======================================================================= Cerilica Vantage 1.10 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 24th June 2003 We are pleased to announce that the Vantage 1.10 upgrade is available to download from the website: Security ~~~~~~~~ Vantage 1.10 includes a more sophisticated Cerilikey protection system. You will be required to register your copy of Vantage within 14 days of installation. Currently this can only be done by email, but we will announce the new PO Box address shortly for postal registration. The system is designed to prevent unauthorised copying of the program. When copied to another computer, it will refuse to run until registered. Should the program become suspicious about its environment, perhaps when the computer is upgraded, you will be given another 14 days to register again. Only in extreme circumstances will it refuse to run at all. We have designed this system to be as painless as possible, whilst providing a reasonable level of protection. It is only this copy protection system that allows us to continue to develop Vantage and issue this free upgrade. We have been especially careful to ensure that the system is compatible with all known versions of the OS. What's new ~~~~~~~~~~ This is a stability release. We have responded to customer's comments and have concentrated on removing all reported instabilities. There may be some remaining benign misfeatures, which we are now working to solve. In addition, there are some new features which have been added since 1.10, the last public release: Alpha sprite blending ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some sprite fills can use the alpha channel to control transparency. Both 24bit RGB sprites and 8, 4 and 2bit masked sprites can have an alpha channel. Select the sprite fill and open the Sprite Palette window with shift-F1 or menu: "Utils->Sprite palette...". Open the menu from this window and switch on "Use alpha channel". You must be in "Everything" mode to see transparent sprite fills. Blended multilines ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The multiline window has gained an "Intermediate steps" setting, which blends between each of the strokes in the multiline window. Larger steps will produce smoother blending, but will be slower to redraw. Try a thick line with the "Dots at 0.1in" dash pattern, round end caps and a blended multiline - pearls! SVG export ~~~~~~~~~~ Vantage can now export SVG files. It saves a directory containing the SVG file plus any bitimages in the document. Sprites are saved as PNGs and JPEGs stored unaltered. Please note: although successfully tested with Microsoft Internet Explorer and Adobe SVG Viewer, we note that the RISC OS SVG plugin does not display such SVGs correctly. Photoshop PSD export ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This is the most exciting update for professional users. The PSD format saves a bitimage containing ALL the inks defined in your document. PNGs and JPEGs are RGB only. Sprites and TIFFs can additionally be "CMYK", but as Vantage isn't hard-wired to CMYK, these actually contain the first four defined inks. However, the PSD format contains ALL the inks, with their definitions. Not only does this allow Photoshop to display the image correctly (if you have told it to use 0% dotgain!), it is a format that most bureaux and printers will be familiar with. Bug fixes ~~~~~~~~~ There are very many fixes and improvements throughout Vantage. If you find that your particular bugbear has not yet been resolved, please notify us at describing the fault, and stating your OS version. Simon Birtwistle simon@cerilica.com Technical Director Cerilica Ltd www.cerilica.com =======================================================================