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cf/x alpha Changelog

What's new in cf/x alpha 2.0.8

Jan 7, 2015
  • Improved compatibility with OS X 10.10 Yosemite.

New in cf/x alpha 2.0.7 (Nov 1, 2014)

  • Fix for a crashing bug in OSX 10.10 Yosemite

New in cf/x alpha 2.0.5 (Feb 13, 2013)

  • Minor Compatibility Issues Corrected:
  • Now correctly auto-rotates images with EXIF orientation code 3 and 4 (180°)
  • Changes to a text object now are correctly remembered when immediately closing a window
  • Corrected spelling in a number of dialogs

New in cf/x alpha 2.0.3 (Oct 30, 2012)

  • Issues Resolved:
  • Better compatibility with OS 10.8
  • Better compatibility with Retina Display
  • Better support for postscript fonts in Text Objects
  • Now correctly reads exports from cf/x collage
  • Now correctly enables Texture Objects
  • Improved error handling when exporting excessively large canvas
  • no longer adds black bars in .png export for groups with transparency
  • Minor stability enhancements
  • Now correctly reads templates created with alpha home
  • Corrected some (not all) spelling

New in cf/x alpha 2.0.0 (Sep 3, 2011)

  • NEW FUNCTIONALITY:
  • Template Manager and Prefab Templates
  • alpha comes with over 50 ready-to-go professionally designed templates that make short work of routine designs. Better yet, you can convert your own designs into templates at the touch of a button.
  • Objects:
  • alpha has gained new 'killer' functionality in the form of smart objects. These objects mostly behave like images in earlier versions of alpha, except much more so. New Objects include
  • Smart Images: The image objects of old have gained interactive functionality and now can receive new images via drag & drop without forgetting any f/x, blend or property assigned to them.
  • Smart Text: Text objects that behave just like images you can add f/x to them, add blends, and alter properties. Furthermore, they support 'wildcard' autotext for real-time updates like output date, image name etc.
  • Geometric Objects: A host of different objects that you now can create in-App with almost limitless variety. Objects include lines, panels, triangles, frames, polygons etc.
  • Light Objects: three different classes of fully configurable light objects allow you to quickly add lighting effects to your compositions: Flashes, Lens Flares, Star Bursts.
  • Generators & Gradients: Twoand three-color gradients (fully configurable), both linear and radial, plus checkerboard and stripes pattern generators.
  • New Contact Sheet generator
  • With the addition of smart text objects, the 'grid' generator of old has gained a bigger brother (something that's very difficult in the real world): Contact Sheet. This purpose-built generator takes any amount of images, lays them out, and adds a real-text smart legend in a matter of seconds.
  • New f/x:
  • We added 15 new high-quality effects, some of them unique just try the 'BRT point' effect and tell us that you are not impressed. Since f/x can be applied to all objects (not just images), they are now on equal footing with alpha's other signature feature, blends.
  • New Blends:
  • Of course we have added new blends to alpha. Only two have made the cut, but these two stand out because they are of the 'Special' blend category: Perspective Project and Photo Curl. Use the Photo Curl on text, and you'll see what we mean.
  • OTHER ENHANCEMENTS:
  • Significant Interface improvements that include
  • Canvas Zoom (50% to 400%)
  • Numerical Read-Outs for sliders
  • Tool palette for objects

New in cf/x alpha 1.2.5 (Mar 2, 2011)

  • NEW FEATURES:
  • 
Major Enhancements to Mosaic
-
  • 
'Poor Man's Mosaic'
  • 
colored photo mosaic assistant
-
  • 
Accelerated Mosaic creation by up to 1'000x
-
  • 
two additional mosaic color manager

  • 
Editable watermark field

  • 
Aperture export

  • 
iPhoto export

  • 
Quick Preview

  • 
cleaned up temporary name usage (used for export to mail, iPhoto, Aperture and Preview)

  • 
keyboard shortcuts for next object and previous object

  • 
kanji and other scripts for file names supported

  • 
exchange image command (convenience function)
  • BUGS FIXED:
  • 
some exported files did contain an alpha channel even if no alpha was to be exproted

  • 
import for mosaic now handles crop correctly on rotated images

  • 
obscure bug with cropping with chromakey blend removed

  • 
fixed some (but not all) typos

  • 
Image (own alpha) and file based (mask) blends now correctly reset crops

  • 
potential bug with in-app copy/paste of objects removed

  • 
paste object bug in 'Legacy' clipboard mode

New in cf/x alpha 1.2 (Jan 6, 2011)

  • This update to alpha brings a number of major enhancements to alpha's collage capabilities: The most powerful new feature is 'Arrange by Shape' - a generator that creates a collage based upon a shape (image).
  • Only slightly less powerful are four brand-new collage generators that can turn literally hundreds of images into an image heap, scatter them across the canvas, sweep then towards a corner, or assemble them in a grid.
  • All generators come with more customizable features that you can shake a mouse at. Oh - and we have also beefed up the Mosaic function, so be sure to check out the new versions once it comes out. The update to 1.2 is free to all registered users.

New in cf/x alpha 1.0.6 (Oct 31, 2010)

  • interface improvements:
  • improved error messages when calling up mosaic with too few or too many images selected
  • extra warning when switching from image alpha blend to 3D blend with hint to use Group first
  • email interface
  • bugs removed:
  • removed keyboard shortcut for Export because that was assigned to best fit
  • watermark correctly added in mail if chosen via export dialog
  • after creating a mosaic, the original is now correctly deselected
  • after creating a mosaic, object screen size is set correctly, dramatically increasing editing performance
  • after export canvas re-renders for better performance and correct frame size
  • now correctly remembers registration info (only Power PC G4/G5 based Macs were affected)
  • now correctly identifies space bar (panning) on older keyboards
  • new functionality:
  • ability to edit email in mail before sending
  • ability to immediately send from alpha with custom message and recipients
  • rotation is now a separate style to be copied
  • other:
  • removed some interface typos
  • group version 4 savetype
  • in sync with collage 1.1

New in cf/x alpha 1.0.5 (Sep 17, 2010)

  • interface improvements:
  • toolbar tool for export via email
  • faux IR effect built into the 'gradual b/w' fx
  • bugs removed:
  • After closing Page Setup sheet, you no longer have to click somewhere into the canvas to make Print menu item available
  • new functionality:
  • save as GIF format
  • (standard and pro only:) gradual b/w converter now has color pre-filters for more intensive grey conversion: neutral (defualt), orange, yellow, red, green or blue
  • mail current composition is now available directly from toolbar. Will mail as PNG, with transparency, direct alpha, no watermark
  • (standard and pro only) Faux IR effect

New in cf/x alpha 1.0.4 (Aug 20, 2010)

  • Interface improvements:
  • redesigned the 'Fill Canvas' dialog for more clarity
  • Maximize crop now accessible from the menu, not just tool bar and context menu
  • (standard/pro only) Mosaic warns if the image source folder contains too few images and prevents generation
  • New functionality:
  • export to email
  • set frame size in fill canvas dialog
  • Bugs removed:
  • rare deallocation error when exporting to windows .BMP format in OS 10.6.4 or later
  • removed bug in OS 10.6 (snow leopard) where images incorrectly used twice the amount of memory
  • rare 'fuzzy frame' (antialiased) when selecting an image with handles in middle position (interface only)

New in cf/x alpha 1.0.3 (Aug 13, 2010)

  • interface improvements:

  • prevents accidental import sizing beyond 12'000 pixels in size per dimension

  • load images skips convoluted image import dialog, and immediately imports image at 200 pixels wide, proportionally sized vertically (images can still be resized using 'Set Image Size')

  • 'Set Image Size' catches individual image size requests for images larger than 12'000x12'000 pixels; images are automatically scaled proportionally to 12'000 per side or less

  • slightly tweaked helper line drawing for better visibility

  • warning if you set a large grid size that objects may *appear* to be immovable with that grid size

  • removed a blank character when saving the first untitled document

  • export dialog saves your export preferences and automatically sets them to your last export values (even across sessions)
  • bugs removed:

  • crashes with some very large alpha masks removed

  • the rare occasion where a document file was overwritten or deleted while it was open is now handled much more elegantly

  • when saving as archive, alpha will no longer regard this as saving the file.

  • when creating a collage (in standard version) with border, the border size is increased to make it more visible
  • other:

  • significantly improved over/under-size handling of images (dimensions < 1 pixel or > 12'000 pixels per side)

  • improved memory management

  • autorelease pool for better compatibility with pascal/cocoa code bridge

  • less stringent management of masks; if a mask was dropped due to memory constraints, alpha will now draw without the mask

  • safer image / PDF loading; images that take more than 400MB are downscaled to a maximum of 400MB

  • corrected erroneous messages when saving to JPG, PICT and BMP format

  • individual source images that are larger than 144MP (12'000 pixels square) are scaled down during import to 144MP or less

  • more robust preference loading module

  • updated manual

New in cf/x alpha 1.0.2 (Jul 16, 2010)

  • Interface improvements:
  • fine-tuned border size when relative to canvas
  • improved image link robustness - links remain intact even if the originals are moved or renamed
  • context menu now has access to maximize crop
  • optional Max Crop toolbar tool
  • New functionality:
  • alpha standard can read alpha home documents
  • home version can read alpha standard documents
  • maximize crop (best fit for whole image) reinstated as separate function
  • Bugs removed:
  • dropping images from iPhoto and other apps could copy image but not link to file. fixed.
  • alpha now also saves and loads an image's individual border status (drawing on/off)
  • Linked PDFs with only one page will no longer crash during reload
  • Refreshing a linked PDF document will no longer crash
  • Other:
  • in synch with alpha home and alpha pro
  • upgraded internal file handling (file alias, image/PDF processing, URL handling, storage)