“How can you know where you are going if you don’t know where you've been?”
It’s here, it’s nice, you like
it, I like it, but where did it come from?
Chasys Draw is a project that I started back in 2001, mostly as a hobby than anything else. Back then I was still a bit green as a programmer, and as my knowledge grew,
so did the project, which has since grown and matured over time to what it is today.
Outlined below are some key stages in its development. If you are interested in the specifics, please take a look at the changelog.
Chasys Draw IES started off in November 2001 as a simple bitmap editor done in VisualBASIC. In May of 2002, the graphics code was moved to a new GDI-based graphics engine called
JpDRAW/GDI and the resulting application was called Chasys Draw DTFx (direct tool effects).
In 2003, the entire codebase was migrated to C/C++ and a new low-level graphics engine named JpDRAW2 replaced the GDI-based JpDRAW.
The application was renamed to Chasys Draw Artist and it included its own native format, CD5 v1 (a.k.a Trendies due to the use of pattern detection).
None of these version were ever released publicly.
The first public release was done in April 2004 (Chasys Draw Artist 1.27). In December 2005, Chasys Draw Artist 1.63 introduced alpha channels, anti-aliasing and CD5 v2.
This version also won an IEEE award in ICT (Kenyan chapter). Chasys Draw Artist 1.80, released in 2006, debuted the Chazy Glass user interface, and Chasys Draw Artist 2.01, released in 2007,
introduced multithreading, photo-editing features and included an image browser and an image converter.
In January 2008, Chasys Draw Artist 2.42 introduced plug-in support with a public SDK, artistic text with anti-aliasing and precision tiled printing.
The internal structure was totally overhauled, leading to the first “IES” (Image Editing Suite) versions in September 2008 – Chasys Draw IES 2.50~2.52.
Chasys Draw IES introduced Layers, a new streamable tag-based container-style file format named CD5 v3, animation and multi-resolution editing modes, and an unlimited undo feature.
In 2009, a fully anti-aliased work-flow model, a Photoshop PSD read plug-in, support for 8BF plug-ins, support for camera RAW photos, custom & animated brushes and a multi-method palette were added.
In February 2010, multiple layer attachments were added and in June 2010, Pen and Tablet support for all WinTAB devices including Wacom was added. AQuE (Anti-Quantization Engine) was also developed
around the same time.
On its 9th anniversary (November 2010), Chasys Draw IES was rebuilt as a UNICODE application and multiple language support was added. In 2011, features such as
TextArt “G4”, Brush Engine 2.4, FastExternals 2.41, AQuE 2.0 and Power Management were added. In 2012, support for Paint.NET PDN files was added and Brush Engine got vectoring and a repeat timer.
FastExternals was upgraded to version 3.01 with non-admin configuration and TextArt was upgraded to version 1.5. The option to install to USB was also added. In 2013, Chasys Draw IES got an Automation Engine
with Scripting and the concept of global alpha (Layer Transparency) was introduced. Image Stacking was also improved.
Over the following years, other features were added and existing ones upgraded, including the addition of Object Animation image-mode with Timeline Animation in May of 2016.
A major revision was done in the year 2020, including a new user interface and design language, and major rewrites of the codebase.
Please consult the changelog below for full details.
Changelog
Chasys Draw IES 5.32.01 (10 Oct 2024):
Quality Rollup for Q2 focusing on ease of use
Updated crop and set canvas logic with more intuitive UI
COPYRIGHT NOTICE:
You are hereby allowed to
copy the text on this (and only this) page for the purpose of describing
this software product, as long as the work is not derogatory and indicates that this is the
property and work of John Paul Chacha.
