Distributed Evolutionary Algorithms in Python (DEAP) is an evolutionary computation framework for rapid prototyping and testing of ideas. It incorporates the data structures and tools required to implement most common evolutionary computation techniques such as genetic algorithm, genetic programming, evolution strategies, particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, traffic flow and estimation of distribution algorithm. It is developed at Université Laval since 2009. == Example == The following code gives a quick overview how the Onemax problem optimization with genetic algorithm can be implemented with DEAP.
Visual temporal attention
Visual temporal attention is a special case of visual attention that involves directing attention to specific instant of time. Similar to its spatial counterpart visual spatial attention, these attention modules have been widely implemented in video analytics in computer vision to provide enhanced performance and human interpretable explanation of deep learning models. As visual spatial attention mechanism allows human and/or computer vision systems to focus more on semantically more substantial regions in space, visual temporal attention modules enable machine learning algorithms to emphasize more on critical video frames in video analytics tasks, such as human action recognition. In convolutional neural network-based systems, the prioritization introduced by the attention mechanism is regularly implemented as a linear weighting layer with parameters determined by labeled training data. == Application in Action Recognition == Recent video segmentation algorithms often exploits both spatial and temporal attention mechanisms. Research in human action recognition has accelerated significantly since the introduction of powerful tools such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). However, effective methods for incorporation of temporal information into CNNs are still being actively explored. Motivated by the popular recurrent attention models in natural language processing, the Attention-aware Temporal Weighted CNN (ATW CNN) is proposed in videos, which embeds a visual attention model into a temporal weighted multi-stream CNN. This attention model is implemented as temporal weighting and it effectively boosts the recognition performance of video representations. Besides, each stream in the proposed ATW CNN framework is capable of end-to-end training, with both network parameters and temporal weights optimized by stochastic gradient descent (SGD) with back-propagation. Experimental results show that the ATW CNN attention mechanism contributes substantially to the performance gains with the more discriminative snippets by focusing on more relevant video segments. == Literature == Seibold VC, Balke J and Rolke B (2023): Temporal attention. Front. Cognit. 2:1168320. doi: 10.3389/fcogn.2023.1168320.
Haskins Laboratories
Haskins Laboratories, Inc. is an independent research laboratory, founded in 1935 and located in New Haven, Connecticut since 1970. Many current Haskins researchers are affiliated with Yale University's Child Study Center and/or the University of Connecticut. Haskins is a multidisciplinary and international community of researchers who conduct basic research on spoken and written language and global literacy. A guiding perspective of their research has been to view speech and language as emerging from biological processes, including those of adaptation, response to stimuli, and conspecific interaction. Haskins Laboratories has a long history of technological and theoretical innovation, from creating systems of rules for speech synthesis and development of an early working prototype of a reading machine for the blind to developing the landmark concept of phonemic awareness as the critical preparation for learning to read an alphabetic writing system. == Research tools and facilities == Haskins Laboratories is equipped, in-house, with a comprehensive suite of tools and capabilities to advance its mission of research into language and literacy. As of 2014, these included: Anechoic chamber Electroencephalography BioSemi 264 electrode, 24 bit Active Two System EGI 128 electrode, Geodesic EEG System 300 Electromagnetic articulography (EMMA) Carstens AG501 NDI WAVE Eye tracking: HL is equipped with 3 SR Research eye-trackers. 2 Model Eyelink 1000 systems. 1 Model Eyelink 1000plus system. Magnetic resonance imaging: Haskins has access to MRI scanners through agreements with the University of Connecticut and the Yale School of Medicine. On-site, HL has a Linux computer cluster dedicated to analysis of MRI data. Motion capture: HL is equipped with a Vicon motion capture system with one Basler high-speed digital camera, six Vicon MX T-20 cameras and a Vicon MX Giganet for synching camera data and connecting cameras to the data capture computer. Near infrared spectroscopy: HL has a TechEn CW6 8x8 system (four emitters; eight detectors). Ultrasound sonogram == History == Many researchers have contributed to scientific breakthroughs at Haskins Laboratories since its founding. All of them are indebted to the pioneering work and leadership of Caryl Parker Haskins, Franklin S. Cooper, Alvin Liberman, Seymour Hutner and Luigi Provasoli. The history presented here focuses on the research program of the division of Haskins Laboratories that, since the 1940s, has been most well known for its work in the areas of speech, language, and reading. === 1930s === Caryl Haskins and Franklin S. Cooper established Haskins Laboratories in 1935. It was originally affiliated with Harvard University, MIT, and Union College in Schenectady, NY. Caryl Haskins conducted research in microbiology, radiation physics, and other fields in Cambridge, MA and Schenectady. In 1939 Haskins Laboratories moved its center to New York City. Seymour Hutner joined the staff to set up a research program in microbiology, genetics, and nutrition. The descendant of the division led by Hutner program eventually became a department of Pace University in New York. The two identically named organizations are no longer formally affiliated. === 1940s === The U. S. Office of Scientific Research and Development, under Vannevar Bush asked Haskins Laboratories to evaluate and develop technologies for assisting blinded World War II veterans. Experimental psychologist Alvin Liberman joined Haskins Laboratories to assist in developing a "sound alphabet" to represent the letters in a text for use in a reading machine for the blind. Luigi Provasoli joined Haskins Laboratories to set up a research program in marine biology. The program in marine biology moved to Yale University in 1970 and disbanded with Provasoli's retirement in 1978. === 1950s === Franklin S. Cooper invented the pattern playback, a machine that converts pictures of the acoustic patterns of speech back into sound. With this device, Alvin Liberman, Cooper, and Pierre Delattre (and later joined by Katherine Safford Harris, Leigh Lisker, Arthur Abramson, and others), discovered the acoustic cues for the perception of phonetic segments (consonants and vowels). Liberman and colleagues proposed a motor theory of speech perception to resolve the acoustic complexity: they hypothesized that we perceive speech by tapping into a biological specialization, a speech module, that contains knowledge of the acoustic consequences of articulation. Liberman, aided by Frances Ingemann and others, organized the results of the work on speech cues into a groundbreaking set of rules for speech synthesis by the Pattern Playback. === 1960s === Franklin S. Cooper and Katherine Safford Harris, working with Peter MacNeilage, were the first researchers in the U.S. to use electromyographic techniques, pioneered at the University of Tokyo, to study the neuromuscular organization of speech. Leigh Lisker and Arthur Abramson looked for simplification at the level of articulatory action in the voicing of certain contrasting consonants. They showed that many acoustic properties of voicing contrasts arise from variations in voice onset time, the relative phasing of the onset of vocal cord vibration and the end of a consonant. Their work has been widely replicated and elaborated, here and abroad, over the following decades. Donald Shankweiler and Michael Studdert-Kennedy used a dichotic listening technique (presenting different nonsense syllables simultaneously to opposite ears) to demonstrate the dissociation of phonetic (speech) and auditory (nonspeech) perception by finding that phonetic structure devoid of meaning is an integral part of language, typically processed in the left cerebral hemisphere. Liberman, Cooper, Shankweiler, and Studdert-Kennedy summarized and interpreted fifteen years of research in "Perception of the Speech Code", still among the most cited papers in the speech literature. It set the agenda for many years of research at Haskins and elsewhere by describing speech as a code in which speakers overlap (or coarticulate) segments to form syllables. Researchers at Haskins connected their first computer to a speech synthesizer designed by Haskins Laboratories' engineers. Ignatius Mattingly, with British collaborators, John N. Holmes and J.N. Shearme, adapted the Pattern playback rules to write the first computer program for synthesizing continuous speech from a phonetically spelled input. A further step toward a reading machine for the blind combined Mattingly's program with an automatic look-up procedure for converting alphabetic text into strings of phonetic symbols. === 1970s === In 1970, Haskins Laboratories moved to New Haven, Connecticut, and entered into affiliation agreements with Yale University and the University of Connecticut; Haskins remains fully independent of both Yale and UConn, administratively and financially. The lab's original location in New Haven, at 270 Crown Street (from 1970 to 2005), was leased from Yale University. Isabelle Liberman, Donald Shankweiler, and Alvin Liberman teamed up with Ignatius Mattingly to study the relationship between speech perception and reading, a topic implicit in Haskins Laboratories' research program since its inception. They developed the concept of phonemic awareness, the knowledge that would-be readers must be aware of the phonemic structure of their language in order to be able to read. Leonard Katz related the work to contemporary cognitive theory and provided expertise in experimental design and data analysis. Under the broad rubric of the "alphabetic principle", this is the core of the lab's present program of reading pedagogy. Patrick Nye joined Haskins Laboratories to lead a team working on the reading machine for the blind. The project culminated when the addition of an optical character recognizer allowed investigators to assemble the first automatic text-to-speech reading machine. By the end of the decade this technology had advanced to the point where commercial concerns assumed the task of designing and manufacturing reading machines for the blind. In 1973, Franklin S. Cooper was selected to form a panel of six experts charged with investigating the famous 18-minute gap in the White House office tapes of President Richard Nixon related to the Watergate scandal. Building on earlier work, Philip Rubin developed the sinewave synthesis program, which was then used by Robert Remez, Rubin, and colleagues to show that listeners can perceive continuous speech without traditional speech cues from a pattern of sinewaves that track the changing resonances of the vocal tract. This paved the way for a view of speech as a dynamic pattern of trajectories through articulatory-acoustic space. Philip Rubin and colleagues developed Paul Mermelstein's anatomically simplified vocal tract model, originally worked on at Bell Laboratories, into the first articulatory synthesizer that can be controlled in a phy
Corel VideoStudio
Corel VideoStudio (formerly Ulead VideoStudio) is a video editing software package for Microsoft Windows. == Features == === Basic editing === The software allows storyboard and timeline-oriented editing. Various formats are supported for source clips, and the resulting video can be exported to a video file. DVD and AVCHD DVD authoring capabilities are included, and Blu-ray authoring is available via a plug-in. VideoStudio supports direct DV and HDV capture and burning. === Overlay === Users can overlay videos, images, and text. Using the overlay track, up to 50 clips can be displayed simultaneously. It can handle videos in MOV and AVI formats, including alpha channel, and images in PSP, PSD, PNG, and GIF formats. Clips that do not contain an alpha channel can have specific colours removed from the overlay video so that the required background or image is displayed in the foreground. === Proxy video files === VideoStudio supports high-definition video. Proxy files are smaller versions of the video source that stand in for the full-resolution source during editing to improve performance. === Plug-ins/bundles === VideoStudio supports VFX-type plug-ins from providers, including NewBlue and proDAD. proDAD plug-ins Roto-Pen, Script, Vitascene, and Mercalli-Stabilizer are bundled with X4 and later Ultimate Editions. == Version history == Ulead VideoStudio 4 (1999) Ulead VideoStudio 5 (2001) Ulead VideoStudio 6 (2002) Ulead VideoStudio 7 (2003) Ulead VideoStudio 8 (2004) Ulead VideoStudio 9 (2005) Ulead VideoStudio 10 plus. (2006) Corel Ulead VideoStudio 11 plus. (2007) Corel VideoStudio Pro X2 (v12, 2008) Corel VideoStudio Pro X3 (v13, 2010) 2011: Corel VideoStudio Pro X4 (v14, 2011) Adds support for stop motion animation, time-lapse mode photography, 3D movies, and 2nd generation Intel Core. Corel VideoStudio Pro X5 (v15, March 9, 2012): Adds HTML5 export (Comparison of HTML5 and Flash). Corel VideoStudio Pro X6 (v16, April 25, 2013): Windows 8 compatible. Adds UHD 4K support. Corel VideoStudio Pro X7 (v17, March 5, 2014): Software becomes 64-bit. Corel VideoStudio Pro X8 (v18, May 8, 2015): Several improvements. Corel VideoStudio Pro X9 (v19, February 16, 2016): Windows 10 compatible. Adds H.265 support, Multi-Camera Editor, and Match moving. Corel VideoStudio Pro X10 (v20, February 15, 2017): Adds Mask Creator, Track Transparency, and 360-degree video support. Corel VideoStudio Pro 2018 (v21, February 13, 2018): Adds split screen Video, Lens Correction, and 3D Title Editor. Corel VideoStudio Pro 2019 (v22, February 12, 2019): Adds Color Grading, Morph Transitions, and MultiCam Capture Lite. Corel VideoStudio Pro 2020 (v23, February 25, 2020). Corel VideoStudio Pro 2021 (v24, March 26, 2021): Adds Instant Project Templates, AR Stickers, and performance improvements (particularly regarding hardware acceleration). Corel VideoStudio Pro 2022 (v25, March 6, 2022): Adds face effects, GIF Creator, transitions for Camera Movements, a speech to text converter, and ProRes Smart Proxy.
Verbal overshadowing
Verbal overshadowing is a phenomenon where giving a verbal description of sensory input impairs formation of memories of that input. This was first reported by Schooler and Engstler-Schooler (1990) where it was shown that the effects can be observed across multiple domains of cognition which are known to rely on non-verbal knowledge and perceptual expertise. One example of this is memory, which has been known to be influenced by language. Seminal work by Carmichael and collaborators (1932) demonstrated that when verbal labels are connected to non-verbal forms during an individual's encoding process, it could potentially bias the way those forms are reproduced. Because of this, memory performance relying on reportable aspects of memory that encode visual forms should be vulnerable to the effects of verbalization. == Initial findings == Schooler and Engstler-Schooler (1990) were the first to report findings of verbal overshadowing. In their study, participants watched a video of a simulated robbery and were instructed to either verbally describe the robber or engage in a control task. Those who engaged in giving a verbal description were less likely to correctly identify the robber from a test lineup, compared to those who engaged in the control task. A larger effect was detected when the verbal description was provided 20, rather than 5, minutes after the video, and immediately before the test lineup. A meta-analysis by Meissner and Brigham (2001) supported the effects of verbal overshadowing, showing a small but reliably negative effect. == General effects of verbal overshadowing == The effects of verbal overshadowing have been generalized across multiple domains of cognition that are known to rely on non-verbal knowledge and perceptual expertise, such as memory. Memory has been known to be influenced by language. Seminal work by Carmichael and collaborators (1932) demonstrated that labels attached to, or associated with, non-verbal forms during memory encoding can affect the way the forms were subsequently reproduced. Because of this, memory performance that relies on reportable aspects of memory that encode visual forms should be vulnerable to the effects of verbalization. Pelizzon, Brandimonte, and Luccio (2002) found that visual memory representations appear to incorporate visual, spatial, and temporal characteristics. It is explained as follows: With the temporal code (where the only information available is the sequence of the stimuli), performance levels remain high, unless participants are required to retrieve the stimuli in a different order from that used at encoding (visual cue). In this case, performance is significantly impaired, even in the presence of a visual cue. The study showed that order information acts as a link between the two separate representations of figure and background, hence preventing verbal overshadowing at encoding (temporal component) or attenuating its influence at retrieval (spatial component).(p. 960) Hatano, Ueno, Kitagami, and Kawaguchi found that verbal overshadowing is likely to occur when participants verbally described targets in detail. Detailed verbal descriptions resulted in more frequently inaccurate descriptions that in turn created inaccurate representations in the memories of participants. Inaccuracies are also likely to occur when face recognition comes immediately after verbalization. Other forms of non-verbal knowledge affected by verbal overshadowing include the following: [Verbal overshadowing] has also been observed when participants attempt to generate descriptions of other 'difficult-to-describe' stimuli such as colors (Schooler and Engstler-Schooler, 1990) or abstract figures (Brandimonte et al., 1997), or other non-visual tasks such as wine tasting (Melcher and Schooler, 1996), decision making (Wilson and Schooler, 1991), and insight problem-solving. (p. 871) (Schooler et al., 1993) Verbalization of stimuli leads to the disruption of non-reportable processes that are necessary for achieving insight solutions, which are distinct from language processes. Schooler, Ohlsson, and Brooks (1993) found that face recognition requires information that cannot be adequately verbalized, giving rise to difficulty in describing factors in recognition judgments. Subjects were less effective in solving insight problems when compelled to put their thoughts in words, which suggests that language may interfere with thought. The verbal overshadowing effect was not seen when participants engaged in articulatory suppression. Performance was reduced in both the verbal and non-verbal description conditions. This is evidence that verbal encoding plays a role in face recognition. By testing with distracting faces presented between study and test, Lloyd-Jones and Brown (2008) suggested a dual-process approach to recognition memory took place, that verbalization influenced familiarity-based processes at first, but its effects were later seen on recollection, when discrimination between items became more difficult. == Verbal overshadowing in facial recognition == The verbal overshadowing effect can be found for facial recognition because faces are predominately processed in a holistic or configurable manner. (Tanaka & Farah, 1993; Tanaka & Sengco, 1997) Verbalizing one's memory for a face is done using a featural or analytic strategy, leading to a drift from the configurable information about the face and to impaired recognition performance. However, Fallshore & Schooler (1995) found that the verbal overshadowing effect was not found when participants described faces of races different from their own. A study by Brown and Lloyd-Jones (2003) found that there was no verbal overshadowing effect found in car descriptions; it was only seen in facial descriptions. The authors noted that descriptions were no different on any measure including accuracy. It is suggested that less expertise in verbalizing faces rather than cars invokes a stronger shift in verbal and featural processing. This supports the concept of a transfer inappropriate retrieval framework and addresses some limitations of the effect. Wickham and Swift (2006) suggested that the verbal overshadowing effect is not seen in describing all faces, and one aspect that determines this is distinctiveness. Results showed that typical faces produce verbal overshadowing, while distinctive faces did not. In studies of eyewitness reports, variation in response criteria given by participants influenced the quality of the descriptions generated and accuracy on identification task, known as the retrieval-based effect. Face recognition was also impaired when subjects described a familiar face, such as a parent, or when describing a previously seen but novel face. Dodson, Johnson, and Schooler (1997) found that recognition was also impaired when participants were provided with a description of a previously seen face, and they were able to ignore provided versus self-generated descriptions more easily. This finding of verbal overshadowing suggested that eyewitness recognition is not only affected by their own descriptions, but of descriptions heard from others, such other eyewitness testimonies. == Voice recognition == The verbal overshadowing effect has also been found to affect voice identification. Research shows that describing a non-verbal stimuli leads to a decrease in recognition accuracy. In an unpublished study by Schooler, Fiore, Melcher, and Ambadar (1996), participants listened to a tape-recorded voice, after which they were asked either to verbally describe it or to not do so, and then asked to distinguish the voice from 3 similar distractor voices. The results showed that verbal overshadowing impaired accuracy of recognition based on gut feeling, suggesting an overall verbal overshadowing for voice recognition. Due to the forensic relevance of voices heard over the telephone and harassing phone calls that are often a problem for police, Perfect, Hunt, and Harris (2002) examined the influence of three factors on accuracy and confidence in voice recognition from a line-up. They expected to find an effect, because voice represents a class of stimuli that is difficult to describe verbally. This meets Schooler et al.'s (1997) modality mismatch criterion, meaning that describing the speakers age, gender, or accent is difficult, making voice recognition susceptible to the verbal overshadowing phenomenon. It was found that the method of memory encoding had no impact on performance, and that hearing a telephone voice reduced confidence but did not affect accuracy. They also found that providing a verbal description impaired accuracy but had no effect on confidence. The data showed an effect of verbal overshadowing in voice recognition and provided yet another disassociation between confidence and performance. Although there was a difference in confidence level, witnesses were able to identify voices over the telephone as accurately as voices heard direc
Genigraphics
Genigraphics is a large-format printing service bureau specializing in providing poster session services to medical and scientific conferences throughout the US and Canada. The company began in 1973 as a division of General Electric. == History == Genigraphics began as a computer graphics system, developed by General Electric in the late 1960s, for NASA to use in space flight simulation. The technologies thus developed provided a foundation for the company's expansion into the commercial market. The Computed Images System & Services division (CISS, to become Genigraphics Corporation) of GE delivered the first presentation graphics system to Amoco Oil's corporate headquarters in 1973. It was named the 100 Series, and was based on DEC's PDP 11 series of mini computer systems. The first Genigraphics systems (100 Series and 100A Series) used an array of buttons, dials, knobs and joysticks, along with a built in keyboard, as the means of user interface. The PDP-11/40 computer was housed in a tall cabinet and used random access magnetic tape drives (DECtape) for storing completed presentations. The graphics generator (Forox recorder) was capable of outputting 2,000 line resolution, suitable for 35mm and 72mm film and large sheet film positive using larger cassettes for recording. 4000 and 8000 line resolution was later achieved with duplex scanning and 4x scanning by modifying to the Forox recorder's settings menu. Subsequent models (100B,C,D,D+ and D+/GVP) replaced the knobs and dials with an on screen, text based menu system, a graphics tablet and a pen. The pen/tablet combination gave way to a mouse like device in later models, and served to provide the interface with the graphics tools. User interaction with the computer for functions such as media initialization or modem to modem data transfer required a DECwriter serial terminal. In 1982, GE divested the Genigraphics division along with a host of other "non essential" business units (Genitext, Geniponics) and Genigraphics Corporation was born. Shortly after the divestiture, the headquarters of Genigraphics was moved from Liverpool, New York to Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Major success followed as the company grew exponentially over the next few years selling both systems and slide creation services. Genigraphics film recorders produced high-resolution digital images on 35mm film. The computer-generated scenes for The Last Starfighter were calculated on a Cray X-MP supercomputer and mastered with a Genigraphics film recorder. At its peak, Genigraphics Corporation employed roughly 300 people in 24 offices worldwide, with revenues upwards of $70 million annually. By the late 1980s Genigraphics saw demand for its proprietary systems dwindle and began selling the MASTERPIECE 8770 film recorder and GRAFTIME software as a peripheral for DEC Vaxes, IBM PC AT’s, and Mac NuBus machines. But the MASTERPIECE film recorder proved too expensive to sell in volume. In 1988, the company began a partnership with Microsoft to help develop the PowerPoint software. In exchange, every copy of PowerPoint included a “Send to Genigraphics” link to have files sent to a Genigraphics service bureau to be produced as 35mm slides. This partnership continued until 2001. In 1989, after three years of flat revenue, Genigraphics sold its hardware business in order to focus on its service bureau business and partnership with Microsoft via PowerPoint. In 1994, all assets of Genigraphics, including equipment, software development, in-house artwork, trademarks, and rights to the Microsoft partnership, were sold to InFocus Corporation of Wilsonville, Oregon who continued to operate under the Genigraphics brand name. The twenty-four service bureaus were consolidated to a 20,000 square foot facility next to the FedEx hub in Memphis, Tennessee. This allowed PowerPoint slide orders to be received until 10pm and delivered across the United States by the following morning. In 1995, InFocus registered www.genigraphics.com and was among the first to offer a form of ecommerce allowing 35mm slides, color prints and transparencies, printed booklets, and digital projectors to be purchased online. In 1998, then current management bought Genigraphics from InFocus and have operated it continuously ever since as Genigraphics LLC. That same year, InFocus projector rentals were added to the “Send to Genigraphics” link in PowerPoint and Genigraphics became the rental and repair center for all InFocus national accounts. It also marked Genigraphics entry into the new industry of large format printing; leveraging their knowledge of, and access to, PowerPoint programming code to develop a proprietary printer driver to output directly to an Epson 9500 wide format printer. At the time, Genigraphics was the exclusive 35mm slide vendor for all Kinko’s stores in the United States and poster printing was added to the arrangement. In 2003, Genigraphics closed their 35mm slide E6 photo lab – one of the last high-volume commercial E6 labs in the US – and expanded their large format printing capabilities. Since 2003, Genigraphics has become a major player in the poster session market, providing printing and on-site services to medical and scientific conferences throughout the US and Canada. As of February 2019, over 150,000 medical or scientific ‘ePosters’ are made available through their ResearchPosters.com archive service. === Partnership with Microsoft and development of PowerPoint === As presentations began to be created on personal computers in the late 80’s, Genigraphics sought presentation software partners in Silicon Valley who would be interested in sending files to Genigraphics via dial-up modem to be produced on 35mm slides. In 1987, Michael Beetner, Director of Marketing Planning for Genigraphics, met with Robert Gaskins, head of Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit, who was leading the development of the newly released PowerPoint software. A joint development agreement between Microsoft and Genigraphics was agreed upon and announced at Mac World 1988. According to Erica Robles-Anderson and Patrik Svensson, "It would be hard to overestimate Genigraphics’ influence on PowerPoint. PowerPoint 2.0 was designed for Genigraphics film recorders. It shipped with Genigraphics color palettes, schemes, and the distinctively Genigraphics color-gradient backgrounds. The application contained a ‘Send to Genigraphics’ menu item that wrote the presentation to floppy disk or transmitted the order directly via modem. Within three and a half months PowerPoint orders accounted for ten percent of revenue at Genigraphics service centers. PowerPoint 3.0 was even more intimately dependent upon Genigraphics. The software incorporated a collection of clip art images and symbols that had been produced by hundreds of artists at dozens of service centers across tens of thousands of presentations. Genigraphics artists designed PowerPoint 3.0 colors, templates, and sample presentations. The software even used Genigraphics (rather than Excel) chart style. Bar charts were rendered two-dimensionally with apparent thickness added to make them seemingly recede from the axes. The technique made it easier for viewers to compare bar heights and estimate values from axis ticks and labels. Pie charts were handled analogously. Microsoft paid Genigraphics to produce more than 500 clip art drawings and symbols used in Microsoft programs.” In exchange for Genigraphics development efforts, Microsoft included a “Send to Genigraphics” link in every copy of PowerPoint through the 10.0 version (2000/2001). The arrangement came to an end when Microsoft restructured as a result of anti-trust lawsuits.
PhotoLine
PhotoLine is a general purpose bitmap and vector graphics editor developed and published by Computerinsel GmbH for Windows, macOS, and Linux/Wine. It was originally created in 1995 by Gerhard Huber and Martin Huber. The program combines bitmap and vector graphics editing in one seamless working application unlike most graphics software which tend to focus on either bitmap or vector editing and output. PhotoLine is considered as a market competitor to Adobe Photoshop. == Features == PhotoLine edits and composes multi-layer raster and vector images with deep support for masking and alpha compositing and with full color management. Editing and color management in PhotoLine is mostly non-destructive. Image data in layers is preserved without loss of information regardless of the document's image mode or layer transformation. color depth, image resolution, color model, and ICC profile are preserved for each individual layer or group of layers. Layers can be cloned and reused anywhere in the layer stack, including repurposed as layer masks. Layer blending and compositing in PhotoLine supports common blend modes, and features a layer blend range of -200 to +200 percent. It is also possible to control which channels are blended for each layer, adjustment layer, and layer mask or group of layers. Filters, adjustment layers, and brushes have access to Lab and HIS color modes (HIS is a variant of HSL), separately of the color model of the underlying image layer. In Addition to raster and vector editing, PhotoLine can be used for small desktop publishing projects. Multi-page documents with page spreads and text flow between text frames and pages are supported. Character and paragraph styles can be defined. Spot colors, bleed settings, a baseline grid, a table of contents generator, and PDF/X support help with these projects. PhotoLine is however much more limited when compared to dedicated publishing software such as Adobe InDesign or QuarkXPress. PhotoLine incorporates the Open-source software library LibRaw to read raw images from digital cameras for import. Developing these files is non-destructive with a choice of embedding the RAW image data either in the PhotoLine document or link to the external RAW image file. PhotoLine can open raw files as linear unmodified and non color managed source images. Photoshop PSD files can be imported and exported. Core functionality of PhotoLine can be extended through standard Photoshop filter plugins, the G'MIC digital image processing framework, and PSP tubes. External programs can be linked for a seamless round-trip workflow and files can be sent directly for processing in third-party design applications. Custom functionality is further supported through scripting and macro recording. == Early history == Developed by two brothers, Gerhard Huber and Martin Huber, PhotoLine was first released in January 1996 on the Atari ST line of personal computers from Atari Corporation. Previously, Gerhard and Martin had worked on making graphics cards for Atari computers and writing drivers for image scanners. Atari's market share was declining, and the brothers considered developing a video game to expand the business. This led them to search for image editing software that would run on Atari computers and fit their game project. Only an image editor called tms Cranach came close to what Gerhard and Martin had in mind. tms Cranach was a Raster graphics editor running on Atari's MegaST/STe, TT030, and Falcon030 systems. However, Cranach turned out to be expensive software and complicated to use. The brothers contacted tms (Cranach's developers) and this resulted in an offer from tms to purchase Cranach and its source code, as tms intended to exit the Atari software market. After the purchase of Cranach and its source code Gerhard and Martin initially continued to sell Cranach, but sales were low. In 1995 the two decided to start developing a new graphics editor called "PhotoLine". PhotoLine was developed from scratch and written in C++. It nevertheless contained a lot of know-how from Cranach (which was written in C). PhotoLine first release was launched one year later in 1996. With the growing popularity of Microsoft Windows, the release of Windows 95, and the limiting graphics hardware on the Atari platforms, the developers switched development platforms and continued development of PhotoLine for Windows only. The first Windows version (PhotoLine 2.2) was released in the middle of 1997. Shortly after, the Atari version was discontinued and saw its final release as PhotoLine 2.30. The Huber brothers released this final Atari version into the public domain in 2012. The first Classic Mac OS version of PhotoLine 6 appeared in 1999 after many ex-Atari users who had switched to Mac OS pressured the PhotoLine developers to release an Apple port. == Linux Support == PhotoLine runs natively under Windows and MacOS. While a native Linux version of PhotoLine is not available, running PhotoLine under Wine is actively supported and maintained by the developers. Running PhotoLine under Linux/Wine PhotoLine enables the user to allow Little CMS to fully support color management under Linux instead of the native OS CMS. == File format == Native PhotoLine files have the extension .PLD, which is an abbreviation of "PhotoLine Document". It can contain embedded JPEG, PNG, or camera raw images. It contains a preview image in JPEG or PNG format, which is used by the operating system or third-party applications to display a thumbnail of its contents. Thumbnails are natively supported on MacOS X. During installation on Windows the user is presented with an option to install a PLD thumbnail preview driver which enables thumbnails of PLD content in Windows Explorer. Alternatively, the FastPictureViewer Standalone Codec Pack provides the ability to display PLD thumbnails in Windows Explorer. == Version History == PhotoLine was first developed for the Atari ST computer. Version 2 was the first version for Windows, and since version 6 PhotoLine is also available for MacOS.