mgsgta3, Hi. You erase by drawing with the secondary color. ie, paint with the left mouse button and erase with the right mouse button or tablet eraser.

DJ, The Photographic category of filters includes 12 filters specially related to film processes or camera lens systems, such as fisheye lens, or simulation of 2 color film processes. That's not to say there are no image processing filters that can be used for photography. There are still about 100 filters available.

Stewart Wallace, Hi. If you have multiple versions of Howler installed, you will have to run them both/all as administrator. It's a limitation of COM in Windows, since we are an "active x server application" like Office. Basically servers self register so that all the COM stuff is managed automatically, and that is normally done on install, but if more than one application is installed, they self register each time, and that requires administration rights.

Dan Ritchie,
Thanks for explanation.

L. Cleveland Major,

"If you are expecting a full version in a giveaway, you are not going to get it in most cases for any program."

True, but there's always open source, in this case Krita. krita[.]org
Or you can buy it for $10 in win10's store or on Steam.

That's not saying anything good or bad about Howler -- just an alternative or compliment for your toolkit.

mike,
My first version was way back in 2009. At that time the free version was just called Project Dogwaffle. There were more advanced version already available, but as I was just getting started, I chose to just get the free one. Even that old version was impressive to me, and I was able to do a lot with it. I even repair damaged photos by scanning them with my copier into my computer, opening that in Project Dogwaffle, and using the tools in the program to do the work. When I printed the result out, the people i did it for liked what I gave them a lot. It was much easier to use than Photoshop or Gimp, even back then.

The thing is, at that time, the free version was all that I needed for my skill level, and I worked with it within the limits it had. As I said, I never had any complaints; either of my own or from others I did my work for from using the program. Because of this, I am a lifetime fan!

TK,
Thank you for clearing that up. I was just speaking from my own experience.

That said, there is the one thing that nearly all the software offered here has in common, which is in the readme packaged in every zip I have downloaded via Giveaway of the Day. I quote this from the readme itself:
"Please note that the software you download and install
during the Giveaway period comes with the following important limitations:
1) No free technical support
2) No free upgrades to future versions
3) Strictly non-commercial usage"

This to me means that there are restrictions not placed on a paid full version. I take this as meaning if you wish to have all of those things with your full version, you must buy it.

Furthermore, many of the downloads I have acquired here at GAOTD have an extra addition that is a restriction within itself; some type of builtin feature that does something to the work one uses it for that prevents certain things from being possible which are possible in the paid version. I have found this to be a common practice for many producers of software that they give away for free. This is what I call the trial version, which lets you try the software, but will not allow certain things to be done with what you create or produce using it. To get rid of that feature, it is recommended that you buy the program.

One more thing to consider as well is that even if you get the full version of a program here, the serial number, or activation key is designed to let them know that your version was acquired for free. This lets them know who is not entitled to the things they restrict. I have no problem with this, as I understand that to have full access to everything, they need you to buy that right. After all, they are in business to make money.

Now I do not download every give away offered on this site. If I did, my computer's hard drive would have been filled up long ago. So I only choose what is relevant to what I use my computer for.

I have received some replies from this site telling me If I do not wish to receive emails from GOATD, I should unsubscribe. Not sure who it was that posted that message, as the message would already have been removed by the time I get to the site to post a reply, but I do find it a bit rude. I feel like someone is not understanding the context of my statements that I post here. Perhaps they read it wrong, or they get triggered before they read the entire comment. At any rate, I try not to let it bother me, but sometimes it does; especially if I feel strongly about something I'm commenting on.

If I am offending anybody with the way I word my comments, please know that it has to do with the way my mind works. It is never meant to be offensive, as I have the utmost respect for everybody here.

TK, I have set my machines up with very reliable malware protection software, and cleaners. Those back doors you are mentioning have yet to present any problems for me. The Project Dogwaffle applications have been invaluable in my artist's toolbox, and while you choose not to keep it, which is your right, I do not wish to give up something so valuable to my workflow. I run my protection software often, and the reports for over 7 years have for the most part been favorable, and anything that was found was easily cleaned from my systems. This works for me quite well. To be clear about the malware problem, I am a very cautious person, have done extensive research to find the best protection I can get for my machines, and installing those I choose. I put each of them to their best uses. I have learned that what one does not find, one of the others will, and I have made sure that none of my protection software sees any other as malware. There are competing malware protection software developers that will program theirs to see competitors' as exactly that! I'm sure you know this, though. I do not nor will I ever deal with such developers. What I have works well together, and that's the way I endeavor to keep it. With some of that software comes a warning system, that will let me know if something looks too risky.

Now to the issue of the backdoor you mentioned in Project Dogwaffle's various software apps. I read your reply to Dan Ritchie, in which you mentioned that the other day. I think this is something you should have posted in the suggestions part of GAOTD, where they ask "How would you improve the software?". It is how GAOTD allows the participants to record their suggestions, so that that record is available to the software developer on a more permanent basis. I would hope that you did this, because your comments are the only ones I've seen that even mentions it. As I am a big supporter of the software that The Best 3D develops, it is in my best interest and theirs to see that they are able to improve in every way they can.

Cheers!

Rune, HI. Sometimes you might have to install the WinTab drivers. It's an age old battle between wacom and microsoft.

Rune,
I actually prefer to use a mouse and actual keyboard for the art and editing I do with PD Howler. Yes I am an artist. As such, I always strive to learn the methods put before me by the programs I choose to use. Understand that the programs are only your tools. You must provide your own imagination and skill. For the skill, you must build that up, and the best way to do that is through practice. There are tutorials to help you get started with the better programs, and I should say this is one of the better programs.

Check the system requirements for this one, and see if there are instructions on how to get it to work correctly with your Tablet.

Quick note RE: the driver pack I think Dan is talking about -- it's for their Surface line of tablets at microsoft[.]com

Hi again. Sometimes it's just a matter of making sure that tablet sensitivity hasn't been toggled off, as it can be turned on and off. It's the fith icon across the top toolbar.

Rune, Hi again. If you are on a machine that uses the Microsoft drivers such as the Surface, the wintab drivers appear to be optional (Microsoft and Waccom are competitors, so they don't include them by default, I guess)
It's not just us who are effected, but any program that uses the Wintab interface and not the MS one.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49498

L. Cleveland Major, I think it is just Howler's implementation.

Back in the day I did everything with a mouse. I finally tried a tablet and my production went up 400%! I have a friend who is doing animation the hard way - paper and then cels. He doesn't get a lot done.

Rune,
I understand what you are saying, and I agree that a 400% production increase is quite good. That said, I know that most tablets are limited as far as graphic resources are concerned. Perhaps you have one of the better ones, but it still cannot compare to the power of a Gaming Computer with a dedicated Graphics Card such as an nVidea. The power of a device to do what you want is key to your success.

Still you should stick to what works best for you. None of us work in the same way; each having our own methodology. I wish you well in all of your endeavors.

urkim99,
Are you saying you already have a paid version? If so, why did you download this Lite version? Does the word 'Lite' not tell you that it does not have all that a full version would have?

Every version of Project Dogwaffle I have ever had, whether free or paid, I have had no complaints. I used them within their limits, not expecting anything they could not do to magically work.

Sorry if this seems a bit harsh, but I am only suggesting that you give this program a chance within its own limits. You cannot seriously expect it to do what a full version can do.

No, I do not mean to browbeat you, so please don't take it that way. I only mean to get you to think about the potential of the program, even though it does not do what a full version can.

If you do not have a full version and you want one, I suggest you go to their site and buy one. They even have earlier full versions available, and by my own experience with them, they will work with you to help you get as good a version as you can afford. I got my current version back in February of this year, and am about to get a free upgrade for it which has recently been released. They are really some very nice people.

In closing I'll say, PD Howler in my opinion is far better than Photoshop or Gimp, which are way more complicated, and it can do some things that those others cannot. As for Photoshop, I cannot see paying a monthly fee for the right to use it. At least with Howler, you do not have to do that.

urkim99, Hi. Sorry you did not find it useful. Howler is a paint and animation program that has been in development for a long time and contains over a million lines of code. It can be really slanted toward visual effects work, and many people will not understand a lot of it, but it is also a capable art tool. As mentioned above, nobody can give away their full software that they make a living on for free. What I did do was try to remove only what what very specific to visual effects work such as batch processing and exposure sheets. 1 in a million people are ever going to need those. I did keep the ability to animate filters, either directly, or through a timeline, and save as AVI. AVI's can contain other formats such as MP4 with the right codecs installed. I kept all the drawing tools intact, and only reduced drawing medias by 30% to save disc space, as the full program is over 500 megs and not everybody wants to fill up their hard drive. I did not take out the best stuff. The fact is, I have to keep the best stuff in, in order to give users enough to entice them to look at the full version. Removing the best stuff would be counter to that.

Dan Ritchie, Hi again. I did remove plugins, but this was not to remove great features. At this point in development, most of our plugins have been internalized, and the plugins and scripting that are there were mostly for developers. Since this program was not aimed at studios with software pipelines, those features were removed.

TK, Hi. Yes, we have been on the market for 20 years, and because of that, we made/make use of Visual Basic. At the time, it was THE tool to use to develop programs for Windows. We also use Visual Studio C++ up through 2018, as you can tell by the C++ runtimes during installation. Like any program that's been developed continually for 20 years, there is some legacy, and we are continually rewriting the program up to the current day with modern methods including GPU and multi-threading support, object oriented programming and SSE acceleration. We chose SS2 as the base level, because most people will be using it.. We are not an app in the sense that we do not use MS's newer cell phone based API. We are a desktop program.

Hi Urkim 99, but almost everything you said is just not true. We do not support Windows XP or Vista. Windows 7 and higher is required. We make extensive use of Visual C++, c++ amp, and make extensive use of modern programming practices in addition to supporting legacy code. We're not in a rush to port hundreds of thousands of lines of code to something entirely new just to say we did it. APIs come and go on a regular basis. Windows Forms, WPF, and etc, have all come and gone, but we continue to use what makes sense. Again, I'm sorry you did not find it useful. 20 years ago, we set out to write a program that would help people get their films made, and we've worked hard and put our money where our mouth is over those years.

TK, The program was scanned before and after with Virus Total with a clean result, .t is a requirement of their product packaging rules.

Dan Ritchie,

Something doesn't add up here. Before and after what?