Questions about Rev/Transcript vs. other toolkits

[Chipp Walters]

Troy Rollins wrote:


> It seems that I'm being backed into a corner. OK. Here we go. Remember, 
> you dragged it out of me.

Sorry you feel that way, I'm just asking questions...

> 
> Yes. Easily. With mind-blowing speed. Nothing to do with snapshots. Pure 
> image compositing with alpha, additional masks, ink types, and much 
> more. Oh, 4 images...? How about 40? 400? in milliseconds. Sum the 
> alphas and all. It is no big thing. (Terry GetPixel and SetPixel are 
> relatively slow... check out copyPixels()

Very cool.

>> Lastly, could you do all of this in 2 weeks?
> 
> 
> Oh yes. Other than the DPI thing, I would seriously doubt it would take 
> that much time, probably half that. Trust me, the image handling is THAT 
> MUCH BETTER. To the point where I can't see what the big deal is. 
> Compositing the images and summing the alpha? It is one line of code per 
> image.

Good to know. I wish it was that easy in RR.

> 
>>  If so, I'm just wondering why I don't see more real 'apps' written in 
>> Director? In fact, I know of no commercial apps written in Director, 
>> though I can't say I've looked all that hard ;-).
> 
> 
> Compared to the hordes written in Revolution you mean? Let's face it, 
> there have been hundreds of commercial apps written in Director. Though, 
> given the admitted multimedia bent to them, MOST of them are educational 
> and activity CD ROMS for kids. But they are on the shelves of every 
> computer store in the world as we speak. How many Rev apps are?

Troy, I'm talking Applications, not multimedia projects. Heck, at Human 
Code we created tons of award winning multimedia/game CD's using 
Director-- and put them on plenty of store shelves, for folks like 
Discovery Channel, Disney, Hasbro and others. I know *multimedia* works 
in Director.

Seriously, can you point me to a couple of commercial 'applications' 
built in Director? Especially image editing desktop applications. I'd 
really like to take a look at them, as I'm sure they'd offer me new 
insights regarding image editting.

Frankly, considering Director has an installed base at least an order of 
magnitude larger than Revolution, I would expect there to be some 
commercial apps available (not multimedia apps). Seems to me, there 
should be a number of image editors available with all of that power. I 
tried searching the Director forum, but couldn't find any...perhaps I 
used the wrong search terms.

There was this one really cool Director app, I forget the name, but it 
built CD covers and graphic design layouts automatically. Unfortunately 
there was no way to save it, but it was really, really inspiring. I 
think it was called 'nextGen' or something like that, can't remember. 
Perhaps you saw it?

I can point you to commercial apps written in Rev, (including yours), 
but I assume you know what/who they are. You of course chose to write 
your latest app in Rev rather than RB or Director. Perhaps the basis for 
that choice could lend some valuable perspective to this discussion.


>> In anycase, I would say if Director can do all of this, then hurray 
>> for Director:-), but it still doesn't diminish the serious imaging 
>> capabilities of RR.
>>
> IMO it does. Both REALbasic and Director have MUCH better imaging 
> capabilities than Rev. VASTLY. Apparently, I am the only one in the 
> "conversation" with experience and familiarity (and who owns and uses 
> the current version of) all three.

Troy, perhaps you can be more specific rather than 'VASTLY'? It might 
help to define 'areas of improvement' for Rev and it's engine 
capabilities. Certainly, anti-aliased graphics are a place to start.

I have yet to find an imaging task which I want to do which can't be 
done in Revolution, though I'm certain there are some. I've created a 
program ImageGadget
<http://www.altuit.com/webs/hemingway/HemTools/ImageGadget.htm>
which allows me to build banners by importing and layering images and 
type, using custom alpha effects. I've created screen capture apps and 
ButtonGadget. I'm just looking for similar apps written in Director or RB.

Just so I'm clear, I'm not attacking Director's image handling 
capabilities, in fact you've identified some things it does very well. I 
am just pointing out Revolution has some fine tools itself for building 
image editting apps.

Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge of the other 
products. It's always good to know what other products can do, as it 
helps us understand where we can 'get better.' I think conversations 
like this are helpful for us all.

-Chipp