.  Since
      5.08 Katie has made a number of changes to the HTML
      to better suit the HTML to AWeb and Voyager.  (AWeb's
      table handling has been better catered to, and
      Voyager users shouldn't have any more invisible
      text.) -Jason

    From: Emannuel Henn (deckard@hs-hom.handshake.de)

    Hi,Jason !

    Thanks for the newest Areport, which AGAIN was full of
    important news and informations.

    I was a bit disappointed by the "ART EFFECT2"-review,
    though, because You only mentioned Photoshop, Art
    Effect and ImageFX.

    I don`t want to turn down ImageFX, but as You`ve tested
    Art Effect, which has a real nice GUI, and compared it
    to Photoshop, also GUI, I wonder why You didn`t mention
    Photogenics2, too !?

    Photogenics2 is sure a real competitor on the market of
    Amiga-image-processors, it uses layers, offers great
    filters (and many of them!) and is really a joy to use.

    - I'm still a big fan of Photogenics2, but with
      Almathera out of business and no publisher of the
      software, I didn't feel it was responsible or fair to
      the currently supported products to feature it as
      prominently.  -Jason

    From: Martin Skowronski (martman@netrox.net)

    Jason,

    I read your review of ArtEffect in Amiga Report with
    much interest.  I would like to commend you on a very
    nice job.  I would also like to offer you a slightly
    different perspective of ArtEffect and how it is really
    much more than simply an image manipulation package.

    I create all of the graphics that my company uses in
    the development of its' business seminars.  Before
    ArtEffect was released I did all of my 24 bit painting
    with a program called Painter by Fractal Design.  I was
    able to do this courtesy of my Emplant's Mac emulation.

    Fractal's Painter is arguably the *best* 24 bit paint
    package on any platform.  It has powerful natural media
    tools (chalk looks and acts like real chalk, water
    color brushes *feel* very realistic etc), yet for all
    of it's sophistication Painter is extremely easy to
    use.

    Prior to the introduction of Art Effect, there was
    little available for the Amiga Artist as far as purely
    software based, natural media, 24 bit paint programs.
    Opal Paint was great in it's time, but it required the
    Opalvision card and was limited to NTSC screens.  Alpha
    Paint is also nice, but, requires the presence of the
    Video Toaster.  That leaves TVPaint and XiPaint, both
    of which do not offer true natural media tools.

    IMHO, the Amiga is in dire need of a Fractal Painter
    type program.  Art Effect is definitely a step in the
    right direction.  It offers many of the best features
    of Painter, and is improving all the time.  When one
    considers the natural media paint tools of Art Effect,
    along with it's image manipulation capabilites, one
    begins to better appreciate just how valuable Art
    Effect is to anyone interested in creating cutting edge
    24 bit images with their Amiga.

    IMHO, ArtEffect is a must have program for any
    Amigaphile who wants to create serious true color
    paintings.  In that respect it is a bargain.

    If Norman Rockwell used an Amiga to do his work, he
    would be using Art Effect :-)

    Martin Skowronski
    ProActive Images
    www.proactive.net