4 ms·

Aviary - 18 different web-based graphics tools

23 points by nickb 19y ago

nickb 19y ago
Check out demos on their blog: http://a.viary.com/blog http://a.viary.com/blog Pretty impressive. I'm pretty sure you could do those operations with Splashup as well.
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fiaz 19y ago
I call vaporware. Another example of a concept site with impressive demos is streamy.com. I wouldn't be surprised if these were "honey pots" of sorts to collect email addresses of specific demographics (in this case it seems to be different levels of web developers, whereas Streamy was aimed at the Digg/reddit news crowd). The thing that sets me off is the statement: "As soon as your invitation code hatches we will send it to your inbox." Cute way of saying, "We'll send you and invitation whenever we feel like it; but in the meantime we will do whatever we like with your email address." I did notice the guarantee "We promise not to spam!", but honestly that promise is as strong as the typeface used to display it. Another factor that tips me off is that they seem to be violating one of the basics of good web application design: HAVE A FOCUS!!! Like Streamy, there are too many things going on here that promise a lot of possibilities but seem too much to deliver realistically. I would believe them more if they took perhaps ONE or at most TWO of the things they claim to be releasing and said that this product should be available soon... Given the technology they are developing, I would hope to see a blog article with some substance talking about some of the cutting edge technology that is at least tangentially related to what they are claiming to be able to deliver. Instead, there are some pics with text of little substance that seem to foster an image of "coolness" and design savvy but no indication that they have any real technical ability to deliver what they are advertising. But of course, I could be wrong.... hopefully somebody here can disprove my cynicism (see the reply button below this comment Aviary people/developers/employees?!??!?!).
- thaumaturgy 19y ago
  Assuming they're not being outright deceptive, they've got some images posted to their software blog that were generated with their Phoenix app. We shall see ...
  - fiaz 19y ago
    That's the most insidious part: it is subtle. We cannot definitively say one thing or another, which is why I'm asking ANYBODY from a.viary.com to show the YC.News community something substantial. For example: send an invite to somebody of high reputation at Digg/reddit/YC.News and have them spread the word. This is a simple strategy that not only will help a.viary.com but will also lend tremendous credibility to their development efforts, not to mention future potential. I think the best example of my cynicism is tagsy.com: http://tagsy.com http://tagsy.com vs. http://web.archive.org/web/*/tagsy.com http://web.archive.org/web/*/tagsy.com Notice any similarities with streamy.com and the old tagsy.com? I'm willing to bet streamy.com is total vaporware. They've had enough time to get beta testers and lend some credibility to the notion that they are not vaporware; especially given the fact that the Streamy demo on YouTube looked like a finished product! I have not seen the Aviary demo (where I work blocks YouTube), but I'm willing to bet that it looks like they've got something on the verge of being released (or in other words it is as impressive/polished as Streamy's demo on YouTube).
    - Avi 19y ago
      Fiaz, just following up with this: - We offered invitations to Alexis O'Hanion at Reddit, Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing (and probably every reputable tech blog). Aviary's videos were all sped up, but otherwise unedited save for the addition of music and closing title / picture screens.
      - fiaz 19y ago
        I should probably do some due research/diligence before attacking: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/13/aviarys-incredibly-ambitious-art-project/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/13/aviarys-incredibly-ambi... Apologies as well to the entire YC.News crowd for the trolling above...it's easy to be skeptical, and I made the mistake of taking the easy road.
fiaz 19y ago
Damn, I wish I wasn't so skeptical in my earlier postings on this thread. The "tools" page link above seemed too good to be true; but it turned out to be true, so does this mean it is that good? I hope so... I have been playing with Peacock for the last hour and I must say that the last time I had this much fun messing around with any sort of graphics application was way back when I discovered KPT v2.0 back in 1996. Good job to the team at Aviary and worth1000.com! You definitely have something here.

23 points by nickb 19y ago

nickb 19y ago

Check out demos on their blog: http://a.viary.com/blog http://a.viary.com/blog Pretty impressive. I'm pretty sure you could do those operations with Splashup as well.

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fiaz 19y ago

I call vaporware. Another example of a concept site with impressive demos is streamy.com. I wouldn't be surprised if these were "honey pots" of sorts to collect email addresses of specific demographics (in this case it seems to be different levels of web developers, whereas Streamy was aimed at the Digg/reddit news crowd). The thing that sets me off is the statement: "As soon as your invitation code hatches we will send it to your inbox." Cute way of saying, "We'll send you and invitation whenever we feel like it; but in the meantime we will do whatever we like with your email address." I did notice the guarantee "We promise not to spam!", but honestly that promise is as strong as the typeface used to display it. Another factor that tips me off is that they seem to be violating one of the basics of good web application design: HAVE A FOCUS!!! Like Streamy, there are too many things going on here that promise a lot of possibilities but seem too much to deliver realistically. I would believe them more if they took perhaps ONE or at most TWO of the things they claim to be releasing and said that this product should be available soon... Given the technology they are developing, I would hope to see a blog article with some substance talking about some of the cutting edge technology that is at least tangentially related to what they are claiming to be able to deliver. Instead, there are some pics with text of little substance that seem to foster an image of "coolness" and design savvy but no indication that they have any real technical ability to deliver what they are advertising. But of course, I could be wrong.... hopefully somebody here can disprove my cynicism (see the reply button below this comment Aviary people/developers/employees?!??!?!).

thaumaturgy 19y ago
Assuming they're not being outright deceptive, they've got some images posted to their software blog that were generated with their Phoenix app. We shall see ...
- fiaz 19y ago
  That's the most insidious part: it is subtle. We cannot definitively say one thing or another, which is why I'm asking ANYBODY from a.viary.com to show the YC.News community something substantial. For example: send an invite to somebody of high reputation at Digg/reddit/YC.News and have them spread the word. This is a simple strategy that not only will help a.viary.com but will also lend tremendous credibility to their development efforts, not to mention future potential. I think the best example of my cynicism is tagsy.com: http://tagsy.com http://tagsy.com vs. http://web.archive.org/web/*/tagsy.com http://web.archive.org/web/*/tagsy.com Notice any similarities with streamy.com and the old tagsy.com? I'm willing to bet streamy.com is total vaporware. They've had enough time to get beta testers and lend some credibility to the notion that they are not vaporware; especially given the fact that the Streamy demo on YouTube looked like a finished product! I have not seen the Aviary demo (where I work blocks YouTube), but I'm willing to bet that it looks like they've got something on the verge of being released (or in other words it is as impressive/polished as Streamy's demo on YouTube).
  - Avi 19y ago
    Fiaz, just following up with this: - We offered invitations to Alexis O'Hanion at Reddit, Cory Doctorow at BoingBoing (and probably every reputable tech blog). Aviary's videos were all sped up, but otherwise unedited save for the addition of music and closing title / picture screens.
    - fiaz 19y ago
      I should probably do some due research/diligence before attacking: http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/13/aviarys-incredibly-ambitious-art-project/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/13/aviarys-incredibly-ambi... Apologies as well to the entire YC.News crowd for the trolling above...it's easy to be skeptical, and I made the mistake of taking the easy road.

fiaz 19y ago

Damn, I wish I wasn't so skeptical in my earlier postings on this thread. The "tools" page link above seemed too good to be true; but it turned out to be true, so does this mean it is that good? I hope so... I have been playing with Peacock for the last hour and I must say that the last time I had this much fun messing around with any sort of graphics application was way back when I discovered KPT v2.0 back in 1996. Good job to the team at Aviary and worth1000.com! You definitely have something here.