Subject: Seybold - Macromedia Studio, Free Download Of FreeHand SDK 04/05/95

From: [email-masked] (Administrator)
Date: 05 Apr 1995 22:21:30 GMT

(NEWS)(GENERAL)(BOS)(00004)

Seybold - Macromedia Studio, Free Download Of FreeHand SDK 04/05/95
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1995 APR 5 (NB) -- In a press
conference at Seybold Boston, Macromedia announced a $995
software bundle for Windows and Macs called Graphic Design Studio,
a free download of the FreeHand 5.0 Software Developers Kit (SDK),
and a strategy of "integration" targeted at the converging
multimedia and graphics marketplaces.

Graphic Design Studio includes the first versions of FreeHand
and Fontographer to be produced since Macromedia's purchase of
these two products from Altsys in November, plus Macromedia's
MacroModel 1.5, Pixar's RenderMan 1.3.1, and Fractal Design's
Painter 3.0, said Miles Walsh, VP of worldwide marketing, speaking
at the press conference, which was attended by Newsbytes.

The new multivendor bundle, he added, contains: tightly integrated
tools for two-dimensional (2-D) drawing; three-dimensional (3-D)
modeling; bitmap painting, editing and compositing; font creation;
page layout; and PostScript output.

Pete Mason, FreeHand product manager, told the journalists that
the FreeHand 5.0 graphics design package provides a new,
"expandable" architecture that supports its own drop-in interactive
tools and floating palettes as well as plug-ins from third-party
developers.

Rusty Williams, Macromedia's SDK product manager, announced that
Macromedia is offering the FreeHand 5.0 Software Developer's Kit
(SDK) as a free download from both America Online (AOL) and
CompuServe.

HSC, Letraset, Azalea, and other beta users have already created a
number of plug-ins, or "Xtras," for FreeHand, added Williams, who
likened the FreeHand SDK to HSC's Kai's Power Tools in its ability
to spur third-party tools development.

In opening remarks, Walsh told the journalists that Macromedia
plans to continue an already initiated strategy of increased
integration by bringing together tools for animation, sound,
authoring, presentation, and 2-D and 3-D design in a single
environment.

Macromedia's recently released Authorware 3.0 CD-ROM mastering
package features greater integration with the company's Macromedia
Director multimedia authoring software, he noted.

Also in the converging multimedia/graphics marketplace, Macromedia
is now involved with the majority of current trials involving 
set-top boxes, the VP revealed.

Although the set-top box arena will not produce strong revenues
immediately, set top boxes and the World Wide Web (Web) will both
constitute "very high growth" areas for Macromedia in the future,
he predicted.

"Digital artists" are already creating online multimedia
presentations for application areas traditionally addressed by
paper-based documents, suggested Walsh.

"The Legend of Joe Mac," a multimedia presentation produced by a
recent college graduate, garnered 75 job offers for "Joe" within
a few weeks of being put out over the Web, he reported.

The grad created the "multimedia resume" with Macromedia Director,
and included an animated self-portrait with the piece in lieu of a
photo, according to the Macromedia exec, who showed portions of the
resume drawn from Macromedia's new Multimedia Showcase CD.

Jim Von Ehr, previously president of Altsys, and now VP of
Macromedia's Digital Arts Group, told the press that Altsys had
also been interested in integrating FreeHand with multimedia tools.
"At Altsys, we wanted to move beyond print," Von Ehr remarked.

Mason then gave a demo of some of the new features in FreeHand. The
features shown included style sheets, search-and-replace, a spelling
checker, and other new text handling features for integrating type
into brochures and presentations, along with the following new
special effects tools: spiral, pixel, fisheye lens, eyedropper, 3-D
rotation, smudge, and transparency.

The eyedropper tool, for example, is designed to "pick up" color
from anywhere in a tagged image file format (TIFF) image, such as
a scanned photo, he explained. The color can then be named and used
in type or other graphic elements, according to Mason.

Mason also showed how FreeHand 5.0 provides multiple views of the
same FreeHand document, for editing that will provide "immediate
feedback" from different magnifications.

The product manager added that drag-and-drop multi-colored 
gradient fills are also available for the new FreeHand 5.0. The 
gradient fills can contain up to 64 colors, and can be printed on any
PostScript device.

Williams, Macromedia's SDK product manager, described tools that
have already been created with the FreeHand SDK. Some of these
tools are available now, and others are expected to ship within the
next 90 days.

HSC's KPT Vector Effects provides shatter, 3-D, distortion, and
stylized effects to FreeHand, according to Williams.

Another new tool, Letraset USA's Envelopes, is designed to let
FreeHand users shape and distort individual letters, words,
lines of type, and graphics.

Bullfrog Software Engineering's Encompass mapping tool is meant 
to let the user to select a region on a map, accurately
determine its area, set the scale of a region to size, and then
calculate the scaled distance between any two points on the map.

Azalea is producing two tools for FreeHand, according to Williams.
Azalea's Prepress Xtra "streamlines the prepress process" by
letting users prepare FreeHand files for Adobe PressWise and Adobe
TrapWise. Azalea's UPCTools is for producing bar codes to be
employed on book covers and CD covers, and in packaging design.

Also during the hour-long press conference, Rix Kramlich, 3-D
product manager for Macromedia, gave a demo of Macromedia's
MacroModel 1.5, a package designed to use spline-based tools for
point-and-click creation of 3-D models from 2-D reference objects.
MacroModel 1.5 is now shipping on a standalone basis for both
Windows and Mac/Power Mac.

A standalone edition of FreeHand 5.0 for Mac/Power Mac began
shipping in January. The FreeHand 5.0 SDK for Mac/Power Mac is
available now through AOL (keyword: Macromedia) or CompuServe 
(type: go Macromedia). Graphic Design Studio is expected to ship 
within 30 days for Mac/Power Mac, and later this spring for Windows. 
FreeHand 5.0 for Windows and the Windows SDK are also slated for 
delivery later this spring.

(Jacqueline Emigh/19950404/Reader Contact: Macromedia, 
800-288-4797; 415-252-2118; Press Contact: Karen Gobler, 
Emily Fisher, Carol McGarry or Mike Farber, Schwartz 
Communications for Macromedia, 617-431-0770)

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