Canvas 8 - Mac

Ian Mankowski November 30, 2001 Canvas 8 rolls into the scene just in time for OS 10.1 and what a timely release. Besides providing OSX functionality, Canvas 8 steps forward with 3 key goals; automation, enhanced usability, and broader compatibility with other applications. Canvas has long been the choice of small business owners, engineers, and technical Illustrators, and that technical background's solid sensibilities reflect strongly in the latest version of Canvas. For those who are new to Canvas, think of Canvas as a cross between a CAD program, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Quark Express. In effect, Canvas is the do all program that successfully integrates such a huge and dynamic feature set and then packages it all in a very affordable $399 package. With Canvas 8 though, Canvas becomes a very able program. In effect, it's the common denominator of any organization's graphic and technical needs. Consider that Canvas 8 now exports to 28 different file formats and imports over 55 different file formats! Many of these are rather obscure technical file formats that researchers trade around, regardless, Canvas 8 will readily play with them all of them. And that's what Canvas 8 is truly about, it's a huge robust technical illustration, publication, and presentation software that is easy enough and powerful enough to be a valuable addition to any creative individual's toolbox as well. A first dive Installation of Canvas 8 is a quick and painless, and it's a native OSX installer as well! (It amazes me how many companies market their software as OSX ready and then have the installer drop into classic.) Bonus points to Deneba for getting this part done right. Time to dive into the program itself. Many programs released recently have been somewhat of a disappointment, their understanding of OSX seems to be sketchy at best, and the fruits of such labor mean that OSX programs tend to be slow. There are some programmers however that know how to integrate their application successfully with the new OS, and Deneba is one of them. Can you say fast? When I made the switch from Canvas 6 to Canvas 7 I was giddy with the speed ramp. Canvas 8 proves even faster then Canvas 7, in OSX no less! Always a good way to start a review session. The new Aqua interface is very slick, Canvas really looks good under these new coverings. An interesting new feature to all the floating windows is immediately noticeable. A magenta little arrow button that when clicked sends the window up to the Canvas dock automatically (No Apple did not invent the Dock) . Unfortunately this feature isn't very useful. My docked windows usually find themselves over at the extreme right of the monitor window and often times overlapped one on top of another. Far more efficient and sensible to manually drag and dock the windows yourself. Features Canvas 8 has none of the flashy eye catching features that it's predecessor did, there is nothing in Canvas 8 that rivals Deneba's release of Sprite Effects. Instead, Deneba has focused on making Canvas 8 highly automated and more accessible to the technical background that it caters to. First off are the new Bezier Curve Editing tools and other selection tools. One of them that startled me was the new Direct Group Selection tool. With it you can select individual elements within a group, without ungrouping the object, quite a nifty little tool. New lasso selection tools make life easier as well, and symmetric point editing mode is greatly appreciated. To fulfill the automation process, Canvas is now fully Applescriptable. Window's users have the option of using Visual Basic, VBScript, Java Script, or any other language that can automate the Window's environment. This is excellent for technical users and graphic professionals. No longer do you have leave your proprietary cataloging software which catalogs images taken from the Mayan dig back in 99'. With Applescript, you can tell Canvas 8 to automatically process the images, apply a watermark, crop and reduce and optimize for the web all in the background (Yeah, and remember, since Canvas 8 is OSX native, true multitasking is a reality). Never have to touch the Canvas application itself if you so choose. Sequence Editor While Applescript isn't hard, it can be intimidating, and many have no need for that kind of automation, which doesn't mean that a creative professional designing the latest webpage would have no use of automation at all. Indeed, he's probably got a collection of interface elements that he has to create which must all conform to certainly visual guidelines.   Enter Canvas's new Sequence engine. Think of it as an internal Applescript to Canvas 8, think of it as a relative of Adobe's own Action's palette. With it, you simply press the record button, perform the actions necessary, and when you're done you save the sequence. When you are presented with another graphic element that needs to be adjusted the same way, simply select the graphic element and play the sequence. Though such a feature is not a new innovation, it is a critical function of another application that Canvas is emerging as a player in, that as a presentation program. The power and customization of the sequencer means that you can create some spectacular presentations. If you're ready to graduate from Powerpoint (and you should) Canvas 8 provides and environment that allows you to create some truly sophisticated presentations. And if that wasn't good enough, Canvas 8 allows you to import your old Powerpoint presentations. Import and Export As mentioned before, Canvas 8 has a huge repository of import export filters, but it bears mentioning again. Where else can you find industry specific formats like CGM*PIP supported? Regardless of the special industry specific formats, you'll find that Canvas supports all of the more familiar formats, like Photoshop, Illustrator, PDF and every thing else under the sun. PDF Export Once upon a time a coworker suggested that we create a PDF manual for a project we were working on. His idea was to get a copy of Adobe Acrobat, my idea was to bust out Canvas. It's true, Canvas 8 has more features then ever to export your documents as PDF files. Canvas 8 now even supports embedded URLS and transition settings so your PDF manual can take advantage of all that the PDF advantage offers. Everybody is going Flash First the 3D programs, and now Canvas 8. With Canvas 8 you can dump Flash files that are immediately viewable on a website or dumped into Flash for more extensive editing. Web image slicing This was a feature that I can truly appreciate, I've always used Canvas's tight integration of vector art and rastorized images to create web pages and interface elements faster then any other option. With web image slicing, it's a complete solution. It also happens to be the fastest and simplest image slicing I've come across, no having to type coordinates, or going through complex routines to get a simple slice, simply cut and slice and dice and export exactly what you want and need. Tweaks and polish The interface has undergone a functionality update, mainly small things, but things you'll appreciate, like independent Ink Managers or snapping floating windows. So many programs seem to forget adding scrollwheel functionality to their program in OSX, Canvas I'm pleased to say, isn't one of them. For control freaks who demand customization and custom optimization (yes I'm one of them) Canvas 8 now allows for the creation of your own icon buttons. Something new on the Horizon In conjunction with Canvas 8, TIEMdesign has learned that a new initiative called DenebaShare will integrate itself directlywithin Canvas 8 for Mac OSX during the first quarter of 2002. DenebaShare already exists as a standalone free program which you can download off of Denba's site at Deneba.com. DenebaShare currently allows you to share photos and graphics between remote users. My best analogy for it currently is it seems like a combination of a game server and Apple's idisk technology. In addition, the Mac OSX stand-alone version of DenbaShare will also be released during quarter 1 of 2002. The standalone version is a bit more robust, even offering plugins that integrate DenebaShare directly into Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. With direct IP connectivity and the ability to browse local and remote hard drives, DenebaShare promises to be quite a dynamic file sharing program. Bottom Line It's not an extravagant feature set to be sure, but all of these tweaks mean added functionality and there are some significant automation tools to be had under this latest revision of Canvas. If you own OSX, you'll want to pick Canvas 8, the added speed, stability, functionality, and automation makes a package that shouldn't be missing from your toolset. But do you upgrade if you're still in the OS 9 world? Canvas 8 will work on OS9, but the advantages are less pronounced. More then anything, a user who has not upgraded to OSX will get Canvas 8 because they specifically need a certain feature. It's not a must have if you've already got Canvas 7 on OS9. Of course, Applescript, and automation aren't very necessary in my toolchest, evaluate your own needs and purchase accordingly. I'm sure high end technical artists and members in the scientific community who utilize Canvas will find the new features definitely worth the upgrade price. And if you're new to the Canvas scene, don't be. Canvas combines half a dozen programs allowing you to draw, paint, publish, and present for a bargain price of $399. Some version of Canvas should be on your computer, why not make it Canvas 8? Box Contents Canvas Installer + Fonts CD Clip Art Collection CDs Getting Started Guide User's Guide Clip Art and URW Font Library catalog Canvas 8, For Windows and Macintosh. Deneba Software 1150 NW 72nd Avenue Miami, FL 33126 Executive Tower 1 Penthouse Floor Phone: (305) 596-5644 Fax: (305) 273-9069 www.deneba.com Strengths: Complete automation Budget friendly Tight integration with OSX Fast redraws and load times Import Export anything Weaknesses: Dock Snap is poorly implemented More power for the buck. High end users have the power to work with anything, automate anything. Canvas has always been a solid function of an application suite, Canvas 8 furthers this with added OSX support and interface refinement. System Requirements Windows Windows 95/98/NT 4.0 or later 32 MB Ram Minimum 80 MB hard drive space 16 bit color or higher 800*600 or higher screen resolution Pentium class processor Macintosh Mac OS 9 or newer, MacOS X 32 MB Ram to Canvas 100 MB hard drive space 800*600 or higher screen resolution 16 bit color or higher PowerPC Processor Copyright © 2001, Ian Mankowski, All Rights Reserved