The iMac is wonderful machine, no doubt, but I am still seeing similarities with the PC here and there such as small features that leave room for minor development improvement. For example, the PC "Explorer" file manager is junk compared to some freeware that does the same, a whole lot better. The iMac's Grab screen capture program leaves a little to be desired, and I'm wondering if anyone knows of a decent free Mac program to do the same but better, and have perhaps more features?
This is asking for a software reference. Is it also OK to submit a recommendation without solicitation? I've recently met one I'm impressed with; a bit pricey, but saves a ton of searching for similar software.
Thanks.
David.
OS X is pretty and powerful and Mac hardware has never been better, but you just have to visit the Apple.com discussion forums to see that Apple is not perfect. (o:
For screen captures and graphics design, I recommend the GIMP:
http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Overview.html
Thanks z-mac, but that might be overkill, as the Gimp program is a general graphic editor is it not? In fact, I have a copy on hand just in case. I was hoping for a dedicated program with a singular purpose. I already have Adobe Photoshop , and don't need too much on the graphic side just now, ...but might later on. I'm not really a graphics person, just very simple stuff for putting into a word processor for some math material for tutoring.
David.
Quote from: David on October 05, 2009, 09:46:58 AM
The iMac's Grab screen capture program leaves a little to be desired
Grab.app is definitely one of the more obscure items Apple ships in /Applications/Utilities with every Mac. But you do know about the Shift-Command-3 screen capture functionality built right into OS X? There are several variants, viz:
-Command-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it as a file on the desktop
-Command-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it as a file on the desktop
-Command-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it as a file on the desktop
-Command-Control-Shift-3: Take a screenshot of the screen, and save it to the clipboard
-Command-Control-Shift-4, then select an area: Take a screenshot of an area and save it to the clipboard
-Command-Control-Shift-4, then space, then click a window: Take a screenshot of a window and save it to the clipboard
In Snow/Leopard, the following keys can be held down while selecting an area (via Command-Shift-4 or Command-Control-Shift-4):
-Space, to lock the size of the selected region and instead move it when the mouse moves
-Shift, to resize only one edge of the selected region
-Option, to resize the selected region with its center as the anchor point
The default Screen Capture format is PDF, and you can change this default (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050627224051361) in terminal.app. But most find it more convenient to use a App. I recommend Dr. Marcel Bresink's free TinkerTool.app (http://bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html)
You can also change some of the default key-mappings above in the
Keyboard preference pane.
...b
PS. I use Snapz Pro X (http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/snapzprox) but it's not free.
Hey David,
One of the best screen cap apps for Mac is SnapZPro from Ambrosia Software - www.ambrosiasw.com - there are others, but SnapZPro is still the best. For screencasting, you also have many choices, but I still find ScreenFlow one of the best - varasoftware.com/products/screenflow.
OS X has very good screen capture ability built-in -
Quote• Take a picture of the whole screen -- ⌘-Shift-3
• Take a picture of part of the screen -- ⌘-Shift-4, and then drag the crosshair pointer to select the area. To cancel, press Escape
• Take a picture of a window or the menu bar -- ⌘-Shift-4, press the Space Bar, move the camera pointer over the area to highlight it, and then click. To cancel, press Escape
• Take a picture of a menu -- Click the menu to display the menu commands, press ⌘-Shift-4, and do one of the following:
• To take a picture of the menu without its title, press the Space Bar, move the camera pointer over the menu to highlight it, and then click.
• To take a picture of the menu and its title, drag the crosshair pointer over the area. To cancel, press Escape
These commands work in any program. Grab is useful in that you can add timed screen captures, and change the cursor used in your screen caps.
I can't really understand your other point - "the PC "Explorer" file manager is junk compared to some freeware that does the same" The Mac's "file manager" is called the Finder, and like 7-11, may not always be busy, but it is always open for business, and is certainly not "junk", especially compared to Windows File Explorer. The Finder is much more than a file manager, it is the core of the Mac User Experience, i.e., it is the one program you cannot quit, and like I said, you don't have to open multiple "instances" to do sophisticated file moves, etc. as you do with Explorer. And for those who must execute DOS-like file renaming or sorting or extraction - we have the UNIX Terminal for command-line execution of - with far more facility for scripting than DOS would ever allow.
OS X and Windows are still Apples and Oranges, it is not productive to try to compare them on a feature-by-feature basis, though it is illustrative of the different philosophies at work in either camp.
I see Ben has posted much the same material here while I am composing this - guess we had the same reaction - anyways...
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
Quote from: Dan Millar on October 05, 2009, 02:06:10 PM
I see Ben has posted much the same material here while I am composing this
Hi Dan,
Welcome back! I blame Safari 4's Top Sites (http://www.apple.com/safari/) feature. I have it configured to display thumbnails of my 20 'Top Sites', one of which is Mugoo.com. Now every time that I open my browser, if I see the page curl on a thumbnail revealing a star, I have to fight the urge to click on it to see what's changed!
best regards,
...ben
(http://images.apple.com/safari/images/overview-hero-image1-20090602.png)
Thank you both. The command key combo is neat, but it saves as a portable graphics network format I'm not familiar with. I'll take a peek at both SnapZPro and Screenflow, but am avoiding commercial if there is suitable freeware.
P.S. My reference but MS Explorer was not to compare with Finder, but with other PC freeware that offers 2-panel drag and drop and other functions. My analogy was to ask if there was similarly an Apple freeware capture program that was an improvement on Grab. As good as it gets, it can always get better. Finder does allow two panels and more, but not so as a file can be dragged form one to the other for copying etc. However, since mentioned, I did see a 2-panel file manager program called MuCommander that is worth a look, perhaps. I do presently invoke two Finders and drag and drop between them, but miss the extra perks.
David.
Quote from: David on October 05, 2009, 03:52:07 PM
The command key combo is neat, but it saves as a portable graphics network format I'm not familiar with.
By default the Screen Captures are saved in Adobe's PDF format. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pdf) You can use the OS X command line to reconfigure your system (http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20050627224051361) to save Screen Captures to any other format you may prefer from amongst these choices: PNG, TIFF, PICT, JPEG, JPEG 2000, BMP, GIF, PSD, SCI and TGA. Rather than using the OS X command line, it's easier to use a freeware app, TinkerTool (http://bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html), to change this system-wide setting. After you open Tinkertool.app, click on the General icon, and then the pop-up next to "Screenshot file format". All subsequent screenshots will be saved in the selected format.
Tip: Have the Finder display all file extensions. From the Finder, select Finder > Preferences... > Advanced and then check the checkbox labelled: Show all filename extensions.
Quote from: David on October 05, 2009, 03:52:07 PMFinder does allow two panels and more, but not so as a file can be dragged form one to the other for copying etc.
If you are working with a single hard drive, then dragging files between Finder windows implements a file
move. If you want to force a
copy, option-drag the files.
Hi David,
Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the Finder does indeed allow copying or moving files from any Finder window to any other Finder window, as Ben has detailed below. You can select multiple files from multiple directories using Finder's Column view by using the Command key as you select the files, and then dragging to the destination directory in the same or other window. You can also right-click the selection and choose "Copy n items", then navigate to the destination, right-click again, and choose "Paste n items".
muCommander is a great, Norton Commander-like file manager, and there're a few others that stand out - XFolders ad PathFinder are just two that come to mind. Try googling "mac os x finder replacements". Spotlight has some pretty advanced file-selection techniques using metadata also - see the Mac Help file for more info.
And to Ben, thanks, it's great to be back. I too immediately placed MUGOO in my Top Sites so I can keep up to the minute!
Happy Mac'ing
Dan
Thank you both. This has been very informative.
David.