QFX

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QFX could also refer to QFX Radio, for other uses, see QFX (disambiguation).

QFX is an image editing computer program, developed by Ron Scott a Texan photographer and software engineer. The first version was released in 1990. At the time of its release, QFX was one of the most feature-rich image editing applications available on the PC platform (MS DOS, later Windows). It was the software of choice for digital artists and image postproduction studios in the times when 1024x768 truecolor graphics were a luxury, far before Photoshop could have been considered a serious professional tool. Its clean interface and clever workflow helped build a devoted fan/user base, some of whom continue using it, despite QFXs being long ago eclipsed in features and users by Photoshop.

[edit] History

The first version of QFX was released around 1990. It ran on PCs equipped with AT Vista graphics cards, which were high end hardware costing as much as $10,000, allowing to work with, in that time amazing, 16 million colors at 1024x768 resolution.

Early versions of QFX had no brushes; the program was used for image processing and color correction, rather than image creation, providing basic filters (blur, noise, glow etc.). In 1991 the new version called Hires QFX priced around 3500 USD, provided additional features including brushes and expanded support for large image files. In that time the alternatives for professional digital image editing were over-200k-and-more-USD dedicated workstations like Quantel's Paintbox, Crossfield or Barco Creator software running on expensive SGI Power series multiprocessor boxes.

The boom of DTP and the rapid advances in PC hardware in the mid 1990s changed the market for graphics software. Photoshop, windows oriented, less technical and cheaper solution for anybody proved to be a winning approach. QFX continued adding new features including a windows-based interface and CMYK handling, but was unable to compete with the lower-priced and increasingly feature-rich Photoshop.

QFX were also a well known Scottish dance back in the late 80's and early 90's and are still touring at the present.

[edit] Today

QFX is little known today, particularly due to a lack of marketing. It has a set features comparable to the mainstream applications. Its strong point is the combination of vectorial and raster approach to image editing. It allows resolution independent compositing of raster layers embedded in vectorial objects. These can be modified without resampling until the last moment. It features high quality RGB to CMYK conversion. Another noteworthy features are alpha channel based filters, using alpha as value-driving information rather than just as an opacity value.