BittBox » Software

25 Most Popular Mac OS X Apps for Web Designers

Jake Rocheleau — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 04:20:50 +0000

The new Mac App Store on 10.7 Lion has greatly improved the usability of OS X. Now designers and developers have easy access to a whole collection of software from around the world. It’s also a fantastic system for Cocoa programmers to earn some extra cash on the side by selling applications. I’ve put together this gallery of 25 popular Mac programs for web and graphic designers. Be sure to check them out and let us know your thoughts!

ColorSnapper

Transmit

BBEdit

Alfred

Wunderlist

Cloud

FileSorter

Things

Coda

BaseApp

Day One

RapidWeaver

Sparrow

Screen Capture X

Gitbox

Pixelmator

Hues

PHP Tester

JSTalk Editor

Acorn Image Editor

Artboard

Fontcase

Play by Play

CSS3 Toolkit

Hype

Must-Have (Free) Photoshop Plugin: GuideGuide [CS4, CS5]

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 04 May 2011 21:59:48 +0000

I’ve recently come across a lifesaver Photoshop plugin that is gonna rock your world. It’s called GuideGuide from Cameron McEfee and it’s a godsend for creating print layouts, and web for that matter. GuideGuide is free, and its a “panel” that assists you with laying out your guides across the artboard/document. Instead of having to do the math with complicated layouts, you can simply tell guide guide how far from each side of the document you want to place a guide. So simple it hurts.

GuideGuide can even find the center of a selection! You can set the number of columns, and gutter width as well. This is one USEFUL plugin, and I wanted to share it with everyone. Thanks to my friend Mike for the tip. :)

MacLegion Launches Incredible Software Bundle

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:04:23 +0000

Albeit not entirely design related, I told my friends at MacLegion I’d help spread the word about their launch, and their spring bundle. It’s an incredible deal, and there are some productivity/workflow tools in the mix that would benefit anyone, including designers. If you’re in the market for saving a heap of cash, head on over :)

Fontlab Studio – Part 2: Gerneral Tips [HD Video]

Jay Hilgert — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:17:23 +0000

In this video I’ll go over some general knowledge tips that will save you a bunch of headache and forum searching. Fontlab is a very robust software, and these tips are must sees for a beginner. Best viewed fullscreen.

Fontlab Studio – Part 2: General Tips from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Fontlab Studio – Part 1: Getting Started »

Fontlab Studio 5: Part 1 – Getting Started [HD Video]

Jay Hilgert — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 19:25:12 +0000

This is part 1 of a continuing series I’ll be producing about how to use Fontlab Studio to create fonts, from start to finish. It’s been a challenge to learn Fontlab because it’s a very robust software, so I’m passing along everything I learn, as I learn it to help those interested in making their own fonts.

Creating a Font in Fontlab – Part 1 from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Correction: The “ascender would be the height of a “lowercase” h, not a capital H.

Link for setting up the Illustrator Template.

List of Unicode characters on Wikipedia

Fontlab Studio 5: Preview Panel Overview [Video]

Jay Hilgert — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 18:55:00 +0000

This is a brief overview of the Fontlab Studio 5 Preview Panel. Please let me know if you would like more Fontlab tutorials in the comments :)

Fontlab Studio 5: The Preview Panel from Jay Hilgert on Vimeo.

Free Software: Live 3D and Strata 3D CX 2 Giveaway – Comment to Win

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 19:44:33 +0000

A Bittbox Exclusive! Strata is offering Bittbox visitors a sneak preview ahead of tomorrow’s official launch of Strata Live 3D CX 2 and the opportunity to win a software bundle worth nearly $1400! Strata Live 3D CX2 allows users to quickly and easily publish and share interactive 3D content online (see example below). Strata Design 3D CX is a professional 3D modeling and animation tool. All Strata software is for Mac and PC and you can download trial versions or learn more at www.strata.com. Just post a comment and a random winner will be chosen on Friday. Good Luck!

Note: Strata also informed me of a Sponsored Tweet Treat from the Adobe MAX conference for a 35% discount on all Strata software through October 31 using Coupon Code: MAX35 in Strata’s online store

Preview/Example

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. (tweeting is appreciated)
Only comment once.
1 lucky winner will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Comments will remain open until Friday, October 29th.

GOOD LUCK!

Only 2 Days left for the MacFriendly Bundle

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:44:37 +0000

I normally don’t post about these things, but as most of you probably know, I’m the developer of Brush Pilot so I thought I’d make an announcement. There are only 2 days left to get Brush Pilot and 11 other Mac apps in the MacFriendly Bundle ». The total cost of the bundle is only $39.99, which is a great deal because retail, these 12 apps would cost over $400 if you bought them individually.

Free Stuff: Brush Pilot 2.0 Giveaway – Comment to Win

Jay Hilgert — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 18:20:24 +0000

Happy Friday everyone! How about some free software? I’ve got three copies of Brush Pilot 2.0 to give away to 3 lucky commenters. Brush Pilot 2.0 was a major upgrade and has taken the software from a simple previewer to a conversion tool as well. Most notable of the new features is the ability to export brushes in PNG format with transparent backgrounds!

Visit BrushPilotApp.com to download a demo and read more details.

Check out some of the new features:

Export as PNG! When exporting, Brush Pilot will generate a PNG (with or without transparency) at full size for each individual brush inside the file and organize the collection into a folder.
“Show Volumes” menu command will show complete file hierarchy, arranged by volume, including mounted iDisks.
Double clicking on folders in file path display will open them in Finder.
iTunes style scrollbars.
File Count indicators reveal how many brush files are in each folder. (like Mail)

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. (tweeting is appreciated)
Only comment once.
3 winners will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Please only comment if you have a Mac.
Comments will remain open until Monday, September 27th.

Brush Pilot Winners!

Jay Hilgert — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:36:02 +0000

The three lucky winners of a free copy of Brush Pilot™ are Zuba, Lyn, and Kristen Collins! I’m almost done with Brush Pilot 2.0, so keep an eye out for that. And just in case there is any confusion, Brush Pilot users get free updates for life. Congrats again to the winners, I hope you enjoy using the program!

Free Stuff: Brush Pilot Giveaway – Comment to win

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:24:22 +0000

As many of you know, I’m the person behind the Brush Pilot software, a Photoshop brush previewer for Mac. I’ve been secretly working on adding some awesome new features to Brush Pilot in the last few months, and I’m going to release that version soon. But since I’m adding so many new features, the price is going to go up a few dollars, so I thought it would be nice to have a giveaway before that happens. I’ll be picking three random winners from the comments. Good luck everyone!

Visit BrushPilotApp.com to download a demo and read more details.

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. (tweeting is appreciated)
Only comment once.
3 winners will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Please only comment if you have a Mac.
Comments will remain open until Sunday, July 18th.

Brush Pilot 1.0.4 Now Available

Jay Hilgert — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:51:45 +0000

I released Brush Pilot 1.0.4 yesterday, and I recommend everyone upgrade if you haven’t already. In 1.0.4 we’ve added the Sparkle framework for automatic updates. From now on when a new version is released Brush Pilot will automatically give you the option to download an install the new version. This way you don’t have to keep track of new versions, it does it for you. Also in 1.0.4 is a bug fix that prevents BP from crashing in Snow Leopard with no Photoshop installed. This is a free upgrade for all licensed users.

The new version can be downloaded from the Brush Pilot homepage ».

Freeware Find: CapSee (OS X)

Jay Hilgert — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:32:21 +0000

Wether you’re a programmer, designer, or just a web surfer, I’m sure you’ve accidentally hit the Caps Lock key before. Especially if you’re a terrible typer, like myself, this can get really annoying. I like anything that keeps annoying things out of my life. That’s why as soon as I found CapSee, I immediatley downloaded and installed it. CapSee is an exptremely simple app for OS X that will display a bezel on screen when you accidentally hit the Caps Lock key. Simply Awesome. (in my opinion)

Free Stuff: Brush Pilot Giveaway – Comment to Win

Jay Hilgert — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:20:10 +0000

How about we start off the week with some free software! I’ve got another 3 copies of Brush Pilot to give away this week. Brush Pilot is a fast, easy to use Photoshop Brush previewer for Mac OS X. Read the rules after the jump and good luck!

Visit BrushPilotApp.com to download a demo and read more details.

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. (tweeting is appreciated)
Only comment once.
3 winners will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Please only comment if you have a Mac.
Comments will remain open until Thursday, September 24th.

Here’s a quick overview of what Brush Pilot can do.

Instantly finds all your brushes, fast.

Seperates uninstalled from installed brushes

Single click installation into all installed Photoshop Versions on your machine.

Reveal file locations in Finder.

View names and pixel dimensions of each brush.

Free Stuff: Introducing Brush Pilot for Mac – Comment to win

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:20:55 +0000

In case you’ve been wondering what I’ve been up to lately, well, here it is. After lots of hard work and testing, I’m proud to release my latest pet project, Brush Pilot 1.02. It’s a lightweight, fast Photoshop Brush Previewer for OS X. In the spirit of BittBox, I’m giving away 3 free copies to some lucky commenters. Make sure and read the rules, and good luck!

Visit BrushPilotApp.com to download a demo and read more details.

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment. (tweeting is appreciated)
Only comment once.
3 winners will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Please only comment if you have a Mac.
Comments will remain open until Friday, June 26th.

Here’s a quick overview of what Brush Pilot can do.

Instantly finds all your brushes, fast.

Seperates uninstalled from installed brushes

Single click installation into all installed Photoshop Versions on your machine.

Reveal file locations in Finder.

View names and pixel dimensions of each brush.

Free Stuff: 2 Copies of Billings 3 – Comment to Win

Jay Hilgert — Sat, 09 May 2009 01:29:06 +0000

I’ve got a great giveaway for you all this week. Billings 3. Its a robust and feature-rich invoicing, time tracking, and project management software for Mac. (just name a few features) If you’re a business owner or freelancer, it doesn’t matter. This software does it all. I’ve had the liberty of playing around with Billings 3 for a couple days now, and I’m extremely impressed by it’s usefulness, and attention to detail when it comes to features that just “make sense.” It’s very affordable, but today, I have 2 licenses to give away to 2 lucky BittBox readers. I encourage you to download the trial and see exactly what’s at stake. You won’t be disappointed! Rules after the jump.

A couple more screenshots:

Not just an invoicing software, Billings gets the job done with style, as well as functionality :)

It even has Google Maps integration for your contacts! (I really like this feature)

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment.
Only comment once.
2 winners will be randomly chosen from the comments.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Please only comment if you have a Mac machine.
Comments will remain open until Monday, May 11th.

Freeware Find: Repeating Motif Generator

Jay Hilgert — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:52:13 +0000

I’ve stumbled upon a little gem on the Apple downloads site, and I’d like to share a new freeeware app with everyone. It’s called Repeating Motif Generator, and it’s a handy little app for creating seamless repeating patterns. There is a variety of uses for this application, but it may just come in handy for you some day. :)

There’s also a quicklook plugin for easy viewing.

Vectoraster 3 – Vector Halftones in a Snap

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 17:45:46 +0000

Lost Minds has recently released Vectoraster 3, the third iteration of a handy application for OS X that takes images and instantly converts them into vector halftones that can be exported and opened in almost any vector editor. I wrote about Vectoraster a while ago, and version 3 is quicker and has a couple cool new features, one of which I want to show you right now.

One of the things in Vectoraster 3 that stands out is the new option to make a “Line” halftone. I can see this being very useful in certain situations.

Congratulations to the Swift3d v5 Winners!

Jay Hilgert — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 17:41:26 +0000

Congratulations to the 3 randomly selected winners of a shiny new copy of Swift3D v5 from Electric Rain. We had 2 Robs in this group of winners, so congrats to Rob, Rob, and Kimberly. I hope you all enjoy the software. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Electric Rain for their generous contribution to the design community, and and a big thanks to everyone who participated.

Free Stuff: 3 Copies of Swift3d Up for Grabs – Comment to Win

Jay Hilgert — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 22:01:39 +0000

Its time for some more free stuff everyone, and I have a nice little giveaway for you! The kind folks over at Electric Rain have offered up 3 more copies of Swift3D V5 ($249 value each) to 3 lucky BittBox commenters. If you’re not familiar with Swift3D, it’s a very powerful 3D modeling/animation software that makes it super easy and fast to create stunning 3D animations and import them directly into Flash without writing a single line of code.

Contest Rules:

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment.
Only comment once.
3 winners will be randomly chosen and will receive a downloadable version of Swift3D V5.
You must leave an email address in order to win.
Comments will remain open until Friday, January 30th.

About Swift3D V5:

If you haven’t ever used Swift3D, or you’ve never heard of it before, here’s the low-down. Swift3D is a 3D modeling and animation environment that makes professional animations that can be exported and integrated very easily into Flash. Not only does it make 3D animations a snap, but the interface is easy to use and even a beginner can start animating in minutes. The thing I like the most about Swift is the fact that you can create things in a 3D environment, and export them in vector format, yes vector. I like to design intricate 3D scenes and export them as an AI file to use in Illustrator, but you might be more interested in the Flash side of the program, I don’t know. In fact, I wrote a tutorial a long time ago about using Swift3D as a powerful 3D Illustration tool, if you’re interested in reading that.

Key Features:

Import 3DS and DXF files.
Export Vector OR Raster animations
The only 3D animation software that directly integrates with Flash.
Drag and Drop preset animations (rotate left, right, up, down, etc.)
New to V5, Export to Papervision
Save as AI, EPS, or SVG vector formats
Export to Silverlight (If you’re into that)