Imaja Bliss Paint 2 Innovative Live Performance and Video Animation System for Mac OS 9

Feature List

Bliss Paint 2 has a very wide range of features, focusing primarily on live interactive performance and animation/video production.

2.0 January 1, 1999
Final 2.0 release.

2.0 Feb. 24, 1999
Fixed Tunnel In scribbler bug.

2.0 Feb 25, 1999 - March 21, 1999 (not released)
Fixed some problems with Absolute Timing editing. Optimized some scribblers. Fixed Spiral Dots. Fixed Randomize Controls button for floating point value controls. Added Realtime Recording of Shift and Option number keycaps for Color Synth Settings, and Shift Alpha keys for Color events. Worked on Waves of Bliss scribbler updates/optimizations. Fixed Vanishing Point scribbler. Added variation to Threads. Worked on Picture scribbler bug with GWorld stuff, seems to work better. Added parameters to Color Synth: Sound Waveform.

2.0.1 4/26/99 (released)

2.0.1 4/26/99 (not released)
Fixed bug in Triangle Shard angle controls.

2.0.2 6/9/99 (not released)
Triple-click in text now selects all. Added blind typing commands SEQ A-Z and SEQ SEQNAME to select and play sequences in the Catalog window. Added support for Navigation services throughout. Fixed bug in Mask Edit button. Created Fat (PPC & 68K) versions for PowerPC Macs and older 68K-based Macs. Added support for many new image file formats using the QuickTime Graphics Importer. Drag and drop images from Finder into the Paint window to display them. Drag and drop images from Finder to the Sequence window to create PICT File events which will load the PICT files when you run the sequence. The Sequence file should be stored in the same folder as the PICT files. Catalog window can be loaded with multiple folders of Quicktime movies. These can be played in the Paint window if the monitor is set to Thousands or Millions of colors. Added MIDI Echo in Configure MIDI dialog in Extras menu. This sends any incoming MIDI packets back out. Added Start Angle to Controlled Distributor. Fixed bug so QuickTime movies can be created at 29.97 fps (before they were rounded to 30 fps).

01/11/12: updated text editing to support Option arrow move to next word and Option-Shift arrow selection.

02/05/04: Enhanced Catalog interface for quick selection of animations. Catalog and and Synth Settings files are automatically loaded on Bliss Paint startup, returning the user to their previous working state.

02/08/19: 2.1.1: Fixed bug in 2.1 where Manual did not load fully. Reverted to old CodeWarrior project file BlissProjects.mcp. Removed debug code for DrawSprocket. Added Switch to 256 Colors on Startup to Bliss Paint Preferences. Masks were not loading properly. -43 Errors on loading modules.

2002/11/6: 2.2: Fixed bug with Random Scribbler not updating controls to new random scribbler. Added Auto-Randomize Controls for object controls. Added new Blind Typing commands to trigger sequences in Catalog window, documented in manual. Expanded documentation on Catalog window features.

2002/11/27: 2.3:
Added new blind typing command to select transition styles. i.e. TRANSTYLE WIPE UP. Transitions are named in the Transition Style menu.
New blind typing command: example: BPM 65 (set the internal Bliss metronome to 65 beats per minute, which is useful with the Beat Fall color synthesizer waveform).
Added new blind typing command to create, name, delete and select buffers. Buffers are snapshots of the pixels of the current Paint window contents. See Blind Typing and Buffers in the manual.
When a sequence is stopped, the color synthesizer keeps running.
Command-Period or Command-T will stop any scribbler from moving, but the color synthesizer keeps running.
Updated Master Color Library of Color Synthesizer Settings with bug fixes.

2003/2/11: 2.3.1
Fixed bug in Authorization code not being converted to caps.

2003/3/5: 2.3.2
Changed behavior of color table animation activation by changing internal startup code and bringing Color Synth and Paint window to the front upon startup. Quicktime movie playback is fastest on PowerBook G3 S-Video output if it is set to Thousands of colors, Overscan and Best for Video in the Control Strip.

2003/3/27: 2.3.3
Added Stop Scribbler (Command-H) command to stop the drawing of a scribbler without changing the window states, useful for interactive blind-typing commands during full screen operation on a one monitor system.

2003/04/02: 2.3.4
Added Large/Medium/Small Thumbnails commands in the Catalog window Cmd menu.
Added Replay Last Random Scrib/Distrib (Command-Shift-D) in Edit menu. This runs the last actual scribbler and distributor that were picked when Random Scribbler and Random Distributor were run. This lets one repeat the last random combination as desired.
Added Command-Shift-Y keyboard shortcut for Use Sound Input command.
Fixed bug in Sequence Tracking causing crashes after or during some scribbler events.
Made changes to Random Distributor code to try to stop crashes. Better behavior.

2003/08/15: 2.3.5
Added blind typing commands for masks and color synthesizers.

Syntax:

  COLORSYNTH name
  or 
  COLORSYNTH a..z
  or 
  COLORSYNTH RANDOM

  MASK name
  or 
  MASK a..z
  or 
  MASK RANDOM

2003/09/10: 2.4
Added timing information events in text import and export formats. See Text Import and Export. This should make it more interesting for users who want to generate or modify Bliss Paint sequences using their own software. Any language that can do text processing is applicable, such as C, Pascal, Java, Javascript, Perl, Python, PHP, etc.

2006-04-16: 2.4.1
* Removed challenge/authorization code process, now requiring the user to personalize the software upon first running it on a machine. Each copy of the software is individually serialized with a number.
* Fixed behavior of Switch to 256 Colors on Startup preference in Preferences dialog. Now Bliss Paint can properly startup into Millions or Thousands of Colors mode of the Monitor, useful for creating paintings/animations in that mode instead of 256-color palette animation mode. This is useful where users might want to run Bliss Paint in Mac OS X which does not support palette animation, a feature of Mac OS 9 generation machines.