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Friday Favorite: Voila captures your screen with ease, on sale now
Given the issues with my former screen-capture app-of-choice Skitch, I recently went on the hunt for a replacement that can grab screenshots and handle video capture. I've finally landed on Voila. While it isn't perfect, Voila offers plenty of functionality and does almost everything I need. As is pretty standard for a screen-capture app, Voila lets you grab whatever is on your screen however you need it, either in a full-screen grab, from a specific window or from a drag-and-drop selection. You can grab videos in almost any configuration. I mostly use it for snapping rectangular pictures, but you can grab circular or polygonal pics as well. Voila even has an in-app browser and a connection to your webcam, for even more options. Once the picture has been captured, you can add annotations, blur or adjust it as you like and then export the file using an in-depth "Save As...". Unfortunately, this process isn't as simple as I'd like. You must hunt to find some functions, and while hotkeys can be set up, the Re-size function doesn't have a clear one. There's a re-size option on the save screen, so even when Voila doesn't have exactly what I'm looking for, it does have some fairly smart shortcuts. There are a few bugs in the app as well. One bug I'm getting recently has my pictures being saved as just a white screen rather than whatever I captured, but the support team has been more than ready to help with any problems or concerns. As for video capture, I think that's where Voila really shines. It's got a very powerful and steady video-capture functionality. You can select a window or draw a selection on the screen, and you can choose to use an external mic for audio, grab your computer's audio or use your Mac's internal mic as needed. Again, there are some small issues: The included YouTube connection won't accept videos if you've used a strange ratio when drawing a selection on the screen. But that's only a minor issue. I've still been able to just drag the videos out of the app, and then upload separately to YouTube. Voila isn't without its problems, but an app like this is designed for so many different use cases that it's not surprising there are a few hiccups. Plus, Voila is right in the middle of an awesome sale. It's only US$4.99 on the Mac App Store. If, like me, you were looking for a Skitch replacement with a little more functionality, Voila might be just what you need.
Cinefy puts a Special FX studio in your pocket
Put this in the category of "I didn't think I could do this on my iPhone." Cinefy is a US$0.99 app for the iPhone that lets you overlay Hollywood-type special effects over your videos. There are dinosaurs, missile attacks and lightning strikes among 100 nicely rendered CGI effects. The app also allows you to add a music track from your iTunes library. The app is timeline-based and easy to figure out if you have done elementary media editing, but it lacks built-in help. It would be nice if there was a demo video so a novice could figure out the basics. You have to layer the effects over a video clip, but developer Daniel Hellerman told me that an upcoming version will support photos. If you want to have the most realistic effect, shoot the background with a steady hand. When you're done, you can send the finished clip to your camera roll, and email it or send to your favorite sharing service. Cinefy is an amazing app. Some time ago I took a look at Action Movie FX, which is free and does similar things but has far fewer effects. The app is a large download because of all the effects, so make sure you have the room for it. The developer is committed to adding features and keeping it updated. I really enjoyed playing with Cinefy, and there are lots of creative possibilities. I've included a couple of screen grabs from movies I created. The movies have more impact than the stills. %Gallery-169332%
Google acquires iOS photo app Snapseed
Snapseed is a popular iOS photography app around here at TUAW -- not only have we spotlighted it a few different times, but the app also won a coveted Apple Design Award back in 2011. And now here's news that Google appreciates the app as well: The ad and search giant has acquired the developer of Snapseed, Nik Software, and reportedly plans to use the company and its technology to update its own photo editing and sharing tools. Nik also provides a number of excellent and popular plugins for other popular photo editing tools like Aperture, and for now, those plugins remain available for sale on the website. Presumably, that won't change, but we'll see what happens in the future. It sounds like Nik is still figuring things out post-acquisition, so any changes to Snapseed or those plugins are still yet to be determined. [via The Verge]
Avid Studio for iPad gets renamed, free on the App Store for a limited period of time
Avid Studio for iPad arrived back in February, priced to coax iPad filmmakers away from Apple's in-house iMovie. Since then, however, the company sold its consumer business arm to Corel, leading it to re-brand the package as Pinnacle Studio for iPad. The editing app has gained a bunch of features that users were clamoring for, including 1080p support, integrated uploads to Box and a raft of stability tweaks. As part of the change, it's being offered free for a limited time, so if you own an iPad (or plan on getting one in the future), we suggest you jump-cut to the App Store pretty quickly.
YouTube video editing brings in real-time previews, trims UI down to the basics
YouTube's video editing suite is officially a toddler in human years, so it's about time that it grew a little more beyond learning how to walk and talk. By far the most conspicuous sign of maturity is a new real-time preview that shows edits and filter options as you play -- you'll now know if that effects filter at 1:37 is festive or just gaudy. The overall interface is also a little more buttoned-down with a simpler interface that cuts back on unnecessary clutter. YouTube has been rolling out the editor update in recent hours and may have wrapped up by the time you're reading this, which we'd take as a cue to start producing that streaming masterpiece.
Microsoft patent applications take Kinect into mobile cameras, movie-making
Microsoft has never been shy about its ambitions for Kinect's depth sensing abilities. A pair of patent applications, however, show that its hopes and dreams are taking a more Hollywood turn. One patent has the depth camera going portable: a "mobile environment sensor" determines its trajectory through a room and generates a depth map as it goes, whether it's using a Kinect-style infrared sensor or stereoscopic cameras. If the visual mapping isn't enough, the would-be camera relies on a motion sensor like an accelerometer to better judge its position as it's jostled around. Microsoft doesn't want to suggest what kind of device (if any) might use the patent for its camera, but it's not ruling out anything from smartphones through to traditional PCs. The second patent filing uses the Kinect already in the house for that directorial debut you've always been putting off. Hand gestures control the movie editing, but the depth camera both generates a model of the environment and creates 3D props out of real objects. Motion capture, naturally, lets the humans in the scene pursue their own short-lived acting careers. We haven't seen any immediate signs that Microsoft is planning to use this or the mobile sensor patent filing in the real world, although both are closer to reality than some of the flights of fancy that pass by the USPTO -- the movie editor has all the hallmarks of a potential Dashboard update or Kinect Fun Labs project.
Acorn 3.3 adds Retina Canvas, Smart Export, more
Version 3.3 of the popular Mac image editor Acorn is out, and developer Gus Mueller writes up the biggest changes on his blog. The Retina Canvas is likely the coolest update: If you're using Acorn, you can now see any art you create at a 1:1 ratio on a Retina Display. So if you have a MacBook Pro with Retina Display and Acorn, you can now see your own work perfectly clearly. All of the other elements have been updated for the new display as well. The update also includes the option to trim a certain selection out of a picture, redo a selection if you lose it for any reason, and the Smart Export feature as well (which will automatically save layers in a piece separately for later use in code). Acorn 3.3 is a sandboxed, App Store-only version (which makes sense, given that Apple is cracking the whip on that lately). But Mueller also says that if you'd rather run the version downloadable straight from the website, it'll know whether you've run the App Store version before, so you still have your choice. Sounds like a nice solid update to a great app.
Facebook rolls out comment editing, embraces your change of heart
Facebook has long betrayed you by forwarding your drunken wall ramblings in an email for posterity. Previously, though, the only way to limit further public shame was to try to delete the comment altogether. Now, it looks like the loose fingered have been given a reprieve, as the social giant is rolling out the ability to edit your ill-thought missives long after the fact. Even better, this seems to extend back to those written in the past. Don't think you can be sneaky though, as an "edited" link will appear below, letting everyone see the thread history. So even if you change your opinion, that indecision remains for all to see.
Coda 2 for Mac, Diet Coda for iPad available May 24
Coda is Panic's legendary Mac app for editing HTML and other web files, and today Panic has announced the followup to Coda, called (surprise) Coda 2. As you might expect, the hugemongous feature list over on the Coda site has web developers frothed up into a frenzy of anticipation. In addition to the usual suspects like a better editor, UI improvements, and compatibility with FTP, iCloud, and other services, Coda 2 will also include a built-in MySQL editor, code-folding to get code you don't need to see out of the way, and an active path bar to let you find any file you need right away. It looks like the premiere tool for working with web code -- Coda 2 -- will be available on May 24. And that's not all. Panic is also releasing Diet Coda for the iPad on the App Store that day as well. Diet Coda is a version of the editor engineered for the iPad itself, and not only brings the best of Coda's features to Apple's tablet, but also works with a Coda 2 installation for "AirPreview": Make changes in Coda 2, see them live on your iPad right away. Diet Coda will be $9.99.
Scrivener for iPad under development
Last December, Literature & Latte confirmed the company will begin porting its popular Mac writing app, Scrivener, to the iPad. Though work is under way, progress is slow because, as Literature & Latte points out, good apps take time to plan and develop. Much of the time since December has been spent designing the app and testing which features will work best in a mobile version. When it launches, Scrivener for the iPad will include a working binder and corkboard, a rich text editor, and access to labels, status, synopses, notes and project notes. It will also let you seamlessly sync your project without having to close it on your Mac or Windows machine. Because of the complexity of the app, Literature & Latte expects to release Scrivener for the iPad by the end of the year. You can read more about the development in a detailed post on Literature & Latte's website. [Via MacSparky]
iPad drag-to-edit keyboard prototype shows Apple how easy it could be (video)
Text editing on the iPad is a bit of a slog unless you have a dedicated keyboard. One Daniel Hooper, however, has a simple but clever idea to fix this: use the keyboard as a pseudo-trackpad. As he shows in the prototype video below, his idea has touchscreen typists just drag one or two fingers along the keyboard to whip through text. Need to select something? Hold the Shift key while you swipe. While the concept is the sort of addition you'd normally only expect to appear in a jailbreak mod, Hooper sees the convenience as worth petitioning Apple directly -- and while there's no guarantee Apple will ever implement it, that he's been told Apple now sees it as a "known issue" suggests that someone in Cupertino is contemplating the possibilities.
Video shows another way Apple could implement text editing on iPad
As noticed by iDownloadBlog, YouTube user danielchasehooper has come up with an idea that would simplify text editing on the iPad by making it even easier to select text. Instead of tap, hold and zoom to select text, you could use a finger swipe to move the cursor and hold shift to select the text. You can check out the concept in the YouTube video embedded below and let us know what you think in the comments. [Via iDownloadblog]
Friday Favorite: Audacity 2.0 delivers free audio editing for Mac
Audacity, the venerable and much loved open source audio editor, has a 2.0 release out (as of March 13) in versions for OS X, Windows and GNU/Linux. Here's a rundown of what has changed: Many effects are significantly improved, especially Equalization, Noise Removal and Normalize. Vocal Remover is now included, plus GVerb on Windows and Mac. VAMP analysis plug-ins are now supported. Improved label tracks with Sync-Lock Tracks feature in the Tracks Menu. Tracks and selections can be fully manipulated using the keyboard and there can be multiple clips per track. There are many more keyboard shortcuts. A new Device Toolbar to manage inputs and outputs, a Timer Record feature and a new Mixer Board view with per-track VU meters. Automatic Crash Recovery in the event of abnormal program termination. Fast "On-Demand" import of WAV/AIFF files if read directly from source. FLAC now fully supported. Added support for optional FFmpeg library for import/export of AC3/M4A/WMA and import of audio from video files. Audacity is great for recording live audio, converting analog sources into digital recordings or CDs, and changing the speed or pitch of a recording. For many podcasters, Audacity is the go-to tool for recording and editing. You can edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files. Audacity runs best with at least 1 GB RAM and a 1 GHz processor (2 GB RAM/2 GHz on OS X 10.7 or later). When Audacity is to be used for lengthy multi-track projects, the hardware requirements are bumped up to a minimum of 2 GB RAM and 2 GHz processor (4 GB RAM on OS X 10.7 or later). You can get all the info you need on Audacity at this link, and a complete feature list is available too.
Flickr adopting Aviary for photo edits, waves goodbye to Picnik
With Google set to close the Picnik shop on April 19th, it was obvious that Flickr had to go out and seek a fresh replacement. Today, the Yahoo-owned service is announcing Aviary (a Jeff Bezos-backed startup) as the new photo editing tool on its site. Along with promising to be simpler and speedier than its soon-to-be deceased predecessor, Aviary brings expected features like cropping, rotating, sharpening, red-eye reduction and cosmetic whitening, just to mention a few. Of note, Aviary is written in HTML5, opening the doors to become useful on a handful of slates and handsets. Flickr is set to commence the rollout later today, though it may take a few days until you can check out the changes.
Sony to add photo editing to PlayStation 3's repertoire this week?
Limber up those thumbs gaming gurus, because a new challenge may be on its way to your PlayStation 3 console: photo editing. PCWorld is reporting that Sony will be rolling out some new "photo editing software" for the PS3 early this week. Tweaking photos aside, the software's ultimate purpose will be to provide access to and allow the sharing of digital stills through the company's PlayMemories Online (and your other Sony portable media devices), which is set to launch later this year. The report states that the software will be on sale here in the US on Tuesday and carry a price tag of $18 -- a 30-day trial will also be available. What say you PlayStation Legion? Are you ready to retouch your stills with a D-pad?
Apple unveils iPhoto for the iPad
Besides the updates to iWork, iMovie and GarageBand, Apple also announced iPhoto for the iPad! iPhoto will let you browse and edit photos on the iPad, especially those nice ones you can take with the new 5-megapixel camera. iPhoto for the iPad will include tools like crop and auto-enhance. There's alos a variety of effects and multi-touch editing. For all your DSLR owners, it supports up to a 19-megapixel photo. As an added bonus, you can even beam photos directly between devices. It'll be available today from the iOS App Store for US$4.99. It's universal so you can install it on your iPad and your iPhone. It'll also run on the iPad 2, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.
Adobe Photoshop Touch brings the flagship retouching app to the iPad 2
Adobe has finally gone and done it. An iPad version of Photoshop called Adobe Photoshop Touch is out for the iPad via the App Store. It's tremendously impressive and to a lesser degree a bit frustrating. Let's start with the good stuff, because there's plenty of it. Getting a sophisticated photo app running on the iPad is no small task. It requires many controls and a lot of ways to complete tasks that differ from their counterparts on the desktop. Adobe has given this a lot of thought, and while Photoshop Touch isn't as full featured as Photoshop CS5, it brings a boatload of functionality to the tablet which will make every photographer anxious to buy the US$9.99 app without hesitation. Here's a brief run down of the features: Layer Support Image browsing from Facebook and Google Image search Selection tools Filters (including sharpen, gaussian blur, drop shadows, bevels, gradient maps, pencil, scratches and 21 more) Curves, shadow/highlight adjustments, temperature, replace color, black and white, invert, brightness/contrast, and noise reduction Editing features including crop, image size, add text, warp, add gradients and more If you use Photoshop, most of these tools will be familiar to you. New tools include the Scribble Selection Tool (which allows you to select and extract parts of an image) among others. When you are done editing your image, you can save it to your camera roll and share it via email, Facebook or Adobe Creative Cloud (after creating a free account). Adobe Creative Cloud offers 2 GB storage for free. You'll be able to buy more when the service comes out of beta later this year. At that time Creative Cloud will be a $49.99 yearly subscription. Once your image is on the Adobe servers, you can download it on any other device with web access. The app does not support Apple's iCloud. You can print your image via AirPrint if you have supported printers or an OS X app like Printopia. Using the app was fairly intuitive. There are 13 built-in tutorials and a link to online help, though there's no complete help document. The tutorials are not in video form, but rather step-by-step directions that you can move forward and backward through as you choose. I found the instructions effective and easy to understand. If you are already a Photoshop user, you understand the concepts of making adjustments to an image. If you are not already Photoshop-savvy, the basics aren't hard to pick up. I'd like to see many more tutorials, and I hope future updates will add them. You can get an idea of the depth of the features in Photoshop Touch by looking through the screenshots I've posted. There is a lot to this app, and most Photoshop functions are carried over other than masks. There are some negatives, of course. The most glaring issue is that the maximum output size of an image is 1600 x 1600 pixels. This is simply too small, and is much less resolution than output by the iPhone 4 (2592 x 1936) and 4S cameras (3264 x2448). I can assume the resolution was held down to keep performance snappy on the iPad, but I would expect an app with these features to handle higher resolution images. Maybe the rumored iPad 3, with what will likely be better specs, can do more. While the app supports layers, which is a major positive, there are some limitations. For example, if you add a text layer, you can't go back and edit the text. You'll have to delete the layer and start again. Another limitation is that saving an image means losing layers, as files are saved as JPEG images to your iPad camera roll, or when you send them via mail or to Facebook. If, however, you save to the Adobe Creative Cloud, layers are preserved. You can download the image from your Adobe storage but you'll note right away that the image is in PSDX format and Photoshop won't load it. To fix this you must download the Creative Cloud plug-ins from Adobe so Photoshop CS5 can open your file. Note: CS5 or 5.5 is required, so earlier versions of Photoshop won't load the files at all. Photoshop Touch has familiar tools like the lasso tool, but placing boundaries precisely is difficult because your finger covers up the screen. A stylus might be more practical for that kind of work, and of course Photoshop Touch provides some more automated selection tools. My tests of the app were positive. Overall performance was good. It can take a few seconds to render some effects, that's to be expected. Features worked with no issues, and for a first iPad version I saw no bugs, freezes or crashes. In my tests, Photoshop Touch was solid. Overall, Adobe Photoshop Touch is a tremendous achievement. Ever since the iPad came out, it has been criticized as a consumption device, and not a creative tool. Photoshop Touch is yet another app that has made that argument seem nonsensical. Any serious photographer should consider buying this app. No, it's not the full Photoshop experience. I wouldn't expect that in a $10 app. Rather, I think of it a bit more like Adobe's Photoshop Elements. It's scaled down from Photoshop, but contains the most used and wanted features. I am still troubled about the file size limitation. That's what I'd like to see Adobe fix first. There are other photo editing apps for the iPad that preserve the original file size, so it's not impossible. Photogene is just one example of many iPad apps that can output files at original resolution. Adobe Photoshop Touch is a 50 MB download, and must run on an iPad 2. The original iPad just doesn't have the horsepower to make the app viable. Photoshop Touch requires iOS 5, and you'll want to sign up for the Adobe Creative Cloud if you want to work on your images on Photoshop CS5 and keep your layers intact. This is a great first effort from Adobe for the iPad. Photoshop Touch will only get better over time, but as it stands now I think many photographers, both pro and amateur, will want this reasonably priced and powerful photo editor. Check the galleries below for a look at Photoshop Touch being used. %Gallery-148713%
Editor Walter Murch is feeling better about Final Cut Pro X
When Final Cut Pro X debuted, it caused a stir in the professional video editing world. Long a standard tool for feature film editors, the latest version of Final Cut was designed more for the prosumer, and left some pro editors with a bad taste for the update. In a recent interview with Rick Young of MacVideo, film and sound editor Walter Murch discusses this new role of Final Cut Pro X. Murch makes several key points about FCPX's role in video literacy and how its friendly interface makes it easy for students and new users to develop video editing skills. Looking beyong consumers, he's also hopeful Apple will gradually beef up the application and let third-party developers create tools that'll make Final Cut Pro X useful for the professional. He sees FCPX as a tool that will gradually straddle the old world of analog-based non-linear video editing and the new digital-based future. Murch is not sure Apple can pull this off and create a tool that appeals to both the professional and the consumer, but if it does, FCPX could be the foundation for a new NLE ecosystem. The 20-minute talk is an excellent commentary on the future of Final Cut Pro and film editing, in general. You can watch the full interview on MacVideo's website. [Via FCP.co]
Apple brings GarageBand to iPod touch and iPhone users, because rocking out shouldn't require a tablet
Lookie here -- an iPad app just got miniaturized. It's not too often we see the progress work in reverse, but one of Apple's flagship iPad programs has just been converted for use on the iPhone and iPod touch. It doesn't seem as if too much is changing -- outside of the shrunken display options, of course. You can still plug your electric guitar into either of Apple's more bantam iOS devices in order to record through classic amps and stompbox effects, or record your voice or any acoustic sound using the built-in microphone. The app enables users to record and mix up to eight tracks and then share the finished product with friends or send it to your Mac to keep working on it in GarageBand (the "real one") or Logic Pro. It'll run new users $4.99, but if you already purchased the iPad build, it's a free update to get the new ports. Oh, and if you're curious, the app now runs on iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S and iPod touch (third and fourth generation). Tap the iTunes link below to snag your own copy.
Adobe releases Photoshop Elements 10 & Premiere Elements 10 for Mac
Today Adobe announced new versions of its consumer flagship photo and video editing applications. Photoshop Elements 10 adds new features including 100 paint and effects patterns, depth of field simulation, and the ability to find photos that contain certain objects, like your dog or a hat. Photoshop Elements 10 also heavily borrows sharing features from Apple's iPhoto '11 software including the ability to tag Facebook friends right from within the app and instant upload to Facebook and Flickr. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 further borrows features from Apple's iMovie '11 video editing software such as still photo panning and zooming (Ken Burns Effect), automatic color enhancement and correction, and movie themes. Premiere Elements 10 does add some cool new features that iMovie '11 lacks however, including the ability to tag Facebook friends in your video, the ability to quickly find certain objects in your shots, and the ability to export to AVCHD to burn HD-quality movies to standard DVDs. Both Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 are available today for US$99.99 each, or $149 for both. Existing users can purchase upgrades of the applications for $79 each or $119 for both. Currently Photoshop Elements 10 and Premiere Elements 10 are only available in store or online. No word yet if either app will hit the Mac App Store, though Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor is currently available on the Mac App Store for $79.
