Looking for a .drw appl, and an old VR fractal site

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Looking for a .drw appl, and an old VR fractal site

(17 posts) (4 voices)

Started 17 years ago by RunesageMagik
Latest reply from RunesageMagik

RunesageMagik
Member

I've plum run out of search queries for two longtime quests. Was hoping maybe someone might have answers.

Quest 1 - Seeking a vector-based appl that processes Micrografx' proprietary .drw files. Haven't downloaded all the links FreewareFan posted in his alternatives to PSP message but kinda doubt its in there. Long story short- I invested over a decade in a marvelous but now defunct appl called Micrografx Draw. It was bought and sold a number of times, ended up with Corel... and the SOB's shelved it, leaving me and a whole lotta other folk out in the cold. Draw's final version worked on my old Win95, even worked for a short while on WinXP until (I presume) one of Gates' blasted auto-updates broke something. Seems a number of people have similar complaints about it suddenly "not working". My last option would be to set up a dual boot config to commingle Win95 and WinXP but the instructions provided by MSFT Knowledgebase Confusion Central are intimidating. I really can't afford to cripple this computer right now by failing to dot all the i's and cross all the t's.

Quest 2 - Just downloaded the free version of an intriguing VR appl called ImageArmada. - http://www.tangent3d.co.uk/armada/freeware/freeware_page.htm

It got me to thinking about an awesome site I stumbled upon way back in the early days of VR that employed colorful fractals. Using the arrow keys to control pitch, yaw, and speed, an on-line user had the ability to "fly" THROUGH an endless array of fractals as if tooling around galaxies/nebulas. The link was eaten by a hard drive crash many moons ago. I have a ton of fractal sites in my Favs, but nothing remotely similar to the VR concept. Would love to have it back. Heck, by now, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an appl that allows you to use your own fractals. That would be very entertaining.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Hi RM!

Have you tried LeadTools yet? It seems that this program will do for Quest 1.

http://www.leadtools.com/SDK/Vector/Formats/Vector-Format-DRW.htm

It would seem that these programs also work with .drw files:

Corel DESIGNER 10
Microsoft Picture It!
CorelDRAW
Corel Paint Shop Pro

There are also a couple of converters listed on the page below, maybe they may be of some use to you:

http://3d2f.com/tags/convert/drw/file/

See if that helps at all....

Posted 17 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

I love fractals, so thanks for the link. I remember my first fractal generator, well it wasn't a fully fledged on as it was part of a screensaver package, going back to the days of DOS applications. I only had a 386 computer at the time with 4Mb of RAM and something like a 25MHz cpu, so you can imagine how log each image took to load, lol.

I look forwards to giving this a try out.

WR

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

What are we, the 3 Musketeers? :-)

FreewareFan - appreciate your help. Actually, the leadtools site sounded familiar, and I only realized when I followed your link why I'd never used it... that $2k price tag kinda makes it a non-starter. :-( Unless I'm mistook, the description implies it will display the file, not actually allow work on the layers.

The Gates monopoly in its extremely narrow and finite wisdom discontinued PictureIt! (It! still isn't listed on the oldversions site, btw) It! came bundled with one of my computers, but the HD crashed before I could try it. Since the cheapskates at DELL didn't provide a CD image of the HD, all I have left referring to PictureIt! are some shared dlls. Also lost the bundled trial of something called JASC. (which I've learned is assoc. with Corel)

Sad to say, over the past couple three years, Corel's stonewalled every request to bring back DRAW, issue a fix or create a convertor so we can save the .drw layers to a format that say, Adobe Illustrator could work with. When asked if one of their current appls allows access to individual .drw layers... the moronic customer service reply avoided the question and simply repeated that DRAW was discontinued. DOH (do I sound frustrated, bitter, miffed, all of the above?)

I'm aware that Corel offers a free 15-day trial it's very expensive X3 suite, but can't set aside two weeks right now on the off chance it will recognize .drw and allow me to convert 4000+ files. Trials that have number-of-use limits are fine, but I abhore time-constrained trials. I need another expensive art package like I need a third nipple, so a trial is as close as I'll ever come to using Corel. No appl in my armory currently allows me to view .drw files, save relatively useless "flattened" images to jpg or wmf, much less access individual layers. (i.e., Adobe PS4,5 or7, Illus, Dimension, Streamline, Gimp, Irfan, ImageComposer, MSClipOrganizer) Alas, wasn't the first time a lot of people were left out in the cold because of obsolescence, won't be the last.

BTW- When I spoofed your holiday lighting post, meant to say #6, not $5. Math isn't my strong suit... I could only count to 5 on my fingers while typing one-handed, thus the mistake. :-)

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Hello, White Wabbit

Apologies for any confusion re- ImageArmada. I didn't mean to imply it was a fractal appl. Rather, it's an intriguing VR appl that just reminded me of the old fractal one because it had a similar user-control interface that permits flying and hovering.

However, I gotta say that while I stumble across an amazing array of gallery formats, IA is one of the more novel ways I've seen to display graphics to date. I believe you can email any custom gallery file you create to others and the file will automatically launch in a VR environment on their computer. The free version limits the number of pieces of art you can hang on the walls, and only has one or two museum layouts, but IMHO, if someone found it useful, the full program is quite reasonably priced.

This simple free jigsaw puzzle creator offers another way to show off your graphics to others -
http://www.tibosoftware.com/
(it's just one of several free jigsaw puzzle creators out there in networld) I sent a friend a sample puzzle just for laughs. She said she immediately turned around and began using it to create holiday photo games for her grandkids.

BTW, I'm a fractal collector. Probably have 50+ extraordinary sites lurking in my Favs. If there's interest, I might post 'em here someday.

Hope you had a chance to check out those free planetarium links.

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

PS to Wabbit - My Gateway 386 is still sitting in the office. I remember well how 4mb RAM dawdled. (although PC benchmark tests showed it was top of the line for what, about 3 days?)

I also remember how Moore's Law (and Kryder's Law) quickly dampened my awe of that "huge" hard drive. No working monitor, now, so it's gathering dust waiting for me to cannibalize the HD for any old DOS apps curiosities and a couple BASIC adventure games I created long long ago. If you know of a modern (and FREE) game creator, it might spur me into plundering the old 386.

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

How are ya today, RM? Yep, sounds like the "one for all, and all for one" syndrome, for sure!

Say, since you have that many files that you'd like to work with, have you considered obtaining a copy of Microsoft Picture It! from eBay? I just did a quick check, and they have something like 77 listings for it, some ending today with not too bad a price tag on 'em. Like $15-$20 for a couple.

Other than that, I'm outta ideas for you, friend. I suppose it's the same ole story... move on with the times, whether we like it or not, no matter how much we have invested in the past....

And about the math thing, well I just chalked it up to the fact that you were so surprised that I would make a bonehead mistake like that, that you just momentarily lost your mental faculties... :-) But now, I finally find out the truth! You bragging about being able to type one handed. Now, I just wonder...... where did you gain that ability, hummmmmm??? Nevermind, I don't think I really want to know after all.... LOL

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Verrrrry funny, FF. Why do you think I use Dragon? :-)
Reminds me of a joke -
Patient: "Doc, it's turned ORANGE!!!"
Doc: "By any chance, do you eat cheese curls while surfing the internet?"

Thanks for the eBay idea. My search params apparently kept it off Google results. I'll have to find out exactly what Picture It! does. Be very surprised if it does layered editing. Probably just a viewer, yes?

Posted 17 years ago #
FreewareFan
Member

Geez.... I thought I'd heard them all... cheese curls...... HA!

I've never used Picture It!, so I cannot say, but you are probably right, I wouldn't expect too much from MS, you know how that goes..

Anyways, I hope it all works out for you! I know from personal experience what it's like to invest much time and effort into learning a particular program, and then having many program-specific filetypes that are valuable to you, and not being able to use them once they are created. Before I had my *enlightenment* regarding "extended evaluation software usage", I spent much, much time and effort in learning Sony Vegas Movie Studio, and produced many video creations of family and such, in the Vegas format. Somehow, along the way, the DVDs I produced disappeared, and what I have archived as backups are the raw Vegas files. So, I have valuable memories that I cannot access, because at this time in life, I cannot afford to pay like $600 for Sony Vegas.

Perhaps one day, but for now, my files are about as useful to me as your .drw files are to you.... Ah well, we live and learn, yes? :-)

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Update: FreewareFan, I finally recv'd a lucid albeit huffy response from the Corel rep. (when I'm p-o'd, my cutting pen does become mightier than the sword)

He now confirms that .drw files will work inside their most expensive (X3) product. So, when I have 2 weeks to spare, I'll download the trial and see how much I can recover. Probably take another 2 weeks beforehand to prioritize the files to approach this methodically and efficiently. There go the Auguest vacation plans.

Anyway, thanks for your help. Sorry about your Vegas snafu. What we've learned?
A - never pull a betamax... shun proprietary formats
B - focus on formats that can be converted to other universally accepted formats
C - backwards compatibility is good, Gates is evil
D - create redundant backups of everything

So, where's the dang button to close this thread? Nobody anywhere recognizes that fractal VR site I asked about. Very sad. It was a very entertaining little time suck.

Posted 17 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

RunesageMagi, would CorelDraw Essential 2 be of any help? I got a copy packaged with some of the hardware I bought recently. It seems a lot of this old/defunct(maybe the wrong word to use here, lol) software is given away free with a lot of packages I buy from my favorite hardware distributor. If it can be of assistance ask Bubby for my mail (I hope you don't mind this method of passing things on?)Thanks for the additional information regarding fractals. I do hope you do post those links as I'd be mighty happy to check 'em out. I never seem to have time to focus on deep research into these things any more (probably the morphine)

Posted 17 years ago #
ldahl
Member

Have you tried Ebay? If you lost bundled software and are looking for an inexpensive replacement ebay might be the answer you are looking for. They have a Micrografx Draw Suite right now that looks like it will function under XP. I think it is version 7. It's a thought.

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Hi Wabbit - I honestly don't know about CorelDrawEssential2, but am certainly interested in finding out if you've no use for it. As you know from my earlier whining, it took multiple emails just to get them to say Corel X3 recognizes the files. Even then, the Cust.Ser. rep didn't go into thorough detail, i.e., does it simply view them or will it actually let you manipulate the layers? It's like pulling teeth to get a CS rep to go the extra mile. Lemme send ANOTHER email and see how far I get. Really appreciate your generosity. And, I will post those fractal gallery sites. They be real eyecandy.

Idahl - appreciate the thought, but as far as I know, MGFX Draw v6/Print Studio was the last iteration, and I own the package. It isn't working under XP. It DID for a short while, but apparently a MSFT periodic update/fix/patch/blunder disabled it. I've deleted and reinstalled several times with no luck. Always the same frustratingly cryptic "Draw ran into a problem and will have to close" as soon as it launches. BTW- I just ran an eBay search and saw quite a few v6's, no v7. Thanks again.

Posted 17 years ago #
ldahl
Member

http://cgi.ebay.com/Micrografx-Graphics-Suite-2-Designer-7-Draw-Illustrator_W0QQitemZ290187762375QQihZ019QQcategoryZ3518QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
That is what I was looking at. It is Micrografx Design Draw 7. No help, sorry!

I did find this in a forum:

Originally Posted by Claude Daley:
I too had Micorgrafx Draw 6.0 running on the 98 platform and was disheartened when I upgraded to XP on a new computer and found that it stopped working after a while. One of the first discussions of such, I found here. Did the upgrades etc... to no avail.

The weird thing I did find out (quite by accident) was if I started my copy of 'Adobe Photoshop 5.0 LE' first, I could get the Micrografx program to boot flawlessly every time! I don't even use the Photoshop in this instance to do anything but get Micrografx going.

Once Micorgrafx Draw 6.0 is operating, I just close the Photoshop (or not) and Micrografx keeps working just fine. I don't know if this would be the same for anyone elses computer or other versions of Adobe's Photoshop.

I also found this:

Under Windows Draw directory, search for eg windows draw exe file,
right click, follow by properties,under Compatiblity tab,
Comaptiblity mode, select Run this program in
compatibility mode "Windows 98"

Hope this can work for you as Micgrafx Windows Draw 6
design to run in Windows 95/98.

For Micrografx Windows Draw 5, I have no issue in setup
in Windows XP.

It seems as if there was a patch, but it is really hard to find now. Perhaps ask around in graphics forums.

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Idahl, right now I'm sitting here absolutely dumbfounded.

Tried Claude's discovery - launch Photoshop 5 (well, 5.5 for me) first, THEN launch DRAW. Voilà, it worked!!!! Draw's acting like a little puppy that ran away for a few months, came back on its own and is oblivious to the anquish caused. :-)))

Having worked with computers and software since 1970, I'm no stranger to incompatibilities and workarounds, but this takes the cake as THE be all and end all easter egg for WinXP.

Here's a heartfelt THANKEW for your persistence.

PS- I'd already tried the various combinations available through XP's Compatibility Mode module with no success. You're right about the patch... I still have it... wd6updat.exe (from way back in 1998!)

PPS- I recall MGFX offering other appls, including a Designer and a costlier corporate-oriented thing, maybe called iDraw(?); but, that was about 10 years ago. Seein no reason to mess with a good thing, I never tried 'em, though in hindsight...

I've never bid for anything on eBay. Was tempted with a very attractive RV offer earlier this year, but suspected it might be a Katrina salvage job. They never should have posted the picture of that poor leatherback turtle stuck in the grill. I see the initial price for the Graphics Suite was only $15.95, and it's already heading towards $30. Rather than buying outdated software, methinks I'd best get cracking on migrating my cartoons to Illustrator post haste. I'd planned to do that years ago, but time has a way of slipping through fingers. Hmmm, maybe I ought to start auctioning off all my old HP software? Anyone want HP BASIC, complete with the original printed HELP Guide with all the typos that caused us programmers endless headaches?

Sorry for rambling, and again, many many THANKS!!

Posted 17 years ago #
ldahl
Member

You are very welcome, Happy Dance!!! I've been into computer graphics since the days you had to program them to the screen, when I started out, I didn't even know how to write for the C64, so I took old Trash 80's programs(which I could find) and bashed away until I could make the 64 replicate them. Finally I found a book on Super Basic and went to town:))) Then I found out about the Amiga...been lost every since.
I like to look at software, and learn stuff, that's why I love this site so much. I'm so glad that I was able to help you find an answer, I hope it saved your vacation.:)
Now about the fractals....:D
~LD

PS. I think there was a British release of one last addition/version before it was killed. (from something I read)
PSS. I've had amazing good luck with Ebay, but, I really, really try to be careful.

Posted 17 years ago #
RunesageMagik
Member

Idahl, I admit it, I did the happy dance -
http://tinyurl.com/2l64tn
http://tinyurl.com/e5qm8
my fav - http://tinyurl.com/2jhegh

Of course, that's one reason I do NOT keep a web cam hooked up to my PC the way this schmoe did - http://tinyurl.com/25ddo

I had a T80 (Tandy, right) for about a week. Didn't like it or those 8" floppies.
While I was hard at work with a cutting edge HPTouchScreen, plotter and WordStar, et al, a friend was bragging about his Amiga. What amazing graphics! I swore that "someday" I'd own one for just one reason... a game called Mindwalker. Sadly, I never got it. More's the pity because for whatever reason, nobody has had the sense to recode Mindwalker for the PC. (at least I've never seen it available) Today's fast video cards just might be able to handle it. T'was wickedly addictive.

As for the fractal list... it's coming, it's coming! Need to verify that all the old URLs aren't busted.

Posted 17 years ago #

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