PhotoDesk 3.21 XAT and new manual on CD at SW Show

We are pleased to announce that the SW Show will see the debut of a new
release of the much-loved RISC OS graphic application – PhotoDesk.

Originally intended to be 3.20, a last minute bug fix or two has bumped
the version number to 3.21! This new version fixes a range of bugs and
crashes, tidies up some cosmetic issues, and adjusts the program so that
you can easily use PhotoDesk on all your computers.

This version began life as an unreleased update from Detlef Thielsch (and
possibly Willi Theiss) – thanks to both. It has been further updated
here, ready for release.

The software should work “out of the box” on all RISC OS systems 3.5+

As usual for recent PhotoDesk versions, it comes courtesy of X-Ample
Technologies (XAT) in Holland, with maintenance done here in the UK.

One of the big highlights in this release is the inclusion of a brand new
200 page manual. Written and produced by Chris Terran, this is the
culmination of nearly 10 years of work on-and-off, thought lost with the
death of a RiscPC hard drive. Chris has started more-or-less from scratch
again last year, and worked non-stop (or so it feels) to produce a new
manual for the latest version of the software.

The manual is written by a user, and focuses on techniques and tutorials
explaining how he uses the software to achieve a wide range of effects.
This is then supported by an “Image Pack” which allows you to try the same
techniques yourself, just as per the manual. Additionally, there are
loads of fully-tileable images included in the pack for fills and texture
use.

We feel that the new manual will help a lot of users progress with
PhotoDesk in areas that they might have struggled with before – the
program is often seen as one of the platform’s most powerful, but with a
steep learning curve. The new manual should make it much more accessible.

The manual (as a compressed PDF) is over 20MB in size, and the Image Pack
is a similarly large zip. So, it comes as no surprise that we’d offer all
this together on CD at the SW Show this weekend.

Anyone who has bought the program on !Store recently can pick up a CD
version of 3.21 for just 5ukp (to cover the costs of production).

Otherwise, any previous user of the program can upgrade to the CD edition
for 30ukp.

Finally, full new copies are just 45ukp at the show, roughly half its
previous price.

Best wishes to all, and hope to see you at the show.

Andrew