Linked List: August 17, 2013

Saturday, 17 August 2013

iDraw 

My thanks to Indeeo for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote iDraw, their amazing vector illustration app for Mac OS X. iDraw is lightweight, modern, and fast. It can import and edit a variety of formats — including PDF, SVG, EPS, and AI files — and the latest update adds the ability to import and export Photoshop PSD files. Unlike many other apps which import PSD files, iDraw can also import the vector paths from Shape Layers and import Layer Styles as editable drop shadows, glows, etc. rather than simple flat rasterized layers. One use case for this: interface and web designers can import resources from sites like 365psd or Designmoo directly into iDraw. iDraw is my new go-to vector editing app.

If that’s not enough, there’s also an iPad version of iDraw, and documents can be shared between Mac and iPad using iCloud. Buy iDraw today on the Mac App Store for just $24.99.

The Shining and the Steadicam 

David Konow, writing for Tested:

When Brown showed Kubrick that the Steadicam could shoot at a lens height from eighteen inches to waist-high, Kubrick was thrilled because much of the film revolved around a kid’s point of view. To film little Danny riding his Big Wheel through the halls, Brown rode on a wheelchair that Kubrick used for A Clockwork Orange.

Brown used the wheelchair because “in a number of instances it was the only way to get the lens right down to floor level.” Brown tried to follow Danny on foot, and got tired after three minutes. “I never even tried running after the kid, that would’ve been a joke,” Brown says. “A kid on a Big Wheel can go about seventy miles an hour.”