For Immediate Release
MAIN EVENT SOFTWARE SHIPS PHOTOSCRIPTER 1.0
–New AppleScript Product for Photoshop Enables Integrated Automation
of Image Processing–
WASHINGTON, D.C., December 22, 1998 — Main Event Software, Inc.
today announced it is now shipping PhotoScripter 1.0, providing
automated AppleScript support for the capabilities in Adobe Photoshop
5.0 and higher.
Now for the first time, Macintosh users can automate the commands and
processes available in Photoshop by using simple, English-like
AppleScript sentences. PhotoScripter is available today at
(http://www.mainevent.com/)
for $299 per single-artist license and $999 per production machine license.
Special introductory pricing of $899 for production machine licenses
is available through January 3, 1999, directly from Main Event
Software.
“With PhotoScripter, the level of integration beween Photoshop,
QuarkXPress, and the Finder is unprecendented,” commented Cal Simone,
president of Main Event Software. “Many shops, large and small, will
literally save hundreds of thousands of dollars by using
PhotoScripter in automating many of the repetitive aspects of image
processing. Now Photoshop can join the ranks in the stable of core
applications used for workflow.”
“It changes the whole way we look at the image-processing part of
building QuickTime VR objects,” explained Joel Smith, president of
Realitysmith. “By scripting the use of filters, changing saturation
levels, and cropping,
then running the script against a whole batch of images, we get to
see quickly if the overall effect is what we want. It also allows us
to achieve a more consistent quality, with a lower margin of error.
Before I might look at something and say, ‘that’s good,’ while now
I’ve got the latitude to ask, ‘and what if we did this, too?'”
Main Event’s PhotoScripter plug-in implements the Apple Event Object
Model and provides a large semantic vocabulary that is used by script
writers. Using PhotoScripter, graphics professionals, power users,
solutions providers and in-house developers can now easily
incorporate automated Photoshop processing into several phases of
their production processes.
For example, during the last Seybold keynote, Steve Jobs, co-founder
of Apple Computer, Inc., and Phil Schiller, vice president of
worldwide product marketing, demonstrated the easy-to-use, automated
image processing
and document assembly with Adobe Photoshop enhanced by PhotoScripter
1.0 and QuarkXPress, integrated via an AppleScript.
Expanded Possibilities for Image Processing
PhotoScripter provides Photoshop with an extensive dictionary that
can be opened in any standard script editor, including the basic
Script Editor that comes with the Mac OS or a more advanced
environment like Main Event’s
Scripter. The PhotoScripter dictionary defines the vocabulary of
terms available for writing commands in the AppleScript language.
Among the range of Photoshop capabilities that can be accessed using
PhotoScripter:
– Open and save documents in various file formats
– Query and change image attributes, including size, resolution, color
space (mode),
and image documents’ NAA/IPTC file information
– Create new documents, layers, channels, paths and more
– Fill, stroke, draw lines and make gradients; flip, rotate and transform
– Create and apply new monitor (RGB), printing (CMYK) and profile setups
– Perform all Photoshop image adjustments; flatten layers
– Apply Photoshop filters and effects
Using variables, conditional execution, looping, and other techniques
available in AppleScript, each image in a batch can be processed in
different ways under differing conditions. Over 250 applications,
such as QuarkXPress, FileMaker Pro, Canto Cumulus, and the Macintosh
Finder, are AppleScript-aware, thus making it possible for
integration between these applications to be created by both
programmers and non-programmers alike.
System Requirements
To run PhotoScripter 1.0 you need a Power Macintosh, with Mac OS
System 7.5.5 or later and Photoshop 5.0 or later.
Pricing and Availability
PhotoScripter 1.0 is available today for purchase directly from the
Main Event Web site at (http://www.mainevent.com/) for $299 per
single-artist license. Quantity discounts are also available for
multiple single-artist licenses. Educational discounts of 25% are
offered.
Production machine licenses for any machine with up to 10 artists
submitting images to it for production are available at a special
introductory price of $899 each (regularly $999). Licenses to
accommodate more than 10 artists per production machine are easily
arranged directly through Main Event. Special introductory pricing
for production machine licenses remains in effect through January 3,
1999. Reseller, OEM and developer license pricing have not yet been
determined.
About Main Event Software
Located in Washington, D.C., Main Event is the leading developer and
publisher of tools for authoring and deploying AppleScript. Best
known for its award-winning Scripter authoring, development and
debugging environment, Main Event also publishes the PhotoScripter
plug-in for Photoshop, the high-speed Rosanne Data Processing
Package, and the ScriptBase database for AppleScript. Further
information on Main Event may be obtained by calling 202/298-9595,
accessing Main Event’s Web site at (http://www.mainevent.com/), or
sending mailto:info@mainevent.com.