Deluxe Paint on the Commodore Amiga

Summary

VisiCalc on the Apple II. Lotus 1-2-3 on the IBM PC. Aldus PageMaker on the Macintosh. Deluxe Paint on the Amiga. The computer industry loves a “killer app,” that unique piece of software that compels consumers to purchase new computer hardware just for the privilege of running it. I can personally attest to Deluxe Paint as it compelled even my technophobic mother to buy into its potential.THE picture, by Avril Harrison. This 320x200x32 image was used by both Electronic Arts to sell Deluxe Paint the software and by Commodore to sell the Amiga hardware itself. Tut became the “face” of Deluxe Paint from version 2 onward.One day at a small strip-mall in Charlotte, North Carolina, mom went shopping for quilting fabric. I, a teen with less than zero interest in quilting or fabric or being seen with a parent, wandered into the computer store a few doors down to lust over the black and chrome Ataris. Maybe this would be the day I finally saw an Atari 1450XLD in the wild! I was obsessed with the futuristic stylings of that line; they looked powerful. I would get some serious work done. That specific device never released, but what I found instead changed my life.What I thought I wanted. Ah, who am I kidding? I still want one!The salesman really didn't have to work too hard that day. So much of the demo of the Commodore Amiga (not yet called the 1000) left us in awe, but it was the art and color-cycle animations in Deluxe Paint that sealed the deal. The decision was made to upgrade the family computer from the ADAM to the Amiga.Though it was my first experience with a mouse, I was pushing pixels around like I was born to it. As I learned the way of the pixel, I remember feeling clever when I devised a way to smooth hard pixel edges (“anti-aliasing,” I later learned) and to checkerboard two colors to simulate a new color (“dithering,” I later learned). Those who used Deluxe Paint continue to chase its high. Would-be successors to its pixel-art throne come and go, but none hav...