[Newsletter] Announcements from Alchemy Mindworks

Alchemy Mindworks alchemyreply0991 at mindworkshop.com
Sat Oct 28 09:51:05 EDT 2017




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     Contents:

 
      1. Announcing Animation Workshop 8 

      2. Announcing The Ultimate Screen Clock 8 

      3. Graphic Workshop Professional 8 Revision 2 (Additional Notification)

      4. Animation Tools Bundle Updated

      5. Replying to this Message and List Removal



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     1. Announcing Animation Workshop 8 
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     Animation Workshop 8 has been released.

     We've refined the internal architecture of Animation Workshop to 
     make it faster, more memory-efficient and better able to take advantage 
     of the functionality of Windows 7, 8 and 10.

     While most of the seriously cool changes embodied in Animation Workshop
     8 are "under the hood," users of the latest release will notice that 
     it's noticeably quicker, especially for functions that call for 
     significant system resources, such as rendering large or complex 
     animations.
     
     The updated architecture will also allow us to add new features to 
     Animation Workshop that were impractical or genuinely 
     impossible under version 7.

     ........................................................................


     WHAT'S NEW


     The changes in version 8 include:


     - Improves the solid color selection buttons throughout the application 
       with a quick palette selection window - just hold down the Shift key 
       on your keyboard when you click to select a color to see it. There's a 
       complete discussion of this window and how it interacts with the 
       primary Colors window in the section of the Reference document that 
       deals with Color Selection.


     - Updates the file handling logic for the Tiles fill type to make 
       the whole works quicker and more memory efficient.


     - Implements several significant improvements to the rendering engine to
       deal with object precedence inconsistencies in version 6 and 7.


     - Fixes a big that caused the document windows to display a spurious 
       error message in some circumstances if a user clicked below the block 
       list.


     - Improves the color-reduction logic used by the Export to GIF 
       functionality to produce more realistic exported GIF animations.


     - Animation Workshop 8 will optionally import most of the configuration 
       items of an existing Animation Workshop 7 installation, if there's one 
       on your system, eliminating the need to  restore your preferences by 
       hand. 

       It will also remove your earlier software for you if you like. 


     - Hardens the library interface underlying Animation Workshop to 
       make it more resistant to tampering. Sadly, the tampering in question 
       appears to originate with some third-party security applications... 
       which our lawyers would really prefer we didn't name.


     - Updates a number of user-interface issues throughout the application.


     - Addresses a number of GDI and performance issues that software 
       developers never really stop meddling with.      


     - Updates the documentation.


     We'd like to take this opportunity to express our sincere regrets for
     the minor bump in the price of Animation Workshop. In our defense, it's 
     been about a decade and a half since it last changed. Bookkeepers may 
     not be the most irresistible force in the universe, but they are the 
     most relentless.
    

     You can download Animation Workshop 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/clock.html#download


     ........................................................................


     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Animation Workshop 7 on 
     or after March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a free upgrade to Animation 
     Workshop 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Animation Workshop 7 
     prior to March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to Animation Workshop 8 for half 
     the cost of a new single-user license.

     When you first run Animation Workshop 8, it will check to see if you 
     have a registration for Animation Workshop 7 on your system. If it finds 
     one, it will display a window to tell you which of the foregoing upgrade 
     options is applicable. Click on the Upgrade button to visit our web page 
     and request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the Help > 
     Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version of Animation Workshop.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/anmkey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html    



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     2. Announcing The Ultimate Screen Clock 8 (Second Notification)
     _______________________________________________________________________



     The Ultimate Screen Clock 8 has been released.

     We've refined the internal architecture of The Ultimate Screen Clock to 
     make it faster, more memory-efficient and better able to take advantage 
     of the functionality of Windows 7, 8 and 10.

     While most of the seriously cool changes embodied in The Ultimate Screen 
     Clock 8 are "under the hood," users of the latest release will notice 
     that it's noticeably quicker, especially for functions that call for 
     significant system resources, such as running complex animated clocks.
     
     The updated architecture will also allow us to add new features to 
     The Ultimate Screen Clock that were impractical or genuinely 
     impossible under version 7.

     ........................................................................


     WHAT'S NEW


     The changes in version 8 include:


     - Adds solar transitions functionality - The Ultimate Screen Clock can
       determine the precise times of sunrise and sunset based on your 
       location. 

       It will tell you when sunrise and sunset occurs for pretty much 
       anywhere on Earth - select Calendar -> Solar Transitions from the
       right-click menu.

       It will also display a graphic in most of the digital clock styles,
       right below the date, to indicate the current state of the sun. We 
       hasten to add that this feature can be disabled - see the discussion
       of Solar Transitions in the Reference document of the Manual for more.


     - Adds the Sun and Moon clock style, which - perhaps not surprisingly - 
       does something cool with the aforementioned solar transition logic. 
       It has one face during daylight hours, and a different one at night.
       The faces are drawn from classic nineteenth-century acid etchings.


     - Updates the digital transitions rendering logic of the clock engine,
       which has allowed us to...


     - Adds a digital transitions version of the popular Flip style in which
       the vanes of the mechanical clock are animated, and visibly drop as
       the digits change.


     - Adds a digital transition version of the equally popular Tubes style.
       The totally retro neon-tube digits cycle through their states every 
       time a number changes, just like they would have back when computers 
       were the size of Nebraska and had less processing power than a 
       programmable toaster.

       Note that some of the new clock styles reside in the by now slightly
       elephantine archive of additional clocks, available at The Ultimate
       Screen Clock web page. You'll need to download and install it 
       separately to experience the full magnificence of this version.

       There is, of course, no additional cost for doing so. 

       Currently tipping the scales at about 200 megabytes, the contents of 
       the additional clock archive were just too large to include in their
       entirety in the primary installer.
     

     - Fixes a number of issues in the Days Until, Days between and Days 
       Since windows.


     - Improves the metrics and hence the appearance of several of the 
       existing clock styles.


     - Improves the reliability of the Net Time feature.


     - The Ultimate Screen Clock 8 will optionally import most of the 
       configuration items of an existing The Ultimate Screen Clock 7 
       installation, if there's one on your system, eliminating the need to 
       restore your preferences by hand. 

       It will also remove your earlier software for you if you like. 


     - Hardens the library interface underlying The Ultimate Screen Clock to 
       make it more resistant to tampering. Sadly, the tampering in question 
       appears to originate with some third-party security applications... 
       which our lawyers would really prefer we didn't name.


     - Updates a number of user-interface issues throughout the application.


     - Addresses a number of GDI and performance issues that software 
       developers never really stop meddling with.      


     - Updates the documentation.


     We'd like to take this opportunity to express our sincere regrets for
     the minor bump in the price of  The Ultimate Screen Clock. In our 
     defense, it's been about a decade and a half since it last changed. 
     Bookkeepers may not be the most irresistible force in the universe, 
     but they are the most relentless.
    

     You can download The Ultimate Screen Clock 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/clock.html#download


     ........................................................................


     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for The Ultimate Screen 
     Clock 7 on or after March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a free upgrade to 
     The Ultimate Screen Clock 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for The Ultimate Screen 
     Clock 7 prior to March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to The Ultimate Screen 
     Clock 8 for half the cost of a new single-user license.

     When you first run The Ultimate Screen Clock 8, it will check to 
     see if you have a registration for The Ultimate Screen Clock 7 on 
     your system. If it finds one, it will display a window to tell you which 
     of the foregoing upgrade options is applicable. Click on the Upgrade 
     button to visit our web page and request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the right 
     click > Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version item of The 
     Ultimate Screen Clock.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/clkkey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html    



     _______________________________________________________________________

     3. Graphic Workshop Professional 8 Revision 2 (Additional Notification)
     _______________________________________________________________________



     Graphic Workshop Professional 8 has been updated.

     This release:


     - Addresses a number of issues that crept into the initial release of
       Graphic Workshop Professional 8. 

     - Hardens the library interface underlying Graphic Workshop to make it 
       more resistant to tampering. Sadly, the tampering in question 
       appears to originate with some third-party security applications... 
       which our lawyers would really prefer we didn't name.


     We urge all users of Graphic Workshop Professional 8 to install this
     upgrade, and any users of earlier versions to consider upgrading as
     quickly as possible.


     You can download Graphic Workshop Professional 8 from:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gwspro.html#download



     Should this be the first you've heard of Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 8, please see the original announcement for it at:

         http://mindworkshop.com/pipermail/newsletter/Week-of-Mon-20170911.txt


     ........................................................................



     UPGRADES


     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 7 on or after March 1, 2017, you’re welcome to a no-cost
     upgrade to Graphic Workshop Professional 8. 

     If you registered or upgraded a registration for Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 7 prior to March 1, 2017, you can upgrade to Graphic 
     Workshop Professional 8 for half the cost of a new single-user license.

     When you first run Graphic Workshop Professional 8, it will check to see 
     if you have a registration for Graphic Workshop Professional 7 on your 
     system. If it finds one, it will display a window to tell you which of 
     the foregoing upgrade options is applicable. Click on the Upgrade button
     to visit our web page and request or order an upgrade. 

     The upgrade window can subsequently be accessed through the Help > 
     Upgrade Manager > Upgrade from Previous Version item of Graphic Workshop 
     Professional 8's menu bar.

     The Graphic Workshop Professional no-cost upgrade key offer ends on 
     November 30, 2017.

     You can also visit the no-cost upgrade page directly at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/gwskey.html

     and the upgrade order page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/upgrade.html     
   


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     4. Animation Tools Bundle Updated
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     The popular Alchemy Mindworks Animation Tools Bundle has been updated
     to include GIF Construction Set Professional 8, PNG MNG Construction
     Set 8, Animation Workshop 8 and e-Paint 8. 

     Get all four of these essential animation applications and save $40.00.

     Please see our e-commerce page at:

         https://www.mindworkshop.com/orderform.html

     The Animation Tools Bundle can be found at the bottom of the SOFTWARE
     section.     



     _______________________________________________________________________

     5. Replying to this Message and List Removal
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     This message has been sent from an unmonitored address - please do not
     reply to it.

     To remove your address from this mailing list or to change your 
     address, please visit our web page at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/update-list.html

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     .......................................................................


     If you have questions about this list or any Alchemy Mindworks
     products, please contact us at:

         http://www.mindworkshop.com/email-alchemy.html

     You can contact us by telephone at (705) 789-5238, and by snail-mail
     at Alchemy Mindworks, L10 C8 Brunel, Huntsville, ON P1H 2J3, CANADA.


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