AKVIS has introduced a new version of one of its photo effects apps, Sketch 10. The software converts photos into simulated watercolors and pencil drawings. The upgrade provides a new effects tool called Stroke Direction, which offers control over hatch direction and enhances realism. Three new presets have also been added, along with support for Snow Leopard and Windows 7.
In brief: To help U.S college and graduate students dealing with heavy educational-based costs, Microsoft's MacBU has announced a special deal for the Office 2008 for Mac, dropping the price by over 70 percent. Office 2008 Business Edition provides a series of different applications to help support all areas of education, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Entourage 2008, and Document Connection for Mac with SharePoint support.
Ringce has announced the final release of Slammer, a layout and geometry utility for Mac OS X. Designed for both graphic designers and app developers, the layout tool can be used for creating blueprints, customizing borders and size presets, or saving and exporting templates. Version 1.0 includes improvements to the Unibody theme and introduces customizable themes, enabling users to alter the six built-in themes or create new ones. Layout templates can be exported to JSON format, helping to integrate Slammer creations with other apps.
MacNN has reviewed Photo Mechanic, a professional photo browser that offers options for renaming, captioning and geocoding groups of photos. Photos can also be rotated, watermarked and given new metadata, as well as saved to backup. When browsing, images can be displayed in a contact sheet or else zoomed in for detail.
Just About Managing has announced SimCap 1.0, an iPhone Simulator screencapture utility. The title is designed for developers creating App Store images, or else professional demonstration videos. Extended sequences of stills can be captured, aiding with action shots. When recording video, users can choose whether or not to display cursors or gestures.
onOne has published Photo Essentials 3, an updated version of its extension for Photoshop Elements. The add-on attempts to simplify certain tasks in Adobe's software, such as color correction, framing, enlargements and background removal. The latest edition introduces Make It Cool, a module which applies effects from a list of over 40, including sepia toning and simulated HDR (high dynamic range).
KeynotePro has announced Copenhagen for Keynote ’09, a new set of master slides featuring themes designed for presentations or business-related projects. The package contains 27 master slides, consisting of a mix of narrative and image-driven styles, as well as a gallery of Copenhagen slides. Users can choose from three different versions including the Standard Edition, the Pro Edition, and the Copenhagen EP Edition.
iPresentee has launched Keynote Motion Themes 8.0, an updated graphics collection for Apple’s Keynote software. Each theme provides an animated background, and includes up to 22 different layouts. With the expansion the collection now contains more than 100 themes, which can be used in anything from business presentations to seminars or school lectures.
Recosoft has launched a new PDF converter for Apple's iWork suite, PDF2Office for iWork v1.0. The software attempts to restore layouts in its conversion process, recreating paragraphs and tables. It can also regroup independent graphic elements. Users have access to preset conversion options and font mappings, but can also make fine adjustments as necessary.
ABBYY has announced that FineReader Express Edition for Mac now supports Snow Leopard. The program is an optical character recognition (OCR) tool, which converts scans and camera images into various files such as XLS spreadsheets, PDF documents and HTML pages. It automatically detects tables and reconstructs them, also providing tools for editing the end result.
Yesterday's Mac OS X 10.6.2 update has also solved some problems related to Photoshop, says Adobe product manager John Nack. The fixes are noted to have been tested with help from Apple, and target problems such as application crashes when opening or saving files. Similarly, crashes and program errors should no longer occur when using the Menlo font, in Premiere as well as in Photoshop.
Following the release of Vue 8 Infinite and xStream this week, e-on is now shipping the rest of its Vue 8 animation utilities including Frontier, Pioneer, Esprit, Studio, and Complete. Frontier provides tools for creating scenic nature and Poser character rendering. The software supports any static Poser model and allows users to render the models using the native shading trees of Poser. A free version of SkinVue is included for enhancing skin realism.
e-on has launched Vue 8 Infinite and Vue 8 xStream, new editions of its environmental rendering software. The updates were announced in mid-October, and deliver a series of new features for 3D terrain sculpting, plus increased xStream integration for improved workflow with various CG programs. The apps also include a new shader-based OpenGL preview engine -- improving real-time performance and preview accuracy -- plus enhancements to the quality and realism of atmospheric shadows, clouds and "god" rays.
Following a seven-year development delay, Strider Software has released a Mac OS X version of TypeStyler. The software generates text using a variety of different shapes and layouts. It newly supports both PowerPC and Intel Macs, along with Mac OS X Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. Similarly, modern technologies such as Quartz, Core Image, OpenGL, Unicode and QuickTime have been integrated.
Toon Boom Animation has launched a new animation title, Flip Boom All-Star, aimed at teens and older users. The software can import digital images and provides drag-and-drop drawings that are ready to be added to animations. It supports text entry and handles MP3 audio files. Animations can be uploaded to portals such as Facebook and YouTube, or transferred to an iPod or iPhone.
Easypano says it has launched a Mac version of Panorama2Flash. The software batch-publishes images as Flash panoramas, viewable in a fullscreen mode. Easypano claims one-click publishing, and the ability to add top and bottom images. Users can also customize pan, tilt and FOV values for Flash output, along with rotation speed and scene quality.
Jumsoft has announced Keynote Objects FX 4.0, an update to its 3D image collection for Apple’s iWork suite. The upgrade brings the total number of objects up to 150, covering items ranging from classic furniture to gift boxes. The 50 new ones are geared towards sports and leisure. Each image is optimized for Keynote presentation use, at a resolution of 1024x768.
Unity Technologies has launched Unity 2.6, a new version of its 3D creation tool for designing iPhone games. The upgrade offers a variety of enhanced graphical features such as improved shadow map rendering, anti-aliasing, and integration of ambient occlusion. It provides users with a profile maker that displays where computer resources are being sent or what scripts are currently running, as well as a hierarchical CPU-usage data. Additional support has been added for Visual Studio and Utility Pro, enabling use with Subversion, Perforce and Bazaar apps.
Telestream has released an update to its ScreenFlow screencasting software for Mac. Version 2 allows users to upload content directly to YouTube, with support for both SD and HD resolutions. The company has also added a variety of new 2D and 3D transitions, along with expanded control over editing, video speed, audio levels, keyboard shortcuts and document packages.
Andrei Doubrovski has released an enhancement patch, Elements+ 1.0, for Adobe's Photoshop Elements 8.0 software. The patch unlocks a number of advanced functions and makes them available in dedicated dialog boxes. The kit adds eight dialog boxes, including color and tone, selections, layers, masks, smart filters, paths, test and scripts. The scripts dialog box provides many features of the actions palate from the full Photoshop application.
DTP Tools has announced a public beta of the Blatner Tools suite, a set of 12 InDesign plug-ins designed for functions such as automatically applying paragraph styles or locating colors within placed graphics. The plug-ins feature over 100 new features and provide tools for controlling text, comparing paragraph styles, or applying keyboard shortcuts to layers, styles or color swatches. For keeping track of changes, it includes a lite version of the company’s History plug-in which displays a panel listing of all past actions.
Extensis has released v2.1 of Universal Type Server, the company's font management software. Users can centrally control libraries and permissions, determining which fonts are used and by whom. The program also auto-activates fonts for Adobe and Quark utilities, while checking for corruption issues.
Jumsoft has released an update to its collection of images, Pages Clipart, designed to illustrate everything from presentations to web pages. The package delivers 500 images to choose from, 200 of which are new to v5. Features include transparent image backgrounds and PDF formatting, allowing users to place images on top of different colors or patterns and resize images without effecting quality.
NVIDIA has teamed with a rendering technology company, mental images, to introduce the RealityServer platform for cloud computing. The technology integrates GPUs and software capable of supporting 3D web-based applications for consumers and enterprise users.
Noise Industries has introduced several new plug-ins that have been added to the FxFactory suite for Final Cut Pro, Motion, Final Cut Express and Adobe After Effects. nVeil is a tool developed by Storek Studio for creating motion and still graphics. Users can build animations by filtering source imagery through vector graphics art based on the SVG format.
MacNN has reviewed Photoshop.com Mobile, a free Adobe application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app ties into the company's Photoshop.com website, but lets users make a variety of offline edits. These include the addition of filters, and adjustments to elements like hue, exposure and saturation.
Laughingbird Software has launched Business Card Creator, a new app for developing logos and creating modifiable business cards, postcards or letterhead templates. The program includes over 95 matching templates, with customization options for scaling, rotation, colors or adding new text and images.
Adobe is experimenting with several new technologies which could appear in Photoshop CS5, a new video suggests. Among these is the concept of "wet" paint, which can be smeared across a surface like its real-world counterpart. The paint dries and tapers off after a certain distance, and can also be blended with other paint in order to create new colors.
Solibri and AutoDesSys have each announced 3D modeling software updates, Solibri Model Checker 5.1 and Bonzai3D 2.0. The Solibri program helps to improve design quality by checking for compliance with owner specifications, and managing any identified issues. The v5.1 update provides new tools for spatial coordination, and extended support for open standards. Users can import DWG and IFC files, which can be run in the full range of model-checking functions.
MacNN has reviewed the latest edition of PDFpen, an editor that serves as an alternative to more expensive tools from the likes of Adobe. The software provides mostly basic functions, such as text insertion, notes and signatures, and various forms of image manipulation including line illustrations. Pages can also be reorganized as needed before printing.
Syncro Soft has released updates to Oxygen XML Editor and XML Author, bringing the versions of both to 11. Editor provides tools for creating basic XML code, as well as handling XML Schema languages and multiple forms of debugging. Author meanwhile contains only the relevant authoring features of XML Editor, and is now available as a standalone app as opposed to simply part of the Oxygen software.
The Abvent Group has released Artlantis 3, a major update to the company's rendering software for architects, designers and planners. The suite uses a new layer structure, with scene, object, plant, lamp, animated object and billboard layers, as well as support for custom ones. Other new options include importing layers from ArchiCAD, or designating a layer as an automatic destination for a particular type of media.
The independently-developed Cheetah3D modeling and animation suite has been updated to v5.0, bringing a series of major changes. Among these is a new node-based material system, which allows for drag-and-drop creation of material effects using various procedural textures and shaders. The raytracing engine has been improved to support 16 cores, and a new collection of preset materials has been added.
Jumsoft has launched a new collection of Keynote animations, Keynote Animations FX 7.0. The set contains over 100 animated images for Apple's presentation software, including 30 unique to v7.0. The art has been deliberately stripped of any backgrounds, and it is said to work with blends, overlays and underlays, also offering easy repositioning.
Adobe has uncovered plans for AIR 2.0, an update to its Flash-based, cross-platform runtime environment, used in software like TweetDeck and the New York Times Reader. The v2.0 runtime will add support for accessing mass storage devices, for instance allowing a camera to transfer photos to a computer, or indirectly upload photos to a website. A new native process API will similarly let AIR apps communicate with regular desktop software, calling up extra functions when needed.
Research and development company Eolas Technologies has filed a lawsuit against over a dozen companies, including major technology businesses such as Apple, Adobe, Amazon, Google, eBay and Sun. Eolas accuses the companies of violating two US patents, 5,838,906 and 7,599,985; the broadest of these is the first, which allegedly covers all "fully-interactive" embedded web applications. The second is an extension, specifically covering embedded apps using plug-in and AJAX (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) code.
Adobe at its MAX show launched Flash 10.1, a major update to its plugin that promises video on devices that normally haven't been capable. The release adds hardware graphics acceleration on computers and should make HD Flash video possible on netbooks and ultraportables and standard definition possible on smartphones. NVIDIA already promises that its GeForce, Ion and Tegra chipsets will speed up the Flash update when available.
Keynote Pro has introduced its latest presentation theme, Warp Series: Elevation for Keynote '09. The theme is built entirely with native shapes and image placeholders, allowing users to change the colors of the background, panels, strokes and accents on the master slides. It uses 34 masters in total, each with slightly different background and content areas.
XtraLean has announced its latest file searching and sharing tool, DataLore, that utilizes both Spotlight and Bonjour technology. The app enables users to access and browse a variety of content both on their own computer and other systems connected to a network. It uses search-as-you-type technology, along with filters that allow users to search by file types. DataLore also comes with customizable search features, enabling specific folders to be selected or deselected when trying to find an item.
Several beta, 64-bit Cocoa versions of Vue 8 should be released by early 2010, says developer e-on. Vue is used to generate and render realistic 3D environments, and is primarily divided into Infinite and xStream editions. Both should be updated to v8 in the fourth quarter of 2009, but only as 32-bit applications, limiting their top-end performance. Some multiprocessor improvements are said to be possible when using Mac OS X Snow Leopard.
Noise Industries has announced a new LiveToon plug-in, from its development partner DVShade, designed to increase the visual effects capabilities for Final Cut, Motion and After Effects. The latest plug-in is geared for creating and editing professional-looking cartoon, graphic novel, or sketch effects that can be added to footage. It includes over 10 integrated presets and provides a series of parameters such as posterization, saturation and cartoon edge lines.
NVIDIA has announced that a public beta release of the PGI CUDA-enabled Fortran compiler is now available for download. The compiler was developed by NVIDIA and the Portland Group, and is billed as the first Fortran compiler that works with CUDA-enabled GPUs. The compiler translates the Fortran programming language into binary code that CUDA GPUs can interpret.
SmileOnMyMac has released an upgrade to its PDF editing tool with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology, PDFpen 4.5. The latest version integrates Nuance Communication’s OmniPage 15.5 OCR engine, delivering improved accuracy when performing OCR on scanned documents. Other changes include the ability to scan directly into PDFpen from either Image Capture or TWAIN scanners when using a Mac OS X 10.6 operating system, along with a new text-highlighting function which enables simultaneous selecting and highlighting of text within a single action.
Strata has released an update to Foto 3D, its software for creating 3D models from images. CX 2 adds the ability to take image sets from video, along with other sources such as aerial photographs or extremely large files. Primary features can now be marked with 'pins,' while smaller objects can be placed on a printable template for improved automation.
Adobe on Wednesday morning announced Adobe Photoshop Elements 8 (Mac and Windows versions), offering automated and "intelligent" photo-editing software for consumers. Billed by the company as "the perfect" complement to iPhoto, the Mac version of the software offers new options for media management, including all the features in Adobe Bridge CS4 software -- for quick organization with a custom viewing workspace and full-screen preview with one-click close-ups as well as keyword tags and a variety of search options.
Digital Heaven has launched an update to its Final Cut Pro graphics automation software, releasing AutoMotion 1.6. The software works in conjunction with Final Cut's Motion automating both the production and management of multiple graphics: it merges Motion templates with user text data and handles revisions with live previews support for changing multiple graphics from one action.
Google has updated its modeling software, releasing SketchUp 7.1. The 3D modeling software is based on an edges-and-faces approach, where faces are 2D objects formed by edges, which are lines or boundaries. Two-dimensional formations can be push-pulled by a mouse into 3D formations, with AutoCAD and 3ds Max support in the Pro version.
Color specialist Pantone has released a new iPhone app, which allows designers to thumb through color swatches and create palettes that can be used in most creative applications. myPANTONE also allows users to extract colors from photos taken with the iPhone's camera, to design complementary palettes.
Nemetschek North America has introduced the latest version of its CAD software, Vectorworks 2010. The company has made improvements including new architectural, landscaping, and entertainment design tools; enhanced rendering; simpler 2D functions; and a unified 3D modeling environment.
Mapdiva has launched Ortelius, a vector-based map-illustrating software release. It includes cartography tools and vector-based styles and symbols and uses a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) approach to design. Designers have access to Ortelius' royalty-free vector map templates, can add GIS Shapefiles and can add labels to maps with background information support and flexible font, size, alignment, and color. There are more than 20 tools for drawing, selecting and navigating in the new cartography software.
