AI Notice

This tool has been made possible through the help of AI Bundy, aka Claude. I know some people, maybe rightly, have objections to AI and I'm not here to defend it, just to simply inform you that AI was used in the making of Imagery. It simply would not exist otherwise.

Over the years I have built up all of the ideas, requirements and features I wanted in a graphics application, but not found the time or enthusiasm to make it happen. So I thought I'd partner up with AI to see what we could do. And so Imagery is born.

A bit of background

I have had a desire to make my own graphics tool for a long time, I think.

Perhaps back when I saw Degas Elite on the ST and Deluxe Paint on the Amiga and PC. Or perhaps earlier when I customised a listing on my Vic 20 to redefine the character set into little 8x8 and 16x16 pixelated graphics. Or perhaps going back even earlier that that, long before I had a computer when I remember doodling space invaders on graph paper. 

Hmmm, no, writing it down on this page I don't think I have had the desire to make my own graphics tool. It would be more accurate to say I have always had the desire to make graphics on a computer and have been looking for the perfect tool to do it with. Many tools have come close, but I've not found one that did everything I wanted all in one place.

Spriter

My first attempt at making my own graphics tool was in the mid-2000's. I called it Spriter. Written in Clickteam's Jamagic I showed it around a few places but never got to finish it. I even made a version of it for the PocketPC which was a dream with the pen. But I seemed to always become distracted with my next game project, so Spriter didn't go anywhere and sat lingering on my harddisk. 

Besides, at the time I was able to do many things I wanted with Photoshop and working on Spriter got pushed to the back of the queue. I opened it every so often with the intention to finally finish and release it. I never did. Then someone else made a graphics app called Spriter, so that was that.

Photoshop

I’ve been a happy Photoshop user since I first encountered version 3 on a Macintosh IIci at a training company I worked for in the mid-’90s. I bought my own copy with version 6 a few years later and upgraded over the years to CS5, before the subscription-only model came along.

It wasn't the perfect tool, but as DPaint on the PC faded away with the rise of Windows, I found a home with Photoshop. I understood it, knew my way around it, and could make what I wanted with it.

I continued to be a happy Photoshop user, moving my licence to a new computer every now and then. Until last year.

Disaster!

Photoshop CS5 requires online activation. Over the years I have migrated it from one PC to the next without much hassle. Recently, I attempted to do this again, only this time an error occurred when I tried to deactivate my licence on the old computer, leaving me unable to install it on the new one. Contacting Adobe support proved fruitless. They wouldn’t help, other than offering a discount on a subscription for a couple of months. I was on my own and not a happy camper to say the least.

(Temporary) Redemption

A while later I found an old computer of mine that still booted, with my second Photoshop licence installed. Adobe had allowed a licence to be registered on two computers and thankfully this saved the day. I was able to successfully deactivate that copy and finally get Photoshop CS5 back on my new computer.

However, I knew by then that my Photoshop was on borrowed time. 

With all the stars coming into alignment, I knew now was the time to have another go at making my ideal graphics tool. And that my dear readers, along with some help from AI, is how Imagery came to be.