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SoCoder -> Blogs Home -> Blogs


 
Jayenkai
Created : 20 May 2010
 
System : Windows

MacTools?



Gah!!!

I'm stubborn as an ox, and I love my Paintshop Pro 7.
But Paintshop Pro 7 isn't on my Mac.
Nooooo!!!!!!

And neither's CoolEdit.

And Winkey-TypeNameOfProgram doesn't work.

I'm finding it very difficult to rapidly doodle sprites, add audio, and flip to new programs.

Suggestions for freeware MacTools much appreciated. Or if not, gimme some cheap alternatives.

 

Comments


Thursday, 20 May 2010, 04:39
JL235
Jayenkai I'm stubborn as an ox, and I love my Paintshop Pro 7.
But Paintshop Pro 7 isn't on my Mac.
Gimp

Jayenkai And Winkey-TypeNameOfProgram doesn't work.
Launchy

Dunno about CoolEdit.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 04:52
HoboBen
Gimp on the mac sucks though, to be fair. The UI really doesn't integrate well (stuff like having to click on the toolbox once to focus it, then again to click on the tool you want). It may have improved since I last used it, but I found it extremely frustrating to use.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 05:19
Jayenkai
Yeah, Gimp is REALLY REALLY bad.. Even dragging a select box seriously lags! I mean, seriously, WTF!?!?!
It's just bloody awful.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 05:24
JL235
You could try SeaShore.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 06:10
Cower
If you have a Mac, you use Photoshop, end o' story. As for CoolEdit, I'm assuming that's a text editor, you might look at Smultron or MacVim. Generally speaking, a lot of the good editing/creative software on Mac OS is not free (TextMate, Photoshop, etc. - if you don't want pointless frustration, you're gonna pay). I wrote the BlitzMax TextMate bundle, and I know people use it (and it's currently the one provided by TextMate), so obviously I recommend that, but that will cost money.

As for Launchy, why the hell would you use that when you have Command+Space for Spotlight doing the same thing?

Switching to new programs, get used to Command+Tab (switch apps), Command+Tilde (switch windows), Exposé (see all windows or all app windows), which are usually a lot faster than sorting through windows in the usual Alt+Tab fashion (especially Command+Tilde once you've used it).
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 06:32
Jayenkai
Spotlight helps a lot, thanks. By "Flip" I meant in the "Load something really quick, use it in 10 seconds, quit it" style, so.. Yeah, Spotlight helps.

Photoshop can fuck off, I'm skint here!! And, Cooledit's for audio.. apologies for not mentioning that!

It'll probably be quicker to flip to the PC and just plain use PaintshopPro than to spend ages trying to find something half-useful. Might just do that.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 08:51
Mog
Jay - Try Audacity for Sound: https://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - It ain't pretty but it's free and works

on a side note, CoolEdit turned into Adobe Audition, didn't it?
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 09:19
Jayenkai
It did, and I've been holding off upgrading, because I know exactly what those idiots are like, and have probably converted it from "Quick load, Quick quit" into "Must wait 16 hours for it to load, then 5 minutes per file, etc"
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 09:54
Stealth
Gotta remember it's a mac Jay. If you want it to work like a PC then you might as well use a PC.

Try virtualization or dual booting the mac to get your windows programs.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 10:22
Jayenkai
I'm not going to faff about with all that, when crossing over is just a tap on the monitor! All I wanted was a decent little art package for doodling sprites, so I didn't have to flip over.
Guess the Mac's not gone one.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 10:29
Phoenix
I can't vouch for it, since I'm not a Mac guy, but you might want to try Pixen.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 12:41
Stealth
CrossOver is pretty good too for running Windows apps on a Mac. Costs a bit of cash. I'd just dual boot your Mac. It's simple todo.

https://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 13:03
bram32
As a painting program, you could give www.pixlr.com/editor/ a try
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 14:54
Jayenkai
Pixlr's fantastic, thanks Bram!
I'll probably also try Pixen, once I'm back on the Mac, tomorrow.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 14:55
Stealth
It's flash based though... Mac's don't like flash ;]
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 15:09
Jayenkai
Do you hate macs?! You're pretty damn insistent that I stop using it, dual boot back to windows, and avoid using anything!

ffs, Stealth, learn to love things..

As it stands I'm finding myself truely baffled by the lack of "paint" option on this thing.
It has a Photo Viewer, a Photo Effect thing, and a Photo Preview, and can also do Photo Slideshows in the iMovie thing, but no pixels anywhere?! Blinkin' eck.
They also give you GarageBand where you can put your loops together, but inexplicably don't give you an audio editor to use to actually make/fix your loops!
What's with that?!?!


Other than that, I'm getting used to the keyboard shortcuts, I'm finding myself becoming familiar with the annoying @" switch, and things are running mostly smoothly.

I've still not figured out how to quickly get to the start/end of a line of text.. I'm assuming it'll be something daft like Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left all together, or something. Home and End annoyingly jump to the very top+bottom of the entire text, not the current line, leading to many a "Raaah!!!" moment..
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 15:19
Cower
Cmd+Left and Right go to the start and end of a line. Option+left and right go between words.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 15:27
Jayenkai
Command.. That's the squirly squiggly circle thing, right?
I know it's an old hangup thing, but the bloody key icons should really look a BIT like the key names! I mean, come on!
Should probably get that Apple keyboard, but I'm worried that if I do, I'll forever be stuck with the @"!
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 16:14
Cower
I have no idea what this @" thing you're talking about is.
Thursday, 20 May 2010, 17:09
Stealth
Jay Do you hate macs?! You're pretty damn insistent that I stop using it, dual boot back to windows, and avoid using anything!


I'll use a mac over a PC anyday. However, flash is horribly unstable on them. I merely pointing out that you can use your windows apps on a mac. Why bother with some crummy alternative when you can have the real thing.

It's hilarious that you say that because you're the one bitching about them, not me. ;]