This section provides a quick overview of MD+F SX Paint's features and tools.  From the first day, SX Paint was created to be an open, multi-platform Painting and Special Effects tool and this section emphasizes these design features while giving a very basic overview if the program.  This is one of the very few chapters in this manual which you read to learn about SX Paint without having purchased and installed it. 

Image Viewing Capability 

SX Paint is capable of handling images with 1 to 48 bits and provides complete viewing and editing capability for Alpha (transparency) channels.  You can use any tool provided by SX Paint to draw shapes or modify transparency.  The following image represents this.  Here, an irregular selection on the left, painted a ramp gradient into it and then the Text tool was used to draw an invisible T into it.  On the right, a Blue Rectangle was drawn at 100% opacity and then another rectangle was drawn into it at 0% opacity.  The snakes were cut and brought into the picture (as a layer) and then a second layer consisting of the Blue background was overlayed on top of it, clipping the edges of the snake's picture.  The image was finally flattened. 

Layers 

SX Paint supports layers with individual location, Opacity, and Merge mode settings for each layer.  With layers, putting together and modifying complex images or composing patterns takes a fraction of the time it used to.  (Sample layered SXO image - waves.zip) 

Image handling 

Whenever SX Paint displays a picture to you, whether it be a full sized image in an Editor Window or a small "icon" of it, you have the option to create additional views into it or drag-and-drop it (link or copy).  For example, althou layers of an image can be painted on directly, in the following picture, they are opened and in their own Editor Windows.  They can now be change as layers or as full sized images and SX Paint will automatically update all views into them. 

In addition all images, pattern, or layers can be linked to Special effects dialogs and updated automatically.  For a very complex example, download and resurrect this collapsed environment: sol.zip. 

SX Paint provides a complete set of shapes (with Anti-aliasing), 

synthesized textures, 

retouching tools, 

merge options (17 of them), 

and alpha paint options. 

Filters & Special Effects 

SX Paint provides a comprehensive set of image processing filters and special effects.  All effects provided by SX Paint can be used individually, linked together visually, or programmed using SX Paint's scripting language. 

 
 
Pattern Generator

SX Paint's Pattern generator creates 20 (and soon more) interesting background patterns for you to use on your webpages or in your paintings.  Below are four of the patterns.  Most are completely seamless and tilable.  One of the patterns (Sine wave) was also used in the creation of the three-layered sine wave image previously shown in this document. (Second picture from top of document)

 
GIF Animator, Image tiler, Imagemap writer, Download Frame-rate tester

SX Paint includes the complete MD+F WebAK!  It includes the ability to load, edit, and save GIF animations. (and unlike most other GIF animators, it can handle GIF animations with hundreds of frames)  The GIF Animator supports transparency, all GIF animation disposal formats, commenting (private or public) and like every other tool provided by SX Paint it is fully drag-and-drop enabled.  It's Image Tiler assists you in creating seamless images for use as Web page backgrounds.  The Imagemap writer lets you load images and create HTML code (client or server) for imagemaps and is probably much easier to use than one would expect such a tool to be.  And the Download Frame-rate tester helps you ensure the images you create will download fast enough to display properly by visitors to your site.

Directory Browser 

Included with SX Paint is a special bonus:  One of Modular Dream's MD+F Marauder 3 browsers.  This directory browser was designed for viewing large number images and can make locating images -or looking them over and deleting unwanted images- a simple task.

C++ Style Scripting

If you like simple the ability to write simple scripts or if you are a programmer and would like more advanced features such as object creation and deletion, variables, conditional statements, loops, and a generous number of SX tools coded classes, then the SX Paint C++ Style interpreter has plenty to offer. With it, you  can automate most tasks and create GIF animations or other picture creations which would be all but impossible to do otherwise.

Collapse and Resurrect

The ability to Collapse and Resurrect environments is probably one of SX Paint's best features.  Located at http://www.modulardreams.com/sx is a large image of a SX Paint program running.  Imagine if that program was running on your machine and you liked to save the whole thing and continue with it some other day.  Or send the whole thing to someone else.  With SX Paint, you would need to collapse the environment, send the file to whomever you wish, and ask them to simply resurrect the file.  They'll get your windows, the images in them, the layers, selections, effect dialogs, animations, and any links made between the objects.  It's that easy and that powerful! (sx2sxo.zip contains the environment shown on that page)