VectorDesigner for Mac

User Reviews

• Great Drawing Tool - but Orphaned

  trewittOctober 28, 2012

  Pros

  It has a very nice vector drawing toolset - the usuals, plus boolean operators to union/intersect/subtract two shapes.

  Cons

  Worst problem: It's orphaned. tweakersoft.com doesn't even exist. It redirects to (presumably) the authors' current project. Sending mail, filling out the tech support form doesn't get a response. Some features are lacking or buggy/flaky... I occasionally make dimensioned drawings, and the (axes, grids, scales) leave a lot to be desired. * First, there's no way to separately scale the printed size from the "actual" size. So, I can't make a 4 x 10 meter drawing without doing some whacky scaling to print it out. * If I'm drawing in inches, it won't let me represent or set 1/8" or smaller dimensions - it rounds off at two decimal places. This is absurd. * Snap to grid is useful for such drawings, but the grid sometimes gets misaligned from *everything* in my drawing, so snapping is always off by some amount. I've tried setting the origin, but that sometimes doesn't work.

  Summary

  Start with something that's still supported. Something else.

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• Best Canvas Substitute for the Mac

  wrbtuFebruary 15, 2011

  Pros

  simple to use; straight-forward features; works on a Mac; has some of Canvas' features

  Cons

  doesn't do nearly the number or types of things Canvas used to do; not very good with text features

  Summary

  I used Canvas from 1988 until they abandoned the Mac platform, &#38; it had been my favorite program. Looking for a replacement wasn't easy, &#38; finding a full replacement has been impossible. I've tried 7-8 different programs, but they were either too simplistic, too complicated, not intuitive in the least, feature-empty, or just plain poorly implemented. VectorDesigner, in my opinion, &#38; for my needs, is the best alternative available, &#38; the only one that got past the trial/demo stage for me. I design forms &#38; simple one-page 8x10 posters (with text &#38; graphics). Canvas was by far the best program for what I need to do. Now, I can get away with using NisusWriter Pro (a word processor), but it's not very good with graphics. VectorDesigner is better for graphics features, but is not very good with text. So I use both, depending on what I need to get done. VectorDesigner costs only a fraction of what Canvas cost, so it's understandable that it does only a fraction of what Canvas used to do. I have hundreds of Canvas documents that I can't modify, can't print, can't "save as", but I keep them, because I can still open it &#38; copy from a Canvas document &#38; paste it elsewhere. And that, like it or not, is the best solution I've found.<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Oct 12, 2011<p/>Update: a couple of months ago, Vector Designer started to behave strangely on my Mac. It started to hang without opening. Perhaps a system update caused this to happen, I don't know. In any case, I contacted Customer Support, but they never bothered to respond to my issues. At this point, I have an application that won't open, &#38; a developer that won't respond. I don't want to pay any more money to upgrade, based on the absence of Customer Support. I can use a trial version (it at least opens), but it won't print or export. In other words, a worthless program. I now rate this as 1* based on the above issues, &#38; can't recommend it to anyone for any reason.

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• Not yet.

  gcarcassDecember 10, 2009

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br /> I'm a professional Graphic designer who spent 50% of the time using Adobe Illustrator being the other 40% Adobe Photoshop and other 10% in different stuff. For Photoshop I already found the perfect replacement in Pixelmator but.... The first time I downloaded the demo I had really high hopes for VD but that soon came to end. The catchphrase says SIMPLE, INTUITIVE POWERFUL. I grant the first one 100%. The second one has some things that are hard to grasp, LAYERS to name only one. BUT the third one, sorry, but definitely not. I really tried hard to complete a Pamphlet that I started in Illustrator and I challenged myself to do it in Vector Designer. I don't know what are TweakerSoft's plans for the future, but so far version 1.5.1 barely accomplishes the necessary things for a very basic job. I'm not talking only about the results, I can get a pamphlet done in Microsoft Paintbrush (not being arrogant), but VD's user experience is really poor. The selection tools are really limited, layers are deficient, color swatches restricted, vector manipulation inadequate at best, no real SVG compatibility, the list could be endless. The job can be done but it would take 2, 3 or 4 times longer than Illustrator. Probably the objective is that, "vector illustration for the rest of us", in that sense VD is accomplishing an outstanding job. But for a serious professional tool, better look somewhere else. If Inkscape didn't use X11 that would be a real Illustrator contender, at least in the Mac OS platform. I gave VD 2 stars, they are not bad, but they have a loooooooooooooong way to go before I can call VD at least a decent application.

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• Fatal flaws

  develandDecember 5, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />No way to edit point types while drawing. And the up and down arrows on the stroke width don't work. That was after 5 minutes. It's very slick-looking, and I try and use it every time there is a patch, but so far it's not good enough for prime time. Illustrator 1.1 on my Mac Plus had better bezier tools.

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• Fun and easy to use

  p.schoemanMay 17, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />VectorDesigner is fun and easy to use, and the developer is very quick to answer emails about bugs and feature requests, and implement them. VD also supports EPS, SVG, and PDF files. I recommend VectorDesigner to anyone looking for a fun, simple and intuitive vector application. The Flickr browser is pure genius, and the raster to vector conversion very useful! It's also fun to play around with the iSight integration and effects, and convert them to vector :)

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• Very nice vector drawing application.

  ewood65March 13, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I like the simple user interface and the integration with Leopard filters. The flickr browser is very cool. I reccomend it to anywant that want a simple vector drawing application.

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• No SVG nor EPS, nor any other format than the...

  davconventJanuary 27, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  ...native Vector Designer one<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I'm quite disappointed to see that the program can't handle (read and write) any other format than the native application one. It is not possible to open any SVG or EPS file, don't talk about illustrator.. Even if I paid the license, I'm back to using Inkspace.. Too bad... I was hoping for something better.

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• Very promising

  tersonodesignJanuary 24, 2008

  Pros

  Cons

  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Shows a lot of promise. Not quite an Illustrator competitor yet, but has a superb UI and handles basic vector illustration requirements very well - especially given the cost. The obvious competition is Stone Design's Create, which is rather more powerful, but less intuititive (I've tried hard to get along with it since the NeXTSTEP days, but never quite made it). I've registered and look forward to further development with interest. It's my hope that within the next couple of major revisions, we'll see a viable alternative to Illustrator. In the meantime, it's a lot of fun to use and could be considered a 'MacDraw' for the 21st century =]

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