Hello, Thank you for using Project Dogwaffle Professional 6 Howler, also known as PD Howler 1, or PD Pro 6 Howler Please join our mailing list, it's the best way to stay informed of free updates, patches and other related news. http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter Your EXTRACTION key: ready4somehowling (Note: this is case sensitive) The above extraction key is your 'unzip' key to extract the executable installer from the downloaded .zip file. The filename you just downloaded should be: TheBest3D-rosity-Howler_1_Install.zip (unless it was modified along the way) The exact size of the downloaded file (.zip) should be: 23.5 MB (24,730,733 bytes) The extracted executable installer file (.exe) should be: 23.6 MB (24,750,839 bytes) Regardless of how trustworthy the origin of the download may appear to you, we always recommend that you do a thorough scan with an up-to-date antimal-ware program. Just scan it! IMPORTANT ========= You need the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 installed for some of this software to properly run. See the step-by-step installation instructions mentioned in the links shown below for details. Depending on your version of Windows, there may be other tips of value, such as installing and/or running as Administrator, or with UAC temporarily disabled. In rare cases you may need to temporarily(!) disable the antivirus, if it prevents proper installation or registration of OCX's or similar items. In very few cases we also found that some versions of another popular paint program may cause interference with our installer because of an old version of anti-piracy software they use which blocks some installation features. See details at http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/faq For other system requirements please see the info online at our website, www.thebest3d.com Step-by-Step Installation =================== This release of PD Pro 6 includes support for animation. It is also called PD Howler 1. It comes as a full standalone installer, so you don't need any prior versions installed. If you already have PD Pro 5 or earlier versions installed, no worries, you should be able to install this new version in its own new "...\Howler" folder without the need to uninstall the old versions. Just don't run them all at the same time. For Help and Information specific to installing PD Howler 1 please see here: http://www.thebest3d.com/howler/help After successfull installation be sure to look for available free updates: http://www.thebest3d.com/howler/download/patches Pre-Requisites - IMPORTANT! ====================== You should make sure that the Microsoft .NET Framework 4 is installed before you run the PD Pro 6 program. We recommend that you install the .Net framework even before installing PD Pro 6, and it may be a good idea to do a reboot after installing the framework, especially on older, slower machines. The framework may download more components as needed when you run PD Pro, so it's also a good idea to get that workload done before you want to get busy painting with PD Pro ;-) For more help and info see http://http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/freebies/plugins/dotnetframework.html IMPORTANT NOTES: Installing as Administrator? Disabling UAC? Running in compatibility Modes? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Normally, you should be able to just run the installer, but depending on the system's configuration, you may need to run it as Administrator. See the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for help if you don't know how to do that. You also may need to temporarily disable UAC (User Account Control) if you're on Windows VISTA or Windows 7 or beyond. Try that if your first attempt fails. Note that you may have to reboot after disabling it, and reboot after re-enabling it. And, depending on what antivirus you use and whether it has a 'total protection' lock down of system folders, preventing installation of our files, dll's and registration of them or of OCX's, you may also temporarily need to disable your antivirus. If you must do so, then we recommend that you disconnect the system from the network to reduce the risks of attacks while its defenses are down. Be sure to re-enable the AV after successful installation of PD Pro. We've also seen rare cases where another popular program had been installed prior to PD Pro, and their anti-piracy software prevented our installation from successfully updating or installing a common dialog runtime component of VB runtime. See the F.A.Q. for details and how to fix it. In a number of cases, especially hen running the 64-bit versions of WIndows Vista or Windows 7, you may need to change the properties of the application so as to run it in Compatibility mode for Windows XP with SP2. If you don't know how to do that, please seek help in the F.A.Q. on our website, or through the forums listed at http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/forums When you're ready to install, run the included installation file by double-clicking it or right-cicking it and selecting 'Run' or 'Open' or 'Run As...' to run as Administrator. The default installation folder for PD Howler 1 is C:\Program Files (x86)\Howler if you're on a 64-bit Windows OS. Otherwise it may default to: C:\Program Files\Howler Either way, it should not conflict with earlier Dogwaffle installations. How to Get Help ============ If you have trouble with installing PD Pro, don't despair, we're a small crowd but we're here to help. You can post questions on the official forum at yahogroups or others listed at http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/forums Posting at Renderosity is also highly recommended, but feel free to email us too to draw attention to your post in case we missed it. Other 'rosity users may be able to help you too though. And perhaps some day there will be a Dogwaffle section at Renderosity altogether ;-) Welcome to painting AND animating with PD Pro 6 Howler, and thanks again for your support - we wish you merry happy wafflings! Dan Ritchie and Philip Staiger, Project Dogwaffle at TheBest3D.com - beyond digital painting admin@thebest3d.com PS: Please join our mailing list, it's the best way to stay informed of free updates, patches and other related news. http://www.thebest3d.com/dogwaffle/newsletter