Design Applications For Mac
By on June 17, 2008 in Last year the most successful post on this blog was 45 Best Freeware Design Programs on PC – a hand-picked list of free design programs for the PC. Now the time has come for MAC fans.
The funny thing is, before starting, I thought “Well, maybe the options won’t be as prolific, since Mac has a smaller piece of the market share cake.” But I was pleasantly surprised–the scene for free design applications for Macs is as interesting as the PCs. Maybe not as big, but just as varied and of good quality.
Indeed, you will find at least one excellent option for many designs fields. There’s Maya for 3D animation, Archicad for Building modeling, or GIMP and Inkspace for bitmap and vector editing.
Definitely worth checking out. Sure, it’s not going to be the Adobe Creative Suite Killer but I am quite sure you will find some pearls out there. Animation Lego Digital Designer With this free Digital Designer software you can build absolutely anything using virtual Lego bricks right on your computer. Then you can buy the real bricks to build your creation online in Lego Factory, or you can print out an inventory of bricks and take it to any Legoland theme park or Lego Store. The latest version of LDD is 1.5 This version has increased stability and fixes a number of small bugs from version 1.4. New in Version 2: Improved building experience, quicker brick selection, easier to connect bricks when building, new brick palette tool, more bricks, partly built models for easy start, new backgrounds, new UI, and more. Autodesk Maya Personal Learning Edition (OS X) 8.5 Maya Personal Learning Edition (PLE) is a special version of Autodesk® Maya® software, which provides free access to Maya for non-commercial use.
It gives 3D graphics and animation students, industry professionals, and those interested in breaking into the world of computer graphics an opportunity to explore most aspects of the award-winning Autodesk® Maya® Complete software in a non-commercial capacity. The Maya Personal Learning Edition software is available for 32-bit Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional and Apple® Mac OS® X (for Macintosh Power PC or Intel-based Macintosh computers) operating systems. Autodesk Maya PLE is based on Autodesk Maya 8.5. Overview Graphisoft ArchiCAD 11 The ArchiCAD educational version is a fully-functional copy of the commercial version, with the only exception being that it prints a watermark-style logo onto all ArchiCAD project files created or opened with the ArchiCAD student version. You, as a student, will have at your fingertips the very same modeling solution – ArchiCAD – that you will encounter after graduation, used on the job, out there in the real, competitive market by great architects who have built their reputations with it.
So, take a moment to read detailed description of ArchiCAD 11, to be clear just how this design tool can transform your approach to building modeling for a fun, satisfying and successful architectural career. Overview Authoring Tools Simple CSS 2 Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a way to specify the styles of fonts and other page elements on your site. It makes it easier for you to update styles too, because when done right, you only need to make a change to one file, the CSS file, to update the styles on multiple pages and elements. Another bonus is that your visitor’s browser needs to load less data per page, helping you reduce your data transfer usage while serving the same information. That means you’ll be able to accommodate more site visitors without having to spend more on data transfer. Your pages will also load faster. To help you work with CSS, we’ve found a tool called Simple CSS, which runs on Macs, Windows and Linux.
Simple CSS allows you to create cascading style sheets from scratch, and/or modify existing ones, using a familiar point-and-click interface. Version 2.0 includes faster WYSIWYG previews.
Version 2.0 includes faster WYSIWYG preview Blender (PowerPC) 2.46 Blender is the open-source software for 3D modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, interactive creation and playback. It is available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License.
Version 2.44 offers numerous bug fixes. Version 2.46 includes cloth and fur simulation, physics caching and baking, shading, glossy reflection and refraction, raytraced soft shadows, improved rendering features, and more. Scribus v1.3.3.11 Scribus is an open-source program that brings award-winning professional page layout to Linux/Unix, MacOS X, OS/2 and Windows desktops with a combination of “press-ready” output and new approaches to page layout.
Underneath the modern and user friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation. Colorate 1.1 Colorate is a utility for creation of harmonized color palettes and color schemes, aimed at everyone from hobbyists to professional designers. Colorate fully automatizes the palette generation from a particular color swatch, selected from the standard Color Panel, dragged from other applications, or obtained from an image through the integrated Image Analyze feature.
Overview Download Front End Digital Media WorkShop 2.0 Front End Digital Media Workshop harnesses the power of QuickTime to bring you powerful batch-based conversion of sound, video, and image files. Resize, resample, join, split, trim, basic edits, and selective conversions via marked I/O points are some of the tools. All in an environment that provides powerful play back features including variable speed, slow motion, full screen playback and video to image frame capture. Batch lists can be saved and also used as playlists. Some of the dozens of supported formats include: MP4, MOV, AIFF, 3GP, 3GP2, WAV, AU, AVI (basic codecs), JPEG, PICT, PNG, PSD, BMP, and TIFF.
QuickTime video filters and effects are also available. HyperEngine-AV 1.5 Multimedia authoring software for capturing, editing, organizing, processing, and exporting video, audio, and text to create DVD quality movies and slide shows. Features a groundbreaking “trackless” workspace that allows the free manipulation of an unlimited number of video, audio, stills, and text tracks. Editable transitions are created automatically when video clips are dragged on top of each other. The full palette of QuickTime effects is available.
HyperEngine-AV comes with twelve studio-quality effects from Arboretum’s Hyperprism suite of audio processors. More can be added by purchasing a license, including Ray Gun for cleaning up scratchy vinyl, tape hiss, and hum. HyperEngine-AV also offers text features to display credits, section titles, or karaoke lyrics with fully editable font, size, type, color, style, alignment, and scroll direction. HyperEngine-AV is for both novice digital moviemakers and professionals alike. Overview & Download Illustration DAZ Studio 2.2.2.15 DAZ Studio is a feature rich 3D figure posing and animation tool that enables users of any skill level to easily create stunning digital imagery. Whether you’re a 3D newbie or an avid 3D artist, you’ll find DAZ Studio is the perfect tool for designing unique digital art and animation with virtual people, animals, props, vehicles, backgrounds and more.
Experience total creative freedom with DAZ Studio and express yourself in 3D like never before. Overview Bryce 5.5 Create breathtaking realistic 3D landscapes and animations with DAZ 3D Bryce 5.5.
The easy user interface simplifies the design process for a novice or the seasoned professional. Start out building or importing a landscape as impressive as the Grand Canyon.
Populate it with buildings, people or any other object you create or from the extensive DAZ 3D library. The Light Lab provides you robust control over your sunsets, moonlight nights or high-noon ambiance.
Tree Lab allows you to plant your landscape like the gardens of Versailles. You’ll have to register your copy of Bryce 5.5 on the publishers web-site to gain access to your free Bryce serial number.
Google SketchUp 6 Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create, export and present 3D models. Whether you want to design a new deck for your house, build models for Google Earth, or teach geometry to your fifth-graders, you can use SketchUp to see your ideas in 3D. And when you’re done, you can export an image, make a movie or print out a view of what you made. POV-Ray POV-Ray is a three-dimensional ray tracing engine.
It takes information you supply and simulates the way light interacts with the objects you’ve defined, creating stunning 3D pictures. Gnuplot 4 Gnuplot is a portable command-line driven interactive data and function plotting utility for UNIX, IBM OS/2, MS Windows, DOS, Macintosh, VMS, Atari and many other platforms. It was originally intended as to allow scientists and students to visualize mathematical functions and data.
It does this job pretty well, but has grown to support many non-interactive uses, including web scripting and integration as a plotting engine for third-party applications like Octave. Gnuplot supports many different types of terminals: interactive screen terminals (with mouse and hotkey functionality), pen plotters (like hpgl), printers (including postscript and many color devices), and printings to output file as vectorial pseudo-devices like LaTeX, metafont, pdf, svg, or bitmap png. Gnuplot is easily extensible to include new devices. Comipro Plus 4.0.2 Comipro Plus is a cartoon production software. You can produce the cartoon work with the kind of feeling which compiles the document with the word processor as the material using the picture and the photograph. Version 4.0.20 may include unspecified updates, enhancements, or bug fixes. Scratch Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.
Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design. iPhoto 4.0.3 Whether you have twenty or twenty thousand digital photos, iPhoto 4 keeps track of them all, automatically organizing them so you can find them fast. Lightning fast. Easy to use, iPhoto puts you in charge of your photographs–helping you import them, organize them into albums, enhance their appearance, as well as, share them in print, via email, over the web and in stunning coffee-table books. This update addresses several issues with using multiple text rules in Smart Albums and it also eliminates some problems with creating iPhoto books in the German and Dutch languages. Additionally, 4.0.3 keeps users informed about new version of iPhoto that have become available.
NIH Image 1.62 NIH Image can acquire, display, edit, enhance, analyze, and animate images. It reads and writes TIFF, PICT, PICS, and MacPaint files, providing compatibility with many applications, including programs for scanning, processing, editing, publishing, and analyzing images. NIH Image supports many standard image-processing functions, such as contrast enhancement, density profiling, smoothing, sharpening, edge detection, median filtering, and spatial convolution with user-defined kernels. NIH Image can be used to measure area, mean, centroid, and perimeter. It also performs automated particle analysis and provides tools for measuring path lengths and angles. Spatial calibration is supported to provide real-world area and length measurements. Version 1.62 fixes bugs and improves compatibility with PowerPC machines.
Goldberg 2.3.2 Goldberg is a freeware image and movie viewer with image-editing capabilities and support for applying QuickTime and other effects. It offers rotation capabilities, free zooming, and undo support. Version 2.3.2 fixes a problem with reading multilayer image files as Photoshop documents. It also fixes a problem with corrupted Preferences files, and the PDF item in the pop-up format in the export dialog box has been removed. Image Tricks 2.3.3 Image Tricks is an image editing application that allows you to easily edit and apply various effects and filters to your photos and images.
This program allows modification of around 50 core image effects and filters, import over 20 image formats (TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PDF, EPS among them), export to TIFF, JPEG, PNG, and GIF formats, resize images, and iPhoto integration. Inkscape 0.45 Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping.
Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats. Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards.
We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development process, and by making sure Inkcape is easy to learn, to use, and to extend. GIMP 2.4 GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed program for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring. It has many capabilities. It can be used as a simple paint program, an expert quality photo retouching program, an online batch processing system, a mass production image renderer, an image format converter, etc.
GIMP is expandable and extensible. It is designed to be augmented with plug-ins and extensions to do just about anything. The advanced scripting interface allows everything from the simplest task to the most complex image manipulation procedures to be easily scripted. GIMP is written and developed under X11 on UNIX platforms. But basically the same code also runs on MS Windows and Overview Downloads There are various ways to obtain and install GIMP for your Macintosh. In addition to the source code distribution here on www.gimp.org, there are various alternative sources for packaged and even commercially distributed CDs, which aim to make installation and setup an easier task. These include:.
MacGimp. iFastViewer iFastViewer is an easy and fast viewer for your pictures with optimized interface. It allows to select photos “on-the-fly” and locate them in the Finder (with move, copy, and delete options).
The program code is also available under General Public Licence. Media Management JAlbum 8.0 JAlbum allows you to create nice-looking photo galleries for the Web.
You simply select or drag and drop folders containing images or movie files onto JAlbum, and it creates thumbnails and HTML pages to publish your images as a gallery or as a picture slide show. The galleries are based on various templates, and their appearance can be further customized by advanced users. The application’s additional features include support for IPTC/EXIF data, style sheets, lossless image manipulation, pluggable image filters, and a built-in FTP/SFTP client.
Version 8 adds full drag and drop support, image-editing tools, faster image scaling, and many other new features and fixes. Overview Donate.
SketchUp If you've never used a design app or 3D-modelling tool before, fear not. Makes the entire process simple. Using a range of tools, draw the shapes you want and then drag them out to create 3D objects. Ideal for decoration planning, basic design work or providing mockups of home improvements, SketchUp is the ultimate design tool for beginners.
As well as creating designs for your home or office, you can create 3D models and add them to Google Maps. Once you've installed SketchUp you're guaranteed to spend hours playing with the infinite possibilities it affords. OpenOffice So you need an office suite that can handle spreadsheets, word processing, design and presentations.
Do you go for Apple's iWork or Microsoft's Office? Both cost at least £50 and offer many pros and cons. Or you could opt for that costs well, nothing.
Unbelievably, OpenOffice is a complete set of office tools compatible with most formats of office file and available for Mac that won't cost you a penny. Ideal for students, home users or businesses not ready to take the plunge on a full site licence for commercial software, Open-Office is a great alternative to iWork and Office. GIMP GNU Image Manipulation Program. That's the official title of this app, which makes you realise why the creators opted for as the name for this powerful graphics suite. It's like Photoshop for free, and is a true labour of love for its developers who have carefully crafted it over time to produce one of the most fully featured pieces of free software available for Mac OS X. Whether you want to retouch photos, create graphic designs or experiment with 3D, GIMP offers it all and more.
Before you fork out for an expensive graphics app, spare the time for this 78MB powerhouse to download. Audacity While GarageBand handles the creative aspects of Mac audio-editing, is a free option for recording, editing and adjusting audio files. If you want to quickly split an MP3, convert the format of an audio file or digitise tape or records, Audacity is really easy to use and it's also capable of a number of additional tricks too. If you are after more advanced techniques, Audacity can even offer tools to speed up and slow down audio, work with multiple tracks at once and clean up audio files with a variety of effects. Those who are serious about their audio editing can even add VST plug-ins to Audacity, in order to further enhance its already brilliant feature set. Considering the fact it's a free application, Audacity offers some very professional tools and is an ideal choice for those who need a fast and effective editing option when GarageBand isn't the best solution. SketchBox There are built-in Sticky Notes in Mac OS X but they don't offer nearly as many features as those found in.
This app's simple interface allows you to create multiple notes, sketch on them with a pen, add text and even set alarms for individual sticky notes. The main screen shows all of your available notes and, if you wish, you can even build storyboards from sketches you have drawn. The app is free but is no longer updated by the developer.
It is also known to have incompatibilities with Snow Leopard, however we're yet to find any. We've found SketchBox to be a great way of jotting down our creative ideas – it's small and lightweight, so you don't have to wait ages for it to load and risk losing that precious moment of inspiration. Being able to do a quick sketch and add text at the same time is the digital equivalent of jotting things down on a table napkin – the traditional first step of every great idea in the world! 's intent is to produce the opposite emotion to its name, when used correctly.
Working with Mail to-do lists and your iCal schedule, Anxiety provides a small floating window for you to quickly add reminders to and check off when you're done. These are then added to your Mail and iCal lists so you can access them on all of your synced devices and cross them off as you go. One of the main advantages of Anxiety is that unlike many list managers, it's very lightweight. Easier than a sticky note and far more accessible, Anxiety shrinks into the background when not in use. So why is this app in the Creativity section, you ask? Well, how can you be creative if your mind is full of all the things you have to do? By removing the little niggles of life you'll find you have more time to dream up more imaginative solutions.
So, take the first steps to a more organised you and install Anxiety today. Best free Mac system tools 21. AppFresh scans your system for installed applications and then lets you know which of them have a pending update. You can then choose those you would like to install and those to leave be.
It sounds simple but this extremely easy process can be a real time saver that allows you to take control of the update process when you have the time rather than be dictated to by your software. You can also switch off common and infuriating update checkers like Microsoft's AutoUpdate software. More time, less annoying messages and pop ups. Now that's fresh!
AppCleaner A lot of apps throw a ton of files across your system, taking up space. Even when you remove an app, these files remain. Hunts down these lurking files and removes them along with the app. You can even set AppCleaner to watch out for when you next drag an app to the Trash and hunt down all of its associated files for removal as well. To avoid accidents, you can tell AppCleaner to protect certain apps from deletion, plus every deleted file is kept in a log so you can see exactly what you got rid of. Growl is a notification tool that can alert you to all sorts of happenings on your Mac, from new emails to software downloads. Notifications can be customised and appear discreetly at chosen positions on your Desktop with a small amount of information included.
A wide range of apps support Growl notifications including Twitter clients, Dropbox and many more. Custom plugins are also available for Mail and Safari to notify you of new messages and completed downloads.
When you don't have time to launch an app to check things, Growl is a great solution for quick updates. IStatPro Sometimes it just feels like there's something wrong with your Mac.
Maybe websites are loading slower, apps are being sluggish or the fans keep turning on. It's at this point where you will need to follow that nagging feeling and check that everything is in order. And is the perfect way to do this. This handy Dashboard widget monitors all sorts of information on your Mac, from CPU usage to temperature, and should help you pinpoint where things are amiss. The interface is customisable via simple drag and drop, and you can set exactly which reports are shown on the screen and which are not. Easy to understand graphs and charts explain network use and memory assignments, and there's even an iPhone app that displays live stats for your Mac on your phone's screen. For peace of mind or some serious system analysis, your Dashboard and iStatPro should be your first port of call.
Sophos As Mac users, we don't really need to worry about viruses on our platform. Sure, there have been a few pieces of malware that have presented a risk, but they're the exception, rather than the norm. However, it pays to make sure you're protected. Sophos knows this and, alongside its commercial offerings, provides as a free download. The unobtrusive software works quietly in the background using very little memory protecting you from viruses, Trojans and worms.
There are none of the annoying popups we've come to accept from security software and you can customise how and when the app scans your system for maximum subtlety. Stuffit Expander has been around on the Mac as long as we can remember and has always been on hand to perform one of the simplest but often awkward of tasks – unzipping a compressed file. While Apple's Archive Utility does much the same job, Stuffit has a wealth of available preferences including automation, virus scanning and expanding to specific folders. Perhaps most importantly, it will unzip certain compression formats that Apple's built-in decompression can't handle. You'll find it's an invaluable tool to have when somebody sends you something compressed on a Windows computer using an obscure compression tool. Don't forget, a premium version (called StuffIt Deluxe) is also available that enables you to compress files in a number of ways.
It can make some documents up to 98% smaller than their original size! It's also particularly good at compressing JPEG files, which are often used for photos. Web tools 27.
Chrome Love or hate Google you can't fault its browser, which is all about speed and efficiency. With a unified URL bar that works for search as well as web addresses, it's a clean and snappy browser that takes advantage of your Mac's power to bring you the sites you need quickly. Offering tabs, extensions and themes, Chrome provides all the features you need combined with its trademark pace.
Security features see you protected from malware and phishing, and the software is automatically updated with security patches. A great alternative to Safari if you fancy a bit of a browser change.
Cyberduck You may not have to use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client very often but on those occasions when you do you surely don't want to have to pay for it. Fortunately there's, which won't cost you a penny but provides all of the features you would expect in a paid-for client including Keychain access, SSH security features and Quick Look previews. The app even allows you to edit files on the server if you need to make last minute changes to your upload. Built for the Mac, Cyberduck is Bonjour compatible so should find FTP and WebDAV servers on your local network. Dropbox How many times have you got to the office and realised you left an important document you were working on at home. It happens the other way around too.
What if you're on the road and forget to load the right files onto your laptop? Rids you of these worries by providing you with online storage that's accessible from any of your computers and even on your iPhone or iPad. Simply install the app on your Mac, drop your files into the shared folder and work on them wherever you have an internet connection. Forget USB drives and email attachments, this is the easiest A completely free FTP client for speedy transfers. NetNewsWire One of the easiest ways to get the latest updates from your favourite sites is to make use of RSS. You can do this in Safari and Mail, but for a truly brilliant experience, check out. The app syncs with Google Reader or can run on its own, and gathers the RSS feeds from all of your selected sites into an easy-to-read list with notifications when new posts are available.
Best Design Applications For Mac
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