Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Abel Supply has DPaint III listed for about $90, so the question is 
    whether it's worth that amount.

    I've got my copy on order.

    - Cliff

    I saw a rewiew of it in some current magazine (INFO or AmigaWorld)
    and it looked like a vast improvement over DPII.  There is a new
    animation menu.  It seems to work in a similar manner to MovieSetter
    by Gold Disk.  You can make brushes move around the screen at
    pre-determined speeds.
    
    Fonts are now selected from a requester like the one used for disk
    files, not a pull down menu.
    
    File requesters are improved and display actual mounted drives.
    
    The screen tools are same as the old ones, so the package looks
    the same.
    
    ExtraHalfbright is now available, letting you use 64 colors at once
    (two shades of 32 colors).  They use this in an interesting way
    to create automatic dropshadows.
    
    Sounds good enough for me.
    
    Randy
    

My copy came in a few days ago. It's on three disks(DPaint, ART, & ANIMATION).
I have a 1 meg system and some of the animations would not run for lack of
memory. This may be caused by how I boot my system. I have transferred it to my
hard disk as per the manual using the workbench. I had to do one assign. The
manual is about 50% bigger. There is a "pocket guide" that lists the keyboard
equivelents for commands etc. I haven't had time to explore it much, but my
kids showed me some of the animations. They like it a lot and have already done
some animations. Just thought you guys would like to know that they're shipping
it out. -Tom- 

    I bought a copy last week.  If you liked DpaintII, you will LOVE
    the new version.  Everything is just better.  Dan Silva (the author)
    deserves a pat on the back.
    
    Jean
    

    Can someone explain how the upgrade program works for this?  What
    is the procedure.  I haven't heard anything from EA for years, even
    tho I sent in all my warranty cards.
    
    Does DPIII do perspective and shaded fills any faster?  DPII used
    to be REAL slow.                                      
                                                          
    Randy

    RE: .4   Yeah, I agree. No bugs yet! It seems to manage memory much
    better as well.
    
    RE: .5   Sure. Write out a check for $50 to Electronic Arts. Take
    the front cover of your DPaint II Manual and send it along with
    the check to EA for the upgrade. It'll arrive within a couple weeks.
    
    Paul
    
    

    
    re .5
    
    	I just recieved a flyer from EA. This is the first information
    I have seen from them in a very long time. As .6 stated you send
    $50 and the manual cover from Dpaint I or Dpaint II.
    
    
    		Steve Peters
    

    Sorry to be a pest, but is there any special address for the upgrade
    deal, or is it the one on the manual?
    
    Randy
    

Re: -.1

> is there any special address for the upgrade deal, or is it the 
> one on the manual?
    
The flyer ("UPGRADE NOW AND SAVE $92.95") has this address:
	Electronic Arts
	P.O. Box 7530
	San Mateo, CA 94403

In small print, the flyer says "Note:Product requires 1MB of RAM"

    My copy came yesterday.  If you haven't upgraded to III, do it now.
    This is a vast improvement over DP and DPII.  I feel the changes
    are well worth the $50.00 for the upgrade.  The animation features
    are very slick.  Being able to paint directly to the overscan screen
    is a terrific improvement.  Perspective fills are faster.
    
    Still the best paint program for the Amiga.  A must have for desktop
    video.
    
    Randy
    

    As one who never upgraded to DPaint II, I have to say III is one world of
    a jump from the original DPaint.  My mind is boggled with all the
    new stuff.  A must for all!!
    
    Gary

    Don't forget to try the keyboard equivalents of the toolbox 
    selections.  They're easy to learn and they really speed things up!

    What we need now is an upgrade to Deluxe Music.

    - Cliff

    Frustration abounds. I'm trying to do some hi-res work on graphs
    generated on a spreadsheet. The intent is to beef 'em up using the
    HR136 technique and  zap the result over to my VAX and then to wow
    everybody at work with the mind boggling grafix.
    
    I'm trying to do this on a 1 meg A500. Sure, I know that one meg is the
    min that DPIII asks for.
    
    My problem is that I dont understand why i get "not enough memory..."
    type messages and there is 300k of fast Ram sitting idle. Aynbody out
    there care to put me straight??
    
    Glenn 

    Re: .13
    
    Your problem is probably not the amount of free memory, but the
    size of the largest chunk of CHIP mem. To open a 640 by 200 4 bit
    planes screen, Amy needs 128 KB of consecutive CHIP mem. To improve
    your situation:
    1. Don't load Workbench, it takes up some CHIP mem,
    2. reduce the number of CLI's and other windows to a minimum (=1)
    3. Use the Overlay load option on DPaint startup.
    
    Should help,
    
    <CB>

    Christian,
    
    	Thanks for the help but, sorry to say....done that. I even modified
    the startup-sequence to go directly into Dpaint. Maybe I'm looking at a
    design feature?
    
    Glenn.

    Re: .15
    
    Strange...
    but it's hard to simulate the EXACT environment of an 1 MB A500 with
    an 5 MB A2500... ;-) 
    I'll bring the offender (DPaint) along to the office tomorrow and
    try it on the 1 MB A500 I'm currently hacking this note in...
    
    Regards,
    
    <CB>

Here's another new problem with DP III:

The Anim function will not work on machines with 1 Meg and the 
new Fat Agnus chip.  It will only work if you have additional 
fast ram.  EA is making a fix.  If you have a problem with this, 
call their support line and give them your name.

Count yourself lucky.  I have DeluxeProductions.  It will not run 
at all on my machine.  EA says that they have had only a few 
complaints about this, and do not plan to do anything about it 
(!!!!!!!) because it seems to be random.  Isn't Fat Agnus 
great???

Randy

    
    Re: .17
    
    Well, I know of at least ONE bug in the "super" Agnus, but I'm positive
    that this one has absolutly nothing to do with your problem.
    DPaint-III (and other EA software is SEVERLY braindead when it comes
    to memory requirements and management, as your's and others peoples
    complaints as well as my own experience show. 
    Don't blame the hardware for software faults... 
                                                   
    Regards,
    
    <CB>
    

What Bug, <CB>?

John

    Re: .19
    
    I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! :-)
    Ya fellas just don't have no self discipline. ;-)
    
    Oh well, since CBM failed to fix this for six months now, I guess
    I can tell ya...
    
    In PAL mode the the mouse pointer (sprite 0) is broken in the PAL
    area of the screen (lines 200/400 to 256/512). It will leave an
    image of itself in this areas of the bitmap. Confused? OK, an example:
    
    If you double-click an icon in this area of the screen, you'll get
    your usual freely moveable Zzz pointer PLUS a frozen image of the
    arrow pointer on the icon. This also results in "features" like
    any mouse-blanker being unable to blank the pointer in this area...
    
    I'm pretty mad at CBM about this one, because I reported this bug
    VERY early (in February) and twice again in the mean time, but besides
    several FALSE statements from Q/A that this is fixed nothing happened.
    
    There's another feature... but this I'm not going to discuss here
    for some weeks to come.
    
    Regards,
    
    <CB>

    Re: .13-.16
    
    Well, I just tried DP-III on my trusty 1MB A500 here in the office
    and it will open a 4bit planes deep, 640 by 400 (NTSC) hires screen
    just fine...
    I selected overlay and started DP w/o loading the workbench.
    
    Just that ya know,
    
    <CB>

    re .21
    
    I dont have a problem opening a 640 x 400 hi res screen. My problem is
    that I cant do a lot with it. i.e, Import a graph from maxiplan (which
    is not the right physical size for the DPIII sreen), make a brush out
    of it and try to re-size the brush UP. Then I get the "not enough
    memory to proceed" message. <ctrl>A tells me that I've got 300K of Fast
    ram available. What gives....
    
    BTW, I'm using a U.S. version on a PAL machine. THis shouldn't make any
    difference.
    
    Glenn

    re .22
    
    I think I told a mis-truth. I bought my DPIII in the U.S. (NTSC
    version), however, I'm running it on a PAL machine. Try as I might, I
    dont seem to be able (via the screen size thingie) to resize the screen
    to a 320 X 200 or 640 x 400 display. It always defaults back to 320
    x 256 or 640 x 512. The book doesn't offer any explanation for this
    phenomenon. Seems like my system is saying, "I'm a PAL machine and I'm
    gonna give you the extra lines whether you want 'em or not".
    
    	I was once able to fluke a 640 x 400 screen and it freed up enough
    memory to give me some extra colours.
    
    	Does anybody out there know of a utility or patch that will allow
    me to (heaven forbid!!!) force this thing to think it's NTSC??
    
    Cheers
    Glenn.

	Re .23

	The "New PAL Version" of DPIII has a switch on the screen setup form
	to change between PAL and NTSC - so the PAL version will run on 
	either standard quite happily, and let you work on NTSC sized images
	on a PAL machine.

	Maybe you should call EA and see what they say - perhaps you'll have
	to track down a PAL version...

	Dave.

    DGM-Software Germany
    
    R .22
    
    The Error Message "No enough memory" is correct. There is a difference
    between CHIP-MEM and FAST-MEM. For graphic, and a Brush or a Bitmap is
    graphic, you only can use CHIP-MEM. 
    
    I hope, this will be answer you question and please excuse my bad
    english, aber ich wei� ja nicht ob Ihr auch Deutsch versteht.
    
    DGM-Software
    
    Germany