Messages

26

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 28, 2013, 04:54 AM »

Well, that is surprising. Thanks for the feedback, if the error returns please, let me know.

The AppData looks fine.

27

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 28, 2013, 04:13 AM »

The middle part of the of the window, where the canvas is, is actually re-created each time you switch layer and there are 2 different "editors" that just happen to look the same (one implemented in RWViewImageRaster.dll, the other one in RWViewImageVector.dll - it is all very plug-in-ny). That placeholder message you see means that either the configuration is wrong (not likely, since it worked here) or creating the editor subwindow failed for some reason and the placeholder window was created instead of a hard crash.

If you not totally annoyed by the software yet, please try downloading this http://download.rw-d...WViewImageVector.dll , replacing the original file and then creating a vector image. It should display a series of message boxes with numbers. Then please tell me the last number you saw - it may help me locate where the window creation fails.

28

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 28, 2013, 02:37 AM »

Thanks, fenixproductions! Though, I have bad news - the package worked fine and I saw no missing layout on both my Win7 and on a clean WinXP in VirtualBox. Probably some sneaky bug that only manifests itself under special conditions. Are you using any applications that affect other software?

29

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 27, 2013, 04:44 PM »

Oh, I thought you were using the installer. In case of portable version (I assume you unpacked it to a new, empty folder), I have no idea why it should not work. Maybe it was somehow damaged during download? Using WinXP is fine, it should work on anything from Win2k up. Could you zip the folder with the not-working version and send it to me to [email protected] ? I'd love to check it out on my PC. Thanks.

30

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 27, 2013, 12:52 PM »

That really looks like something from the older version is still in %APPDATA%\RealWorld\RWPaint\PlugIns - you sure the folder is empty?

31

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 27, 2013, 02:24 AM »

If you see that, it may be due to an error. If you have had a previous version installed and if it downloaded some updates, they may be interfering with the new version. I am going to fix that (I do not know how yet), but for now, deleting everything in %APPDATA%\RealWorld\RWPaint\PlugIns and eventually resetting the layouts (CTRL+SHIFT during start) should fix it. (Also using the portable version solves the problem.)

32

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 26, 2013, 03:05 PM »

I wanted to make a sibling of the Shape, called Stroke, but decided to postpone it for the next version. The plan is for it to be very much like Shape when it gets to GUI. Simple Lines and Curves would be convertible to Strokes, just like Rectangles, Ellipses, Polygons and Texts are convertible to Shapes.

The Shape also has some hidden extras - there are context menu commands, various ones depending on what kind of control point you click and actual shape of the Shape.

I'll also take rgdot's opinion into account when designing future GUI changes. Who knows what will be the end result ;-).

33

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 26, 2013, 02:18 PM »

Thanks for the feedback. I will be working on more videos as the current ones are for the older versions, but my microphone has abandoned me again. I can't get a good microphone. This one was decent (on a USB headset), but stopped working properly and now is extremely noisy .

The Lines and Curves are working differently than in most other editors. I believe, stateless GUI is better for beginners and so the Line and Curve have only one state. When you create a Line, it has 3 points - two on the ends and 1 (greenish) in the middle. If you drag the middle point, new vertex is added. Similarly with the Curve.

I admit that the classic click-click-click-ESC way is faster when an experienced user creates a new line, but newbies have problems with it - they do not know that they have to somehow end the line (ESC, right click, ...?), changing a placed point or splitting an edge may be difficult, as it may involve choosing a different tool or re-configuring the current one. Though apparently, my approach confuses people, who have used other editors. I may adjust it or put some hits somewhere.

BTW for the Shape, the greenish points have similar function - they allow you to split an arc (without affecting a shape) and create a new control handle (point) at the desired location.

34

Living Room / Re: In search of ... opinions on AMD vs Intel graphics cards

« on: March 22, 2013, 03:24 AM »

Don't forget to verify that the i7 CPU is the 3rd generation (Ivy Bridge). It uses less power(=less heat), is a bit faster and has better graphics.

BTW the graphics is on the CPU, so there is no dedicated VRAM if you use it and you are paying for it in both cases. The AMD Radeon is an extra chip that is then used instead of the graphics part of the CPU. If you are not a big gamer, the integrated graphics on the latest CPU is good enough and there are less things that can break in your notebook. If you intend to play a lot of games on it, get the Dell.

35

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 21, 2013, 12:29 PM »

Ooops, what I meant by "Sticking with smaller tools" was that individual software developers should create much smaller and specialized tools than RWPaint already is.

36

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 21, 2013, 11:49 AM »

Thanks mouser. I often feel foolish working on it, knowing that Adobe is in the same segment ;-). Sticking with smaller tools is definitely a smarter choice, but I am too stubborn to give up.

...and thanks for the donation!

37

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / RealWorld Paint 2013.1

« on: March 21, 2013, 11:16 AM »

Hi coders,

a new version of my freeware image editor is here. This time, the big new feature is vector layers. There is also a new tool called Shape that is similar to the Pen tool in Photoshop (= allows you to create arbitrary shapes from Bezier arcs). There are also a couple of simplifications in the user interface, which should lower the sensory overload new users may experience.

My goal for this version was to make the software usable for semi-professional logo designing and I have a good feeling about it. While it is no Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator, the results you can get from it are often good enough. I also improved the .psd codec - it now understands vector masks in Photoshop files and can import them as vector layers.

Here is a screenshot showing my adaptation of Hally's Robo Cody. It consists of a couple of vector layers with layer styles applied and the shading is in a separate raster layer.



I have no video showing the latest version in action, but here is one I recorded few months ago with a beta version: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=VMjtuKnwZyU More tidbits in my blog.

Download at the usual place: http://www.rw-designer.com/image-editor
You can pick an installer (digitally signed for the first time) or a portable version. No adware !

38

Living Room / Re: Can you inagine a world without any personal privacy? Because it's here.

« on: March 19, 2013, 06:46 AM »

Yes, all this sensitive personal information about us is out there. Different entities have different pieces, buying, selling, renting them to make profit. And many people refuse to acknowledge this and like to live in an illusory world that it is possible to somehow contain this information and limit access to it.

I think this is a lost battle and instead of laws that prohibit collecting the information, there should be laws that make sharing of all collected information mandatory.

Would you be mad if your neighbor had access to your medical records, to list of items purchased in the last year in that sex-shop, or to a map that shows where your cell phone has been at each moment and what numbers you have called and even recordings of the calls? The problem is that the information exists and is obtainable. It cannot be contained. If it were publicly accessible by anyone (and not just shady individuals), I bet everyone would be much more careful and encrypted their digital trail... But this just scares people so much that they rather keep pretending that the information is unobtainable.

39

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Release: Image Grid

« on: March 11, 2013, 12:32 PM »

I guess I understand. Though, I will probably not add that feature, because it is not directly tied to the main functionality and more importantly, it would require a big change of the user interface. I may make another tool specialized for just this.

40

N.A.N.Y. 2012 / Re: NANY 2012 Pledge & Release: Image Grid

« on: March 10, 2013, 05:48 PM »

You can delete images by dragging them out of the canvas.

Regarding the second request, could you describe the use case, where this feature would be useful?

41

Living Room / Re: "Download" vs. "Manufacture"

« on: February 08, 2013, 05:03 AM »

I have recently borrowed Carl Sagan's "Contact" book in the local library and one thing irritates me about it a lot. The author states there is a message from some kind from an ancient civilization (or God) within PI. Well, of course, there is one, PI has infinite digits and all kind of information is stored within it, including the Avengers movie. Except "stored" is kind of misleading. I would probably need lots of gigabytes just to tell you, where in PI the Avengers movie is.

42

General Software Discussion / Re: switch black and white in tiff files

« on: January 23, 2013, 02:35 PM »

My memory is not what it used to be, but there may be a flag in tiff files that indicates what is black and what is white. Could it be that the software you are using for viewing the files ignores it? Maybe the files are OK (and maybe not).

43

Site/Forum Features / Re: Testing waters for radical dc ideas - feedback wanted

« on: December 21, 2012, 04:30 AM »

And in the past my attitude has been: It is what it is -- I'm not a fan of change for change's sake, or trying to change things to get "bigger" or more popular.

-mouser (December 20, 2012, 03:49 PM)

I still think this is the right attitude. Change always has a price and there should be a good reason for it. As a normal user of the forum, I am relatively happy with it. I usually click on the "Show new replies to your posts" and "Show latest topics" links and occasionally, I use the search function. All of these work OK on DC. But I see some room for improvement:

• The search works, but Google usually does a better job.
• Off-topic discussions are sometimes a problem. It would be nice if it were possible to view a thread without off-topic posts or with them greyed out. I know that this requirement sounds crazy, but what do I know, maybe some of the new forum scripts already address that. If not, the posters on DC are quite responsible, maybe simply having a "Reply off-topic" button in addition of ordinary "Reply" will be enough. Or maybe something like the Q&A sites use - ordinary posts/answers and then comments to each posts.
• Going through all new posts is too time consuming for me and so I do not click that link. Due to that, I may miss some things that would interest me. If there were a way to filter the new posts and only show them to me if they contained certain keywords, that would be nice.

Summing it all up - it would be perfect, if I had a (probably customizable) page showing me all the things I am interested in at once - in my case, it would contain responses to topics I watch, new topics and new posts matching certain keywords or posted by certain people there.

I am not really familiar with other parts of the site. As for attracting new software authors, who want to publish their first applications and do not have a web site of their own, that is a hard task and I guess any change in this area would require a lot of work.

44

Living Room / Re: Cyber Cody & Zombie Cody...My mrs is slightly...odd?

« on: December 19, 2012, 05:04 AM »

I finally managed to finish the computerized version of Hally's Robo Cody. It looks worse than the original, but at least it has a transparent background and I have it in partially vector format, so higher-resolution png is not a problem if it is needed. All copyright stays with Hally.

45

Living Room / Re: Cyber Cody & Zombie Cody...My mrs is slightly...odd?

« on: December 14, 2012, 09:59 AM »

I think the Robo Cody is the best of the three. Would your fiancé mind if I tried to convert it to a more computer-friendly version and posted it here? Not that there is anything bad about a scanned paper, but I am a perfectionists   and it looks like a fun thing to do.

46

General Software Discussion / Re: MagicRAR Drive Press - worth anything?

« on: December 10, 2012, 11:27 AM »

Agree with f0dder. The software probably does nothing else than force the compression flag on all files, even on those, where it would make no sense (fixing this "bug"). mwb1100, you mentioned, you want to compress specific files - just go ahead and enable NTFS compression for them (or for the folder they are in) - you don't need that software to do that for you.

The NTFS compression is rather conservative and sometimes it really does not make sense to enable it. It has different priorities than zip or rar. The compressed files must be easily and quickly modifiable and provide random access. The files are divided into compression units of 16 clusters (1 cluster is typically 4kB) and compression occurs only if it would reduce the size of the unit by at least the size of 1 cluster. For some files, it never happens and attempting the compression only wastes time. For small files that fit into a single cluster, the compression may also bring no benefit.

47

Living Room / Re: Reducing Scales - Recurring numbers & Patterns

« on: December 04, 2012, 11:00 AM »

It is called repeating decimal or recurring decimal, so you were very very close. The infinity sign is not used - instead there should be a horizontal line above the digits that are repeating ( not easily done in html ;-) ).

Rational numbers (M/N, where M and N are integral) do have this property when they are written in the usual decimal notation. Look these examples:
1.2 = 12/10
1.23 = 123/100
1.234 = 1234/1000
These "normal" decimal numbers can be expressed as fractions, but note that there always is a power of 10 in denominator. Our usual decimal notation can be considered just a shortcut of the full M/N notation.

Every fractional number (that cannot be further simplified) that has something else than a product of 2s and 5s (10=2*5) in the denominator will have infinite number of repeating digits when written in decimal notation.
1/3, 1/6, 1/7, 1/9, 1/11, 1/13, ...

Here is a provocative number: 1/2 = 0.5 = 0.500000000000000000000000000000000000... 

48

Living Room / Re: Free Energy, Plant Energy, & My Energy Fixation... etc.

« on: December 03, 2012, 09:24 AM »

Using plants to produce electricity is indeed very cool, but sadly quite inefficient. Those crazy plants are green! (reflecting green-ish photons). Compare the chlorophyll absorption spectrum ( http://www.firstrays...plants_and_light.htm ) with the sun emission spectrum ( http://www.soultek.c...echnology-735670.jpg ) and you'll see that plants suck at converting sun's light to usable energy, they are less efficient than current photovoltaic panels. If you count in fact that you cannot take away all the energy the plants produce and you must somehow build the infrastructure to gather the energy, the picture is grim.

Maybe in a couple of decades, after humankind has mastered genetic engineering, we'll see some kind of black plants that will grow batteries. Maybe they will grow on Earth orbit and just drop the batteries with tiny parachutes on our heads ;-).

49

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2011.1 finally complete

« on: December 03, 2012, 04:08 AM »

Yeah, getting a decent photo of me is tremendous job. I actually did a retouch of my own some time ago http://www.rw-designer.com/entry/154

To remove recent files, open a new window and click on the "Recent" icon near the left edge. Then right-click on a thumbnail and select "Remove from list".

50

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: RealWorld Paint 2011.1 finally complete

« on: December 02, 2012, 03:08 PM »

Thanks for the kind words Tao, I think I understand your position. There is a way to customize RWPaint, but it is not easy. I tried to prepare something for you to play with if you want to experiment a bit.

In RWPaint, go to Tools->Application options in main menu. Check the last option (Show menu commands for layout control) on the first tab (Main Window). This will add new entries to the Tools menu. Click on "Manage layouts" in the Tools menu. Download the file attached to this post and unzip it; then click on "Import layout" in the window that appeared and select the unzipped file. This will add a specialized layout to the application.

Now, open an image. In the upper right corner of the window, you'll see "Tao's image editor". Click that. The window will change and most of the controls will be gone, leaving only those you mentioned. You can always click the "Layered image editor" text to go back to the default layout.

The simplified layout has only the 2 selection tools plus I left Transformation and Crop there as well. Transformation tool is used when you paste something in. The Resize command now accepts % for each direction. The Flip and Mirror commands are on the toolbar, but only work with entire image ignoring selection.

Creating these modified layouts is not hard for me, but teaching it to anyone else would be quite hard. The person needs to know a lot about the architecture of the software. Maybe I'll one day figure out how to make this accessible without exposing the inner complexity.

---

I am thinking about the Pointer tool. It is true that other editors have such tools and they are sometimes used for panning. That can be done in RWPaint by holding the middle button (the mouse wheel), so I skipped that, but I will think about it. Sometimes being too efficient is contra-productive.