Adobe Illustrator is the standard for vector drawing programs. However, it is a bit pricey, and is more program than most people need. In the past two years several less expensive, but capable, vector drawing programs have entered the market. VectorDesigner is one of these programs.
Author: Donny Yankellow
In addition to writing for MyMac.com since the Fall of 2005 he is an art teacher, freelance artist/illustrator, and is a father of one son. Donny is also the author/illustrator of several children's ebooks. Donny's degree is in Visual Communications and he hold certification in K-12 Art Education. His hobbies (besides Mac and Apple stuff) include soccer, animation, and reading anything written by Stephen King.
EyeTV 3 – Review
For those that aren’t familiar with EyeTV it is software that turns your Mac into a DVR with the proper hardware (I use a Miglia MicroTV). At Macworld EyeTV 3 was released, with a bunch of new features. Are the new features worth the price to upgrade? This review might help you decide.
Doozla – Review
There was a time when Kid Pix was the only good option for a kid’s paint program. Well, times are changing. In the past year I have had the chance to review several new options to the market, and 2008 brings another worthy choice. Doozla by Plasq (the makers of Comic Life and Skitch) is a fantastic new paint program for children.
Macspiration 107: iPhoto 08 Printing Mysteries Solved
I don’t know why but with iPhoto 08 Apple made what was an easy printing process into something complicated. Straight forward printing is still easy, but doing something like fitting a large image into a size is a mystery-unless you have some help. This Macspiration will help solve some of those mysteries.
Macspiration 106
Return of the Downloads
It has been a while since I’ve done a Macspiration recommending downloads. To be honest, I haven’t found to many worthwhile freebies for an article. With that said, I have scrounged around my hard drive and found a hand full of downloads for you.
Stationery Pack (for Mail)
Review
Mac OSX Leopard introduced email templates to Mail. There are templates for sending photos, sending notes on Stationery, and more. If the standard Leopard templates are not enough for your emailing thirst equinux’s Stationary Pack is for you. For $29.95 you get an additional 111 templates for your email. Yes, I said 111 times!
Wacom Intuos3 Tablet
Review
Recently I reviewed, and loved, the Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet. For those that want a more professional tablet, the Intuos3 is the model you want. I’ve been using the Graphire line of tablets for years and never new what I was missing until I tried the Intuos tablet.
Timeline 2.0
Review
Creating an illustrated timeline on your computer, or even by hand, can be a very time consuming process. Timeline, by Bee Documents is a program that aims to simplify this process and save you a lot of time. (No pun intended.)
Bamboo Fun
Review
When I think drawing tablets, I think Wacom. I have been using the Graphire series of tablets for many years. This past fall Wacom replaced the Graphire tablet line with the Bamboo Fun line of tablets. (The Graphire BT, or Bluetooth, is still made). Before trying the Bamboo Fun tablet I expected the same user experience in a different package. I was wrong.
Read MoreImage Doctor 2
Review
Adobe Photoshop is a standard for image editing. It has a lot of great tools for making a good picture great, or even a lousy picture a lot better. However, there are times when the tools in Photoshop are not enough, or are not fast enough. Image Doctor 2 by Allen Skin Software aims to help with those times when you need more than Photoshop can offer.
Flip Boom
Review
Are you looking for an inexpensive, traditional style, animation program for you? Are your kids interested in creating animated cartoons? Are you a teacher looking for a great animation program for your class? If so, Flip Boom, by Toon Boom Animation, Inc is worth looking into.
thumbn@ils 42: About a minute…
Macspiration 105
A Quick Tip: Changing Icons on Your Stacks in Leopard
I haven’t decided if I like the new Stacks feature in Leopard or not, but what I don’t like is how the icon of the stack is the icon of first alphabetical item in the folder you put in the Dock for a stack. This Macspiration will tell you how to fix that.
Macspiration 104
Dead Dock Icons
Have you ever had an icon in your dock stop working? You click the icon for a program (maybe Mail), and the program never launches? The icon never bounces? The odds are that the link to the actual program has been broken. How do you fix it? Read on!
Macspiration 103
Quicktips for Quick Look
One of my favorite features of Leopard is Quick Look. Quick Look allows you to see the contents of a file without opening that file in its program. For example, a spreadsheet can be viewed through Quick Look without opening Charts or Excel. This article contain a few Quick Look tips that you might not know.
Thumbn@ils 41
Thumbn@ils returns with a MyMac.com EXCLUSIVE!
The MyMac.com secret spy team has uncovered these topsecret plans. They are no longer SECRET plans!
Painter Essentials 4
Review
Painter Essentials is to Painter what Photoshop Elements is to Photoshop. It is what I would call the “slimmed†down version of Painter, but still fully usable. Just like Painter, Essentials is a natural media painting program that allows the user to paint and draw on the computer with tools he/she might use in “real life.†Also, like Painter X (which I reviewed earlier this year), Painter Essentials 4 is packed with great new features.
Macspiration 102
iPhoto CD Automator Action
I recently blogged about a missing feature from iPhoto which lets you burn a CD of photos that is not in iPhoto format, but instead a CD of JPG images that any computer can read and that you could take to the store for developing in a photo machine. Right after I posted that blog, I discovered a way to create an Automator action to do this for you.
Pixelmator
Review
If you are a regular reader of Mac websites and a listener to different Mac podcasts, you’ve probably heard of Pixelmator. Pixelmator is a new image editing program by Saulius and Aidas Dailde – two brothers that make up the Pixelmator Team. I’ve had the opportunity to try out Pixelmator for a while now (I was allowed to try the beta version), and if you are looking for an inexpensive image editor, Pixelmator is worth a try.
Macspiration 101
DVD Bookmarking
Recently, I wanted to show one of my classes a few sections of a DVD. The DVD was not broken into chapters, so I could not count of skipping through the video with them. After searching the menus in Apple’s DVD Player, I discovered Bookmarks.