TOKYO (MacHouse) – I used to use Maxon‘s Cinema 4D just in order to turn application screenshots into nice pictures so that I could post them at Mac App Store. Cinema 4D is a great application. It’s quite expensive and difficult to learn how to use, though. I don’t think I even know how to use it any more. Well, I have a better idea. How about developing a new application like it? Maybe not… It could take me years to develop something like it. Yet, I’ve managed to submit a new desktop application similar to Cinema 4D at the slightest level to Mac App Store a few hours ago. This new release is called Showcase 123D.

Tom Bluewater

Tom Bluewater

Showcase 123D lets you easily turn a simple picture into a box with the image at front. Drag and drop one or more pictures directly onto the scene canvas. Give a picture in the list a depth. Then rotate the picture box about the X-axis, Y-axis, Z-axis. A 3D application can be any easier than Showcase 123D. Use the light source effectively to shed a light on picture objects. Use or not use the floor to show reflections of picture objects. These features are all made possible by the SceneKit framework.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – Several days ago, I was looking at several screenshots shown at this Japanese web site, which introduces iOS applications. And I thought to myself “That’s what I need for the iOS application that I’m currently developing.” The application introduced there has a pink solid-color background filled with lots of small, translucent circles. I tried to find a web site to download a free desktop picture like it except that I couldn’t find any. So I had another thought. Hmm… Maybe, I can just develop a desktop application that allows the user to fill a rectangular image with a shape of their selection. That’s how I’ve ended up with MiPatterns, which I submitted to Mac App Store several hours ago.

Source: Tom Bluewater

Source: Tom Bluewater

MiPatterns is a desktop application that you can use to create an image full of simple figures. It comes with a built-in library of nearly four dozen code-generated shapes including circle, triangle, star, heart, diamond. Select one, and you can repeat it over a rectangular solid-color sheet they define.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – More than three years ago, I submitted an iOS application called RollerTest to Apple‘s App Store. Several hours ago, I submitted a similar kind as a desktop application to Mac App Store. This new release is called Text2Read.

Source: Tom Bluewater

Source: Tom Bluewater

Text2Read lets you prepare text scripts so that one can read them on a desktop computer as a teleprompter. There may be several applications of this kind at Mac App Store. Yet, Text2Read is unique in several aspects. No. 1, Text2Read rolls text not line by line but letter by letter. When it begins rolling out a speech script, every single letter assumes the hide color you select. And Text2Read will gradually reveal the text script, applying the show color you select to each letter. No. 2, you can emphasize important phrases by applying the emphasize color you select to them. No. 3, you can prepare multiple speech scripts and run them consecutively. Text2Read will automatically switch one text script to another for you when the current script reaches its end. No. 4, provided that the current text script is long enough, when a revealing letter at the carriage return reaches the bottom of the screen, Text2Read will automatically scroll the entire script up so that the next revealing letter will appear at the center of the screen. No. 5, Text2Read lets you save all text scripts you prepare as a single data file. And you can recover all text scripts by just double-clicking on a data file you’ve saved.   Continue reading →

TOKYO (MacHouse) – When I run out of software development ideas, I often get on the Internet and meaninglessly visit one web site after another. This time, a screenshot of an iOS game has caught my eyes. And I have thought to myself “Hmm… I wonder if there’s a simple way of creating that text image?” As a result, I submitted a new software release to Mac App Store several hours ago. This new software title is called Text n Colors.

Tom Bluewater

Tom Bluewater

Text n Colors is a desktop application that lets you create text with letters of alternating colors. You select one or more colors to create a color list, which will be temporarily saved in a drop-down menu. Text n Colors sets the fill color of each letter according to this list. You can save text as an image file or a rich text file to your disk.   Continue reading →