a-graph - a professional image editor for the Amiga
===================================================
a-graph is a raster image editor for AmigaOS 3.x, written from scratch in C.
Its menus, panels, tools, dialogs, shortcuts and workflow follow today's
industry-standard image editors as closely as the hardware allows - if you
have used a modern professional image editor, you already know a-graph.
It is still a real Amiga program: it respects the system, works with
Workbench, and treats the Amiga's own formats as first-class citizens.
ONE BINARY, TWO KINDS OF MACHINE
--------------------------------
At startup a-graph picks its display path by itself:
- RTG (Picasso96 / CyberGraphX, cybergraphics.library v41+): its own
24-bit truecolor screen. This is the main target.
- AGA: without RTG it falls back to a 256-colour (8-bitplane) screen, so
it also runs on a classic A1200/A4000 without a graphics card.
- Workbench window: on a truecolor RTG Workbench it can also run in a
window there (View > Screen Mode > Workbench Window).
Two builds are included:
a-graph 68020 or better, no FPU needed
a-graph.060 optimised for the 68060 (with FPU)
AMIGA FORMATS
-------------
IFF ILBM
- Loads 1-8 bitplane palette images, 24-bit ILBM, HAM6, HAM8 and EHB
(the view mode from the CAMG chunk); the ACBM variant too.
- PCHG palette changes per line (small and big changes, the Huffman
compressed form too), so multi-palette pictures show as they do on
the Amiga; SHAM/CTBL sliced HAM as well.
- View > HAM8 Preview / HAM6 Preview: the picture on a native HAM
screen of its own (HAM8 needs AGA), as the chipset will show it.
- Saves IFF 24-bit, HAM8, HAM6, EHB, 256 colours and 16 colours,
ByteRun1 (PackBits) compressed.
IFF ANIM (DeluxePaint-compatible)
- Saves FORM ANIM: a full ILBM first frame, then op-5 "byte vertical
delta" frames (ANHD + DLTA), all frames on one median-cut 256-colour
palette.
- Loads ANIMs into the Timeline, or frame by frame into layers.
- Modern Timeline: frame strip with thumbnails, per-frame delays,
looping, Tween, Onion Skin, and layer animation (visibility, position,
opacity per frame).
Workbench icons (.info)
- Reads PNG icons, OS3.5 colour icons (FORM ICON/IMAG), NewIcons and
classic planar icons; normal and selected images open as two layers.
- Saves a classic DiskObject plus an OS3.5 colour image (up to 256
colours, transparency). An edited icon keeps its Default Tool, tool
types, stack, position and the rest.
- Image Previews: every saved file can get an icon with a thumbnail.
Clipboard (clipboard.device)
- Copy/Cut publish IFF ILBM; Paste takes an ILBM from any program.
Text travels as IFF FTXT.
PART OF THE SYSTEM
------------------
- ARexx port.
- AppWindow: drop file icons from Workbench into the window.
- Amiga bitmap fonts for type layers, with previews in the font list.
- Tablet pen pressure (size, opacity, flow) through the system's tablet
events.
- Droplets: a saved batch process as an icon to drop images on.
- Settings, brushes, patterns, actions and the dictionary live in PROGDIR:.
BRIDGES TO THE REST OF THE WORLD
--------------------------------
- PSD: layers, masks, groups with blend modes, layer styles, editable
type, adjustment layers, 8 and 16 bit. PSB (Large Document) is read too.
- PNG (up to 16-bit, interlaced), JPEG, TIFF (LZW/ZIP, paths), GIF
(animated too), WebP, BMP, TGA, PCX, PBM/PGM/PPM, Radiance HDR,
OpenEXR, PDF and EPS.
- Imports brushes (.abr), gradients (.grd), styles (.asl),
custom shapes (.csh) and patterns (.pat); exports patterns (.pat).
WHAT'S INSIDE, IN SHORT
-----------------------
- Layers: groups with real blend modes, clipping masks, Smart Objects,
Smart Filters with Blending Options.
- Layer styles: Drop Shadow, Bevel & Emboss, Glows, Satin, Gradient and
Pattern Overlay, Stroke.
- Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, a Camera Raw-style window, Filter
Gallery, Blur Gallery, Liquify and many more filters and adjustments.
- Select and Mask, Color Range, Quick Mask, single-channel editing.
- Brushes with dynamics, on-canvas HUD for brush size and colour,
Vanishing Point with several planes, live gradients.
- Actions (with Record Again), batch processing, Save for Web, Indexed
Color (Perceptual / Selective palettes), Bitmap mode.
NEW IN 0.7
----------
- Workbench window mode (a real, resizable window on an RTG Workbench).
- Many more mouse and key modifiers as in the reference: Ctrl = Move for
one drag, Ctrl/Alt+Space = Zoom, Alt = a tool's opposite, arrow keys on
Free Transform / crop box / selection outline, Ctrl+Z inside Free
Transform, double-click to commit a transform, and more.
- Channels: an eye per channel, Shift+click to target several, drag to
reorder; Paths: thumbnails and all seven buttons; History: Delete.
- Group / Layer from Background dialogs, Global Light Altitude, Blending
Options' General Blending, Black & White and Gradient Map adjustment
layer settings, Adjustment Presets, EPS and PDF (ZIP) options, PNG 8-bit
in Export As, a canvas Border preference.
FIXED FROM USER REPORTS
-----------------------
- The drop-down menus open and follow the pointer much faster on a
68030 and on MorphOS.
- The Hand (Space held) can no longer stay stuck on.
- A layer lock can always be removed: click the lock badge on the
layer's row, or use Lock Layer (context menu, Ctrl+/) again.
- Free Transform works on big layers (the limit is free memory), on the
Background (it becomes a layer) and fits the box to the layer's
content; the Move tool's transform handles start it.
INSTALLATION
------------
Unpack the archive anywhere and double-click a-graph (or a-graph.060 on a
68060). The program keeps its settings and presets in its own drawer
(PROGDIR:), so give it a drawer you can write to.
Optional: put a word list (one word a line) in PROGDIR:a-graph.dic for the
spelling checker.
TESTING
-------
a-graph is under active development and is constantly checked by automated
tests, on a PC under WinUAE and on real Amiga hardware.
Please report bugs and ideas to the e-mail address above.
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