Provides: Photo editing, manipulation and sharing
Format: DVD or digital download
Developer: Adobe Systems, Inc.
Minimum System Requirements: Multicore Intel processor, Mac OS X v10.4.11, 512MB RAM, 64MB VRAM, 1GB available hard disk space, DVD drive, QuickTime 7 (for multimedia features), Internet connection for Internet-based services
Processor Compatibility: Multicore Intel only
Price: $99.99 (currently $79.99 with rebate)
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 8.0

Photoshop is work. It’s fun work, quite often, but it’s work nonetheless. There’s a lot to know, more to learn (and relearn), and plenty of trial and error. Quite honestly, I wouldn’t have it any way; I love the program, and I love watching its capabilities grow as my skills grow. But quite often, it’s overkill. And for the many Mac users who out there who have never used it, it’s quite intimidating (and, of course, too expensive).

Thus, Adobe has been bringing us Photoshop Elements. This is a friendlier image manipulation program. Cheaper. You don’t get nearly the amount of power and control you get with Photoshop, but you do get enough to have some fun and produce some very cool images. With this iteration, Adobe has not only added some great new editing tools, by also improved the way you organize and share your photos, as well.

It starts off poorly, however, with no active support for iPhoto. In order to import your iPhoto library (or portions of it) to Elements, you have to drag the photos out of iPhoto to your hard drive, or dig into the archaic iPhoto folder hierarchy from within Elements. It’s a pain, but it’s what you’ve got. The hidden benefit is that your iPhoto images remain unharmed, as all Elements 8 work will be done on the duplicates.

Cumbersome as it is, though, it’s worth it. Because Elements offers some great tools that are fairly simple to use once you get the hang of them. For instance, you can recompose your photos without harming key elements. Let me explain visually. In the original photo below, I have a picture of me and my kids, but we’re fairly separated.

Let’s say I want to put this in a portrait frame, not horizontal. Recomposing allows the user to alter the orientation by simply dragging the frame, keeping the important elements without distorting them, and merging the rest. Sometimes, dragging is enough. More often than not, however, it’s better to tell it what to keep and what to lose. You can see below that I’ve painted over what I want with green what I don’t want with red.

Then, I dragged from right to left, and watched my son and daughter magically slide closer to me, while those in the background disappeared…sort of.

It’s not a perfect science, so there will be some practice involved (note the trails over my left shoulder, and the heads directly behind me didn’t disappear). But the fact that you can complete procedures such as this on software so inexpensive is very, very cool.

Elements 8 gives you other powerful tools as well, such as photo-merge, which allows you take multiple images at various exposures to get a perfectly lit image. The image below from Adobe’s samples shows a before and after.

You can control which elements to carry into your final product, so it would’ve been quite simple to highlight the girl without brightening the fence behind her, for example.

The same basic tool and procedure can be used to remove unwanted elements from an image. Take the same shot multiple times to sample various elements and clean up the background. The image below from Adobe’s samples also shows a before and after, although there were a total of about five images used to produce the clean image on the right.

You certainly would want a tripod to make sure the photos are as similar as possible, but it need not be perfect. Photoshop will make some pretty good blending guesses, and you can guide it along, as well.

Not all of the features in Elements 8 are quite so drastic. Many are simply traditional Photoshop filters to touch up or add interesting effects to your photos. You can correct red eye and brighten teeth with a simple click, or you can add some pop to your photos, as with the samples below.

This picture was taken with my iPhone, so the lighting was not the best and the image was a bit blurry. By running it through the “Poster Edges” filter, I’ve given it a more striking look that hides the deficiencies of the source image.

There’s far more to Elements 8 than I can cover in this review, and you can read about the new features, see video demos (that I recommend you watch so you can see how easy all of this is to learn, if not perform) and compare product versions at Adobe’s website. Many features are purely for fun, but others are there specifically to make your photos look better: bluer skies, more striking black-and-whites, etc. I do, however, want to quickly cover image sharing, as Adobe has gone out of their way in Elements 8 to make sure you can show off your work.

Of course, you can print your images, but you can also create photo books, collages and scrapbook pages, make a PDF slideshow, publish them to a web gallery, share them via iPhone, and more. And as if to spite Apple (the inability to communicate with iWeb and iPhoto apparently wasn’t enough), you can create CD/DVD jackets and labels. Take that, Apple! Adobe actually wants to burn discs!

My only complaint with Elements 8 is that the included Getting Started guide is useless. It mentions only a couple features, and provides no detail on any of them (the last 13 pages of the guide are literally blank). You’re going to need a third-party manual for Elements 8, but should be able to rely on the online video tutorials in the meantime. This is fairly common these days, yes, but considering many Mac users are used to the intuitive interface and capabilities of iPhoto, Adobe is shooting itself in the foot by not providing a smoother transition to Elements 8.

Regardless, Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 is a great program that provides some amazing capabilities. It’ll be a bit frustrating at first when your results aren’t as impressive as those in the samples, but with some practice and the acceptance that every image will require a slightly different approach, you’ll be surprised by what you’re able to accomplish. Just don’t tell anyone how easy it was. This is your chance to use “Photoshop” as a verb, and I suggest you do it.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: Tablet functionality
Developer: Wacom
Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.8 +, USB port, CD/DVD drive
Price: $229.00 - $789.00
Availability: Now

When you think of graphics tablets, you think of Wacom…well, unless you’re way excited about the possibility of Apple finally releasing a tablet Mac (which is quite likely, now that I think about it). There are a few other companies that make graphics tablets, but there’s a reason why you only know the name of Wacom, whether you know how to pronounce it or just think you do. The Wacom Intuos4 is just another reason why Wacom will continue to be the obvious choice for tablets in the foreseeable future.

Here’s a common scenario.  You open up your graphic editor of choice and you try to draw something with the mouse. Perhaps you aren’t even artsy, maybe you just want to trace the path around an object so you can extract it from the image.  Worse yet, what if you have Photoshop but are still struggling with a mouse?  Many Photoshop professionals use tablets for these very reasons and many others.

Wacom has a number of different graphics tablet models, so they likely have one perfect for you since you’re such an unique individual.  I’ve had numerous tablets in the past, including a Wacom Bamboo and two tablet PCs.  The two tablet PCs were not made using Wacom technology, and it was quite obvious.  This time around, I had the opportunity to play around with an Intuous 4.  To sum it up in a few words, it was a lot of fun.

To sum it up in a few more words, the Intuos4 is much more feature-rich than Wacom’s lower end Bamboo line of tablets, and proves itself to be a great advancement above older models, making it an amazing and almost necessary tool for artists and designers alike.

To start, the Intuos4 comes in the standard fast food sizes: small to XL.  Included with the tablet are all the obvious items, like the cable, the stylus (or pen), the pen stand, a mouse you’ll never use, and some cds.  The pen stand is like an ink well that contains a number of extra tips that change the way the pen feels on the tablet.  I liked the standard one the best, but the “point” is that the default configuration is just the “tip” of the iceburg that represents customization.  Plus, if you somehow managed to break one, or wore it down, it comes with replacements, so you won’t need to be ordering those. Also, you should be aware that Wacom sells extra styli in different shapes for a more realistic feel, depending upon for what task you choose to use your tablet.  Check out their site for details on that.

What really sets the Intuos4 apart from the Bamboo (and other, possibly older models) is that it has 8 assignable buttons, called ExpressKeys, that have displays telling you a short description of their current functions.  One of my favorites (in default setup) is the Precision Mode button.  This one allows you to use the full tablet area to control a much smaller subset of the screen.  This is great for getting extra fine detail, as if its 2048 levels of pressure or .25mm accuracy wasn’t good enough.  Another possible use for this would be if you aren’t the world’s greatest artist (who, me?); this may actually help you to draw smoother lines given that you have to make a larger arc with your hand to draw a smaller line (which tends to smooth out what otherwise may have been jagged lines).

Along with the ExpressKeys, you get a Speed Ring.  Think of this like the Click Wheel on an iPod.  It’s great for changing the size of a brush, or just scrolling down a webpage.  The point I’m getting at is that there is a ton of customizability built into the Intuos4.  All of these buttons and settings can be specific to each application in which you work, so buttons and functions can change with little effort after initial setup.  And not only that, you can set up the Intuos4 to work left or right handed, or even vertically, if you choose.  All you have to do is go to System Preferences and change some settings in the Wacom Tablet preference pane.

Now the main difference between the Bamboo and the Intuos4 models is the number of pressure levels.  The Bamboo supports 512 levels, while the Intuos4 supports quadruple that at 2048 levels.  This—along with its ability to sense angle and its better and faster tracking of the pen tip—makes the product feel professional.  What am I saying, it is a professional product.

If you’re sick of trying to use a mouse when what you really need is a pen, it’s time to consider a tablet.  Maybe the Intuos4 is overkill for you unless you live inside of a graphic editor on a daily basis.  But even if you don’t, perhaps it’s enough of a hobby or interest for you to justify the expense.  You won’t be dissappointed in the Intuos4.  It delivers in terms of performance, customization and usability.

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Provides: Full suite of video/photo/image/web content creation and management
Format: DVD
Developer: Adobe
Minimum System Requirements: Varies by product/package (see Adobe’s website for individual details)
Processor Compatibility: Universal
Price: Varies by product/package (see Adobe’s website for all suite and individual software normal and upgrade prices)
Availability: Now

This is the update Macromedia users have been dreading since Adobe bought out the company a few years ago. This is when what we’ve known and loved about the Macromedia UI and methodology has been tossed out the window and replaced with Adobe’s own way of doing things. There is good and bad to this. Good, in that the Macromedia products—Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Flash—are now much more tightly integrated with their Adobe stepbrothers. The products share more of the same tools and commands, and generally get along a lot better. Bad, in that Adobe’s way isn’t always the best way, and they’ve overcomplicated quite a few features for the sake of unity.

CS4 is a huge update (hence our delay in getting up coverage…we’ve got day jobs, you know). If you’re going to pick up the Master Collection, you’re looking at nearly 20 updated programs rolled out at once in a single package. And these are big, big programs. That Adobe is able to maintain a schedule of significant updates about every 18 months indicates two things to me: that they’ve got an incredible staff of programmers, and that maybe some of these features were pushed out a bit too soon.

One way to address this is to abandon older technology, making it easier to program and troubleshoot. Although most apps in CS4 can work on systems dating all the way back to the G4, you still need to have Mac OS X v10.4.11 running on it. In addition, many of the programs (especially the video apps such as After Effects and Premiere Pro) rely heavily on OpenGL, meaning that certain functions will not be available to you or that you won’t be able to run the programs at all. For a complete breakdown of what app needs what to run, visit Adobe’s website.

Of course, you don’t need them all. The CS4 products are sold in numerous suites, each tailored to a specific use. Adobe has done a good job of fairly placing the apps into these suites; you likely won’t need to pay for apps you don’t need in order to get what you want in a specific suite.

Now, which package you go for should be fairly obvious, based on your needs. Because of they way they’re priced, if you purchase more than two or three individual apps, you’re likely going to save money by buying into a suite. And although the initial purchase is pretty steep, Adobe continues to be quite fair with their upgrade prices.

Once you’ve purchased and installed your update, the first thing you’ll notice is that the CS4 apps push further into the OWL (Object Widget Library) interface. Adobe has undertaken the task of unifying all the apps (both their original and the acquired Macromedia programs) across the suite, on both the Mac and the PC. Likely, your first reaction will be one of confusion. The interface is dark gray and heavy. Tool icons are clean, but lifeless. Adobe has apparently used OWL 2 to make the the Mac and PC versions not only work the same way, but look the same way. I’ve spoken to many users from both camps, and almost straight across the board, PC users like the new look, while Mac users hate it. Whether that means the Mac GUI is just that much better than the PC’s or that PC users are just more flexible, I’ll leave up to you.

We’ll address most of these issues in the individual reviews, but I do need to mention that there are some significant advantages to the OWL 2 GUI. First, although most of the apps now default to a tabbed interface for multiple documents (think tabbed browsing on Safari), you can shut this off so that each document stands on its own. In fact, through menu options and keystrokes, you can pretty much get the UI to behave however you want. I found the Application Frame, for example (in which your document and tools all sit in a single, resizable frame, as pictured above), too restricting when working on my 24” iMac. But when using my Unibody MacBook, it made it much easier to keep control of the limited space afforded to me. Likewise, simple keystrokes can minimize the tool panels, or hide them completely. Love or hate the new UI, it is designed to give you quick access to the tools you need, hide the tools you don’t, and show you as much of your canvas as possible at all points.

Don’t think for a second, however, that these updates are strictly about streamlining your workflow. Most of the apps have powerful new features and a host of small tweaks that add up to big improvements. Obviously, I can’t go into them all here. In fact, the CS4 updates are so large that we’re not going to handle them here at all, or even just at Appletell. Instead, we’re working in conjunction with our friends at Applelinks to bring you individual reviews of each app in the suites. To get to the individual app reviews, just click on the links below. It’s kind of pointless to rate the CS4 updates as a whole, because each package would deserve its own rating based on the apps included and the value they offer. So, below, we link to the individual reviews of the apps that comprise the suite. Click through to the Applelinks or Appletell reviews for the individual apps to learn more.

CS4 Design Suite (for print and web work):

Standard - $1,399 new, $499 upgrade

• InDesign
• Illustrator
• Acrobat 9 Pro
• Photoshop Standard

Premium - $1,799 new, $599 upgrade

• InDesign
• Illustrator
• Acrobat 9 Pro
• Photoshop Extended
• Dreamweaver
• Flash
• Fireworks

CS4 Web Suite (for web work):

Standard - $999 new, $399 upgrade

• Dreamweaver
• Flash Professional
• Fireworks

Premium - $1,699 new, $599 upgrade

• Dreamweaver
• Flash Professional
• Fireworks
• Photoshop Extended
• Illustrator
• Soundbooth
• Acrobat 9 Pro

CS4 Production Premium (for video work):

$1,699 new, $599 upgrade

• After Effects
• Premiere Pro
• Photoshop Extended
• Illustrator
• Flash Professional
• Soundbooth
• OnLocation
• Encore

CS4 Master Collection:

$2,499 new, $899 upgrade

• InDesign
• Illustrator
• Acrobat 9 Pro
• Photoshop Extended
• Dreamweaver
• Contribute
• Flash Professional
• Fireworks
• After Effects
• Premiere Pro
• Soundbooth
• OnLocation
• Encore

No matter which program you buy into, it’ll also offer Bridge, Device Central and Adobe Media Player. Version Cue comes in all packages save for Production Premium, in which it’s replaced by Dynamic Link.

It really is worth it to look at these apps individually, not as a whole. Most are absolutely worth the upgrade, a couple will only appeal to select users, and at least one should just be entirely dropped from the lineup. But overall, this is a solid lineup of amazing tools that bring some great new features, even if they are muddied up in a new user interface that will take some getting used to.

Once we’re done with all the pieces, we’ll assign ratings to each package. Until then, check back with us weekly as work our way through the powerful behemoth that is Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

As I am writing this, the MacHeist 3 Bundle is about to be revealed. Last year, many were disappointed with the MacHeist bundle, as it had many apps that had been seen in the previous year, and no really spectacular app. This year, that was acknowledged, and a much better bundle has been promised.

Right off the bat, Eventbox is free just for showing up at the live unveiling. It will likely be added to your loot even if you didn’t tune in, but that’s another maybe. At a $12, it’s already a $12 savings. Great way to begin the night.

After a bit of a late start (what’s 10 minutes among friends?), Lisa, Veronica, and Chris chatted for a bit, went totally dark for an antagonizing minute, then introduced the first app: iSale. Not terribly impressive, as if you don’t use eBay, it’s useless. But it’s the first app, and I have a feeling we’re only going up from here. iSale is a $40 value.

Next up? The Apple Design Award winning Picturesque. Picturesque is an image-enhancer. You can get those Apple-style perspective/reflection images, put shadows, strokes, and more. Great for desktop publishing, it’s a much easier way than Photoshop, worth $35. It’s getting excited!

Now they announce that the first 25,000 buyers of the Bundle will get Big Bang Board Games for free. For those who didn’t get it free with their Mac, this is a great extra, and worth $25.

Sous Chef is the next app in the list. Though of no use if you don’t cook, it’s a great, and very pretty way to keep your recipes organized and share them with friends. Sous Chef is a $30 value.

Now we get a game! World of Goo is a physics based puzzle and construction game in which you drag live globs of Goo to build bridges and towers and other things to get them to safety. It actually looks really cool. This is one I’m excited about. Plus, it’s valued at $20.

And now, PhoneView. PhoneView provides desktop access to the content on your iPhone, a disk mode to store files on your iPhone or iPod touch, and much more than probably should be included in iTunes. It’s priced at $20 as well.

Next up is LittleSnapper, a brilliant screenshot app, much like Skitch, that has integration to their own web service, FTP, Flickr, etc. If you’ve ever wanted to scribble on your desktop, now you can. (It has more useful uses as well.) A great app, which would normally cost $39.

Acorn is the next app on the agenda. It’s another image editor, so it’s questionable given how Picturesque is already part of the bundle. To be fair, Acorn is more about touching up a photo, whereas Picturesque is about stylizing them. Still, a bit of a stretch. It costs $50 normally.

Still no huge apps at this point, but the next app is Kinemac, a $300 app. That’s exciting in and of itself. Kinemac is a 3D real-time animation and presentation software, with the simplicity of a 2D tool. It’s like Motion, but not confusing as all-get-out. The only problem with Kinemac? I have a feeling it’ll drive up the bundle price. Once again, it retails for $300. Wow.

Now we’re getting to the unlocks. These are the apps that are part of the bundle only after a certain amount of bundles are purchased. After $100,000 is raised for charity, Wiretap Studio will be unlocked. Wiretap can record any combination of audio feeds together at once. It’s pretty cool, but definitely not an exciting app. It retails for $70.

Three more apps to go now, and the next app is available as an unlock (the required charity level wasn’t mentioned.) It’s BoinxTV, a fantastic app that turns any recent Mac into a live TV studio, allowing you to add lower thirds, cut between cameras, and much much more all live. It retails for $199 normally. Now that is exciting.

The Hit List is the next app, part of the “Mega Unlock” where two apps are unlocked at a certain charity level. The Hit List is a GTD app to organize tasks in your life. With a simple and easy to use design, it might just be the To-Do app I’ve never been able to find. We’ll see. The Hit list retails for $50.

The other half of the “Mega Unlock” is Espresso, a web development app that combines editing, real-time previewing, and publishing in one window. It has a sleek UI and intuitive interface, and it retails for $60.

All together, these apps cost about $900, according to Chris Pirillo’s math. Chris asks us how much we’d expect to pay? $500? $250? No? $100? Still high? $50. Okay. $50. That’s it, right? What? Lower?! What’s a good price then? $39!

That’s right. $900 worth of software, including Live TV software, 3D animation software, and much more. For $39. Plus, if you’ve been doing all the heists, you have an $8.00 bundle discount. That means, for $31, you can have $900 worth of software. My writing skills are going out the window as I scramble to add money to my PayPal account.

Check out and buy the bundle at MacHeist.com!

Full Story » | Written by Adam Fisher-Cox for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the Internet, and I’ll assume you have, you’ve likely stumbled across something that seems to be all the rage these days. It’s called High Dynamic Range photography, or HDR for short, and, if nothing else, you know it looks cool. But it’s not something your camera can do on its own, no no, it needs help. But which software to choose? There are numerous applications and plug-ins available, but I found three that help you make HDR images quickly and easily. They are, in no particular order, Hydra, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Photomatix. Let’s get right to it.

If you don’t already know, HDR images are made by taking a composite of the best information contained within numerous images. Most often, this is done by using a tripod and taking somewhere between two and five images at different exposures in the hopes of capturing detail from the darkest to the brightest portions of your scene.  It helps if your subject isn’t moving, which is why you see this process used on landscapes and inanimate objects 99% of the time. You’ll get the best results from high contrast scenes, so don’t waste your time on normal shots.

What you’ll need

Before we get to the software, you’re going to need a few other things to get started with HDR photography. First and most obviously, a camera. Surprisingly, you don’t actually need a DSLR, though you’ll get better results since they take higher quality images even if at lower megapixels. A point and shoot will still work though; I know this, because I’ve tried. Inevitably, you will become frustrated with the quality of your images and at some point you’ll cave on a DSLR. Mark my words, I’ve held out as long as I could, but this will happen to me shortly. In the meantime, you can also do yourself a huge favor by getting a tripod. You should be using a tripod every chance you get to take great photos anyway, so it’s not like you’re wasting money. And one last thing, you’ll need a subject. While you can apply the HDR technique to any subject, it works best when there are varying amounts of light where you won’t be able to capture detail in both the brightest and darkest portions of the image with one shot. Bright and diverse colors usually earn you extra points too, but are not completely necessary. On to the software!

Software

Hydra
Developer: Creaceed
Price: $79.95
Version Reviewed: 2.0.1

Hydra is probably the youngest of the software included in this shootout. It functions as both a standalone application and a plug-in for Aperture (I wonder why not Photoshop?). It does the same thing in both places, so this isn’t a reason to splurge on Aperture if you haven’t already.

Hydra has a very slick user interface.  It’s the sort of thing you almost come to expect out of a Mac-only product.  It will accept images straight from iPhoto of off of your hard drive, or you can just drag them on top of the app.  It also has a flashy 3D way of showing you your pictures that looks nice, but is completely unnecessary.  After you load your pics, you can tweak a few things, like contrast, temperature and sharpness.  Next, you’ll have to align the images, just in case your tripod didn’t stay exactly still.  There is an auto aligner, but it doesn’t work very well.  In fact, even if your images were taken on a tripod that was essentially motionless, don’t be surprised if the program gets confused and throws out one or more of the images.  I spent a number of nights pulling my hair out trying to figure out what I was doing wrong.  I really think the alignment algorithm needs some work.

Since the auto align rarely worked for me, I chose to manually align my images. This proved to be quite difficult as well, considering the program insists on trying to auto align them, anyway.  So, when you click to add an alignment point, it doesn’t just put the point at the same coordinates on each images, it tries to guess where the same spot is on each.  And most of the time, it was wrong.  But after fighting with it, I ended up with aligned images, more or less.

Finally, we come to the real functionality of this program, merging.  You have three options: compression, local adaptation and perceptive.  You’ll have to play with the options in each one to decide which you like the best for each project.  I also had some difficulty with this part of the program.  There just seems to be some polish missing.  It’s not as easy as it should be, in my opinion, to get compelling results.  That doesn’t mean that you can’t get great result; their website is a showcase to just what can be done with the app.  There are plenty of amazing pictures there, I just wish it was easier.

Adobe Photoshop CS4
Developer: Adobe
Price: $699
Version Reviewed: 11.0

Photoshop’s “Merge to HDR” option has been available for a couple of releases now, but it’s never been the holy grail of HDR software.  Nevertheless, if you are serious about digital image manipulation, then you’re likely to already own Photoshop, and there’s nothing wrong with using what you already have.

After you launch Merge to HDR from the File - Automate menu, you’ll be prompted for some images.  Then Photoshop will look like it’s having a seizure.  Just hold on, it’s fine, really.  Then you’ll get a super plain window with minimal options.  You can set the white point with a slider, so slide until it looks nice.  Then just click OK.

Photoshop merges your files together, and now you have an HDR.  Super, right?  Well, before you call it a day and decide that Photoshop is terrible at making HDR images, go to menu bar and click on Image - Mode - 16 bit.  Here’s where you’ll find the controls that are similar to what we found in Hydra.  You have to pick one set of options form the following list: Exposure and Gamma, Highlight Compression, Equalize Histogram, and Local Adaptation.  The first and the last options mentioned actually have sliders for you to tweak, while the middle two are automated.

Photoshop is still a little short on options relating to HDR, but then again, it’s Photoshop.  There are so many other things that you can do to your HDR image after you’ve merged it, that it doesn’t really need to have a ton of specific options.  So, you won’t get stunning HDR images straight from the HDR merge command, but it gives you a great starting point for the rest of Photoshop, which is really what it’s meant to do.

Photomatix Pro
Developer: HDR soft
Price: $99
Version Reviewed: 3.1.3

Photomatix Pro is pretty much known as the benchmark against which all other HDR apps are tested.  It starts out just like the rest, with importing your pictures.  Here you’ll find options for aligning your images and correcting minor issues.  They are all fully automated, so you just hit the check boxes of your choosing and away you go.  It can even handle images that are slightly rotated from each other, though Hydra claims this feature as well.  Needless to say, your mileage may vary.  After you are done with the preliminary options, hit Generate HDR.

As the software states, your monitor is likely not capable of accurately displaying an HDR image, which is why you have to do some Tone Mapping.  That’s fine, since we’ve tone mapped with the other two apps a few times already anyway.  You get to choose between Detail Enhancer and Tone Compressor.  Basically, you have a number of sliders that you’ll mess with until you have a nice result.  I’d go through all of the details, but it’s really just that, you have to play around until you like what you get.

What I really like about Photomatix Pro is how easy it really is to get a dramatic result.  It only took me a few minutes to get images that I really liked.  There’s just something about this program.  I don’t know what it is, but it just works the way its supposed to.  Images are easy to merge and manipulate, and the program naturally does the things you want it to do to the images.  I don’t know how it does it, but I’m glad that it does.

Results

So, what follows are the images that were output from each HDR application.  I should probably note that the images used to make these HDR images came from some sample files from Photomatix Pro.  You could argue that this would give them an advantage, but I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.  And besides, all three programs should be able to produce similar results to each other, at least that’s what they want us to think.  Still, you can judge for yourself which version looks best to you.  Remember, this is not necessarily representative of the full capabilities of each application, but they do represent the best that I could achieve with a reasonable amount of effort.

Which one do you think looks best?

Conclusion

All three applications merged images together and produced pictures that were better than the individual pieces from which they were made.  I found Hydra to be a little hard to use, especially in regards to aligning images.  I also found the merging options slightly dissappointing.  It took everything I had to not put that file through Photoshop and make it look better.  Photoshop’s HDR options are pretty basic, but if you’ve already purchased Photoshop, I don’t see a compelling reason to buy anything else unless HDR is your thing.  It won’t make the best HDR images with it’s HDR command, but there are so many other options and corrections you can apply, that you’ll likely end up in the same place with some practice.  Photomatix Pro is without a doubt the best HDR package I’ve seen.  From importing, to merging and tweaking, everything works the way you want it to.  There are qualities about this program that I just can’t put my finger on that make it so incredibly enjoyable to use.  It does things to your images that you want it to, and you’ll get dramatic results with minimal effort.  It’s not hard for me to recommend this software since it’s so awesome.

Product:

• Hydra
• Photoshop CS4
• Photomatix Pro

Full Story » | Written by Jake Gaecke for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Product: Screen capture, image editing/sharing software
Developer: Global Delight Technologies
Minimum System Requirements: Mac OS X v10.5.2, iPhoto v6.0.1 (for exporting captured/ annotated images)
Price: $39.99
Availability Now
Version Reviewed: 1.01

Voila is a Mac OS X application that makes taking screen shots a cake walk. What sets this apart from other software in its class are the several editing features that are part of the suite. One of the features you notice when you first launch the application is that Voila is integrated with Mail and iPhoto. You can send your screenshots to anyone in just a few clicks, and the same goes for importing/exporting to iPhoto. In the same area, you will also find a View Options button that allows you to set the display as you see fit. There are three options available. Another nice feature is the ability to zoom in and out on the screen shot itself, which allows you to do some really nice editing. It’s not as powerful as Photoshop, but for screen capture software it can zoom in quite close, allowing you to get quite detailed.

Now, let’s talk about the screenshots themselves. You have the option to take a shot of the entire desktop, or you can manually select the area that you would like captured. There is also an option for you to capture a menu, although I have tried to use it several times and have yet to get it to do what I want it to do. The menu option uses a complex key combination, and is just a pain in the “you know what” to use.

The layout, once you have captured your shot, is very is to understand. Although there is a lot going on, the screen does not feel too crowded.

Now, the cool stuff. There is a Tools tab for editing that allows you to do a wealth of editing to your screen shot. You can add arrows to point to anything you want. You can use a paint brush effect that reminds me a lot of Microsoft Paint (bad reference, I know, but true nonetheless). You also have a paint option that will auto fill an area with a color that you select. A spray can, lines, test bubbles, and a cool little stamp are some of the other tools available to you.

There is a second editing tab labeled Effects. Edges, skew, filter, adjust, and crop are your features here. You can do a great deal of cool things with these editing tools, more than you’re likely to want to do with a screenshot. You can even import photos into the application and mess around with them, too. Nice.

But that doesn’t mean you wouldn’t more tools available to you. I had the opportunity to speak with Global Delight about this, and they mentioned that new features are coming, along with usability changes as suggested by Voila users. The first of these should show up within four to six weeks, and will include additional methods of sharing, enhanced annotations and effects, bug fixes, and an improved user experience. They’re also considering a Tiger version.

They also offered a special discount to Appletell readers:

We would like to offer 25% discount on Voila to Appletell readers. Please mention this coupon code: “appletell”. This coupon is active till 28th Feb.

If you need to take screenshots often or need to annotate any photo you have, then I recommend Voila hands down. This is a great application with a lot of easy-to-use features.

Full Story » | Written by Anthony Parkinson for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Adobe, makers of the popular Creative Suite 4 that includes Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash, has decided to not exhibit at the Macworld 2009 Expo and Conference in January. The company did confirm, however, a full day of CS4 sessions at Macworld on January 7th, 2009.

Adobe officially shipped Creative Suite 4 in October. The new version included many updates, including GPU support.

Apple’s annual conference will be held in San Francisco from January 5th till 9th 2009. Early bird pricing for Macworld Expo was recently extended, so those planning to attend should buy tickets by December 8th to save up to $200.

Appletell will be providing coverage of Macworld 2009 Conference and Expo. Stay tuned for more information.

Via [Macworld]

Full Story » | Written by Jordan Satok for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Although I’m not personally a fan of photo cards, this isn’t because I’m against the idea. It’s because the photos generally have that phony, staged feel of shopping mall photography centers, and because they’re just too expensive to bother with when I’m already overloaded with gift purchases (especially considering most photo centers require a minimum purchase). Thankfully, HappyHolidays! makes it easy to create personalized photo cards, perfect for sending to family and friends for any occasion. With HappyHolidays!, users can take any digital photo and add a background and a personal message to build a customized photo card. The software makes it easy to vary each card, so you can customize them for each recipient.

Unlike the type of pre-designed cards you order from photo centers, HappyHolidays! is not limited to a set number of characters or lines for personalized messages. It works just like a word processor, offering much more freedom to lay out the text of the message. And, you can personalize messages in any language supported by Mac OS X.

HappyHolidays! allows users to easily e-mail a photo card using Apple’s Mail application by converting it into a jpeg file and attaching it to a new Mail message. At any time, users may print their photo cards on their own color printer at home. No worries if you don’t have a decent printer; you can save your cards as hi-res jpegs and print them at your local photo center as normal prints.

Feature Highlights:

• Supports 4"x6” and 5"x7” card sizes
• Easy photo card creation
• Control the appearance and style of Photo Cards
• Personalize the message in different languages
• Print hi-res JPEG file as a normal print at any photo center
• Print Photo Card on any photo printer
• E-mail Photo Card to family and friends
• Save money printing as normal prints over pre-designed photo cards

Minimum Requirements:

• Mac OS X Version 10.4 or later (Leopard compatible)
• Universal Binary for PowerPC and Intel
• 42.2 MB Hard Drive space

HappyHolidays! 2.10 is priced at only $10.00 (USD). A full-featured demo is available for download. The unregistered application is limited in that all saved images will include a watermark. More information about HappyHolidays!, along with an online tutorial, is available at the 24x7digital website.

Product [HappyHollidays!]

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Adobe has announced the immediate availability of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family. The update promises “... radical breakthroughs in workflow efficiency ...” and “... advances the creative process across print, Web, interactive, film, video and mobile.”

This launch is the largest in Adobe’s history, and includes brand new versions of Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, Fireworks CS4, Contribute CS4, After Effects CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Encore CS4, Soundbooth CS4 and Adobe OnLocation CS4.

Customers can choose from six new versions: Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Design Standard, Web Premium, Web Standard, Production Premium and Master Collection. The combination of Creative Suite and the new capabilities of Adobe Flash Player 10, also available today, deliver new levels of creativity and expressiveness across media channels. Designers using the Adobe Creative Suite 4 product family will gain unprecedented creative control using the new expressive features and visual performance improvements in Adobe Flash Player 10 to deliver breakthrough Web experiences across multiple browsers and operating systems.

For more information on Adobe CS4, check out the Applelinks preview.

Product [Adobe Creative Suite 4]

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Gary Coyne at Applelinks has written a rather in-depth overview of the recently announced Adobe Creative Suite 4. Gary has been working with the beta versions for some time now, and offers good insight as to what Mac users will love and…well, not love about the new package.

Pretty much each component of the various CS4 packages is covered, as Gary focuses offers an overview of the entire suite, then takes a quick look at each component to highlight a specific change or new feature. If you’re considering an upgrade (or are about to purchase the suite for the first time), this is certainly worth checking out.

Read [Applelinks]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Today, Adobe officially announced Creative Suite 4, better known as CS4. Part of that is the almighty Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended, both complete with a laundry list of new features and updates.

CS4 has been highly anticipated by many, myself included. I’ve been waiting for the next update to finally lay down the cash and own a piece of the monster that is Photoshop. Let’s see if my wait was worth it.

The upgrade brings with it features such as:

• Content-Aware Scaling - Size and rescale images intelligently with the drag of a mouse.
• Auto-align and Auto-blend - Make composites of images, including 360 degree panoramas with seamless color.
• Adobe Bridge CS4 - Finding, managing and previewing images has never been easier or more powerful. It starts up faster, transfers faster, has new Camera Import controls, better navigation, and a new Carousel View.
• GPU - Accelerate your performance with the help of the GPU in your machine. Probably one of the most anticipated features of Photoshop CS4.
• Other Features - This version is also said to have multitouch gesture support for those of you who have MacBook Airs or Pros (or, who knows—by October, maybe even a Macbook Touch or a Brick).
• Photoshop CS4 Extended - All of the features of the standard Photoshop CS4, plus the ability to manipulate in 3D. You can take models and surfaces, merge them with 2D files, and animate them in full 3D. The 3D engine has been rebuilt with performance in mind. Now, you can define a video zone within a 3D scene to play content.  Users can also paint directly onto 3D models.

It seems that my waiting has not been in vain.  CS4 really looks like it’s going to be amazing.

The Photoshop product family has experienced an unprecedented year, in which new products have been introduced and every existing product has been updated.

Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended will be available individually (for $699 and $999 respectively), or as part of a collection in the many flavors of CS4 (prices vary), and will ship in October. It pays to be a student, so check with your school’s software program; huge discounts can be had.

Product [Photoshop]

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Adobe Systems officially announced this morning the Creative Suite 4 product family. The CS4 programs will feature a new workflow and “hundreds of feature innovations,” including tighter integration with Flash technology across the entire product line. The updates will be seen across Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design editions, Creative Suite 4 Web editions, Creative Suite 4 Production Premium, Creative Suite 4 Master Collection, as well as 13 point products, 14 integrated technologies and seven services.

Some of the major applications receiving updates are Photoshop CS4, Photoshop CS4 Extended, InDesign CS4, Illustrator CS4, Flash CS4 Professional, Dreamweaver CS4, After Effects CS4, and Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.

From the release:

A simplified workflow in Adobe Creative Suite 4 enables users to design across media more efficiently by making it easier to complete common tasks and switch between mediums without leaving a project. InDesign CS4 includes a new Live Preflight tool that allows designers to catch production errors and a newly customizable Links panel to place files more efficiently. The revolutionary new Content-Aware Scaling tool in Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended automatically recomposes an image as it is resized, preserving vital areas as it adapts to new dimensions. An expanded version of Dynamic Link in CS4 Production Premium enables users to move content between After Effects CS4, Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, Soundbooth® CS4, and Encore® CS4, so updates can be seen instantly without rendering.

Adobe is also focusing on the suites 3D features, providing the ability to paint, composite, and animate 3D models using familiar tools. In addition, Flash CS4 now features items such as the ability to apply tweens to objects instead of keyframes, as well as a new Bones to help create more realistic animations between linked objects.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 the products it comprises will be available in october 2008. The estimated street price for Adobe CS 4 Design Premium will be US$1,799, US$1,699 for CS4 Web Premium, US$1,699 for CS4 Production Premium, and US$2,499 for Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection. Adobe plans to offer tiered upgrade pricing from previous versions, and, for a limited time, validly licensed customers of eligible versions of Adobe Creative Suite, Adobe Production Studio and Macromedia Studio will be able to upgrade to Creative Suite 4 for the CS3 upgrade price. To compare software/features of the different editions, visit the Adobe website.

Product [Adobe Creative Suite 4]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

That’s right, mark the calendar, because September 23, 2008, is when Adobe will unveil CS4 and announce its availability, according to Lee Brimelow, a platform evangelist at Adobe.

CS4 likely will not be available on September 23rd, but simply announced. Adobe will discuss when we can get our hands on the next generation of the Creativity Suite, though you can expect it to drop before the end of 2008, according to the common rumor. I’m pretty excited, because I think I’ll finally be taking the plunge and buying CS4. I’ve used Pixelmator for some time now, and love it, but I’d really like to use the full power of Photoshop.

Adobe will be broadcasting the unveiling online for those who are extra excited about this news.

You can register to view a special web broadcast that will take place on the 23rd. I highly recommend you check it out if you want to learn more. Get plenty of sleep now as you will have more new toys than you’ll know what to do with very soon.

Ah, I never manage to get much sleep anyway.

If you just can’t wait for the full version of CS4, check out Adobe Labs. They have made beta versions of Dreamweaver, Fireworks, and Soundbooth available.  It’s just something to hold you over until September 23rd.

Via [TheFlashBlog]

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Emmy Award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. has announced the launch of Toon Boom Studio 4.5 and its Toon Boom Studio Importer to Flash (TBSi). This latest version widens the animation possibilities by enabling users to create photo animation and live-action cartooning. Additional new features include a better integration with Photoshop files, extended ease of use, the ability to print, more export options to iTunes and YouTube as well as the import of Flip Boom and Animation-ish projects. TBSi lets users import Toon Boom Studio projects directly into Adobe Flash CS2 and CS3, resulting in a streamlined workflow for adding interactivity to their projects.

Studio 4.5’s feature highlights include:

• Live-action cartooning - Import video files and draw over them to create Roger Rabbit style live-action cartoon animation. Explore rotoscoping by tracing over live-action videos and create even more realistic animation.
• Animate photos in cut-out - Import photos and portraits to build a library of key poses which you can animate using cut-out techniques. The more facial expressions, the more interesting your animation!
• Photoshop layers are there too - Create multi-layer graphics in Adobe Photoshop and import them into Toon Boom Studio 4.5 preserving all layer information. Create some impressive camera moves and explore cut-out techniques.
• Import Flip Boom or Animation-ish files - Bring your Flip Boom and Animation-ish projects to the next level by adding sound, effects and camera moves in Toon Boom Studio 4.5.

Toon Boom Studio 4.5 retails for $399.99 US. Current customers owning Studio 3.5 and 4 can upgrade for $99.99 US.

Product [Toon Boom Studio 4.5]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Quark has announced that QuarkXPress 8, the next major release of the page-layout and design software, is now available. QuarkXPress 8 features a new interface developed for the creation of high-end page layout, and includes new features such as built-in print, Web and Flash authoring tools, advanced typography control, and global publishing capabilities. QuarkXPress 8 also offers an enhanced design experience so users can work faster and smarter by quickly and easily accessing the tools they need.

New features include:

• Flash and Web Authoring Tools: Without any programming skills, designers and creative professionals can share print content on the Web and in Flash format without purchasing multiple applications or learning code.
• Picture Content Tool: Allows users to grab, rotate, and scale images in real-time without typing in numbers or switching from tool to tool.
• Item Tool and Text Content Tool: Smart behavior within these tools allows for less switching between tools, even for rotation and managing multiple items.
• New Bézier Pen Tools: Draw illustrations directly in QuarkXPress 8 with the redefined Bézier Pen tool.
• Workspace Enhancements: Include new buttons for instant access to master pages and exporting to PDF, EPS, SWF, and HTML- plus new split-view buttons, enhanced contextual menus, and customizable active pasteboards.
• Measurements Palette: Further enhanced to make even more functions easily accessible, including new clickable controls for on-the-fly drop-shadow modification.
• Drag-and-Drop: Drag text and pictures from the desktop, Adobe Bridge, iPhoto, or any other application that supports drag and drop. Alternatively, drag content from QuarkXPress to Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft Word, and other applications for direct editing.

“We are excited to announce the broad availability of QuarkXPress 8. This new version of our flagship product raises the bar once again for page-layout and design,” said Terry Welty, Senior Vice President of corporate marketing for Quark. “QuarkXPress 8 offers users advanced features and functionality and increased productivity while maintaining familiarity for long-time users. I encourage everyone to try QuarkXPress 8 with our 60-day Test Drive version, or visit us at one of our Xperience Design Global Tour stops.”

A free, fully functional, 60-day Test Drive version is available from the Quark website.

QuarkXPress 8 is now available for purchase directly from Quark and through Quark Authorized Resellers. An upgrade to QuarkXPress 8 from any previous version is $299, and the full product can be purchased for $799. To purchase, visit the Quark Store or find your nearest authorized Quark reseller.

Product [QuarkXPress 8]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Today, Adobe announced that Lightroom 2, a major update to their photography workflow application, is now available. Lightroom 2 will cost you $299 (or only $99 for an upgrade), but it includes a lot of new features and improvements which make the price of the app seem fair.

The biggest news for Mac users is that Lightroom 2 is Adobe’s first native 64-bit app to run on Mac OS X. Some other things that are new in Lightroom 2:

• Libraries can now span hard drives
• Customizable print templates
• Smart Collections to automatically organize photos
• Much, much more

The Lightroom 2 Learning Center has a complete list of new and improved features in the new version of the app. To help Lightroom 1.0 users decide whether to upgrade, Adobe has also included a comparison of Lightroom 1 and Lightrooom 2.

Lightroom 2 requires users to run Mac OS X 10.4 or above with a 1 GHz G4 processor or better.

Via [Adobe], Read [John Nack on Adobe], Product [Lightroom 2]

Full Story » | Written by Patrick Lutz for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

IconFactory makes a great universal tool for designers called xScope — for people who constantly use this kind of tool, it’s a worthwhile investment. But, a new app now gives you similar functionality — for free. Rulers provides a subset of xScopes useful features in an easy-to-read format. Photoshop-style rulers appear at the side and top of your screen for accurate positioning, and the HUD gives precise cursor coordinates with a magnifying glass option.

Rulers also has the capability to take screenshots and auto-measure — similar to the “Dimensions” mode on xScope. You can quickly determine the size of anything on-screen by using this. When Rulers is the active application, holding Command+A will bring up the cross-hairs and measurement for the area surrounding the cursor.

This useful app, that delivers almost all the features and functionality of xScope is completely free. An excellent tool for those wanting to get into web design on a low budget. You can download it from Omnidea.

Via [TUAW] Product [ Rulers ]

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Emmy award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. today announced the release of Comic Boom, a comic creation application designed for the young. Generating a four-panel comic strip, Comic Boom enables users to create comics very quickly and share them on a blog or web site, and to save them as PDF or JPEG files.

Unlimited drawing placement allows everything from understanding text positioning and panel composition to fully printable “comic-page” strips.

The built-in clip art collection allows anyone to build panels in seconds. Add bubbles, captions and colors, then publish, print and share.

Comic Boom retails at $19.99 US and is available in electronic format only. Comic Boom runs on Windows Vista and XP, as well as Mac OS X v10.4 and v10.5.

Product [Comic Boom]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iPresentee is at it again with more Keynote additions. This time, they have rolled out their new theme package, Motion Themes 2.0. For only $25, you can get these five new themes which iPresentee has named Money, Rain, Exercise Book, Story and Curtain.  However, you can also buy them individually for $10 a piece. The product description reads, “Each Keynote Motion Theme comes with 14 or more master slide layouts and 1024x768 pixels in size moving background graphics. Keynote Motion Themes contains everything you will need to create unforgettable presentation.”

Keynote Motion Themes 2.0 is the second group of templates iPresentee is offering for Keynote as they are already selling Keynote Motion Themes 1.0. Both of these packages require iWork ‘08 to be installed, and they can all be purchased at once for a price of $50. iPresentee offers a slew of Keynote and iWeb templates, themes, and objects, so be sure to check them out if you you want to help make your next presentation more appealing.

Product Page [Keynote Motion Themes 2.0]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Lemke Software has announced the immediate availability of GraphicConverter 6.1.1, their image editing and conversion utility from way back. GraphicConverter is the ultimate tool for image editing, image browsing, metadata editing, slideshows, image conversion from more than 200 file formats, and much more. There was a time back in my layout/design days when Graphic Converter was necessary for survival. And although most image editing programs now accept a wider array of formats, GraphicConverter is as useful now as it was when it launched in the early 90s; perhaps even more so with it’s growing number of features.

Version 6.1.1 includes many bug fixes and little enhancements, and is a recommended update for all customers.

New Feature Highlights:

• Decoding of all images of mime attachments added (UB)
• Set label in operator added (UB)
• Sort by label and creation date option added to browser

Updated features:

• Drawing inside alpha channel added as option
• Calliper calibration supports shift for horizontal or vertical mode only
• Set rating does no longer rewrite the exif data
• Sort folders option added to catalog printing
• Saving icns saves the large 512x512 icons (UB)
• IPTC window in browser support unicode display (UB)

GraphicConverter supports German, English, French, Danish, Sweden, Italian, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Czech, Dutch, and Catalan languages.

Minimum Requirements:

• Mac OS 10.4.4 or later for the Universal Binary version
• Mac OS 10.1.5 or later for the X version
• Mac OS 8.6 - 9.2.2 for the Classic version
• 40 MB Hard Drive space

GraphicConverter 6.1.1 is a free update to registered users of GraphicConverter 6.0-6.1. New users may purchase the software for $34.95 USD directly from their website. A free trial version is available.

Product [GraphicConverter]

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iCalamus from invers Software, is officially v1.13. iCalamus is a desktop publishing application that can be used to create all kinds of media, from posters to books. One of the main updates in this new version—aside from the standard bug fixes—is that this app can now print Photographerbook books externally and import iPhoto documents as calendars. On top of this, iCalamus documents now support Quick Look, and the toolbar has been redesigned.  You can check out their highlights page for more information.

• Typeless frames (content defines frame type)
• Frame and vector shape object are identical (frame shape can be edited as vector object)
• Frame shape can be used for clipping
• All contents (text, images, graphics) can be output with stepless opacity

To find out more about this application, be sure to check out their videos and document samples. Some of the creations over on their site are pretty great looking. It seems like a nice app with plenty of features for creating beautiful, rich documents. Let us know how it is.

Product [iCalamus]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iWebTemplate has collaborated with Jumsoft to bring you a growing collection of 32 Apple iWeb templates. These templates are available to use in creating websites, blogs, and podcasts, complete with photos, movies, and music. The themes come with their own installer application, so you don’t have to worry about moving them to iWeb. Also, each theme contains numerous common page layouts, such as “Welcome,” “About Me,” “Photos,” “My Albums,” “Movie,” “Podcast” “Blog,” and “Blank.”

The new iWebTemplate.com Themes include:

• Flowered World
• Paradise
• Red Line
• Business
• Color Beauty
• Transparent Ribbon
• Simple Info
• Striped Paper
• Teddy
• Modern Daybill

iWebTamplate is particularly fond of their Modern Daybill theme, which they say, “... looks like two separate layered pieces of paper. The shadows of the first paper on the Web site create a real 3D look, so your information seems to be real and compelling. You can choose one of five colors for the first background to match the headlines of the main paper: beige, charcoal, blue flower, cherry, and black.”

Sounds nice, huh? If you’ve designed an iWeb site using iWebTemplate.com templates, let us know so we can send people there to show them how these look in use.

Product [iWebTemplate.com]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Chris Paveglio, the mastermind behind such products as PDF Bee and ID Font Catalog, has officially announced version 3.3 of his popular InDesign Image Catalog. 

InDesign Image Catalog is a tool used by people who need a coherent list or contact sheet made from images of theirs. Users can quickly create their catalogs, along with the ability to quickly input other information such as name, file path, and placement scale. 

v3.3 includes faster viewing of images, along with fixes for issues when running the program with Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard. Many other new preference setting have been added, such as limiting the number of images on a page, removing file paths and names from the catalog, and whether or not to use a document title.

The application requires any version of Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5, and supports either PowerPC or Intel Architecture. Adobe InDesign CS3 is also needed for operation. The update from versions 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2 is free, and new users can purchase v3.3 from Chris Paveglio’s website for USD $20.

Product [InDesign Image Catalog]

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

For those of you who want Spore, but are still running Tiger, we’ve got the fix for you. With some simple .plist editing, you can be on your way to making strange looking aliens in no time!

First, obtain the Creature Creator. Then, locate the download in the Finder. Once you have it, right-click on it and open “Show Package Contents.” When you have that open, open “Contents.” In this folder, locate Info.plist, and open it with any text editor. 

Once you have it open, find the following:

<key>MinimumSystemVersion</key>
<string>10.5.3</string>

And change that to:

<key>MinimumSystemVersion</key>
<string>10.4.11</string>

This should fix things, but keep in mind that Minimum System Versions are usually put in there for a reason. Doing this change may make you lose certain functionalities in the game. 

Now, if only there was something like this that would let me run Spore with half the VRAM needed. Damn MacBooks with their integrated graphics cards…

Via [Mac OS X Hints]

Full Story » | Written by Mark Rowland for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

iPresentee, a developer of add-ons for Apple’s iWork and iLife applications, has released free Keynote Objects, a package of images for Apple Keynote, iWeb and Pages. The package continas 100 easy to use Keynote Objects for decoration in iWeb websites, Keynote or PowerPoint presentations and Pages or Word documents.

All Keynote Objects contain background transparency, and can therefore be used on any colored background. Each image can be changed in size, rotated, increased or decreased in opacity, fitted with shadows or even overlapped with one another to create extra effects. 

Keynote Objects requires any Macintosh computer running Mac OS X with any version of Keynote, iWeb or Pages. They are also compatible with Microsoft PowerPoint and Word.

The kicker, of course, is that Keynote Objects is being offered free of charge. Samples and more information about Keynote Objects are available immediately at the iPresentee website

Product [Keynote Objects]

Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Aperture 2.1 has been given an Editor’s Choice Award for imaging software from PopPhoto.com. Just last year, Aperture received 2007 Imaging Software of the Year from this same website, so this isn’t Aperture’s first time in the limelight. One of the reasons the people over at PopPhoto chose this product was that it “...simply changed the way we work with digital photographs.” That’s quite a big statement to make about a piece of software. The article states, “Version 2.1 is faster overall, with RAW browsing accelerated by quick-loading JPEG previews and file export now operating in the background,” showing just another reason to love Aperture.

Despite all of these accolades, Aperture can still boast about “its biggest advance,” which is “the ability to host third-party plug-ins.” This was a highly claimed feature in v2.1 and Apple even added their own great plug-in: Dodge & Burn. Congratulations to Aperture and its development team on bringing the software so far and making it so good. Without you guys, our images would look like utter crap (well, some of us anyways).  Aperture will cost you $199.00, and there is a trial available.

Via [PopPhoto.com] Product [Aperture]

Full Story » | Written by Josh Holat for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

Quark, Inc. has announced that QuarkXPress 8, the next major release of QuarkXPress, will be available within the next two months. So, why point this out now? Because they want you to buy QuarkXPress 7 and get a free upgrade to v8 when it’s released. The incentive, of course, is to invite defectors back to take another look at what QuarkXPress has become. But would anyone who left be willing to buy a soon-to-be-outdated version before seeing reviews of the new version?

To their credit, Quark is promising a bit more than the standard update with QuarkXPress 8, focusing on “...making the page-layout and design experience easier, faster and fun.” They’ve done this by giving QuarkXPress 8 a “new, modern and intuitive interface with easier access to tools you use every day helping you work faster and design more with fewer clicks.”
Users will also find:

• Easy page layout with drag and drop
• Native Illustrator file import and illustration tools
• Built-in Flash authoring
• Global publishing capability

Now, if you’ve been putting off upgrading to QuarkXPress 7 or have been looking for the right time to leap over from InDesign, the free upgrade to v8 is an attractive offer. If something should go horribly wrong with v8, you’ve at least go v7 to fall back on (and it’s pretty solid in its own right). If v8 ends up being a winner straight out of the chute, you’re all set to go.

Product [QuarkXPress]

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Side Effects, developers of Houdini, have released a beta of their professional 3D software. The beta versions of the 9.5 release oare available for OS X, Windows and Linux. The beta marks the first release available for Mac OS X. The company says that Houdini “brings the 3D industry’s first node-based workflow to the Mac, ensuring that 3D artists can collaborate seamlessly in a multi-platform environment.” The professional 3D software has been used in such projects such as Spiderman 3 and Resident Evil: Extinction, notes TUAW.

From TUAW:

Houdini will come in four editions:

• a free Apprentice edition for learning the software, but that includes watermarks
• a non-watermarked Apprentice HD for $99
• Houdini Escape “with modeling, animation, characters, lighting, rendering and compositing” for $1995
• Houdini Master “with all of Escape’s features plus particles and integrated dynamics such as rigid bodies, wire, cloth and fluids” for $7995.

Users can download the Apprentice and Apprentice HD versions right now, with the other versions expected for release on July 15. Houdini is exclusive to 64-bit Leopard versions of the Mac OS.

Via [TUAW] Product [Houdini]

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Although it does have some simple and elegant themes right out of the box, iWeb probably isn’t being used for many business websites. iPresentee hopes to target businesses with five new iWeb themes: Office, Global, Money, Illusion and Papery. Each contains seven templates: Home, About Us, Services, Support, Clients, Contact Us, and a blank template. Personally, my favourites are Money and Global, though all can easily be customized without manually editing a line of code in iWeb.

Each of these themes has a different target approach, from emphasizing a firm’s business ambitions, to informing clients about a company’s services. The themes are available for $10 each, or $30 for all five.

Product [iPresentee]

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Looking for a powerful image editing solution but don’t want the hefty price tag? Well, Nolobe has just released a brand new image editor for your Mac, called Iris, which promises to do just that.

“Iris has been created for previously overlooked Mac owners who simply wanted an accessible and easy to use image program that provides professional results, without the professional price tag,” explained Matthew Drayton, founder and CEO of Nolobe.

Touted as “The ultimate image editor for Mac OS X,” Iris promises to provide a powerful, intuitive, easy-to-use solution for all of your image editing needs. Some of the main features of Iris include:

• One Window image editing which eliminates messy and confusing palettes
• Fully customizable paint settings, brushes and drawing tools
• Powerful color correction
• Support for a wide range of formats, including TIFF, PNG, JPEG, JPEG-2000, GIF, BMP, PICT, PSD, to name a few

You can download a trial of Iris completely free or purchase the program for just $79. Nolobe says that Iris runs “full speed on both Intel and PowerPC Macs.” Iris is exclusive to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Via [Macworld] Product [Iris 1.0]

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iPresentee is offering five new iWeb Themes that are geared towards small businesses. These themes include Office, Global, Illusion, Papery, and Money, and come in at only $30 for the entire package or $10 each. In order to use these themes, you need Apple’s iWeb 2.0 or installed. According to the product description, “Each iWeb Theme for Business has seven templates: Home, About Us, Services, Support, Clients, Contact Us and Blank. All themes can be adapted for developing personal website.” There are plenty of screenshots over at their site, and most of the themes look pretty well designed.

iPresentee also offers other iWeb templates as well as different Keynote stuff (animations, themes, 3D graphics, etc). They all look pretty cool, so be sure to check out their site. If you have bought or used any of their themes or anything else, let us know what you think about it.

Via [Macsimum News]

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Former Apple Senior Software Engineer Scott Kovatch, now Adobe’s Senior Computer Scientist, announced Tuesday at WWDC that he will be heading up a project within Adobe to help port Java SWT from Carbon to a Cocoa interface. Although work on the project has already started, Kovatch sated he will not join the group full time until mid-august. 

The Standard Widget Toolkit is a tool used to give Java applications native GUI for each supported platform. The Mac OS X version was written back when Carbon had a slight performance advantage over Cocoa, but that has changed, and support for 64-bit Carbon has been dropped entirely. In addition, according to this Mac OS X report, after 10.6 or 7, Mac OS will be entirely written in Cocoa Touch.

The Cocoa port of Java SWT is anticipated to be ready for the release of Eclipse 3.5 sometime in 2009, but nothing is official as of yet.

Via [Infinite Loop]

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Avenza Systems, a popular mapping plug-in developer for Photoshop, has announced the updated version of the well received Geographic Imager plug-in. This plug-in allows Photoshop users with the necessary tools to edit and work with maps and satellite images.  It provides users with the ability to import GeoTIFF images, automatically tile and mosaic images spatially, and find locations based on images.

Version 2.0 adds the GeoCrop tool, letting users crop images based on specific geographical coordinates. The upgrade is free for users who have a Maintenance Subscription from Avenza. For those who owned version 1.0 but don’t have the subscription, an upgrade is $319. For new users, the plug-in costs $699. The software runs on G5- or Intel-based Macs with Mac OS X 10.4 or later. Version 2.0 works with either Photoshop CS2 or CS3.

Via [Macworld]

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Extensis has announced its next generation server based font management system for Windows and Macintosh. The system is titled Universal Type Server (UTS), and is shipping on June 18th.

This program provides users with a new way to manage fonts and font metadata all on a server. UTS is designed to be used in IT and Design environments, and uses web based programs to distribute package based installers to specific clients from a single location.

“Font management is vital and necessary in our business, and the introduction of Universal Type Server has been one of the most anticipated software launches in the publishing industry,” said Ed Haynes, Customer Support Manager of Future Publishing in the U.K. “We have been working with the pre-release version of Universal Type Server for the past few months, and are convinced it will provide a solid foundation for centralised font management whilst offering easy-to-use functionality for our creative staff.”

UTS is based upon a SQL architecture, and thus runs as a background program for seamless and uninterrupted font management. Plug-ins provide direct support for many apps, including Adobe applications, InDesign, Illustrator, and QuarkXPress.

UTS Pro is priced at $1,800, which includes unlimited client connections for $165 per connection. UTS Lite is $1,395, with 10 client connections included in the price. You cannot have more then 10 connections with the Lite version. The program requires any version of Mac OS 10.4 or later, or any server version of Windows 2000 or later.  UTS will also work on XP XP2, but not Vista, surprisingly. 

Product [Extensis Universal Type Server] 

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As if the MacHeist Bundle wasn’t an amazingly good deal already, MacHeist has added two more great apps to the mix.  Those apps are Vector Designer from TweakerSoft and Sound Studio from Freeverse. These apps bring the total number of apps in the bundle up to a whopping 14, with the value now weighing in at almost $500. There is an almost 90% discount on the bundle, which sinks the price to a measly $49. To put the icing on the cake, the purchase of the bundle will also help your karma, as 25% of the profits are donated to a charity. The charities to which you can choose to donate to include Direct Relief International, Save Darfur, The Humane Society, Action Against Hunger, The Natural Conservancy, Save the Children, World Wildlife Foundation, Prevent Cancer Foundation, AIDS Research Alliance and the Alliance for Climate Protection.

Although Vector Designer is available in the Bundle now, Sound Studio will not be available until $50,000 has been donated to charity, which is about $15,000 away.

Via [Mac OS X Rumors]   

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For those with fledgling Apple lovers at home, put this in your iCal. The schedule for this summer’s Apple Camp has been announced by Apple. If you have a child between ages 8 and 12, be sure to snag one of the free (but limited) spaces for lessons on the creative aspects of a Mac, such as how to create a good Keynote presentation, how to capture, manage, and edit shots in iPhoto, how to make custom music in GarageBand, and videography tips with iMovie. 

Registration is open now, so be sure to claim a spot ASAP.  Sessions last three hours and include a shirt, field guide, DVDs and CDs of your child’s masterpieces, along with other goodies picked up during giveaways along the way. Register at Apple.

Via [TUAW]

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Want to learn how to properly use software that’s not yet available and could likely even be changed before it is? lynda.com is here to help, with new courses on the Adobe beta versions of Dreamweaver CS4, Fireworks CS4, and Soundbooth CS4. All visitors to the lynda.com Online Training Library can view these entire courses for free: Dreamweaver CS4 Beta New Features, Fireworks CS4 Beta New Features, and Soundbooth CS4 Beta New Features.

In Dreamweaver CS4 Beta New Features, James Williamson focuses on the improvements most beneficial to typical workflows, including the workspace manager and Live view, as well as the Spry AJAX framework, and integration with Photoshop. Jim Babbage, author of Fireworks CS4 Beta New Features, walks viewers through that application’s new interface and improved productivity features, such as enhanced vector tools, text rendering, and symbol editing. And in Soundbooth CS4 Beta New Features, Bruce Williams explores such improvements as the new multitrack environment as well as new beat detection and display features.

“lynda.com is honored to be Adobe’s in-the-box training provider for its upcoming software suite, which is why we’re able to publish training videos on these beta products as soon as Adobe releases them,” said Lynda Weinman, CEO of lynda.com. “These videos are great resources to learn the many new features in CS4 and to decide whether to upgrade, and we will continue publishing training on Adobe’s CS4 beta products for free to the public.”

If you use any of these products regularly and have a couple hours to kill (the training videos range from half an hour to two hours in length), or if you’re just curious about where Adobe is headed with CS4, head on over and check them out. I received a CS4 demonstration from Adobe yesterday, and trust me; you’ll want to see some of this.

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VectorDesigner, a “vector drawing application designed to be simple, intuitive and powerful to use,” has been updated to version 1.3.0, and offers rulers and slides along with the usual bug fixes. With a price tag of $69.95, VectorDesigner won a MacWorld Expo Best of Show award in 2008, and does allow you to download a trial version. This design tool can be used to make brochures, stickers, logos, or almost any other type of web design you can think of.  It also comes with advanced tools for performing geometric operations, and contains a built-in Flickr browser so you can search the web for textures and images from the VectorDesigner interface.

VectorDesigner supports Tiger, but it is recommended for use within Leopard on a computer that contains at least 512MB of RAM. It can import and export both PDF and EPS files, and the layers are powered by the Core Image and Quartz Composer technologies. Head on over to their site and watch some intro and tutorial videos to see if it’s for you. It looks like the developers have spent a lot of time on this app, so be sure to thank them and support further development if you’re interested!

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Okay, its official. 3G iPhone rumors have become a little too much. Asking “Will a 3G iPhone be released at WWDC?” is up there with the likes of “Does a bear use the restroom in the woods?” and “Is the Pope Catholic?”  In other words, yes. It will be there. I am willing to bet my first-born son on that (though you may be waiting a good 10 to 15 years for a payout should I be mistaken, but, as you may see above, I’m pretty darn sure I’m not). 

Now that I have stated how certain I am of 3G at WWDC, let’s start a new discussion. Other than the look and feel of the new iPhone, what will be changed in iPhone OS 2.0? Read on to hear my take on the subject.

1. iChat - This is one of the most disappointing app lacks from iPhone 1.0. Currently, you cannot enable any kind of AIM client without first Jailbreaking your iPhone—an act that voids your warranty and makes Steve mad. As you may know, it can get you banned for life from Apple stores. There will be some serious booage from the WWDC crowd should Apple not bring this one home.
2. Video Conferencing - A less anticipated feature than iChat, but important nonetheless. Many 3G iPhone rumors have speculated that there will be a a camera not only on the backside, but on the front, as well. This could add an interesting aspect to an already loved product. It’s hard to tell whether this possible feature would appeal more to the intrepid on-the-go business man or the kid-at-heart (or just the kid) who wants to share LOLCats pictures with their friends.
3. Blogging App - Another possible great app for the iPhone. I think this app would be good if there was a partnership between Apple and one of the major blog hosts, such as Blogsmith or Blogger.
4. Digital Video Capabilities - Another missed feature in iPhone 1.0. I think an app like this would be well received. Almost all cameraphones, and not just the smartphones, have this capability. Come on, Steve. You guys are supposed to outperform destroy the competition.

Just imagine collective “Huh?” at WWDC if Steve made the special point of saying no 3G iPhone. Now that would be a disappointment of Vista proportions.

Any thing I missed here? Anything you want to see in iPhone 2.0? Let your voice be heard in the comments below!

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Slideshow Magic 5 from Koingo Software has been upgraded to version 5.0 and works on both Macs and PCs.  This application allows you to make a slideshow with your pictures and then export that slideshow in a Quicktime compatible movie format.  You can also add audio tracks and pick from hundreds of visual effects to put into your presentation.  A single user license of the application will cost you $19.95 and there is a 15 day trial available.  However, if you purchased Slideshow Magic 4 after November 21st, 2007, this will be a free upgrade.

According to the product description, “One of the most powerful features of Slideshow magic is its universality. Using the latest in multimedia technology, your compiled video has the ability to be uploaded to the web, shared with users on other platforms, and even burnt onto a DVD!” This sounds like a great application for making slideshows and has all the features you would want or need.  If you use this app, let us know how it is!

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