Synthetik Software has announced a major new release to Studio Artist. The new version, Studio Artist 2.0, is being released next week in conjunction with Macworld Conference & Expo. It runs natively in Mac OS 8-9 and Mac OS X 10.1.
The software, billed as a “graphics synthesizer,” combines painting and drawing tools with image processing and video effects. Studio Artist enables users to edit images with both raster and vector tools. Using modeling derived from the study of human visual perception, Studio Artist can also automatically produce painting actions.
The software ships with over 2,000 factory presets which define various visual looks and tactile feels. Each paint preset includes over 300 editable parameters, as well.
Improvements to Studio Artist 2.0 include a new core drawing engine; a configurable image processing toolkit; 3-D lighting effects which can be applied to paint strokes; pen-controlled interactive directional filtering; cellular texture patterns; new image processing effects like cartoon simplify, adaptive filtering, gradient modulation effects, color transformational mapping, white balance, matte keying and much more.
The new version of Studio Artist also includes new Particle Paints that can be used to simulate real world behavior, multi-bristle pens, and dynamic brush shape generation. New time-based visual effects are also supported. Individual layers sport full alpha support, and full QuickTime compression format support is also included.
The suggested retail price for Studio Artist 2.0 is US$379, and registered users can upgrade for $179. More details are available from the Web site.
Macworld Conference & Expo happens January 7-11, 2002 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, Calif. Look for Synthetik Software at booth 3750.