Macromedia xRes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Macromedia xRes | |
|---|---|
 |
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 Macromedia xRes 2 running on Mac OS 9.2.2 |
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| Developed by | Macromedia |
| Latest release | 3.0 / 1997 |
| OS | Mac OS, Windows |
| Genre | Raster Graphics Editor |
| Website | Official Website Closed or Unavailable. |
xRes was an image editing application launched by Macromedia. It allowed for a real time preview of work, and its tools were deemed better than the competing version of Adobe Photoshop. It also introduced the concept of layers, a new way of moving and overlapping objects within an image. It was available for older versions of Mac OS and Windows.
The main feature promoted by Macromedia was the ability of xRes to process files much larger than could be handled in memory (called 'xRes Mode'). It accomplished this by performing user interactions on temporary copies of the original file at the resolution and region of the image that was being displayed on the user's screen. This resulted in only a fraction of the memory use and faster interaction. The biggest downside to this approach was that once all editing was done, the user's edits needed to be applied to the original high resolution file, which could take some time to process.
xRes continued until version 3.0, when the project was cancelled. It couldn't sustainably compete with the newer versions of Photoshop. Macromedia required a faster release cycle, and it would have taken too much time to develop it to the stage where it could compete. At this point, three of the main programmers left the company. Once they were replaced, Macromedia's focus had changed so much that xRes was discontinued.
xRes can still be seen in an effective cut down version: Macromedia Fireworks, which was released later designed specifically for web graphics.
