applications [3]

MW Software is proud to announce the release of Crystal, the ArtWorks transparency module.

ArtWorks, the best-selling advanced vector graphics package for RISC OS [4], has received a large number of new features and enhancements over the past years, e.g., the TextArea module adding rotatable multi-column text areas or the BMExport module adding high-quality Sprite and GIF export options.

The new Crystal module is without doubt the most significant update ever produced: Finally, ArtWorks has full transparency support! Crystal offers three types of transparency (Mix, Stained glass, Bleach) and allows you to apply a transparency type and percentage to any ArtWorks object, no matter whether it is a shape, a line of text, a sprite, a text area, etc
Further information and example screenshots can be found on the Crystal home page [5]

Crystal costs 35 Pounds (EUR 55) (inc. VAT, price for e-mail delivery, add 2.50 Pounds (EUR 4) for snail-mail delivery). You can order by sending me a cheque or online with credit card payment (follow the link in the "Pricing and Ordering" section on the Crystal home page).

Crystal requires RISC OS [6] 3.5 or higher and ArtWorks 1.5 or higher. A StrongARM is highly recommended for serious work.

The Update Collection (modules released since 2000) and the Full Set Collection (all modules) now include Crystal. They are priced at:

Update Collection: 70 Pounds (EUR 110)

Full Set Collection: 90 Pounds (EUR 145)

Customers who have bought one of these collections in March 2002 can upgrade to the new versions of the collections for the difference in price.

More kernel bug-fixes
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Developing Crystal has only been possible because I have finally taken control over the ArtWorks kernel - the main ArtWorks !RunImage. This means that more features can be added and more bugs can be fixed. These bug-fixes are implemented by AWFixMod, a new ArtWorks module that is freely available.

The first release of AWFixMod fixes two long-standing ArtWorks bugs: Firstly, a proper anti-aliased tick is displayed in the colour and separation menus instead of a System font tick (RISC OS 3) or a Euro symbol (RISC OS 4).

Secondly, the Choices window extends correctly to accommodate the icons for additional choices sections (for example, the icon added by Crystal). It is very likely that additional fixes will be added to this module in the future.

You can download AWFixMod from the ArtWorks bugs & fixes page [7]

GSpriteExtend bug-fix
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GSpriteExtend, one of the system extension modules that come with ArtWorks had a subtle bug when displaying deep sprites (32 thousand or 16 million colours) that have a mask. In this case, the mask was not applied correctly. This bug affected both sprite rendering in ArtWorks and Impression. An updated version of GSpriteExtend (version 0.68) is supplied with the latest version of AWViewer (1.36c), is available [8]

New releases
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Several ArtWorks modules have been updated, mainly to add Crystal support. Other enhancements: BMExport has enhanced output quality when exporting images with the Acorn standard 256 colour palette. ColourBar now updates the colour bar immediately when a new colour is added or imported. ZoomPlus was updated for higher stability. Latest versions:

BMExport 1.14

ColourBar 1.10

JPEGObject 1.10

Polygon 1.23

Replicate 1.08

TextArea 1.10

ZoomPlus 0.07

If you have not received any of these updates and you think you should have received them, please contact Martin Wuerthner [9].


New online sales partner
------------------------
Following the unexpected end of RegisterHouse, the online ordering service through which you could order my products online, I am glad to announce that the Co-Comp Shop [10] now offers my key products online with credit card payment:
Products available online are Crystal, TextArea, the Full Set Collection and the Update Collection. Follow this link to order:
http://www.co-comp.co.uk/shop/shopping/?id=32

Note: A quick picture has been put together by Chris Williams (he of EasyGCC fame) which shows what can be done in a very short amount of time with Crystal..

Click here to view it [11]