Speaking of sprite engine

[Patrice Terrier]

And instead of going to the doctor you also make your own medicine.

The plomber was just an example...

To say the truth, my main customers are elsewhere than this community, but since GDImage is written in PowerBASIC i am also posting here.

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[Gary Beene]

I'd like to weigh in on this discussion.

I write and release mostly freeware applications. Especially now that I've retired my budget for purchasing programming tools is only a few hundred $$ per year. I could squeeze it a bit higher, but what I buy would have to have usage in a lot of applications for me to consider the wrath of Mrs. Beene.

I'd love to have the graphic capabilities Patrice offers but it simlpy won't happen with my budget. So, I'm just not part of Patrice's target user group. That's his call, my loss. I'm ok with that.

If Patrice were to offer a ~$100 something or other, then I'd seriously consider being a customer - but would it be a tool that could span a lot of application needs? Depends on my interests, I guess, but I suspect a 15% subset of his library wouldn't be as attractive.

In the meantime I'm at the place Chris talks about - having to write my own, find something freeware/open source/low cost, or do without.

The sprite engine doesn't seem to be an example of a broad use tool - but at a low enough price even a freeware author will pay to avoid writing something himself.

[Brice Manuel]

Windows 7 DWM will be DirectX10 based.

Yes, DWM will use DX10 on 7, at least on paper. Unfortunately, most 7 machines will still be using DX9 for DWM via 10Level9 due to hardware limitations. Some low end machines may not even be able to use DX9 and may get stuck with WARP for software emulation.

Your demos do work very well on 7 and I think GDImage is a powerful product.

Then you have another job to earn your living

I'm a disabled vet, I don't work anymore

[Chris Boss]

Patrice,

For a person like me I would not hire a plumber for $600 to $800 (US) for a days work. Thats a very large investment of money for someone like me, so I would simply do it myself (I have done all my own plumbing, electric on my house).

I recently needed to install a timing chain on my 96 Saturn. That would be a $600 job for labor alone. I did it myself.

The point being, just because a tradesman may charge as much for a days work as it costs for GDImage, does not make it practical for many people. People can only afford what they can afford. For those who can't afford something, they either do without or they find a way to do it themselves.

Like I said, if one is programming professionally and their needs dictate a high end graphic tool, then GDImage is well worth the price.

There are though a lot more hobby programmers using Powerbasic than you may think. Also there are likely a lot of programmers who do commercial work, but their budgets are very tight. If high end graphics is at the bottom of their wish list, then GDImage would likely not be something on the top of their purchase list. It all depends upon need.

This does not mean that you should lower the price for GDImage though.

It is simply a matter of knowing what your target market is and pricing accordingly. If your market is professional programmers who develop graphic intensive software, then the price is fine. If your market is all programmers, including hobby programmers, professionals on a budget with a low need for graphics, etc. then you may want to rethink your pricing or maybe offer a lower end Standard version with less features for them at a lower price.

[Patrice Terrier]

Windows 7 DWM will be DirectX10 based.

Currently it is being used by WPF.

Since VISTA, GDI is redirected to DirectX surfaces.

since I only develop Freeware products.

Then you have another job to earn your living

One of the professional development plateform i am using is being sold ... € 1650 + VAT 19,6, and € 990 + VAT 19.6 in competitive exchange, and even at this price some guys are using it to write ... freewares

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[Brice Manuel]

DirectX10 Desktop Window Manager

Vista and 7 both use DirectX 9 (and Shader Model 2) for DWM, NOT DirectX 10.

The regulare price is €450, it is not my fault if the value of the $ has decreased so much in front of the Euro currency.

This only makes sense if you were limited selling only to countries which use the Euro. Even with a straight conversion, $450 is too much for me to consider since I only develop Freeware products.

[Patrice Terrier]

Chris,

Now it is a bit pricy ($695 from what I see on the web site),

The regulare price is €450, it is not my fault if the value of the $ has decreased so much in front of the Euro currency.

Now about the price, i am just curious how much you would charge for one single programming day.

Here if you ask a plomber to do some work in your house, he will charge you € 75 per hour + VAT (19.6), that means € 600 for height hours work.

Don't you think that GDImage is worth the price of one day's work of a plomber.

There is realy something wrong, if you can't invest one plomber's day work in something that tooks years to create, and that will save you weeks or even monthes of work.

Now i have a question for you, if you give anything for free, how are you doing to earn your living?

I didn't know that addon programming was a charity business.

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[Patrice Terrier]

Using a layered window, and drawing directly onto the Window Desktop Manager with variable opacity are two different things!

Attached is a GDImage project running in full composited mode on Windows VISTA using variable opacity, and drawing directly onto DWM.

THIS CAN'T BE DONE WITH a graphic container or sprite engine based on GDI nor with GDIPLUS alone.
The only standard transparent mode supported in Windows VISTA is the "blur mode", while GDImage supports also the "crystal mode" with custom color and multiple variable oppacity settings.

Very important:
You must try this demo on VISTA with the AERO mode being enabled.
and select either the "Crystal mode" or the "Blur mode" to see what could only be done with GDImage

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[Patrice Terrier]

If you are serious about graphic programming, and need a performing sprite engine, then it is already there.

The GDImage's sprite engine works not only on XP, but also in full composited mode on VISTA and Windows 7, because it has been designed to be compatible with the DirectX10 Desktop Window Manager.

Note: The standard GDI graphic controls do not work, as soon as you want to draw them on a crystal or blured AERO section (very handy to create amazing effects using overlapped windows).

I have attached to this thread a new version of the DashBoard project.
Each component is made of several child sprites, performing real time animation. You can dragg them with the mouse, or move them using the keyboard arrows.

In GDImage everything can be a sprite: text, raster image, and vectorial graphics.

Why wait for the past, when the future is already there

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