The first confirmed features of the next version of graphics package ArtWorks were revealed this week. ArtWorks 2.7 is set to include multi-page document support, which works with PDF export, and an upgraded colour bar - colours can be re-ordered and new colours can be added by sampling any pixel on screen.Developer Martin Wuerthner said this opened up the ability to create multi-page PDFs directly, and said the code was already tested and working.
He told ArtWorks users: "From an editing point of view this looks very much the same as in the current version of ArtWorks except that you can insert new pages before/after the current page and you can jump to the previous/next page using the menu and keyboard shortcuts or use the 'Goto page' dialogue box to visit a page directly. Similar to master pages in a word processor you can have master layers that appear on each page.
"In contrast to word processors, which usually show all pages in a scrolling view, ArtWorks 2.7 only displays a single page at a time, which retains access to the complete pasteboard around the page. For the time being most existing features (e.g., Draw export) simply operate on the current page."
The new version is expected to be launched in time for this May's Wakefield show. More features may be added between now and May.
Links
MW Software website