"Acrylic" is the codename for an innovative illustration, painting and graphics tool that provides exciting creative capabilities for designers working in print, web, video, and interactive media.

Although formal support is not offered for this beta, we have set up a forum to solicit feedback and help get your questions answered by the Acrylic community.

Find out if you're ready to download and install Acrylic (Windows XP Service Pack 2 required)!

Download and Get Info Here

This program has great potential and I am still playing with all its in's and out's.

What they need to do is concentrate more on Longhorn cause Apple might be getting ready to slap the smile off their smug kiss our butt if you don't like it little faces.

^_^ Hear!, hear!

Got to sign up for a .net passport - forget it, got enough junk stuff on my computer already. I refuse to be bludgeoned by Microsoft into software or additions to my system that I don't want or need, just because they think everyone should have it.

Answer me this - if the software is so good, why do I need that .net garbage to download it and test it?

I'll get off my box now before this becomes a rant.

ok, sorry, just spreading the news romane. And if you don't want it, simply do not reply. ;)

Good morning

Nope, sorry, my reply is as relevant as those who talk about the Apples before me in this thread. Show me where I said I didn't want to test the software.

Please re-read my reply and look at my question without making assumptions. I said I didn't want a .net passport and asked for a justification for being forced into obtaining one simply to test a piece of software. And if you can't provide one, then don't slap me down for asking for it.

Romane

Ok, you win. =)

Just thought i would suggest the reason why they need you to sign in. This would be a beta release, which means they are looking for people to test it, meaning the sole reason they are putting it out is to get people to test it. In order to get this information from the beta testers they need a way to contact you to get it. So they have done a wonderful thing and created the .net passport so you don't have to sign up everytime you go to a site. You can use the same login that you use for your hotmail account, your msn account, and countless other things. They are making it easier for you to sign up to beta test for them. There is your justification.

Good morning
Thanks Milo. At a guess, you are probably right. Only problem is, though I can understand the logic, I don't necessarily agree that a .net passport is wonderful or that it is the only way that this information could be got or that I should be forced to have one. Am quite happpy to register, am quite happy to provide feedback, and would be quite happy to have to sign in every time. Seeing as I refuse to have a hotmail account, an msn account or any of those other things, and only run Windows because I have not found Linux to yet have the ease and flexibility that I currently get from Windows (but it is getting there), I will have to forgoe being a tester.
Will be watching this thread with interest to see what comments (positive or negative) may appear regarding this new program.
Enjoy your day
Romane

Hi Romane. Sounds like you're not too fond of Microsoft? What about all those innovations (tongue firmly in cheek) like multitasking, the internet, e-mail, and the graphical interface which Microsoft introduced to the market? And the software? They invented word processors, spreadsheets, databases, www scripting (ASP and now ASP.NET), as well as personal finance software. I think you sound a bit ungrateful for all the innovations Microsoft has intorduced! I'm sure this new software will follow in the footprints of their previous introductions, so it must be good - right?

er....the internet was created by a British guy. Anyhow, if Microsoft was any good they wouldn't be doing glitchy software would they?

No, I'm pretty sure the internet was created by Al Gore. I read it in People magazine. It has to be true, right?

C'mon yall! I was just kidding! Let's see some action!

ha.....ha.........ha..........thats funny.

Ouch! Guess I deserved that.

Ok guys, is it worth downloading or not?? Someone give me a straight answer.. I already have my .net pasport..

I'm just giving you a hard time regmar. I acctually think it was funny you were looking for some action.

Still no answer..

haven't bothered to try it. Sorry.

I've played around with it little. Its worth trying and even if you don't like it its only a little 80Mb file. Should take you no more than a couple minutes to DL. What I honestly thought about it is; it has bugs like any "beta" software but I thought it has useful pixel and layering features amoung its many other functions.

Thank you..

i tried it, its neat, but i think it takes too long, and that kinda stuff isnt really my style, i do better taking and manipulating pictures than making them. i'd give it a shot tho, its pretty neat

Hey MiLo. It's OK I can take it (sharpens knife). I actually voted for the guy. I just think that it was funny that someone actually thought I was defending Microsoft.

Morwyn. Microsoft has a reputation for designing software that claims to have the features that other software has but they don't actually deliver. Their stuff usually looks great but tends to make assumptions about what you want, so they don't have to make their stuff as configurable as the software they're imitating. So when Word came out it had fewer features than Wordperfect but the ones they had were easier to use if you didn't want to do anything complicated. This is what I expect from their latest release. I doubt for example, that Nathan is going to be using their software to do his frames. If you can get Paintshop or Photoshop I would say get them and leave Microsoft and their .NET passport alone. You can bet the .NET passport does more than they admit to.

I'm reminded of when Internet Explorer came out, and we installed it only to find out that it was transferring packets of information from our computers to Microsoft. They claimed it was a bug, but I don't believe them.

I am aware of what .net passport is, but I really don't have a choice, as my sister pays for my internet service and msn is what she pays for.. I wish I could afford PSP or photoshop... Both are out of my price range.. In other words if it isn't free, I can't afford it.. I work mainly with Pictureit 9, I had 10 but junked it because I lost too many features 9 has that I used constantly.. I work with Irfanview but find it dificult to use.. I also have the gimp but am not very good with that either.. This was why I was asking about it.. Any ideas you or anyone else has, I will gladly listen to.. Stuck on msn dialup.. I am looking for something that I can use to do a little more manipulation, without a lot of complication..

acrylic is not an image editing software, its a painting simulator, and you're using it for the wrong thing if you're trying to do much else. it looked pretty good at what it does, and relatively well laid out, maybe microsoft hasnt 'dumbed it up yet' and i dont see why some people are so against microsoft, if you really feel that way use linux, or a mac. you'll miss alot

Ohhh is that what it is. By the description it sounded like they were trying to compete with photoshop/illustrator. If you're interested in trying another painting simulator, free and with no attachments to Microsoft, you can try ArtRage.

I hope they don't "dumb it up", I dislike it when software designers do that.

Thanks for the information..

"i dont see why some people are so against microsoft, if you really feel that way use linux, or a mac. you'll miss alot "

Preach it brother.

I also agree. While Microsoft has faults just like any company, you can't blame them for making OS's that are easy to write software for and are so functional for that software. For me, its not that I have anything against Linux or Mac OS but there is just so much more avaliable with Microsoft for a home PC user.

Likewise for me as a programmer of Microsoft products. I, however come with 25 years experience programming, and I remember a time before Microsoft lowered the iron curtain of control across the free market, a time when operating systems and products developed new features faster than the average user could learn them, the products were reliable and inexpensive, and true competition existed allowing all these things to happen.

Microsoft's dominance has brought stagnation to the point where features availale 25 years ago are still not present in the market leader's products, and Microsoft is so secure in its control that they no longer feel the need to respect their customers' demands or even their customers themselves. No competition, you see.

I decided to give it a try.. I will let you know if I like it or not..

what i find funny is everybodys complaints with windows crashing. i agree with you regmar, but i find my computer crashes because of ram, or other similar errors when i've got 3-4 big demand programs going. i cant remember the last time windows just decided to crash, without me running warcraft III at the time

See that's just the point, Carl. One of the differences between a true operating system and a product called an operating environment is that the true operating system runs programs in a virtual computer or memory space in which the program can crash or do whatever it likes without affecting the operation of other processes runnig in their own virtual computers. Windows, after twenty years of development can't even do that simple thing. I say simple, because operating systems that were free twenty years ago when Windows was begun - were able to do this, but Microsoft's "operating system" twenty years later still cannot.

Now I'm no fool, and I acknowledge the market dominance of Microsoft's products. I even have made my career programming them, but as they say in Texas, "This ain't my first rodeo." I know that other better products have been made available through the years and have been co-opted or driven out of existence by Microsoft who can afford to bombard the smaller companies with predatory lawsuits until they fold out of financial inability to protect themselves when the U.S. government won't. Those of us in the industry can't help but feel a little bitter and distrustful towards a company who will have to be broken up one day the same way the railroads and the phone company were.

No one has mention yet, but you also have to put serial number off the xp disc or back of machine for the antispyware beta, so you probally have to do the same for this. Pretty soon you'll have to give it for all the updates to fill in all the holes in the current OS they released in such a hurry, no one had time to check it for bugs. But when you're the only game in town...

It is in and working.. It took five and a half hours to download on dialup.. No serial numbers but I did have to regester to get the download..

OK that's my screed about Microsoft. I'll shut up now :-)

No, it is not working.. Nothing in it works.. Constant errors.. None of the tools do what they are supposed to. and when I export the mage, it is not recognized as existing by any other program.. Out goes, into the trash, not worth the five and a half hour download..

Keep in mind its a beta version. 5 1/2 hours? Damn guy thats along time, maybe the problem is "Acrylic" isn't compatible with Windows.HeHeHe

I knew it was beta.. I have had betas before an most have a few bugs but nothing like this one.. I could get an image in, but not out.. All the filters errored.. Colors came out wrong.. Not a thing worked, and I must have spent at least 6 hours working with it.. I should have been able to get something to work right.. I think they need to do a lot more work on it..

Most companies have all the bugs out by the time they call it a "beta". In fact most have the bugs out by the time they alpha. Remember this experience when the product hits the market.

I tried it and didn't find it to be anything i will ever use, but i didn't have any trouble with it crashing or anything. I think it could be something strange it doesn't like about morwyn's computer, something that will probably be fixed as they find these things out.