Confused about supported programs

Roleg · Post by **Roleg** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:46 am

I may have made a mistake when I paid for and downloaded
FocalBlade.
"Corel Draw 6 and higher" is noted in the Compatibility List
among programs wich are supposed to work with Focal Blade.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to use Focal Blade with
Corel Draw 8 or the included Photopaint.
It seems very awkward to use Corel Draw for bitmap image
manipulation. The program isn't made for that.
But Corel PhotoPaint is included in Draw,so I also have
Photopaint 8. Wich according to your list is not supported!??
This is a bit confusing.
I mean, since about five years Photopaint is always included in Draw.
So if I buy Draw 8 I also get Photopaint 8.
But I can't use them.
I have the same problem with both. Right-clicking on the preview,
the picture turns upside down and changes colour.
The same happens when I save a picture.
Otherwise the functions seem to work, but I can't save the picture.
There is an added problem. All my pictures (Canon camera)
are RGB 24bpp. How do I solve that?

Any ideas about this? And perhaps a clarification about Draw 6 +?

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 12:39 pm

Sorry, my fault. It should better be "Corel Draw 9 and higher". I just updated the Compatibility page. Version 8 and earlier of CorelDraw and Photo-Paint aren't that compatible with Photoshop plugins.

There are a lot of other programs that you can use FocalBlade with, including some freeware tools. Otherwise I can only offer you a refund for your order.

Roleg · Post by **Roleg** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 1:35 pm

Thank you for your quick answer and offer of a possible refund.
I have decided to wait a little. I have just made a bid on a Corel Draw 12
on e.Bay. If I get it, my problems will hopefully be solved.
But I am still uncertain about the color space issue.
Do you mean that my RGB 24Bpp files can be used with those other programs?. I'm not sure how it works, if this is out of the camera or
if it is somehow changed depending on what software I am loading the files into?

Leif G.

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 7:17 pm

RGB 24bit is the standard work space that is supported by all graphic applications. The same is true for JPG files from digital cameras. So I don't see any problems.

There is no problem (that I know of) with FocalBlade in Photo-Paint 12.

Roleg · Post by **Roleg** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 8:11 pm

You don't think I will have any problems with FocalBlade in PP 12
(with 24bit?).
Forgive me if I'm a it slow here, but in your info it says that FocalBlade only supports 16bit and 8bit colour depth?

Leif G.

Roleg · Post by **Roleg** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:03 pm

I have now done a few comparisons with different colour depths,24bit versus 8bit.
And I notice a definite deterioration in quality. Visible as pixelation
both in the full size picture (2592x1944) and in the downsampled (1024x768). So I don't like it.
If I'm not entirely mistaken I need to change from 24bit to a lower value. And it would probably look better in 16bit.
But I haven't been able to find a program wich I can use
to change to 16bit.
Unless you can convince me otherwise, I should perhaps abandon the idea
of using FB?

Leif G.

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Fri Mar 18, 2005 10:19 pm

Do you mean 256 colors with 8bit? You should always keep your images at 24bit (16 million colors). I don't know what you mean with deterioration in quality. Even if you do heavy image processing you hardly notice anything on 24bit images. Of course if you use inappropriate extreme values you can always damage an image.

It makes not much sense to convert 24bit images to 48bit (16bit per channel) images, because it makes no difference. To receive 48bit images, you need to shoot RAW files and not JPG files with your camera.

I don't know why you connect this to FocalBlade. FocalBlade also lets you process 48bit images.

Roleg · Post by **Roleg** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 12:26 am

The fog is lightening!

Sorry, it's me again. I hope you have patience with my misunderstandings.

But it was the information about FocalBlade supporting 16bit and 8bit pictures. I must have read in an "only" wich wasn't there.

I have now found a program that seems to work.
It's the free "Serif PhotoPlus" wich was named in your compatibility list.
.
When checking the quality, it looks OK.
Well, I have to test this a bit more. It almost looks too good to believe.
One expects some catch!

Leif G.

emmrecs · Post by **emmrecs** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 1:36 am

Leif, as a long-term user of Serif PhotoPlus and of Focal Blade, Color Washer and now Light Machine I can confidently say they work perfectly together. There was an initial problem with Light Machine and PhotoPlus but the latest version of the plug-in has solved that problem.

I've never used Corel Draw or any other program you mentioned in your original posts but, for me at least, PhotoPlus does exactly what I need it to do. I hope you have as much pleasure/success with it as I have had.

Jeff

Post by **HaraldHeim** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 3:04 pm

I think there is still a problem with ColorWasher 2 and PhotoPlus, but an update of ColorWasher 2 will be available at the end of the month that will resolve that.