Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!mit-eddie!bu-cs!dartvax!eleazar.dartmouth.edu!derek
From: derek@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Derek J. LeLash)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Report on the Expo
Summary: Colony, SuperPaint 2
Message-ID: <9810@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 16 Aug 88 03:53:20 GMT
References: <639@stech.UUCP> <9808@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> <1235@mit-caf.MIT.EDU>
Sender: news@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU
Reply-To: derek@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Derek J. LeLash)
Organization: Software Development, Kiewit Comp Ctr, Dartmouth College
Lines: 59

In article <1235@mit-caf.MIT.EDU> paul@mit-caf.UUCP (Paul Meyer) writes:

>In article <9808@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU> I wrote:
>>- Colony, a game from MindScape (a must-buy for II-owning game players)

>Does this game run on the SE or the Plus?  Or is it to slow on those
>machines?  I thought I saw it running on an SE at the show, but I'm
>not sure.  

Sorry, I should have specified this. Yes, it runs on other Macs, but my
friend and I both found the animation a little too "chunky" to justify
our buying it for our (non-II) machines. Animotion on the II is wonderfully
smooth.

>	Care to give a description of the new features slated for Superpaint
>2?  Somehow I missed that booth at the expo, but I'm a Superpaint fan 
>looking forward to the update.  How does it measure up to Canvas 2.0?

Sure. Some of the features are (from memory and their handout):

- Auto-trace of bitmapped objects
- 3-dimensional dragging of objects, which means that if you drag a square in
  this way, you get lines connecting the vertices of the original and the
  dragged shapes, for a 3-d effect. You can do this with or without hidden-
  line removal.
- Color preview, although you still can't work directly with colors in the
  drawing itself.
- Bezier paths
- support for plug-in "modules" (additional tools programmed by third parties).
  This sounds really neat...apparently, the release will include a few of these
  tools with it.
- "SuperBits," bit-mapped objects in the draw layer that can be edited at high
  resolution.
- Transformation functions in both layers
- Mixing fonts, styles, etc. in text blocks
- customizable airbrush
- many selection tools
- "Multigon" tool for drawing equilateral polygons with any number of sizes.

Overall, it looked really good. Canvas, I thought, was leaning very much toward
becoming a high-end draw program, almost the draw equivalent of PixelPaint.
Since I don't have a Mac II, the (admittedly great) color support that will
be in Canvas 2 doesn't interest me. What was true with the original versions
is even more true now: if you do more painting than drawing, SuperPaint is
probably your best bet, if vice versa, look seriously at Canvas.

One caveat, for those who may not be aware of it, is that Canvas upgrades will
be *free* to registered owners, while SuperPaint upgrades will cost $50.
In fact, this makes the final price of the new versions (using current Mac-
Connection prices) $129 for SuperPaint and $109 for Canvas. Something to
think about, although those of us who own Microsoft Word will (eventually)
be receiving SuperPaint 1.1, so going in that direction looks financially
attractive...  :-)

Derek [tired feet] LeLash
   // Derek J. LeLash            /|\"Every male in the Urga family has gone\\
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