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- ADPro 2.5 is now available for upgrading. For the first time, you can
- upgrade your ADPro over the phone via credit card. Here's a press
- release detailing some of the changes made in ADPro 2.5. Mailings are
- going out now to registered users. Since you can upgrade via phone,
- however, we wanted to post this electronically sooner that we have in
- the past.
-
- Upgrade line is: (608) 273 9240
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- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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- AMIGA'S TOP IMAGE PROCESSOR GETS BRAND NEW LOOK AND MORE
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- In what the company terms "the most significant upgrade in its
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- history", ASDG's Art Department Professional (ADPro) now offers
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- unmatched display board support, over 100 pre-written ARexx programs,
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- direct support for the Fargo Primera dye sublimation printer, new file
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- formats and operators, and an entirely new look and feel which
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- dramatically boosts ease-of-use.
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- Madison, WI, January 14, 1994 ---- ASDG Incorporated, a leading
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- supplier of color imaging and special effects solutions for the
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- television and motion picture industries, announce Art Department
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- Professional (ADPro) version 2.5. According to the company, ADPro 2.5
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- is "the most significant upgrade in the product's history".
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- ADPro version 2.5 offers a choice of several completely style guide
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- compliant user interfaces. According to company president, Mr. Perry
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- Kivolowitz, "A new and thoroughly modern user interface was our most
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- requested improvement. We surveyed our customers and found that some
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- preferred a list oriented graphical user interface (GUI) for speed,
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- while others preferred a button oriented GUI for ease-of-use. We
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- implemented both and allowed them to be intermixed configurably."
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-
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- The result, says the company, is an easier-to-use ADPro in which no
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- major feature is more than a mouse click away. Comments which typify
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- beta tester feedback to the new user interface include those of Mr.
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- Brick Eksten, of Expert Services. Says Mr. Eksten, "I find the
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- interface to be much faster, and that helps me get more work done."
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- These sentiments were echoed by Mr. Kenneth Wilder, Head Animator
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- with Marmalade, who found the new user interface alone gained him a 20
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- percent increase in productivity.
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- ADPro's GUI now runs on many third party display boards, such as the
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- Picasso, using RTG (ReTargetable Graphics) technology. ADPro can now
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- render images in a window on the same screen as its user interface,
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- bringing new levels of WYSIWYG performance to the product. Other
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- newly supported third party hardware includes: DPS PAR, EGS, Retina
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- Z-III and Retina, and the Video Toaster.
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- The Amiga's finest image format support has gotten even better with
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- the addition of 6 new file formats in ADPro and 3 new formats in the
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- (optional) Professional Conversion Pack (PCP). To ADPro, the company
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- has added support for Commodore's CDXL animation format, Digital
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- Broadcaster JStream files, FLC and FLI animations, ICO files and
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- direct reading and writing of Workbench icons. The PCP has grown to
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- support files in the SGI, Alias, and Wavefront (both the RLA and RLB
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- varieties) formats. Owners of the PCP should note that, as in the
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- past, their PCP modules will be upgraded as part of the ADPro upgrade.
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-
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- ADPro 2.5 directly supports the revolutionary Fargo Primera printer in
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- its dye sublimation mode (its thermal transfer mode was already
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- supported by ADPro's PrefPrinter saver). "The Primera is a
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- breakthrough due to its low price," said Sales Manager Gina Cerniglia.
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- "We've adapted our state-of-the-art printer support to drive the
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- Primera in dye sub mode including the ability to print huge posters in
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- amazing color."
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- ADPro 2.5 includes more than 100 pre-written ARexx programs, many of
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- which are interactively customizable by the user. Used in conjunction
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- with the latest version of FRED, these ARexx programs can be combined
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- in an infinite number of ways, producing a huge array of full motion
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- special effects automatically. And, ADPro now allows users to define
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- their own ARexx programs which can be incorporated directly into
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- ADPro's configurable user interface.
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- Many other improvements or additions have been made to ADPro such as
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- the ability to perform alpha channel blending with nearly every file
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- format, not just those that support their own alpha channel.
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- Composits can now be performed over a range of colors permitting more
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- flexible chroma keying. New operators include Histogram Equalization
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- and a brush-based Pattern operator. A new program called CineMorph is
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- included which converts streams of images between 24 frame per second
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- film style and 60 field per second video style time bases.
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- ADPro 2.5 also sports greatly improved documentation. ADPro's manual
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- now includes 9 tutorials, many more pictures and diagrams, and an
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- expanded ARexx programming section. The manual has also been
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- reorganized (and its index expanded) based upon customer feedback
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- making it easier to use and more helpful.
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- ADPro 2.5's price will remain unchanged at $299. Existing owners can
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- upgrade for $45 plus shipping and can, for the first time, upgrade via
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- telephone using Visa, MasterCard, or AmericanExpress.
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- For more information, please contact Ms. Gina Cerniglia at ASDG
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- Incorporated, 925 Stewart Street, Madison, WI 53713 or call (608) 273
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- 6585. Expert Services can be reached at (606) 371 9690. Marmalade
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- can be reached at (818) 552 5024.
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- END
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