SuperPaint (Macintosh)

SuperPaint is a graphics program capable of both bitmap painting and vector drawing. SuperPaint was one of the first programs of its kind, combining the features of MacPaint and MacDraw[1] whilst adding many new features of its own.[2]

For the pioneering graphics program and framebuffer developed at Xerox PARC, see SuperPaint.
Aldus SuperPaint
Aldus SuperPaint 3.5 running on Mac OS System 7.5.1
Developer(s)Silicon Beach Software
Initial release1986 (1986)
Stable release
3.5 / 1993
Operating systemSystem 4–System 7
PlatformClassic Mac OS
TypeBitmap and vector-based image editing
LicenseProprietary

It was originally written by William Snider, published by Silicon Beach Software (which was acquired by Aldus in 1990), and released in 1986 for the Apple Macintosh. William Snider wrote and designed the program from his house on an Apple Lisa in Pascal. It was the only program that outsold Silicon Beach's Dark Castle games, but SuperPaint was much more lucrative for the company.[3] The program and packaging was also localised into Japanese.[4]

As it requires Classic, SuperPaint is unsupported as of Mac OS X version 10.5, but can still be used with the assistance of Mac OS emulators.

History
  • Version 1.0, released 1986, has a fixed position user interface with palettes arranged on the left and bottom edges of the screen. Includes LaserBits 300dpi editing mode[5] and the ability to print in colour despite only being able to display in b&w.
  • 1.1, released 1988, included the SuperConvert app to convert to/from LaserBits;[6] was bundled with Microsoft Word 4.0 for Macintosh in 1990.[7]
  • 2.0, released 1989, introduced many new features including: AutoTrace, SuperBits (formerly LaserBits), freehand Bézier tool, multi-page documents, rich text in text blocks, rotation and transformations, plug-ins, a multi-palette user interface, custom tools in the paint palette.[8][9]
  • 3.0, released 1991, was a major revision that added many extra features, most notably colour support, but also image enhancement functions and texture fills; hot keys were revamped to simplify the interface;[10][11] tear-off palettes.[12]
  • 3.5, released 1993, brought support for System 7, copy brush tool, several other new drawing tools including some that are pressure sensitive,[13] expanded importing capability including still frames from QuickTime.[14] This was the final version of the app.

Later versions were published by Aldus after their 1990 acquisition of Silicon Beach Software. The app continued to be sold by Adobe after their 1994 takeover of Aldus.[15]

Uses Since

Artist Richard Bolam used images drawn using Aldus SuperPaint in the 1990s as part of his "Bolam at 50" exhibition in 2014.[16]

References
  1. Neuburg, Matt (March 23, 1992). "SuperPaint 3.0 Review". tidbits.com. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  2. Mejia, Manuel (2016-05-01). "Children of MacPaint: SuperPaint and Canvas". Low End Mac. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  3. Moss, Richard (2018-03-22). "The making of Dark Castle : An excerpt from The Secret History of Mac Gaming". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2018-03-25.
  4. Vintage Mac Museum, The. "Aldus SuperPaint". Archived from the original on 12 August 2007.
  5. University of Michigan, The (5 Jan 1987). U-M Computing News. UM Libraries. p. 9.
  6. Inc, InfoWorld Media Group (1988-06-13). InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. S14.
  7. Mac Bulletin (1988-06-01). MacWorld 88-06. pp. 9.
  8. siliconBeachSoftware :: Silicon Beach Catalog 1990. 1990.
  9. Johnson, Harriett & Richard (Jan 1990). ""The Tools of SuperPaint 2.0" - Computers in Libraries, Vol. 10, Issue 1". www.questia.com. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  10. Press Release, Aldus (1991). Apple Slices 1991.
  11. Green, Doug & Denise (1992-12-28). InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. p. 73.
  12. The Computer Paper (November 1991). 1991. pp. 20.
  13. MacUser September 1993. September 1993. pp. 253.
  14. Baggott, Rick (February 1994). "SuperPaint 3.5". www.savetz.com. Retrieved 2019-07-07.
  15. Pfiffner, Pamela (2002). Inside the Publishing Revolution: The Adobe Story. Adobe Press. pp. 147, 152. ISBN 0321115643.
  16. "SuperPaint | Retrospective: Richard Bolam at 50". Retrieved 2019-07-07.


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