{"id":1114,"date":"2008-06-14T16:02:36","date_gmt":"2008-06-15T00:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2008-12-18T22:33:52","modified_gmt":"2008-12-19T06:33:52","slug":"mac-software-review-imagewell-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Mac Software Review: ImageWell 3.5"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nImageWell is an affordable image editor from Xtralean Software. It only costs CAD19.95. That’s about US$19.50 or 12.62\u00e2\u201a\u00ac. Application size is only 2.3 MB. Compare it with Adobe Fireworks CS3, whose application is 308.8 MB in file size. Yet, despite its price and size, ImageWell is quite versatile. Some of the useful features are framing and watermarking images and adding comment shapes and non-linear arrows. So let’s see what we can do with it.  <\/p>\n

Before doing anything, I pressed Command + Shift + #3 to take a desktop screenshot. It’s shown in Screenshot 01. The resolution is 1440 x 900 pixels. The format is PDF. Then all I have to do is just drag and drop this screenshot onto ImageWell’s little window. (See Screenshot 02.)
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\nImageWell also lets you take a desktop screenshot. Go to Grab Screen under Tools or press Command + G. (See Screenshot 03.) Just like pressing Command + Shift + #4, you can also make a selective desktop screenshot. If you choose Grab Selection under Tools, the Mouse pointer will transform itself into a cross icon so that you will be ready to make a selection on the desktop.<\/p>\n

By the way, I tested other image formats besides PDF. ImageWell reads such graphic formats as BMP, JPEG, PDF (Adobe Acrobat), PICT, PNG PSD (Adobe Photoshop) and TIFF. You can then export your final editing work in JPG, PNG or TIFF.<\/p>\n

All right, let’s move on. If you see Screenshot 03 closely, the resolution is altered from the original. The ratio is correct, though. So I don’t have to click on the lock button in the middle to unlock the screen ratio. I could use the vertical slider to the right to change the resolution. But it doesn’t snap to the width of 1440. So I need to manually change the resolution to 1440 x 900 pixels. (See Screenshot 04.)
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\nI also want to set a new export location. At the bottom of the ImageWell window, you can find a button that says Locations. After clicking on it, I add a new location and then choose a destination. (See Screenshot 05.)
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\nWatermarking<\/u><\/p>\n

Next, let’s place a water mark. First, I need to click on one of the three buttons in the middle. (See Screenshot 06.) The one that says ‘Watermark’ is what I need to click on. As you can imagine, if you click on the button to the bottom right, you will get the Color Picker window, which lets you choose the color and opacity of a watermark. I also want to click on the pull-down menu in the middle and choose a display style. So I choose Diagonal Overlay. Finally, I want to type a word or more other than the default phrase of Insert Text here.
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\nOkay. After making all changes, I get a diagonal watermark, which I can barely see. (See Screenshot 07.) So I want to enlarge the watermark. But how? Actually, a solution is simple. I need to select the watermark text at first. Then press Command + T to bring up the Font window. (See Screenshot 08.) Or you can find ‘Show Fonts’ under Font on the menu bar.
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\nEdit<\/u><\/p>\n

Now, I’m going to move on the next level. Let’s click on Edit at the bottom of the application window. (See Screenshot 09.) The screen size is set to 100%. So the entire 1440 by 900 pixels of image occupies the desktop. Let’s change the viewing size to 75%. (See Screenshot 10-1.)
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\nThere are several buttons at the top. Clicking on the one looking like letter A will bring up a list of comment boxes. (See Screenshot 12.) So I’m going to select the one at the bottom right. Then drag and drop it on to the edit window. There are a few handles that you want to manipulate on the comment box. The handle appearing to the left will let you change the roundness of the shape. (See Screenshot 13.) Also, I can relocate the comment mouth by moving the yellow point by it. And there’s a rotation handle in the middle. So you can freely rotate the comment box. (See Screenshot 14.)
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\nNext, let’s double-click on ‘Insert Text here.’ (See Screenshot 15) I can type anything. So let’s type ‘Hello!.’ (See Screenshot 16.) Done… Hmm… Text is too small. So I need to open the Font Window again to adjust the font size. (See Screenshot 17.) I can adjust the horizontal alignment by clicking on one of the buttons appearing at the bottom left corner. But we aren’t sure if you can change the vertical alignment.
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\nFraming an Image<\/u><\/p>\n

Okay. After visiting Xtralean Software’s website, I was interested in knowing how they managed to frame their images. (See Screenshot 18.) I actually spent an hour trying to figure out how. I visited their website and read the online manual in vain. I also went to their forums. But I didn’t find a solution. So I actually gave up framing images with ImageWell once. Then I clicked on something accidentally, which actually worked out. The biggest mistake that I made is that I clicked on the shape menu to choose a shape. Then I dragged and dropped it on to the edit window. (See Screenshot 19.) Oh, no…
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\nSo here is the simple solution to framing an image. All you have to do is to select the image you are working on. Then the image will be surrounded with yellow points. (See Screenshot 20.) That wasn’t new to me at all. But what I missed before is a rectangular icon at the very bottom of the application window. (See Screenshot 21.) If I click on it, I’ll get the same list of shapes, which we also saw in Screenshot 19, right? (See Screenshot 22.) If I select one… Voila! The selected image has been put in a frame. (See Screenshot 23).
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\nWell, it’s not over yet. The corner roundness is too large. So I need to scroll to the left and see the left edge of the editing image to find a handle. (See Screenshot 24.) I want to reduce roundness. So I need to pull the handle upwards.
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\nAll right, let’s move on. There’s a drop-down menu next to ‘Change Shape’ button. It says Shadow. Let’s click on the little box at the bottom to bring up the Color Picker window. I get to change the drop shadow color and its opacity under this window. (See Screenshot 25.) Okay… Looking at Screenshot 26, there is no shadow cast on the desktop image. What am I doing wrong? Actually, there’s a little check box on the very drop-down menu button. If I check the box… Voila! Screenshot 27 shows that shadow has been cast to the bottom-right direction.
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\nNext, I want to change the thickness of the frame border. So let’s enter 20 in the highlighted box shown in Screenshot 28. And I can also change the border color. All right. I’m finished. So I’m going to press the ImageWell button at the top left corner to get out of the edit mode. (See Screenshot 30.)
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\nFinally, I’m ready to export my project. All I have to do is to click on the Send button, right? (See Screenshot 31) There are actually a couple of things that I have to do before exporting my work. First, I need to choose the graphic format. The default export format seems to be .jpg. Or I can change it to PNG or TIFF. Another thing that I have to do is to choose the destination. I added a new export location, which hasn’t been selected. So let’s choose it with the pull-down menu shown to the right of the Send button. (See Screenshot 32.) Whew… Finally… Screenshot 33 shows the final work opened with Preview.
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\nA couple of ImageWell’s features like image-framing and comment shapes are nice to use. But there are a couple of major problems. No. 1, you cannot save your work progress. So you have to finish your work with ImageWell once you start. That also means you can’t go back to the same edit screen afterwards once you close ImageWell.<\/p>\n

Secondly, ImageWell is not suitable when you work with large images. The original resolution of the image that I used here is 1440 x 900 pixels. If click on the lock button, it’ll take ImageWell a few seconds to process the order. If I make a change under the edit mode with the same image and then undo the last action, it will take ImageWell a few seconds or longer to undo it.<\/p>\n

Another minor problem with ImageWell that I have is the size of the application window. For me, it’s too small. There are hundreds of millions of short-sighted people out there around the globe. And they won’t probably be happy working under this little window.
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  • Developer: Xtralean Software (xtralean.com\/IWOverview.html)<\/li>\n
  • Developer’s location: Unknown (Possibly, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)<\/li>\n
  • Latest version: ImageWell 3.5.2 (Leopard and Intel Mac compatible)\n
  • System requirements: OS X 10.3.9 or higher<\/li>\n
  • Prices: full version – CAD$19.95 (about US$19.45)<\/li>\n
  • MacHouse recommendation<\/strong>: It’s an interesting image-editing tool with a relatively affordable price. It’s kind of a combination of Comic Life and The Omni Group’s OmniGraffe in some aspects. No image-editing application is complete without Eraser and Magic Wand tools, which ImageWell doesn’t have. Therefore, you are likely to end up using another application without those tools after all.\n

    Unfortunately, we have to give ImageWell a Don’t-But-It! recommendation because we find no office information on their website. We advise fellow Mac users to avoid making purchases at untrusted online stores. For the same reason, we advise Internet users to avoid online store labels including Canadian Pharmacy, Downloadable Software and King Replica. Xtralean Software got our warning in writing roughly 24 hours before we posted this review. We would probably give 3 stars to ImageWell if their website indicated their office information.
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    \nImageWell is a product of XtraLean Software.
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    Click for<\/td>\n\"Mac<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    ImageWell is an affordable image editor from Xtralean Software. It only costs CAD19.95. That’s about US$19.50 or 12.62\u00e2\u201a\u00ac. Application size is only 2.3 MB. Compare it with Adobe Fireworks CS3, whose application is 308.8 MB in file size. Yet, despite … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":342,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[127,128],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apple-mac","tag-imagewell","tag-xtralean-software"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/342"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mhvt.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}