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- At the Seybold Seminars '92, Aldus Corporation introduced a Microsoft
- Windows version of Aldus Gallery Effects: Volume 1, Classic Art--a library
- of artistic effects that will automatically transform scanned photographs
- and other bitmap images into dramatic painting-like artwork. Published by
- Aldus subsidiary Silicon Beach Software, Gallery Effects was first
- introduced for the Apple Macintosh in August 1991. Within four months, it
- had earned the 1991 MacUser Editors' Choice award for "Best Visual
- Resource" and was named among How magazine's "Best Electronic Tools of
- 1991."
-
- Like the Macintosh version, the Windows product will offer 16 master
- effects, each designed to recreate a classic art style: Charcoal, Chalk &
- Charcoal, Chrome, Craquelure, Dark Strokes, Dry Brush, Emboss, Film Grain,
- Fresco, Graphic Pen, Mosaic, Poster Edges, Ripple, Smudge Stick, Spatter,
- and Watercolor. The effects will provide simple controls and interactive
- previews to enable designers to achieve dramatic artistic results easily,
- reliably, and consistently. Users will be able to customize the effects
- for dozens of variations, then save them for future use. Any of the
- effects can be applied to either an entire image or a selected area.
-
- Users will be able to apply the effects from within a standalone
- application that comes with the product, or use the effects as "plug-in"
- filters that can be integrated into graphics programs such as Aldus
- PhotoStyler 1.1 and Fractal Design Painter 1.0. The plug-in effects will
- appear as integral parts of the host program, providing users with
- convenient access to these unique image-enhancement capabilities.
-
- "With Gallery Effects for Windows, graphic artists will be able to create
- impressive artistic images with the click of a button, without spending
- the hours it would take to produce the art manually," said Maurice
- Rizzuto, product manager for Gallery Effects. "Aldus is providing a unique
- image-enhancement product that extends the graphics technology available
- to creative professionals using Windows."
-
- Gallery Effects will open and save files in the TIF, BMP, and TGA
- formats--including grayscale and 24-bit color images. Almost anyone will
- be able to use it to create original artwork; add artistic touches to
- photographs for use in magazines, brochures, annual reports, and so on;
- and produce architectural visual concepts from photographs or renderings
- created in 3-D graphics programs.
-
- Gallery Effects files will be transferable between the Windows and
- Macintosh environments. Once translated to PC media, for example, a TIFF
- file from the Macintosh version will open directly in Gallery Effects for
- Windows. Files created on the Windows side can be imported into the
- Macintosh version after they've first been saved in the Macintosh TIFF
- format using another graphics program.
-
- Pricing and availability Aldus Gallery Effects for Windows will be
- available in the second quarter of 1992 for a suggested retail price of
- $199 (U.S.) in the United States and Canada. Localized versions for
- European and Pacific Rim markets will be announced later.
-
- System configuration Gallery Effects will require Microsoft Windows 3.0 (or
- later) and Windows 3.0-compatible hardware. The recommended system
- configuration will be a 386- or 486-based DOS-compatible computer, 4MB of
- RAM, an 80MB hard disk, a 16- or 24-bit graphics card and monitor, and a
- mouse or other pointing device. The minimum system configuration will be a
- 286-based DOS-compatible computer, 2MB of RAM, a 20MB hard disk, any
- Windows-compatible graphics display card and monitor, and a mouse. When
- the effects are used as plug-in filters within other programs, the system
- configuration will be determined by the host product.
-
- Aldus Corp, 411 First Ave South, Seattle, WA 98104-2871
- 206-622-5500
-
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