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\margl1440 \margr1440 \plain \margt1440 \margb1440 \fs24 \f1 \pard Altering Photos in PhotoGenics\par 
R. Shamms Mortier\tab \par 
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\tab When we speak of computer graphics as medium, we are really taking into account the blending of what were once considered two different artistic approaches, painting/drawing and photography. The "traditional" painters considered the photographers as second class citizens not that long ago. Making a "print" of a work was considered to be a non-art issue, and printmakers today that work in non-computer modalities (lithographers, silkscreen printers and others) still are considered graphics artists rather than "fine" artists by the elitists. My position as a well known non-purist is rather simple,.. if a visual work causes a viewer to dream, it's a piece of art, no matter if it was sculpted in peanut butter and lard, or if it's a photo or anything else. \par 
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\tab It is the transmission of a vision that's important. Most purists object to this view because they feel that it leads down a slippery slope to the possibility that "everyone may be a visual artist!". Yep. That's right. It definitely leads there. And it's about time. Certainly computer graphics of every kind is helping to bring at least a modicum of this evolutionary idea to pass.\par 
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Photogenics\par 
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\tab Almathera, a company based in Europe, has stood by the Amiga since the companies inception. It flagship product, PhotoGenics, is a cousin to Nova Design's ImageFX and Elastic Realities' ADPro (though ADPro is considered to be officially out of the Amiga market). It lacks many of the image manipulation features of ImageFX, but it does offer some new operators and FX of its own, and is also a superb tool when it comes to alpha image channel compositing. An alpha channel, for those to whom this term may be daunting and new, is basically an image channel devoted to a grayscale range of 256 levels. Alpha channels are used to communicate to the main color image what areas of a picture are to fade out and which are to be left in place, rather like an image sieve. Alpha channels are used in video when only a small part of an image area is to be seen as the moving image, while the rest of the picture is blocked out in favor of another background. Alpha channels are used a lot in video for moving image compositing effects.\tab \par 
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\tab PhotoGenics only works on machines that run under WKbnch 3.0 and above, and it appreciates AGA Amigas as well. The general look of the interface is a lot like ADPro, it's archetype. You have to get used to a new way of working to master PhotoGenics. Changes in an image, for example, have to be "fixed" at each alteration stop along the way. The screen arrangement is also different than what many Amiga image folks are used to, but all of that requires just some minor alterations in your work habits. The important thing is that PhotoGenics works and it works well, giving you a whole basket of additional effects to apply to your images. We're going to tour some of these effects so that you can visually appreciate how you can make use of them. Obviously, you'll have to purchase the latest version of PhotoGenics to do this, and you'll have to be running an Amiga that's configured as stated above. Thanks to my wife, Diane, for allowing me to demonstrate these effects with a picture of her beautiful face. So, ready? Here we go (refer to the accompanying photos).\par 
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Hot Items to Remember When Using Photogenics\par 
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\tab One,.. always "Fix" a graphic before you save it. Photogenics has a unique (and very useful) undo mode that erases everything you did on a graphic, giving you the original back exactly as it was loaded in. When you Fix the graphic, all alterations are saved as part of the picture on screen, so that undoing is no longer possible. This is a very different approach than that taken my most other paint programs which have either one undo or multiple undos. It's a feature you will appreciate once you get used to it. Next is the exciting Loader features contained in the software (which we'll look at in more detail in another Photogenics article). Briefly touched on, there are some features here offered only by programs like Adobe PhotoShop on the PC and the MAC. Of note here is the Plasma Loader, which with some extra manipulation can give you the capacity to create gases, clouds, rocks, and many other organic textures. A Ripple Loader creates,.. guess what,.. rippled surfaces. All of these effects can be applied as displacement maps to a graphic, another subject we'll cover in visual detail in our next Photogenics article. \tab \par 
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\tab Photogenics has some of the most impressive Alpha channel compositing features that I have seen on the Amiga. A couple of examples of its potential for creativity in this area can be seen in the accompanying graphics. The Smear routine is a tool that allows you to push and pull parts of your picture into new shapes, and might be compared to the warping features found in high end morphing software. A selectively smeared image is represented in Figure 26. Warping is another feature of Photogenics, like smearing an image on a more global scale. You can appreciate its power by viewing Figure 27. We'll cover both Warping and Smearing in a deeper fashion in our next Photogenics piece. For now, just refer to the accompanying graphic examples.\par 
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What's Really Special About Photogenics?\par 
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\tab Though it sounds a bit facetious, we shoud say at the start is that Photogenics is special because it exists. On the Amiga platform, existence and support (and even upgrading) during these troubled times is no small matter. Almathera, however, is doing more than existing, it's prospering. Almathera is also close to everything that's happening at ESCOM, the Amiga's new parental environment. Secondly, Photogenics is a perfect compliment to your other image manipulation software, especially ImageFX from Nova Design. Photogenics includes a number of effects processing features that are unique on the Amiga platform, and some which are unique all the way around. Photogenics is also very affordable. The European Amiga market, dominated by A-1200s, demands a great price for product, and Photogenics is a major piece of software in that market. Lastly, image composition in Photogenics, blending images together so that they appear as one graphic, is addressed with one of the more professional and easy to understand interfaces that I have seen, rivaling anything on any system.\par 
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What can you do with Photogenics?\par 
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\tab Having fun is the first answer to the question, but there may also be opportunities here for you to generate real income from its use. You could, for instance, set up a booth at the next state fair in your area and sell Photogenics prints. Better yet, if the booth were equipped with the right hardware, you could print attendees altered personas on T-shirts and such. What about starting a greeting card business with the help of Photogenics? All of these ideas and more can be set into action with the right equipment and supplies and determined hard work and planning. \par 
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Conclusions, and "Where From Here?"\par 
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\tab I'm sold on Photogenics as a very diverse and qualitative Amiga graphics tool, as you can gather from the direction of this article. As to where it can head, there's only one place left,.. animation. If Photogenics included a keyframe animation system as a part of the package, so that you could set different effects and heave them move from one to the next, I'm not sure that anything else could touch it. Almathera is going to have to be motivated to do this, meaning that  without a sustained user base, major upgrades can be too expensive (you do have to pay programmers you know). Other than that, I'd say that it's on the right track, and I look ahead to its next release for the Amiga.\par 
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Captions:\par 
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Figure 1. The Photogenics Interface is intuitive to maneuver in. The Modes, Loaders, Savers, and a few other menus are all open to toggling on/off, and even the toolbox can be removed. Here we see the picture I worked on before any alterations were performed.\par 
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Figure 2. An antiqued look is a snap with Photogenics.\par 
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Figure 3. This is what Photogenics called "Bas Relief", a color embossed look.\par 
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Figure 4. Multiple blurs applied to the same image give it that dreamy romantic look.\par 
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Figure 5. A series of BrightMap applications give an image a decidedly Caribbean glow.\par 
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Figure 6. Using a Contrast mode pops the image out from a background.\par 
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Figure 7. CrossHatch adds a discernible jitter, giving an appearance that the image is either a painting or that the subject was caught in a lightning storm.\par 
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Figure 8. Defocus is great for that "Where did I put my glasses "look.\par 
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Figure 9. GradienTint is one of my favorites. It applies a tint that fades over the image. \par 
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Figure 10. DisplaceMap is none to pretty, unless you're aiming for that "earthquake" look.\par 
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Figure 11. HueMap is nice for that return-to-the-sixties look.\par 
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Figure 12. Life through a frosty window, the look of Photogenics Jitter mode.\par 
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Figure 13. The LineArt mode in Photogenics has the appearance of colored pencil.\par 
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Figure 14. The Mirage mode applies another kind of gradiated transparent wash over the image.\par 
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Figure 15. Randomize mode is like looking through a shower glass.\par 
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Figure 16. Refract is a mode whose uses will be rare, but when you need to show what life looks like after too many Margueritas,..\par 
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Figure 17. Stellate adds those sparkly toothpaste commercial stars.\par 
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Figure 18. Split is another unique disintegration look.\par 
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Figure 19. TileBricks are unique to Photogenics.\par 
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Figure 20. Spooky! A negative mode applied with a filled circle brush.\par 
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Figure 21. Selective Hue Shifts,.. circus anyone?\par 
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Figure 22. Glow bugs, using the Limit mode with a circular brush and "rectangles" turned on in the Transparency Gradient requester.\par 
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Figure 23. Mix with a rectangular Transparent Gradient.\par 
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Figure 24. Using a secondary painting as a background, Photogenics Rub Thru routine produces interesting results.\par 
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Figure 25. If you carefully layer a series of tinted and standard Rub Thrus to a secondary picture, the results will amaze you.\par 
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Figure 26. Using the Photogenics Smear mode allows you to change the shape of any elements in a 2D image.\par 
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Figure 27. Warping an image leads to startling conclusions.}