SuperPaint is a

graphics program In computer graphics, graphics software refers to a program or collection of programs that enable a person to manipulate images or models visually on a computer. Computer graphics can be classified into two distinct categories: raster graphics a ...

capable of both bitmap painting and vector drawing. SuperPaint was one of the first programs of its kind, combining the features of

MacPaint MacPaint is a raster graphics editor developed by Apple Computer and released with the original Macintosh personal computer on January 24, 1984. It was sold separately for US$195 with its word processing counterpart, MacWrite. MacPaint was nota ...

and

MacDraw MacDraw is a discontinued vector graphics drawing application released along with the first Apple Macintosh systems in 1984. MacDraw was one of the first WYSIWYG drawing programs that could be used in collaboration with MacWrite. It was eventu ...

whilst adding many new features of its own. It was originally written by William Snider, published by

Silicon Beach Software Silicon Beach Software, Inc., was an early American developer of software products for the Macintosh personal computer. It was founded in San Diego, California in 1984 by Charlie Jackson and his wife Hallie. Jackson later co-founded FutureWave So ...

(which was acquired by

Aldus Corporation Aldus Corporation was an American software company best known for its pioneering desktop publishing (DTP) software. PageMaker, the company's most well-known product, ushered in the modern era of desktop computers such as the Macintosh seeing ...

in 1990), and released in 1986 for the

Apple Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

. William Snider wrote and designed the program from his house on an

Apple Lisa Lisa is a desktop computer developed by Apple, released on January 19, 1983. It is one of the first personal computers to present a graphical user interface (GUI) in a machine aimed at individual business users. Its development began in 1978. ...

Pascal Pascal, Pascal's or PASCAL may refer to: People and fictional characters * Pascal (given name), including a list of people with the name * Pascal (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Blaise Pascal, Fren ...

. It was the only program that outsold Silicon Beach's ''

Dark Castle ''Dark Castle'' is a 1986 platform game for Macintosh published by Silicon Beach Software, later published by Three-Sixty Pacific for other platforms. It was designed and illustrated by Mark Pierce and programmed by Jonathan Gay. In ''Dark Castl ...

'' games, but SuperPaint was much more lucrative for the company, representing about 70% of the revenue. The program and packaging was also localised into Japanese. As it requires

Classic A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

, SuperPaint is unsupported as of Mac OS X version 10.5, but can still be used with the assistance of Mac OS

emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

History

* Version 1.0, released 1986, has a fixed position user interface with palettes arranged on the left and bottom edges of the screen. Includes ''LaserBits'' 300dpi editing mode and the ability to print in colour despite only being able to display in black & white. *1.1, released 1988, included the ''SuperConvert'' app to convert to/from ''LaserBits''; was bundled with Microsoft Word 4.0 for Macintosh in 1990. *2.0, released 1989, introduced many new features including: AutoTrace, ''SuperBits'' (formerly ''LaserBits''), freehand Bézier tool, multi-page documents, rich text in text blocks, rotation and transformations, plug-ins, a multi-palette user interface, custom tools in the paint palette. * 3.0, released 1991, was a major revision that added many extra features, most notably colour support, but also image enhancement functions and texture fills; hot keys were revamped to simplify the interface; tear-off palettes. * 3.5, released 1993, brought support for

System 7 System 7, codenamed "Big Bang", and also known as Mac OS 7, is a graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers and is part of the classic Mac OS series of operating systems. It was introduced on May 13, 1991, by Apple Co ...

, copy brush tool, several other new drawing tools including some that are pressure sensitive, expanded importing capability including still frames from QuickTime. This was the final version of the app. Later versions were published by Aldus after their 1990 acquisition of

. The application continued to be sold by

Adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

after their 1994 takeover of Aldus.

Later use

Artist Richard Bolam used images drawn using Aldus SuperPaint in the 1990s as part of his "Bolam at 50" exhibition in 2014. Naoki Yamamoto is seen using SuperPaint in the Documentary ''Urasawa Naoki no Manben'' in season 4, episode 3.https://www.naokiurasawa.com/naoki-yamamoto/

References

External links

A screenshot from SuperPaint version 1
(includes source code)

(includes source code) * Graphics software Raster graphics editors Macintosh-only software Classic Mac OS software Macintosh graphics software Discontinued software Aldus software 1986 software {{graphics-software-stub