TypeCaster 1.2 Read Me Windows Contents 1. Who is this for? 2. What is it? 3. Installation Instructions. 4. What has changed? 5. Notes. 6. Xaos Tools Online. 7. Contacting Xaos Tools. 1. Who is this for? This special upgrade of TypeCaster 1.2 is available only to registered users of TypeCaster and Total Xaos 1.0. Because of the numerous issues addressed in the release of this patch, we recommend that users of previous versions of TypeCaster upgrade to TypeCaster 1.2. 2. What is it? This patch addresses several problems that you may have encountered while using TypeCaster. Most notably, the handling of text and fonts has been improved. The issues of memory usage on Macintosh computers and the issue of certain fonts being replaced by blank spaces has been partially addressed in this patch, but are not yet fully resolved. In general, the problems addressed by this patch fall into two categories: improved font handling and improved general functionality. 3. Installation Instructions Windows 1. Launch the TypeCaster 1.2 Patch exe file. 2. The TypeCaster Patch Setup window will appear. 3. After accepting the license agreement, a dialog asks if it is okay to start searching the hard drive for existing copies. Select Yes. 4. The installer will update all versions of the patch installed on your hard drive. The Patched Files window details the directory located of the files that were patched. At this window, select Next. 5. Following this window will be the last stage of the setup. Select Finish to complete the update installation. 4. What has changed? In the area of text and font handling TypeCaster 1.2 corrects or improves the following: Windows * Text entry and deletion slows in proportion to string size - Text entry has been adjusted and is now properly buffered to prevent this slowdown. * Some letters display spiked bevels - This was an embedded mathematical error that has been located and corrected. * Certain fonts can't render particular characters - This issue has been partially resolved as of this patch. Full resolution of this problem is expected as we continue working on this issue. In the areas of general improvement TypeCaster 1.2 corrects or improves the following: Win * No progress bar during render - In some situations, depending on the host application, no progress bar would appear during the render. This has been corrected. * Clicking anywhere during render cancels render - This no longer occurs. * CTR+SPACE to preview should bring main window to front - Ctrl + SPACE now brings the main user interface to the foremost position. * Auto-update doesn't function when (+-) arrows used on sliders - This corrects the condition on the Face, Bevel and Extrude palettes that occurs when even though the auto-update feature had been selected, the auto-update thumbnails did not update when the arrow keys on the sliders were used. * Width slider on Bevel palette has confusing value range - This has been adjusted to fall between a percentage of zero to one-hundred. * Moving Position slider on extrude palette doesn't deselect Auto checkbox - This no longer occurs. * The "Esc" key does not cancel the filter - The Escape key now cancels a render in progress. * Preview functions incorrectly with workspace partially covered - This no longer occurs. * Materials pop-up menu scrolls as expected. * Programs crash when applying TypeCaster to a Grayscale or CMYK image - TypeCaster now correctly checks for file type when invoked. TypeCaster does not support Grayscale or CMYK source images; future versions of TypeCaster may support more color spaces. * Lights palette preview area incorrectly indicates a lights off condition - This no longer occurs. * TypeCaster is incompatible with Illustrator - TypeCaster has been modified so that Adobe Illustrator 7.0 now recognizes the plug-in. 5. Notes * Certain host applications, such as Fractal Design Detailer and Macromedia xRes, will allow the use of grayscale and CMYK images in addition to RGB color space files. While in certain cases this may work, Xaos Tools does not claim to support the use of file types other than RGB for TypeCaster or Paint Alchemy. The single exception to this is Terrazzo, which supports the use of grayscale files in addition to RGB files. * The materials installed with the TypeCaster patch for the Mac may not bear the TypeCaster icon as their signature description has been modified. * Adobe After Effects: If TypeCaster has been applied once in the After Effects project, then the subsequent launching of any filters will cause the "Initializing TypeCaster" message window to appear. This is because of the way that After Effects handles preview renders. It is not an error, though it can considerably slow your production. The best workaround is to use TypeCaster as the last effect in a multi-effect sequence so as to minimize the number of times that you spend waiting for After Effects to re-render the TypeCaster effect. * Due to the method Macromedia Director uses to work with third party plug-ins, Director will not correctly interpolate all of TypeCasters features when used with the Auto Filter function. * Due to numerous improvements in the creation of the 3d image, TypeCaster version 1.2 may take a longer time to render some (not all) fonts. * If you are using a Diamond SpeedStar 64 PCI video card, you may experience crashes when running plug-ins in 16-bit color mode. Check http://www.diamondmm.com and ensure that you are using the most current driver for your video card. * The Alpha channel controls in the Quality window function in versions of Photoshop prior to version 3.0. * In a low memory situation on the Mac platform, certain materials may lost their red appearance and become greyscale. This occurs with the materials Brick and Xaos Red Metal. * This implementation of TypeCaster utilizes Mesa code as a shared library which is covered under the Gnu Public License. For more information on Mesa, licensing information and samples of the Mesa code itself please refer to http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/~brianp/Mesa.html. The Mesa code for the Macintosh was slightly modified for use in TypeCaster. A copy of this code can be found with the TypeCaster patch download at http://www.xaostools.com/support/patches.html. 6. Xaos Tools Online You can find the latest updates and product information on our web site at http:\\www.xaostools.com. 7. Contacting Xaos Tools: Xaos Tools, Inc. 300 Montgomery Street Third Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 For technical support questions you can email: pcsupport@xaostools.com, machelp@xaostools.com or call 415.744.9300. 4.3.98 v6 JW, mr