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I currently own Adobe Illustrator CS3, and Vector Designer (Thanks To MacHeist 2). Right now I'm not particularly pleased with either application.

Illustrator is big, clunky, and feels like a Windows Application ported to Mac. Working in it isn't very enjoyable for me. But the intelligent  ability to convert Bitmaps into Vector is handy.

VectorDesigner plays nice on the Mac. It controls like a Mac Program should, and is productive enough to be able to import and export vector formats. So if I needed to, I can still get my shapes over to Photoshop. It's laid out very nicely. But, it's features are a quite subpar.

Enter Drawit which I recently learned about due to 'that rival bundle'. Afterplaying around with it, it feels like the Vector Counterpart to LiveQuartz (A fairly nice Bitmap CoreImage powered app). The vector tools are quite extensive. And the node based CoreImage filters are a major plus.

The biggest hole in this app is, that while it's a vector application. It can't export in a vector format that other apps can understand. I'm also I'm not a fan of the column based layout, but that's cosmetic. It also is a strange contrast of features in VectorDesigner. Whatever Designer does right, Drawit doesn't do. Whatever Drawit does right, VectorDesigner is extreeemly crippled.

A trip to the support section of Drawit says support for vector formats is 'coming' whatever that means and whatever format, PDF? SVG? Something more obscure?

I was wondering if I could get some advice, or perhaps get pointed in the direction of another Mac vector software application. As stated, I already have 2 licensed versions of vector applications. It doesn't seem financially wise to invest in a third for the same basic underlying function. On the other hand... shiny Mac app that does a good job of what it aims to do.

There's also the fact that I'm on a limited budget and would likely have to make a choice between which bundle I will buy.

MacBundle Box has only one other application I'm interested in, CodeCollector, which together only slightly makes the bundle worth it. (Some of the apps they're selling are laughable. There's a Photomanipulation app that costs 20 bucks and has less features then the Preview Powered Automator actions, which naturally come free with the system)

MacHeist on the other hand, I don't know what's being offered, and I have a 4 dollar discount, so I'm already saving... but I don't know what I'm saving on.

The issue with DrawIt is that it's not really a vector app.  It uses vector-style drawing tools, but they're ultimately bitmaps.  The easiest way to think of it is if somebody took Photoshop's vector-style drawing tools (the pen, rectangle, etc.) and built an entire application around them, adding in some CoreImage-based filters on top.  This isn't a criticism of DrawIt.  (However, if you like DrawIt, try DrawIt Lite before buying that bundle.  It might have everything you need.)
If you want something that's Mac-like, usable, and feature-rich, I would give Lineform from Freeverse a try.  Also, it's on sale right now, for $30 off.

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DO NOT buy Lineform, believe me. This App is dead, The developers seems already gave it up and the current sale is probably just for grabbing the last money for them.  The current version of Lineform was released on Sep.2006 and it hasn't been updated ever since. The worse thing is no any update information is provided. 
check their forum yourself, you will know what I mean

http://forum.freeverse.com/viewtopic.php?id=1969

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I cannot comment on vector drawing programs, but here is a list of applications you can try out, including the ones that were already mentioned:

EazyDraw          http://www.eazydraw.com/
Lineform           http://www.freeverse.com/apps/app/?id=6 … w=overview
VectorDesigner  http://www.tweakersoft.com/vectordesigner/index.html
Intaglio             http://purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/
ZeusDraw          http://www.chromaticbytes.com/zeusDrawTour.php
DrawBerry         http://raphaelbost.free.fr/Home.html
DrawIt               http://www.bohemiancoding.com/?DrawIt
Sketsa               http://www.kiyut.com/products/sketsa/
DoodleCAD       http://www.doodlebytes.com/DoodleCAD.html
Doodle              http://www.panzercad.com/dinfo.html

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Yes, I would recommend Intaglio.

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I like Inkscape, but it doesn't fit in very well with Mac OS X. Also it doesn't seem to support tablets on OS X yet (it does on Linux). But then, on the upside, it's free, and exports tons of formats. Its native format is svg. I use it for most of my vector work.

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Great list of apps, and the two that I would recommend are:

VectorDesigner  http://www.tweakersoft.com/vectordesigner/index.html
Intaglio             http://purgatorydesign.com/Intaglio/

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Thanks for the input guys! I'm the most impressed with DrawBerry and ZeusDraw. DrawBerry because it's got a ton of decent and basic vector tools, and is free (It's still an inferior product to VectorDesigner, but as far as freeware goes, that app's at the top of it's class)

Zeus Draw on the other hand has a unique way of handling vector that I haven't seen in any other vector app I've tried. No fancy CoreImage effects, but I think I can live with that.

Thanks

Should point out, for those interested in DrawIt, that I noticed it is a part of the current MacBundleBox promo - http://www.macbundlebox.com/ which, if you're considering buying it, might be worth a look. Bundle includes I think 11 apps for $49...

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Yar, that's how I learned about Drawit in the first place. Unfortunately that's the only part of the bundle I'm interested in. And in that case, it's not really a bundle is it?

VectorDesigner has been great for me. I only do some basic vector graphics from time to time but I found it very good for the task. There are also screencasts you can watch to get an idea of how it works here:
http://www.screencastsonline.com/index_ … signer.php
Or Here on the programs website:
http://www.tweakersoft.com/vectordesign … ideos.html

Hope that helps:).

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Thank you, that forum says it all. I was already filling in the orderform for Lineform. Due to the heavy price I did start searching for a coupon code and ended up here.
I can do the job with Lineform, despite its flaws. But I won't pay $79.95 for an app that has never been updated and never will be.

I've been kind of thinking that LineForm might be in the bundle, what with Freeverse having apps in the past bundles, and as part of the free loot this time.

<--- Irony?

VectorDesigner is an awesome app, it and Pixelmator were the reasons I picked up MHII and man what a good decision that was, and now they are my goto apps when creating graphics.

Can't wait to see what they have in store for us with MHIII.

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Illustrator can be clunky, but it is definitely the most powerful...I use it on a daily basis for just about everything i do...

Inkscape is my second choice...definitely a bright spot when it comes to handling svg's...

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Thanks for the update, I almost pulled the trigger on Lineform.VectorDesigner looks fairly easy and quit feature rich. I currently use photoshop CS2-3 and now CS4 and I'm very happy with power and control, but sometimes need and vector app. After downloading VectorDesigner and Lineform, VectorDesigner is a very nice app, great interface and easy to learn. This will be added to the tool chest.

peace

This is kind of an old thread but I'll throw my two cents in anyway. I do agree with the clumsy feel of Illustrator CS3 and have tried practically every Mac vector drawing app, always coming back to illy with a feeling of disappointment.

There's no denying Illustrator is extremely powerful but Adobe insists on building their own UI kit for its apps instead of building real, native versions of its apps. I expect more from Adobe. The fact that most of their apps were never really re-built from the ground up but rather expanded continues to show, even with the CS3 facelift.

Have you tried Fireworks CS3? It's a pretty decent vector/bitmap app that still feels like a Macromedia app rather than an Adobe one. It outputs a ton of formats and is cheaper than Illustrator. It's worth a try since there aren't any REALLY GOOD vector illustration apps on the Mac. All the available options feel like the same basic app. ZeusDraw looks neat though, might give it a try.

Oh, another one (you can snag for free) is Creature House Expression 3 (it's now Microsoft Expression). If you can't find a download i have a backup copy, just PM me. Only downside is it's not an Intel app but that doesn't seem to hurt performance. I also have an old v8 of Deneba Canvas; it's another PPC app (got it from a Computer Arts cover disc)  but a solid vector/bitmap illustration app.

I recommend Inkscape

Thanks for the info on Expression. Are you running Leopard? I have Deneba Canvas v8; but I can't get it to install on my iBook G4 with OSX 10.5.6.

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Illustrator is amazing, it can export  in a lot of formats and it's a powerful tool. I can't find a better program!:)

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To be honest, if you are in graphic design, you just suck it up and use Ai because there is really no substitute. IF you don't do professional work, then some of those other suggestions might work too.

Its like MS Word, it has years of tweaking and added feature which most people will never use, but its really the only well known vector program. But again, it really is the best out there for professional work.

http://forum.freeverse.com/viewtopic.php?id=2601

Lineform isn't dead.  It was just quiet for a while.
It's a great app if it does what you need.

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F everyone.  Scribbles is neat!

No, really, it's dead. There was a glimmer of hope, but as a long-term Lineform user, I really can't recommend it any more. A few buggy updates have come out that means it just about works on Snow Leopard, if you don't mind your "undo" feature not working consistently, or your exports not exporting properly, but other than that, nothing's really happened for months.

It's a real shame. If Lineform worked as well now on Snow Leopard as it did when I was first using it, I'd still carry on -- I can live with the few bugs it had. But "undo" spontaneously ceasing to work is a real show-stopper for productivity. And nothing else is quite so Mac-like *and* has SVG export support.

Yes.  It appears it was in fact dead.
Blah.

Edit:
I've decided to make use of my VM software and just use Xara Xtreme for free.
Look into it.  Runs fine in a VM under Fusion 3.
Grab a Linux distro (Ubuntu's easy) and install it to a VM and give it a shot.

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F everyone.  Scribbles is neat!

Adding to a late discussion, in regard to Auset's question, I was running Leopard, now Snow Leopard, and Expression 3.3 still runs fine, albeit in Rosetta, as do the last few versions of Deneba/ACD Canvas 8-X. I've run all of these apps without headache, on my Intel, 10.6.2 Macbook Pro.

The version 1.5.3 is out, ready for Snow Leopard. It looks like but the app is not dead in fact... Is still there the 30$ discount?

1.5.3 has been out for a long, long time.  A long, long time.

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As of July 2012, VectorDesigner is not working on 10.8 and the developer's site no longer exists.  I'm stuck with close to 100 documents that can't be opened or viewed.

Viewing VectorDesigner documents is relatively easy:

I recently moved my data from a Snow Leopard iMac to one running Mountain Lion using Migration Assistant. It is likely you did the same.

Assuming you did, then you will find that the files (packages) have been unpacked. This means that instead of a file you will have a folder of the original name.

Within this you will have a file called "VectorDesigner".

And, a most useful folder called "QuickLook". Within this is are two files called "Preview.pdf" and "Thumbnail.jpg"

Opening the files may be eased if there is an application that imports VectorDesigner files happily. If so, point it toward the file called "VectorDesigner"? THIS IS A COMPLETE GUESS!

Getting the files converted will require a working Snow Leopard Mac. If you find someone you will have to tell them with format you want from the ones that it supports. Version 1.7.0 can do:

PNG
JPEG
GIF
JPEG-2000
TIFF
ICNS
Photoshop
Microsoft Icon
Microsoft BMP
TGA
PICT
SGI
EPS
PDF

I looking into running SnowLeopard in a virtual machine using something like VirtualBox and found it needed a Snow Leopard Server DVD or disk image to work.

You may find someone on one of the outsourcing sites like Freelancer.com or Odesk.com to do the conversion manually.

If someone has the Automator or AppleScript skills they would be able to create a workflow. Unless I missed them, VectorDesigner has no Automator steps that could be used.

I someone has, or can acquire the Automator/AppleScript, and web skills they could create a website that files could be uploaded to the server - it would do its thing then:

• eMail a link to the exported files on the server or DropBox.

• Zip them up and put them on DropBox

I someone made such a service there may well be plenty of people willing to pay for it. This could be funded with a Kickstarter project?

Even better, the people of TwekerSoft could fund the next or (Mountain) Lion version of VectorDesigner this way?

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