Subject: MINI-REVIEW: OpalVision 24-bit graphics board & software [UPDATED]
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 19:18:22 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

[Moderator's note:  this is an updated version of a previously-posted
review.  The author has added more detailed information.  -- Dan]

BRIEF PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

	OpalVision is a 24-bit graphics board for the Commodore Amiga.
It comes with several software packages for painting and presentations.
It is manufactured by:

	Centaur Development
	4451-B Redondo Beach Blvd.
	Lawndale, CA 90260

	Phone:	(310) 542-2226, (800) 621-2202
	Fax:	(310) 542-9998

	[Moderator's note:  This article appeared on FidoNet on Wednesday
	morning, September 2, 1992.  It was updated on September 7, 1992.
	With the author's permission, it is now being posted in
	comp.sys.amiga.reviews so it can be permanently archived.  I have
	not edited this article at all, except to add the "brief product
	description" and spell-check the document.

	I do not have an e-mail address for Carmen Rizzolo, the
	author.  -- Dan]

[From    ] Carmen Rizzolo                   [REC'D] [MSG 113 OF 123]
[To      ] Harv Laser                       [Has Reply 114]
[Date    ] 07 Sep 92 14:37
[Subject ] More on OV

Spending an evening with Opal Vision;
 
    I just picked up an OpalVision motherboard today, and boy am I
having some fun!  I'm sure some of you out there want to know the
ins and outs of OV, so here's what I can see after just a few hours
of messing with it...
 
    Installation was easy, just plug the thing into your video slot.
When you plug the RGB cable into the back of the OV (with the other
end going into your monitor), be sure to secure the little screws on
the monitor plug, it's a real loose fit, and it fell out while I
plugged the other end of the plug into the monitor.  Whoops.
 
    Software installation was easy, it used Commodore's installer
proggy.  You'll need about 9 MEGS of HD space to start out with.
The Karate game takes 5 MEGS, the rest of it is mostly filled with
JPEGS.  You can thin out the extra pics and game to your desire
afterwards.  Oh yeah, the game has it's own installer.. You don't
HAVE to install it, but I'm sure you will. :)
 
    The documentation is pretty good.  There's a thin "getting
started" manual, and a thicker reference manual.  The manuals are
plastic spiral bound, very attractive covers box.  So far so good.
 
    Included in the software is OpalPaint, Opal Presents!, and a
Function Key program, as well as some miscellaneous utils, such as a
24-bit viewer.
 
    Opal Presents!  Is basically a souped-up slide show program.
REALLY easy to use.  It's got a handful of 'wipes' to break the
monotony of image transitions.  There are a couple of really slick
wipes, such as one where the new picture drops in and bounces to a
stop.  Most of them aren't quite broadcast quality.  In other words,
you can see the scanlines drawn as it writes picture B over picture
A.  It's still pretty fast and you can use a slider to alter the time
a transition takes.  With some of it's wipes, and the way you can
alter the wipe time, it's output reminds me a little bit of Deluxe
Video III, except of course, in 24-bits.  It does have an AREXX port
with lots 'o commands.  It does load it's images just before it
shows each one, even if the same picture is used several times in
your "script."  Too bad you can control when to load and unload
images.  Of course, you won't want to use JPEGs in your script as
they take longer to load.  All the OV software does, however, load
JPEG images pretty fast.  I chuckled when I discovered that OV loads
standard Amiga IFFs (including HAMs) slower than it loads IFF24
images!  It probably does this because it would want anything going
into it's RAM to be 24 (or 32) bit, and a different format would
have to be converted.  It's still kinda goofy tho! :)
 
    The function Key software is nice.  It will load an image and
show them behind or IN FRONT OF your Amiga screens.  It will
activate an alpha channel for transparency definition. It will
display incoming live video behind or in front of Opal Vision in
Amiga graphics in any combination.  An alpha channel is an extra
8-bit grey-scale image that can be appended to a 24 bit image (thus
the term "32-bit graphics").  All alpha-channel operations are
disabled in the release version of the software. :(  Hopefully, I'll
get a software upgrade soon.  Of course, tapping into the "Live
Video" features of the HotKey software will require the Framegrabber
GenLock module, hopefully out around Christmas time.  Are you
listening, Santa?  All the HotKey functions are accessed by holding
down Ctrl, Left-Shift, Left-Amiga and F1 thru F10 from yer WB
screen.
 
    Opal Paint is awesome!!  I guess you could consider it a cross
between DCTV paint and DPaint, but with many of it's own unique fun
stuff.  I've used the Firecracker's Light24, Dpaint (for over 5
years), ToasterPaint, DCTV Paint and other less popular painters.
OpalVision blows them all away (with the exception of DPaint's
animation features and some similar functions it does faster than
OpalPaint)!!  Here's what I've seen in the few hours I've used it
so far (Thanks to the "Getting Started" manual)..

    The interface for OpalPaint -and the rest of the software,
is very slick.  3-D buttony look, larger icon images of the
tools we know and love from DPaint and the like.  One neato
feature is a two little text fields off to the right of the panel.
Whichever button your cursor is hovering over, it's name will appear
in one field, and it's keyboard equivalent in the field below.

    If you've ever used Light24, you'll know that brushed that
are picked up don't actually DISPLAY while you're getting ready to
stamp it down.  Instead, you get a single-colour outline of the
brush's shape.  In Opal Paint, you get similar results.  You have
the outline, but you also get a "line-art" representation of the
brush you cut out, still only one color.  The Outline is optional is
well.  There is a bit of a lag when you stamp your brush down, even
more so if you've got any bells and whistles on, such as stencil and
anti-aliasing (More of them later).  It's not too bad tho.  About a
second for a large brush.  Yes, there are some things that slow it
down to make it seem not-so real-time, but other things that are 
lightening quick that you might think require a little lag.

    The biggest drawback of Opal Paint is that it will NOT paint
it's images in overscan.  Everything has a border, and you use
Amiga-V to view the image in full overscan.  And even nuttier
still, when you do use Amiga-V and the whole screen is displayed,
the pointer does not disappear until you hit the Delete Key (Like
in DPaint).  This is goofy because you use the Amiga-V to show the
full pic, and you can't DO anything while it's showing it in
overscan, just click the left one to get back.  So there's no reason
for the cursor to be there.  It should disappear so that it can
be recorded or whatever.  This is a video device, right?  The main
drawback of not being able to paint in overscan is that you can't
always tell what is the center of the screen.  You'll paste some text
in the center of the screen, use Amiga-V to view it in overscan only
to find your text on the left side of the screen.  And after
Amiga-V, you've lost your undo safety net.  Keep in mind there may
be a provision for this problem that I haven't seen yet.  If I'm
overlooking anything, I sincerely apologize.  If I come by any
workaround for this quark, I'll immediately post it.  Keep in mind
I've only been using it for a few hours.

    In Dpaint, you draw foreground colours with the left mouse
button, and draw background colour with the right mouse button.
In Opal Paint, the Right mouse button has a very unique feature
indeed.  Lets say you are drawing a log line and mess up at the
very end.  Hitting UNDO would destroy the line, the good with the
bad.  No more problem!  Your right mouse button is an UNDO-Painter!
Simply use the right mouse button and paint over the bad part of
the line, leave the good stuff alone!  You can use the right mouse
button to UNDO-Paint using all the drawing tools, not just the
freehand tool.  Neato, eh?

    File requestors are really slick, 9 "Thumbnail" images
instantly appear to show you what your pictures look like before you
load those JPEGS or whatever.  There is slide bar also to slide down
if there are more than 9 images in a directory.  You can double-
click on a thumbnail image to load and save as well!

    Dpaint IV just introduced us to keeping a brush in a spare brush
buffer for two brushes, Opal Paint has THREE BRUSH BUFFERS!  You can
copy brushes from one buffer to another, as well as BEND them like
DPaint does.  You can resize them as well as move it's "handle"
around.

    Opal Paint's palette requestor is really slick with a quarter-
screen sized mixing area.  You can load and save palettes (with the
mixing areas saved along with them.  The Pastella palette's mixing
area looks like a real painting, Yow!).  You can also take a color
you like, give it a name and save it as a single color.  Opal Paint
comes with MANY of these "named colours" with names such as
Murky Green, Olive Drab, Deep Azure, and powder blue.  There are 20
colour wells visible at any time, but you can use bracket keys to
scroll around to reveal a total of 260 wells.

    Just like in DPaint IV and DCTV paint, you can paint stencil
masks.  You can also use Colour excluding or including to define
your stencil painting just like DCTV.  Unlike DCTV, however, is
the ability to set up to *6* base colors for your stencil painter
to stick to or avoid!  The one drawback (an advantage DCTV has)
about stencil painting is Opal Paint is once you leave Stencil
paint mode and enter paint mode with the stencil active, your
stenciled area is invisible.  Unless you don't mind doing the whole
screen at once, you have to just "remember" where your stencils
are/aren't.  The manual actually tells you this, so I don't think
there is an alternative.  I put two fingers on the screen at the
upper left and lower right area, entered paint mode then used my
fill box.  Hey, it works.

    You know DPaint's preset brush shapes in the upper right-hand
corner of the tools panel?  On OpalPaint, if you click on one of
those with the right mouse-button, you'll get a requestor where you
can alter the size, it's texture and the texture of the paper.  The
assignment of the paper's surface texture is global, but the size
and texture for a certain brush shape is independent.  You can have
one dot be an airbrush, and the one next to it be chalk, and another
to be felt-tip pen.

    OP also does RubThru painting.  Rubthru has two modes.  Absolute
and relative.  Absolute Rubthru is similar to DCTV paint's Rubthru.
Relative RubThru will have the spare page centered to wherever you
start painting.  You can also pick where the spare page centers
itself by placing a crosshair.

    AREXX is not yet implemented in Opal Paint.  AAAAARGH!!!
 
    Oh yes.. The game..  It's a two-player game ONLY.  You'll need a
partner and a second joystick.  There s a different kind of attack
you can do for almost every direction of the joystick (I think all
but 1 direction is used).  Each attack requires a different distance
to hit your opponent.  Other than that, there are no bells and
whistles.  It's a very simple game, but for some reason, it's also
a lot of fun.  The characters are not 24-bit.  But they're much too
big to be sprites.  Possibly 16 or 32 colour bobs.  Once you see how
smooth the animated bobs are, you really don't care that they aren't
24-bit.  The smooth animation of the characters and the smooth
[horizontally] scrolling backgrounds make it ALMOST arcade quality.
I think the only thing that makes it lacking of arcade caliber is
the fact that it's so simple. -no bells and whistles.  Just two guys
sorting things out. :)

    Of course, there are sound effects, and a music mod is played on
the title screen.  It's a good mod with clean instruments.  There
does seem to be a bug in mine tho.  During the game play, there is
always a single black line running down the center of the background
image.  It scrolls right along with the background.  Sometimes, when
I reboot, if the 24-bit background doesn't disappear right away,
the black line is gone, and the background is as it should be -for
only a moment while the Amiga boots.  Odd.
 
    I hope this helped you in you're deciding on a 24-bit device.
I'm more than pleased with my $1000 purchase.  Despite it's few
quarks, you'll be happy as a clam if you get one too.  Does anyone
else out there have one yet?

    By the way, my text editor now has a nice crumpled-paper
24-bit background now.  Oh, can anyone say "24-bit Icons?" :)

                                            Carmen Rizzolo
---

   Daniel Barrett, Moderator, comp.sys.amiga.reviews
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