Tag Archive for 'freeware'

Jumpcut: Free OS X Clipboard History Utility

Published on May 24, 2008 in productivity. 0 Comments Tags: art, free, freeware, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, productivity, resources, shareware, software, utility.

Jumpcut is a very handyÂ clipboard extender for Mac OS X. What Jumpcut does is remember a user-specified number of text items copied to the clipboard, and allows one to select from them when pasting.

The standard OS X clipboard allows the user to paste only the last-copied item. Jumpcut just keeps track of everything you have copied using the Command (âŒ˜) -C shortcut or the Edit -> Copy menu item.

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by George Coghill
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Essential Adobe Illustrator Plug-in: Select Menu

Published on January 13, 2008 in productivity, software and tools. 0 Comments Tags: Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, art, CS3, free, freeware, illustrator, Mac, plugin, productivity, software, tool, vector.

A plugin that I always forget to tout, since the functionality it provides seems so intrinsic to Illustrator once it’s installed, I forget it’s a third-party enhancement.

Select Menu for Adobe Illustrator (Mac and Windows, free) from Graffix Software is available for every version of Illustrator from 8 on up to CS3. It adds additional selectable items under the Select -> Objects menu.

This plugin really comes in handy at the production stage of prepping your art, allowing you to find all sorts of items that you need to preflight. It especially comes in handy after flattening transparency, such as when you export art to an older version of Illustrator. I find lots of klunky and open paths all over the place after flattening transparency, and I couldn’t imagine how much of a pain in the neck it would be to clean up art without Select Menu.

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Color Blindness Software Tools for Artists

Published on October 12, 2007 in software and tools. 1 Comment Tags: art, artist, calibration, CMYK, color, color theory, design, free, freeware, graphic design, graphics, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, resources, software, tool, web, web design.

Color blindness screenshot Just stumbled across these handy Mac OS X software applications to help designers and artists simulate the effects of color blindness on-screen: Sim Daltonism and Color Oracle.

Sim Daltonism works as a floating palette which converts an area under your mouse cursor to the selected type of color blindness — it works similar to the Apple Digital Color Meter sampling utility. There are 8 different types of color blindness to test. Color Oracle works as a menubar item which converts the entire monitor to the selected mode of color blindness, but only offers the three most common forms.

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Productivity Tip: Floating, Transparent Reference Images Using Screenshots & Free Software Afloat

Published on August 30, 2007 in productivity, software and tools. 0 Comments Tags: Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, free, freeware, illustrator, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, Photoshop, productivity, software, tip, tool.

Afloat transparent window software for Mac OS X - screenshot Ever 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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Paintbrush: Free Bitmap Image Editor For Mac OS X

Published on August 19, 2007 in Illustration, art, cartooning, software and tools. 2 Comments Tags: Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Apple, art, bitmap, cartooning, cool, cool stuff, creativity, drawing, free, freeware, graphics, Illustration, Mac, Mac OS X, OS X, Photoshop, sketch, software, tool, web links.

Paintbrush bitmap image editor for Mac OS X screenshot Paintbrush 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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