Comic Life 2 for Mac delivers more thought-balloon fun
From time to time, I'm asked to name my favorite Mac app -- as if such a designation was even possible (I love you all equally, kids, don't worry). If you pushed me and narrowed the question a bit to, "Is there a Mac app that you keep coming back to when you have to create something cool in a very short period of time?" the answer is easy. Plasq's Comic Life is my favorite quick turnaround tool, smile inducer and fun photo mauler.
The $30 app, from the incubator firm of Skitch, is a delightful (if at times a bit busy) way to take your favorite pictures, add quick captions and layouts, and immediately print or share them with a click. I've used it for refrigerator magnets, party invites, birth announcements, process documentation and more over the years.
Yesterday Plasq released version 2.0 of Comic Life, which adds template support, Facebook integration, advanced word-balloon controls and more. It's a $9.95 upgrade for existing users and $19.95 to move to a five-machine family pack. (Note that Comic Life Magiq is $20 more costly; it adds image edit/warp controls and other high-end features, but it isn't file-compatible with CL2 yet.)
This is the biggest revamp for the core Comic Life product in its five-year history, and it's fantastic to see one of our favorite indie studios putting out refreshed products right before the Mac App Store hits. There's a free 30-day trial, so check it out!
Plasq's full press release is available via the big button below.
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plasq Releases Comic Life 2.0 for Mac - Published on 12/09/10
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
plasq today introduced Comic Life 2, the latest version of plasq's award winning photo comic creation software for Mac OS X. Comic Life is used around the world for both recreational and educational purposes. Version 2 which adds powerful new features without losing its legendary ease of use. Comic Life offers advanced balloon control and text flow, predefined and freeform shapes, integrated Facebook uploader and an enhanced user interface that preserves the ease of use.
Charleston, South Carolina - plasq today introduced Comic Life 2, the latest version of plasq's award winning photo comic creation software, which adds powerful new features without losing its legendary ease of use.
Version 2 introduces full template support, which means users get a great head start on their projects; advanced balloon control and text flow for precision layout; predefined and freeform shapes for more creative expression, integrated Facebook uploader for sharing with the world and an enhanced user interface that preserves the ease of use of the original Comic Life while providing quick access to more advanced features.
"Comic Life is used around the world for both recreational and educational purposes," said Robert Grant, plasq's CEO. "With Comic Life 2, our users can take their creative ideas to the next level."
Comic Life 2 introduces full template support allowing you to get your project jump started with full page layouts including panels, titles and captions along with complementary styles for a professional look. You can also create your own templates with all your favorite font and style choices.
Use the new Facebook exporter to quickly upload and share your comics with your friends and family. Comic Life 2 automatically creates an album to contain the pages in your comic and uploads the images.
Advanced balloon tail controls let you precisely curve balloon tails to fit around your content. Text layout has been rebuilt from the ground up to precisely flow your text within balloons and captions even when they are clipped against a panel for the perfect comic-style effect. Uniform image filtering means consistent filtering effects across your entire comic.
Smart shapes let you add common shapes to your comic and the free form shape drawing lets you create any shape or line you can imagine. Closed shapes can be converted to panels for additional creative options.
The restyled user interface not only makes creating comics even easier it also provides access to more advanced tools as well. For example the new gradient designer lets you create complex linear and radial gradients for the perfect lettering effect. The new format bar gives quick access to all the common style options including font and color pickers.
Comic Life 2 also includes many more comic fonts and panel layouts.
System Requirements:
Comic Life 2 requires Mac OS X version 10.4.11 or Mac OS X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh computer with an Intel processor, PowerPC G5, or 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512 MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 32 MB of video RAM and 150 MB of available disk space. Includes English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish localizations. A Windows version is under development and is expected to be released in 2011.
Pricing and Availability:
Comic Life 2 is available through plasq.com for $29.95 (US). A household license (for up to 5 computers in a single household) is available for $44.95. Comic Life 1 users can upgrade for a limited time at $9.95 or $19.95 (regular upgrade pricing will be $14.95 and 24.95). See plasq.com for educational pricing information.
Websiteplasq: http://plasq.com
Comic Life 2: http://plasq.com/comiclife2
Download Comic Life: http://downloads.plasq.com/comiclife2.zip
Purchase: http://plasq.com/products/comiclife2/purchase
Screenshot: http://plasq.com/images/pages/comiclife2/venice_comic.png
App Icon: http://plasq.com/images/pages/comiclife2/comic-life-2-icon.png
plasq is a loosely coupled collective of computer enthusiasts from around the world joined by a love of great software and the desire to unleash the tremendous potential of today's computer systems. Copyright (C) 2010 plasq LLC. All Rights Reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, iPhone and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.
