Archive for the 'OS X' CategoryPage 2 of 4

Acorn: The Leatherman Tool of Image Editors

Icon for Mac OS X image editor AcornThe more I try out image editors Pixelmator & Acorn, the more Acorn’s simplicity and new perspective on the interface grows on me. Pixelmator is looking to be just about perfect for those people who need a Photoshop Elements style app with low overhead at a sweet price point.

Acorn, on the other hand, seems to be carving out a new niche, and developer Gus Mueller has shown in some of the details that’s he’s not trying to compete with Photoshop (or even Pixelmator), rather he’s attempting to do something new & unique. From the single, unified tools palette to the Option & Control key resizing & crop features (with the live pixel dimension display on the bottom left of the window frame) to the live brush size on the brush slider, Mueller demonstrates that he’s been using graphics software, he’s been frustrated with some things, and he’s thought of a way to make it painless, effortless and intuitive.

Once you’ve worked a bit in Acorn with some of these novel approaches to old habits, you’ll soon wonder why it was never done this way before.

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by George Coghill -
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Pixelmator & Acorn: Quick Comparison Review

A quick overview comparing the two new image editors Pixelmator and Acorn by designer John Whipple. I would have to agree with most of his points. The one thing I really, really like about Acorn is the handy resizing & cropping keyboard modifiers: hold Option and drag to resize, hold Control and drag to crop. It’s a very clever and very handy way to do things quickly. The zoom slider at the bottom of the window is nice as well. Oh, and the integrated screenshot tool.
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by George Coghill -
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Wacom Intuos, Cintique & Graphire Driver Updates Released

Graphics tablet manufacturer Wacom has just released graphics tablet driver Mac OS X software update 6.05-2 for the Intuos, Cintique and Graphire products lines. The new feature included is support for the as-yet unreleased Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, due out in October, as well as other unlisted bug fixes.

Windows driver 6.05-7 update is available for Windows Vista, XP & 2000.

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by George Coghill -
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Default Folder X - Essential Mac Productivity Utility Software

Default Folder Mac utility software for open & save dialog boxes - screenshotDefault Folder X is one of those shareware utility applications that seem pretty handy while you are demoing, but until you use another Mac without Default Folder installed (or the demo runs out), you don’t realize exactly how perfect the software actually is.

I constantly run across these “714 Absolutely Essential Mac Applications” blog posts that always leave this one out. And I think the only reason is that the author is unaware of it’s existence. There’s no other explanation. Half of the time the apps I see on those lists are so-so anyways.

So what is this so-called “Default Folder” anyways? In short, it’s a way for you to access — from the Open/Save dialog windows — not only commonly used folders, but also recently used folders and open Finder windows, all with (mostly) user-defined keyboard shortcuts.

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by George Coghill -
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Productivity Tip: Floating, Transparent Reference Images Using Screenshots & Free Software Afloat

Afloat transparent window software for Mac OS X - screenshotEver need to temporarily reference another document while working on something - this may be an image, or instructions, or a PDF file. Many times you want it floating right on top of your current document so you can refer to it while you are working, and not have to switch back and forth between applications.

I do this a lot when working in Illustrator, especially working from reference images, but also the occasional email message or PDF file sent by a client.

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by George Coghill -
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Genopal Color Scheme Generator Software: Weird Name, Cool Tool

Genopal color scheme generator software: sample color scheme

Genopal is a color scheme generator software application I just stumbled across, and it’s pretty interesting.

Instead of the standard color wheels most color scheme generator/explorer software programs utilize, Genopal doesn’t give you the option of choosing a color model such as Complimentary, Triadic and such. Instead there are two sliders, one for Color Diversity and one for Lightness Diversity. There’s a “Generate” button which them cycles though color schemes as analagous or as wild as you set the sliders.

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by George Coghill -
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Paintbrush: Free Bitmap Image Editor For Mac OS X

Paintbrush bitmap image editor for Mac OS X screenshotPaintbrush a cool little free image editor/paint software program for Mac OS X. As the site says, this is no Photoshop competitor. It’s just your basic paint program like Microsoft Paint or the old MacPaint. It has just the basics - pencil, paintbrush, line, rectangle & circle tools, eraser, text etc. Even lets you open up an image and draw on top of it.

Still, it’s a solid application and thought out. Opens quick, runs smoothly, some cool little animations for windows and tools. Definitely designed with fun in mind.

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by George Coghill -
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New Mac OS X Photo Editing & Bitmap Graphics Software: Pixelmator

Pixelmator image editing software for Mac OS X - screenshot preview imagePixelmator is a brand new (and still in beta) raster image editor for Mac OS X. What seems to set it apart, at least from the descriptions and screen shots on their website, is it’s very Mac OS X-ish GUI (Graphic User Interface). Everything has those cool-looking, smoky translucent windows.

I’m not sure how the all-black interface would flow for me, but I am willing to try it out. Looks like a nice lightweight Photoshop alternative for those out there without full Photoshop needs, without sacrificing some of the must-have Photoshop features like layers, thenow-stamdard tool set, transparency, layer blending and certain retouching & effects.

Coincidentally TUAW has a post today about the first public beta being out, and they have a “first look” review. The prognosis is positive, but they say it definitely needs more work under the hood. There’s also an introductory video to Pixelmator.

I am looking forward to trying out the demo. I am not sure how much of a use I will have for this, being a Photoshop owner and all, but I still enjoy seeing how other software makers solve challenges like layers, filter & effect applying  and other tools. The intro video shows some potentially cool ways to handle gradients.

via Derek Bender


by George Coghill -
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Illustrator CS3 performance woes: 35% CPU usage on my G4

I am sure this is a technical issue that will be worked out (I have a ticket in with Adobe support as of 15 minutes ago). But man is this frustrating. Illustrator CS3 is almost unusable on my desktop. And the rest of the Creative Suite isn’t so snappy either.

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by George Coghill -
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Adobe Creative Suite 3: First Thoughts

Adobe’s Creative Suite 3 arrived this morning, and was immediately installed on both my trusty G4 and the MacBook. Here are my very initial thoughts on the first run of the main software applications: Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.

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by George Coghill -
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