BlackMagic Readme - July 2005 Copyright NeuralTek - All Rights Reserved. INSTALLATION ____________ For the ".exe" self extracting archive -------------------------------------- Simply execute the ".exe" archive, set desired options, click on the "Finish" button, then follow on-screen prompts. For the ".zip" archive ---------------------- Unzip the contents into a temporary folder, then execute the file blkmagic.exe, set desired options, click on the "Finish" button, then follow on-screen prompts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To UN-INSTALL _____________ Unlike some other programs, BlackMagic installs all program and support files within the same folder; as such, an Un-install program is not necessary. To un-install BlackMagic, simply remove the folder into which you installed BlackMagic, making sure to backup any of your personal/ data files in that folder. Then remove the BlackMagic program group from the Start -> Programs menu.. version 2.83 - 2.84 (Minor updates Jul 2005): ____________________________________________ These updates contains some minor bug fixes - no new functionality is introduced. New Security Shell (23 May 2005) ________________________________ version 2.82 (March 2004): __________________________________________________ Bug corrected: If a selection area was defined starting from bottom/ right (instead of top/ left, the selection was not recognized. This bug has now been corrected, plus some screen typo(s) and minor bugs were corrected as well. Some security routines were updated. version 2.8 Change Notes (November 2003): _________________________________________ Updated documentation is included in this archive. Fixed the default rendering behaviour of some palettes (such as "Fire") which were not generating properly. Corrected the 'wrong version reporting' at certain points. Significant changes also to do with program security against stolen/ hacked Keys, and an interface fix. Towards our continuing effort to make the program richer in terms of useful functionality and Real-Life-Colour palettes, and to simplify the interface by removing clutter from 'not so frequently used' features, the colour invert option for R G B channels has now been replaced by a simple "invert on load" option on the main screen. This is as per feedback from several users - it will retain the option of loading negatives by pre-converting these to 'positive' print (the original intended purpose of individual channel inverts). This change will also benefit, by being available to all program editions (He, BE, PE). As a result, the seldom used "alien" and "neon" palettes have now been superceeded by (hopefully more useful) variations on "object", "earth", "skin", and "multi-coloured weave" derivative custom palettes (Business and Professional editions only). Version 2.74 Change Notes (October 2003): __________________________________________ v2.74 provides improvements in the default parameters controling the render engine - the result it more balanced colour rendering with default setting for a wider range of images. The "Pressure Control" (previously called "Pressure Damper") now provides the ability to both increase or decrease the pressure of the render tool. Use this control to alter the strength of colours if these appear too strong or soft for a particular case. The "Pressure Control" re-sets to default after a change in palette/ colour, so re-adjust if required for each RLC palette. Release 2.74 re-sets the trial period, so you may re-trial even if you ran out of trial period on a previous occassion. Version 2.71 Change Notes (October 2003): __________________________________________ Release 2.71 primarily modifies the default behaviour of the "Layered" and "Overwrite" rendering modes. Specifically, some seemingly confusing behaviour of these two options has been corrected. The "Overwrite" option now takes on default behaviour for the 'SmartBrush' and 'TouchPaint' tools, and as a 'user selectable' option it is now only available for the 'SelectPaint' tool (please see the on-line documentation for full details on these tools and options. Some other minor bugs and issues have also been fixed. Version 2.7 Change Notes (September 2003): __________________________________________ 1. "Zoom" mode operations now available in the Home Edition. 2. Default behaviour for the Painting tools has now changed. Smart Brush now starts in the "Layered" mode. Changing the current paint tool now re-sets the "Layered" and "Overwrite" modes to their respective default settings. Caution: If the colours rendered appear to be too strong, make sure that the "Layered" checkbox is checked, and that the "Overwrite" checkbox is not checked (tools panel on the main screen). You may also reduce the "pressure" by setting the value for "Pressure Damper" (image window, bottom panel). Conversely, if the rendered colours appear too 'dull', you can render with the "Layered" checkbox unchecked, and/ or the "Overwrite" checkbox checked, and by using '0' or lower negative values for the "Pressure Damper". "Professional Edition" users may also play with the "Saturation/ Intensity" settings to get the desired effect ("Effects & Tuning" panel on the main screen). As with everything else, 'practice makes perfect'. 3. Fixed some minor bugs/ issued. Summary of Changes since v2.2 _____________________________ Trial Version ------------- The trial license of BlackMagic now lets you evaluate all functions of the Professional Edition, with the following exceptions: 1) Image size is limited to a maximum of around 500,000 pixels; larger ones are automatically scaled down, while maintaining the original aspect ratio. 2) Print-outs carry a BlackMagic logo, and are limited to half of the loaded image size. 3) The trial license expires 30 days after the installation. If you have a special requirement to evaluate the software without these restrictions, or to extend the trial period, please contact support@neuraltek.com for an Evaluation License KEY. The included documentation details the features & differences between different BlackMagic Editions. During the trial, you may contact support@neuraltek.com for any clarifications or support issues. General (all program editions) ------------------------------ 1. Enhancements, subtractions, additions, bug-fixes, etc. (check details for specific program Editions below) to all software editions. 2. Quick Brush Selector: A new panel on the main screen now provides easy selection of the most commonly used sizes and shapes for the "Smart Paint Brush" tool. 3. Interface changes (hopefully nicer). 4. All prices have been SLASHED! Checkout http://www.neuraltek.com/blackmagic/purchase.html for the latest pricing info. 5. Better print-out scaling to match printer resolution. PE (Professional Edition) -------------------------- 1. The original "Ambient Light" feature has been replaced with a much more advanced individual Red, Green, and Blue controls. These modify any selected Neural Net palette directly. Each of these channels may now be individually 'Invert'ted as well. The "Ambient" control now acts on the original image for all the channels, while the "Saturation" control acts on current palette selection after the RGB tuning is applied. These features together provide the most flexible control and tuning of the palette selections, while maintaining the "depth" advantage of the Neural Net based TimeBrush RLC palettes. 2. Mask'ed Mode painting has been made obsolete, and has been taken out. The main purpose of this feature was to speed-up paining in larger images. With newer hardware plus code optimization, "Interactive" paining mode defaults all the time and provides real-time feed-back of the rendering. 3. Object definition/ switching has been excluded in this release, but may be re-introduced in a future release with enhancements to make it more useful; all users of this release (2.2) will be provided a free update when this happens. 4. Max Res. setting lets users specify a "MegaPixel" value that will be used to scale loaded images automatically. BE (Business Edition) --------------------- 1. Maximum supported resolution has been increased to 4 MegaPixels. 2. The BE version now includes five (5) extra Neural-Net based palettes; these were earlier offered only with the Professional Edition of the software. Extra palettes are available from the Object-type/ Palette menu accessed by Right-Clicking in the image area, after an image has been loaded for processing. 3. Zoom'ed Mode processing is now available in the BE version (allows processing an image while zoom'ed in or out). Zooming is accessed from the Control Panel of the Image Window (after an image has been loaded). For more details, please refer to the BlackMagic on-line documentation. 4. The BE Edition now provides the ability to fine-tune the colours rendered by the neural-net pre-configured palettes. This is done by selecting "Pick Colour" option on the palettes menu (Object-type/ Palette menu accessed by Right-Clicking in the image area, after an image has been loaded for processing). Specific colours selected this way can be layered on top or below the neural-net palette based colours, to create variations of these (e.g. to make the colours rendered by the "Face -> Fair" auto palette less "orange'ish", you may layer a certain shade of 'Blue' colour selected from the Colour Picker.) Please note that using specific hues/ colours from the 'Colour Picker' by themselves would create 'flat' rendering; hence, this feature is primarily meant for 'Layering' on to 'Auto Colour Palettes', which will render the depth typical of TimeBrush RLC Palettes. For more information please consult the BlackMagic on-line help/ tutorial. 5. "Integration" parameter for the "Magic Touch" tool, previously available only in the Professional Edition, determines the scope/ extent of colorization performed through the "Magic Touch" tool. For more details, please refer to the on-line help. HE (Home Edition) --------------------- 1. Maximum supported resolution has been increased to 1 MegaPixel. In case of problems, please contact support@neuraltek.com. Thank you for your interest in this NeuralTek product.