sketch

SketchBook Pro 2010 provides a sleek system for sketching art ideas. With a simple set of tools and realistic results, artists of all types will gravitate toward this tool.

The program's simple and professionally designed interface allowed us to jump right into creating our art. We never needed to access the Help file's instructions because everything was at our fingertips. Useful items were organized in a sleek toolbar that took up a minimum of space and allowed for a very large canvass, which we loved. We used our cursor to select our brush type and color, which was … Read more

An updated software tool combines energy-use evaluation with Google's 3D-modeling program to help improve building design in its early stages.

OpenStudio, a free, open-source tool introduced last year, now integrates EnergyPlus building analysis with Google SketchUp, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced this week.

"OpenStudio is lauded around our office as one of the most complicated plug-ins ever written for SketchUp," Christopher Cronin, Google's strategist for SketchUp, said in a statement.

While Google may see OpenStudio as a plug-in for SketchUp, OpenStudio's creators may instead see SketchUp as an add-on to its simulation program.

The … Read more

Digital Physiognomy provides users with a way to discover personality traits simply by creating their picture. While the program promises big results, several factors drag it through the mud.

The program's interface initially felt intuitive. The facial characteristic tools are easily manipulated and their results do not take any special key to decode. However, users will most likely want to read the Help file if the face they created isn't coming out right. Users will find the tools to create a face to be childishly simple to understand, which is a positive. Users can download a real picture … Read more

Photo To Color Sketch provides users with a fast way to convert their standard digital photos to something more artistic. With simple commands and noticeably different results, this program will quickly find fans.

The program's interface is quite simple, focusing mostly on before and after shots of your photograph. Command icons are above and the controls to alter a photo are simple to understand and master. Our only complaint was that the Help file was very primitive, giving only a little instruction. Converting a picture into a sketch was as simple or difficult as users would like. Divided into … Read more

Whiteboard Collaborative Drawing is a free app that turns your iPhone or iPod Touch's screen into a small, shared drawing space, like a whiteboard or sketchpad. The simple touch-screen interface lets you choose the width of your "marker" (from a fine, pencil-like point to a wide spray-paint-style brush), with six different colors plus an eraser. You just tap on the screen to begin drawing, and you tap with two fingers to bring back the settings screen.

Whiteboard Collaborative Drawing becomes even more useful over Wi-Fi, as users on two different devices on the same network can draw … Read more

Our friends at Ambrosia Software just told us about their 15th Anniversary Games Bundle, and if you're looking for a great gift for the Mac gamer in your life, this is a great deal.

The $19 bundle includes six games from Ambrosia's stable of fun and creatively-written games for the Mac: Apeiron, Bubble Trouble, Redline, SketchFighter, Aki Mahjong, and Darwinia.

Apeiron and Bubble Trouble are arcade-style, friendly games with bright graphics and entertaining game play for kids and adults alike. Aki Mahjong is an elegant take on the tile-based Chinese Solitaire-type game.

SketchFighter is designed in a pen-and-ink … Read more

Google has released SketchUp 7 (download), the latest free version of its 3D modeling software, along with its premium counterpart, SketchUp 7 Pro.

Like previous iterations of the software, SketchUp 7 will enable you to model just about anything you'd like as long as you start with a predesigned template. The new version, released Monday, offers simple templates that help you gauge size through feet or meters, but it also includes architectural design, Google Earth, and a product design template to aid you in your modeling endeavors.

Once you choose a template, you're brought to a relatively simple … Read more

We all know that Google is more than capable of doing excellent webware for productivity, but isn't 3D design a bit of a stretch?

Google SketchUp for Windows and Mac is a 3D-modeling program of powerful drawing tools that boasts an intuitiveness many design programs fail to achieve. On first impression, SketchUp looks like it sacrificed function for simplicity, but that's not the case. Despite the extremely user-friendly interface, SketchUp offers a high-end range of powerful 3D-drawing tools that let you experiment and play with new designs.

Using basic shapes in 3D space for your outline, you can … Read more

There's apparently some kind of nostalgia kick going on around the "T-Qualizer" shirt that was all the rage a year ago. Yesterday we saw the same creators come out with an equalizer frame (the "SpeaQualizer)," and now there's the "T-Sketch."

This latest example of illuminated superfluousness features a sewn-in panel where you can write a message, which in turn shows up in colored lights powered by AAA batteries ranging from a "gentle glow" to a "pulsing strobe," according to Pocket-lint, depending on the appropriate delivery for the missive.… Read more