SneakPeek Pro is a QuickLook plugin fro Mac OS X 10.5 (”Leopard”). In a nutshell, it extends file previews in both QuickLook and the Finder to previously unsupported file types such as Adobe Illustrator .ai files and EPS files.
If you aren’t familiar with QuickLook, it’s a pretty awesome new feature of 10.5 which allows you to quickly preview a good number of core file types — PDF, JPG, PSD, Word docs, movies, text files and more — without actually opening an application. One just needs to tap the spacebar with a file highlighted in the Finder, and a floating bezel-type window opens up with the full image, document or movie. Even works with multi-page documents as well. It’s just plain awesome.
A big drawback with QuickLook as it ships in Leopard — at least for us vector artists — is a curious lack of support for Adobe Illustrator .ai files. No icon previews in the Finder either, and that’s not just a 10.5 situation either.
At $20, SneakPeek Pro at first seems a bit pricey, but once you demo it and the demo expires, those grayed-out file icon previews in the Finder will beckon you to register. In fact, I bought a license more for the Finder previews than the QuickLook functionality, since QuickLook, being so new, has yet to be integrated into my workflow just yet.
And in addition to just .ai and .eps files, it also handles previews for InDesign .indd documents as well as legacy Freehand .fh11 documents.
And if that weren’t enough, in QuickLook view for us Illustrator users there’s also a list of placed files in the documents. And for all the supported file types, there are lists of the swatches used as well as the fonts!
There’s a free 15-day demo download, so you have no reason to not try it out. That is unless you aren’t ready to buy a license — because trust me once you use this, there’s no way you can avoid the purchase.
by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio • Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.
Tags: 10.5, Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, design, eps, Finder, font, FreeHand, illustrator, InDesign, Leopard, Mac OS X, OS X, PDF, plugin, vector
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