Fujiology Archive/fujiology_archive_v1_0.iso/!MAGS/AUG/AUG1.ZIP/AUG1.MSA/PAD_PAD.ASC

Text File | 1992-02-10 | 11KB | 206 lines

        Review of PAD ( Mono art program - Author Heiko Gemmel )

  Another untranslated German art program, so  what! I can imagine you
saying. My advise would be to look  again. This is one of the best Art
programs I have ever used. To find software of this speed and power in
the Public Domain is astonishing.  Ignore the the fact that it is in a
foreign language. It is a dive-in-and-swim piece of software. Half the
fun lies in finding out what PAD  is  capable of. A voyage of
discovery, just like Art itself. Pick it up and use it. This is a
drawing tool of the highest quality.

  The opening eyeball-bending screen informs  you that this program is
shareware.  You can register with  Heiko  Gemmel  for the the princely
sum of 30 Deutchmarks ( about 10  or  11  quid at today's rates ).
This could be well worth doing, as you  would receive the latest
version and a detailed listing of the  program. The text file supplied
with the program mentions something about free updates  and support for
the sum of 40 DM. As with all shareware its up to you the individual
user. Whatever you decide. Either way you are getting a bargain.

  Do not imagine  that  you  are  losing  out  by  not  being  able to
understand the help file Heiko has  included.  Most of it is a history
of updates to the program.  It is still worth looking at, for you will
see the name 'STAD' mentioned.  STAD  is/was a mono-art program
produced by Application Systems of Heidelberg, you may have heard of
them - the name 'SIGNUM' may jog your memory. STAD was available from
Signa Publishing in this country, and it cost £100! At that time STAD
was rated as the best mono drawing program available  for  the  ST.
Heiko Gemmel claims that his program improves on STAD,  and I have
heard experienced users confirm this.

   Even though my  German  is limited, I did attempt to translate this
program into English  and  failed  miserably,  mainly  because  of the
program's sophistication. The main control panel is actually a graphic
touch-pad and is impossible to  change.  The  lack  of a resource file
makes things difficult also.  Golden  rule  for  programmers... If you
write a program and  submit  it  to  the  Public  Domain make sure, if
possible, that it can be translated into other languages!

  The above mentioned control-pad is a clever device, designed to lose
some of  the  clutter  of  GEM  screens  by  avoiding  drop-down menus
altogether. It is obvious from this that Heiko is an artist as well as
a talented programmer, and that he has  given the user interface a lot
of thought. A single Left Mouse  click  on any box selects the option.
Some of these bring up further dialogue boxes  onto the screen. At any
time your work screen is only a Right mouse-click away. Shades here of
Tom Hudson's famous Degas Elite. PAD, however is slicker and faster in
operation. It  also  avoids  the  disconcerting  effect  many graphics
programs have of completely hiding  the  screen  you have been working
on. This is very important. The  control  panel is well laid out, with
mini-graphics to tell you what each panel does. Most of the panels are
fairly straightforward in use, even  if  you understand no German. The
word ABPAUSEN may baffle you,  it  means  Trace in English, though the
effect is more like Squash to  me.  VERKNUPFEN means to exchange, BILD
means screen, DRUCKEN  means  printer.  Most  of  the  rest are fairly
obvious.  ( Well I think they are )

  Here are just some  of  the  things  that  make  this an outstanding
program. It handles SIGNUM fonts,  and even  though none are supplied
with the program they are available from  the  PD  library. ( They are
also superb! ). GEM fonts can  also be  used  and  six of them are
included with the program. Don't forget, you will need GDOS in your
Auto folder to access them. PAD also has  the  ability  to  handle
most  Atari graphics formats, ranging from the usual  DEGAS  &
NEOCHROME  through .IMG to Monostar? (*OBJ) and even unknown  file
formats.  The  Image  *IMG format seems intended for block saves from
within  PAD itself, useful for creating icons for resource files and
so on.  I  was  unable  to  load  and  display *IMG files created with
other  programs  into  PAD; trying  this  makes the program crash! The
default screen-load option  loads  in STAD  graphic  files  using  the
extension *PAC. This file format is very efficient.

35! graphic files are supplied with PAD,  in  the folder called BILD
LADEN ( A mini art gallery! ) and these are of  excellent  quality  &
variety being a mixture of scanned images, clip art, logos  etc.  Most
commercial programs give you a  couple  of  screens  at  the  most.

The box named OPTIONEN on the  main  control  panel  lets  you  access
an animation function. This 'animation' is more  of  a  slide show
effect, though I suppose with  some  effort,  simple  rudimentary
animations  could be produced. The OPTIONEN box also  enables  the
use of accessories from within the program. And more, the option named
BILD KONVERTIERN allows the loading and conversion to mono  of  colour
screens, this is fairly crude in operation but its inclusion in the
program is most welcome.

  The 3D features contained in PAD are impressive, mainly due to their
speed of operation. Whilst it is by no means a real CAD program, it is
possible   to  do  accurate,  dimensioned  drawings  with  PAD  and it
certainly has the capability!

  The use of the Function keys plays an important part in using PAD
efficiently and smoothly. By this I mean that they enable you to
bypass the main control panel. If you wish to change brushes or fills
or lines quickly, the Function Keys allow you to do so. Traversing and
clicking on the main control-pad is awkward and slow. This awkwardness
is added to by the irritating fact that say, when you choose Pinsel
(PEN) and then you click on the PARAMETER box to choose the PEN
style\size you have to cross the control-pad again and reselect the
tool you chose in the first place. This is distracting to say the
least.

  The Function Key options are as follows...

       F1 - Bild Laden ( LOAD SCREEN )

       F2 - Bild Speichern ( SAVE SCREEN )

       F3 - Bemanung Einstellen ( CHOOSE DRAWING DIMENSIONS )

       F4 - Fullmuster Einstellen ( SELECT or EDIT FILLS )

       F5 - Pinsel Einstellen ( SELECT or EDIT PENS )

       F6 - Linien Einstellen ( SELECT LINES )

       F7 - Text Einstellen ( SELECT TEXT STYLES )

       F8 - Spruhdose Einstellen ( SELECT & EDIT SPRAYGUN )

       F9 - Grafikparameter Einstellen ( GRAPHIC PARAMETERS )

       F10 - n-Ecke Einstellen ( CHANGE\CHOOSE SHAPE )

  PAD also uses the main keyboard keys ( both numeric and alphabetic )
keys to access various options. Unfortunately due to the program's
country of origin and different keyboard layout, not all of these are
usable. One potentially useful key which does work is the 'L' key,
which toggles the moving\jumping hot-spot on the main drawing screen
on and off.  The hot-spot window can be distracting, sometimes its the
last thing you want on screen.

  The use of Printouts in PAD is handled well. The default driver is
for a NECP6 printer (wish I had one!). This gives the best graphic
prints available using a dot matrix printer. ( 360 DPI...I believe )

 If this driver doesn't suit your 24pin ( It Should!), PAD enables you
to edit\ send control codes direct to your printer. I did say this was
a powerful program, didn't I?!

 The default 9pin set-up is for a STARLC10 printer, again if this is
not suitable for your particular model of 9pin, you can adjust to
suit. A humble 9pin gives an excellent printout using PAD.

  It has just occurred to me that by using this program with its
ability to import and print the superb 'SIGNUM' fonts, you could, if
you wanted to, produce ( using quality paper ) - EXCELLENT AND CHEAP
CHRISTMAS CARDS by using this humbly named 'PAD'. This approaches Desk
Top Publishing available from within this art program. PAD is a
wonderful program. Possibly a great program! It will rank alongside
the likes of UNITERM - FASTCOPY - SAGROTAN in the Atari Public Domain
Libraries. In case anyone thinks that I am going over the top using
the word GREAT in connection with PAD. Just let me say that I am
experienced in using 'SUPERPAINT 2' and ' SUPERDRAW ' on the APPLE-
MAC, and ' CORELDRAW ' on IBM's. My artistic ability is limited, but
anyone who has used, or even seen, any of the above-named programs
knows that they are GREAT Art Programs.  PAD is approaching their
quality, and they cost "Loads of Money"!

  PAD represents hundreds of hours of lonely programming effort put in
by HEIKO GEMMEL. It also contains, if you like, the programmer. PAD is
a work of ART in itself. Hieko LOVES drawing, only someone in LOVE
could produce a program as good as this. The artist reveals himself.
It has been written for the average, impoverished Atari user. It's for
those who will never have a laser printer of their own. ( At least not
until Laser printers become as graphically outmoded as Dot Matrixes)!

  It's for Joe Public by Heiko Gemmel. He does his great reunited
country proud.

 Send this man the money if you can. He deserves it.


Eoin Campbell for the Atari User Group (Scotland), 1991.
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Additional info added 6/1/92


The archived version of PAD V2 on this edition of our Disk Magazine is
complete except for the 35 graphic images mentioned in Eoin's text
file (above). In order to fit all the other items on to this disk we
have had to remove most of the graphic files from this version of PAD.
Having said that, there are still 8 graphic screens to load (once
you've unarchived them!!) and each file contains several additional
files giving a fairly large total anyway!!!

When you load any of these graphic files you can scroll through them
all (vertically) by holding the LEFT mouse button and moving the mouse
up or down.

Please remember to read the text describing how to unarchive the
PAD.ARC file before getting back in touch with us to say that we've
made a mess of copying PAD on to this disk!!! Believe me, it does work
when it's unarchived!!!!!!!


Fraser Blacklaws for the Atari User Group (Scotland), 1992
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