Graphic Workshop Professional 15 has
been released.
We've added new
functionality to the known universe's most popular image
management application, improved its performance and
generally refined it to better get along with Windows 10
and 11. (We hasten to add that it still performs
admirably under earlier builds of Windows, all the way
back to Windows XP, if you're feeling retro.)
Among the new features and enhancements to Graphic
Workshop Professional
15, you'll find:
- Speed:
A quicker and more efficient architecture to make the
most of the latest releases of Windows.
- Matrix: Create picture matrices
like the ones to your right with a few clicks. The
Graphic Workshop 15 Matrix window offers a rich
palette of matrix styles, at pretty much any
resolution you need.
Select Matrix from the Graphic Workshop Image menu,
select your favorite photographs and Graphic Workshop
will do all the complex arithmetic for you.
Matrix graphics are an epic way to add multiple
pictures to a web page without having to devise the
HTML to arrange them.
- AXES:
Graphic Workshop 15 includes a downloadable no-cost
plugin that supports AXES,
our encrypted graphic standard. With a suitably robust
pass phrase, an AXES graphic can resist attempts to
crack its encryption for approximately 26-trillion
years.
- JPEG XL:
The 64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop 15 supports
JPEG XL, a leading-edge enhancement of JPEG by the
JPEG format's original creators.
- JPEG XR:
The
64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop 15 also supports
JPEG XR, Microsoft's putative replacement for JPEG.
- JPEG
2000: Graphic Workshop 15 includes full read and
write support for JPEG 2000 documents.
- SVG: The
64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop 15 includes SVG
support, to view and convert from scalable vector
graphics.
- ICNS: Graphic
Workshop 15 can read and create Macintosh ICNS icon
documents. If you like to collect icons, it opens up a
huge library of hitherto inaccessible pictures.
- QR Codes: Graphic Workshop 15
can create QR codes with any content you need. Embed
them in your graphics to include copyright information
or a link to your web page.
Print them as hard copy and affix them to walls — passers-by
will scan them to see what they're up to.
The 64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop can locate QR
codes in your pictures and tell you what they say. It
will also provide you with clickable links to any web
page addresses it finds therein.
- QOI:
Graphic Workshop 15 supports the Quite OK Image
format, a shockingly quick way to store pictures.
- EXR: The
64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop 15 includes support
for Industrial Light & Magic's EXR graphics.
- PBM, PGM
and PPM: Graphic Workshop 15 supports the standard
Linux graphic formats.
- XCF:
Graphic Workshop 15 will read and write GIMP XCF graphic
documents.
- Mosaic: Graphic Workshop
15's Mosaic window will build photographic mosaics -
graphics created from tiles derived from your library of
pictures.
Click on the example to your right to see what it's
really up to. Zoom in to see how it was constructed.
We hasten to add that while mosaic graphics look cool on
screen, they're amazing printed as hard copy.
- Photoshop
Plugins: The 64-bit edition of Graphic Workshop
15 can import most third-party Photoshop-compatible
plugins, and subsequently apply the effects contained
therein to your graphics. Be sure to read the discussion
of Photoshop plugins in the Reference section of Graphic
Workshop's documentation.
- Status Bar:
The Graphic Workshop 15 status bar has been updated to
display the aggregate file size for selected objects...
a hitherto implemented feature that vanished some time
ago when an unnoticed bug crept into it.
- Smart
Thumbnails: Graphic Workshop 15 includes a new
smart thumbnail mode that fetches its thumbnail images
from the Windows thumbnail cache. If you'll be looking
at graphics in common formats, such as JPG, PNG, WebP
and GIF, smart thumbnails are quick, uncomplicated and
they don't require the creation of THN files. See the
discussion of Smart Thumbnail in the Thumbnails section
of Graphic Workshop's Reference document.
- Favorites:
The Graphic Workshop Favorites window will now fetch its
thumbnails from the Windows thumbnail cache by default,
making it substantially quicker for common file formats.
- View: Graphic
Workshop 15's View window now includes jump buttons to
move to the previous or next graphic in a browser. Hover
your mouse cursor over the left or right edge of the
View window to summon a jump button.
Jump buttons can be disabled in the View mode
Configuration window if you aren't in a jumping mood.
The un-maximize button the title bar of Graphic
Workshop's View window is now disabled by default. It
can be restored in Setup. Users who found the View
window being resized by other applications can stop
wondering what caused this phenomenon. We don't know
either, but it's history.
- Plugin SDK:
If you'd like to see Graphic Workshop support formats it
currently doesn't, we invite you to download the Graphic
Workshop Plugin
SDK, everything you'll need to create your own
format plugins... as long as you have a suitable
language compiler and you know how to use it.
- WebP:
The WebP Override window has been updated to correctly
apply its parameters to animations.
- Animation
Workshop UltraLight: Several issues in the
application's user interface have been addressed.
- Themes:
An issue in the theme interface common to most Alchemy
Mindworks software that could leak resources and
occasionally crash the applications in question has been
mercilessly stomped.
The Graphic Workshop
Printed Reference has been revised for the version
15 software, and it includes sections for all the new
functionality. It's available through Amazon — there's a
link to it at the Graphic Workshop web page, and you can
access it through the Get The Graphic Workshop Printed
Reference item of Graphic Workshop's Help menu.
Alternately, just click on the book to your right.
All the Graphic Workshop plugins have
been upgraded to install in version 15. Note that if
you're currently using an earlier version of Graphic
Workshop and its attendant plugins:
- Be sure to
uninstall the version 14 plugins before you install
Graphic Workshop Professional 15. Failing this, Graphic
Workshop Professional 15 should prompt you to do so
automatically the first time you run it.
- You'll need to
download and install the new plugin installers to run
under Graphic Workshop Professional 15.
- The plugin
installers will install plugins for both the 32- and
64-bit editions of Graphic Workshop as applicable — you
don't have to download separate 32- and 64-bit plugins.
If you're using a registered installation of
the Graphic Workshop RAW Digital Camera and Smartphone
plugin for an earlier release of Graphic Workshop, note
that your existing registration key will work with the
version 15 plugin — you won't have to buy it again.
As in years past, when you run Graphic
Workshop Professional 15 for the first time, it will look
for a previous installation of Graphic Workshop
Professional 14 and optionally copy your existing
configuration, so you won't have to set everything
up by hand. Even your open browser windows will be
preserved.
Note that if you installed both the 32- and 64-bit
editions of Graphic Workshop Professional 14 on the same
computer, the automatic uninstall will only remove one of
them. You'll need to uninstall its sibling by hand.
Click on the blue button to download Graphic Workshop
Professional 15.
If you haven't done so previously, we
recommend that you install the Alchemy
Mindworks trusted certificate and disable the Smart
Screen blue window of doom prior to downloading Alchemy
Mindworks software.
Upgrades
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for Graphic Workshop Professional 14 on or
after April 1, 2023, you're welcome to a no-cost
upgrade to Graphic Workshop Professional 15.
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for Graphic Workshop Professional 14 prior to
April 1, 2023, we invite you to upgrade to Graphic
Workshop Professional 15 for half the current new-user
price.
The first time you run Graphic Workshop
Professional 15, it will determine which upgrade option
applies to your license.
Click on the blue button below to visit the
upgrade page.
You can access the no-cost upgrade page directly
by clicking on the foregoing link.
The graphic of the woman with a
digital camera is by Kurhan and is used under license
from StockFresh. The people in the example graphics in
this section don't exist — their pictures were created
by an AI at
This-Person-Does-not-Exist.com. Photoshop is a
trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Alchemy
Mindworks has no business relationship with Adobe
Systems Incorporated, and the name Photoshop is used
herein for descriptive purposes only.
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GIF Construction Set Professional 15 has been
released.
We've added new functionality to GIF
Construction Set Professional, improved its performance
and generally refined it to better get along with Windows
10 and 11. (We hasten to add that it still performs
admirably under earlier builds of Windows, all the way
back to Windows XP, if you're feeling retro.)
Among the new features and enhancements to GIF
Construction Set Professional 15, you'll find...
- Speed: A
quicker and more efficient architecture to make the
most of the latest releases of Windows.
- Graphic Matrix: Create
animated matrices like the one to your right with a few
clicks. Featuring the epic matrix library of the The
Graphic Workshop 15 Matrix window, illustrated earlier
in this posting, GIF Construction Set offers a rich
palette of matrix styles, at pretty much any resolution
you need... with dynamic transitions, as shown here.
Select Matrix from the GIF Construction Set Block menu,
add your pictures and GIF Construction Set will do all
the complex arithmetic for you.
Matrix graphics are a cool way to add multiple pictures
to a web page or your social media posts.
- Multiple-level
Undo: GIF
Construction Set's document windows now feature
multiple undo levels. Step back
through each change you make to an animation if things
go sideways. Avoid inflicting dents shaped like your
head upon nearby walls.
- Supercompressor:
A bug in the GIF Construction Set Supercompressor
has been addressed to squeeze your animations into
even smaller quarters.
- Plugins: The
GIF
Construction Set animation plugins
have been updated and a number of performance and
quality issues have been addressed.
- Performance:
Addresses a number of GDI and performance issues
that software developers never really stop meddling
with.
- Documentation:
Updates the documentation.
Click on the blue button to download GIF Construction Set
Professional 14.
Upgrades
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for GIF Construction Set Professional 14 on
or after May 1, 2023, you're welcome to a no-cost
upgrade to GIF
Construction Set Professional 15.
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for GIF
Construction Set Professional 14 prior to May 1,
2023, we invite you to upgrade to GIF Construction Set Professional
14 for half the current new-user price.
The first time you run GIF Construction Set Professional
14, it will determine which upgrade option applies to your
license.
If you haven't done so previously, we
recommend that you install the Alchemy
Mindworks trusted certificate and disable the Smart
Screen blue window of doom prior to downloading Alchemy
Mindworks software.
Click on the blue
button below to visit the upgrade page.
You can access the no-cost
upgrade page directly by clicking on the foregoing
link.
Plugins
All the animation plugins for GIF Construction
Set Professional have been upgraded to run with GIF
Construction Set Professional 15.
If you have registered one or more plugins for a previous
release of GIF Construction Set, your existing
registration keys are still valid. You'll just need to
download the version 15 installers for your plugins.
All the animation plugins are at:
IMPORTANT: If you have plugins installed under GIF
Construction Set 14 or PNG MNG Construction Set 14 and you
plan to uninstall GIF Construction Set 15 or PNG MNG
Construction Set 15 to replace them with the new version
15 software, please be sure uninstall all your version 14
plugins, and then uninstall GIF Construction Set 14 and
PNG MNG Construction Set 14.
GIF Construction Set 15 will offer to
automatically remove your old plugins for you the first
time it runs — go for it, as this will save you lots of
clicking later on.
We've also created a quick way to reinstall
your plugins once you've downloaded the version 15
installers. Please see the the
plugin help page for assistance.
The
background of the banner graphic above, a detail from
a picture by Fabibel, is used under license from
freeimages.com. The
people in the example graphics in this section don't
exist — their pictures were created by an AI at
This-Person-Does-not-Exist.com.
|
Alpha
Paint 15 has been released.
We've
enhanced the performance of the wold's most approachable
alpha-channel graphic editor, improved its performance
and generally refined it to better get along with
Windows 10 and 11. (We hasten to add that it still
performs admirably under earlier builds of Windows, all
the way back to Windows XP, if you're feeling retro.)
Among the new features and enhancements to
Alpha Paint 15, you'll find:
- Speed: A
quicker and more efficient architecture to make the
most of the latest releases of Windows.
- Themes:
An issue in the theme interface common to most Alchemy
Mindworks software that could leak resources and
occasionally crash the applications in question has
been mercilessly stomped.
- Drawing
Engine: Improves the performance of Alpha Paint's
drawing engine.
- Performance:
Addresses a number of GDI and performance issues
that software developers never really stop meddling
with.
- Documentation:
Updates the documentation.
As in years past, when you run Alpha Paint 15 for the
first time, it will look for a previous installation of
Alpha Paint 14 and optionally copy your existing
configuration, so you won't have to set everything
up by hand. Even your open browser windows will be
preserved.
Click on the blue button to download Alpha
Paint 15.
If you haven't done so previously, we
recommend that you install the Alchemy
Mindworks trusted certificate and disable the Smart
Screen blue window of doom prior to downloading Alchemy
Mindworks software.
Upgrades
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for Alpha Paint 14 on or after May 1, 2023,
you're welcome to a no-cost upgrade to Alpha Paint
15.
If you have registered or upgraded a
registration for Alpha Paint 14 prior to May 1, 2023, we
invite you to upgrade to Alpha Paint 15 for half the
current new-user price.
The first time you run Alpha Paint 15, it will
determine which upgrade option applies to your license.
Click on the blue button below to visit the
upgrade page.
You can access the no-cost upgrade page directly
by clicking on the foregoing link.
The banner graphic
above, a detail from a picture by xoox xooxman, is
used under license from freeimages.com.
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IMPORTANT: Prior to downloading
Alchemy Mindworks software, we strongly recommend that
you install the Alchemy
Mindworks trusted certificate, and forego several
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