We last took a look at Indeeo's iDraw vector drawing program for OS X in July of last year, when version 2.4.1 was introduced. Since then Serif's very capable Affinity Designer has been released and Bohemian Coding's Sketch continues to gain momentum for work in UI and UX environments. Then there are more modest, general-purpose Mac vector drawing applications, such as Acorn and Artboard. With so much such competition, what can the future hold for iDraw? As it turned out, being purchased by Autodesk, with a recent relaunch employing the rather generic name of Graphic.

As with all such applications, Graphic allows users to draw lines and shapes with a Pen tool that creates editable Bézier curves or edit the various provided shapes, such as rounded rectangles, ellipses, stars and polygons. Multiple shapes can be combined by using the Union, Subtract, Intersect, Exclude and Divide paths commands. Multi-color linear and radial gradients can be created; colors can be defined via RGB, CMYK and HSB sliders or a color palette; layers can be used to manage complex illustrations; fluid vector calligraphic brush and pencil tools can be modified to create custom brushes; shape libraries for floor plans, iPhone app mockups and symbols are included; bitmap images can be imported and used as object fills; dimensioning and labels can be used for technical designs; and quite flexible text capabilities round out the feature set.

While not glitzy, it adds up to all the functionality that many users would actually want or need, for everything from graphic design tasks and simple illustrations through interface elements for web sites or applications. Also significant is the ability to import PDF and EPS files as editable vector objects. Native support for the AI, PDF, EPS and SVG formats allows iDraw users to exchange these files with other applications, such as Adobe Illustrator, so those those with orphaned AI files can put them to use. Support for Photoshop is quite robust, thanks to the ability to import layered PSD files while preserving vector paths and layer style effects as editable objects.

The application's Core Text-based text layout and editing architecture provides support for multi-style text, placing text objects on paths and in-place editing of transformed text. Text objects can be customized with multiple style attributes within a single text box and various fonts, colors, sizes and alignment settings can be applied to multiple spans of text. Alignment, kerning and line height settings can be used to customize the positioning of text, while text can be curved along a circle or made to follow a path of any shape.

Worthy of mention is the ability to apply multiple drop shadows, inner shadows, inner glows and outer glow effects. Multiple strokes and fills can also be applied to a single object to create a variety of effects. Users can arrange the order in which the effects are applied, set blending modes for shadows and glows, and create a combination of up to twelve effects on a single object. It's also possible to export multiple image assets at once using a new Export Layers panel. Each layer can be exported automatically as a separate PNG, SVG, PDF, PSD, TIFF or GIF file, with users having the ability to tag layers, groups, and objects with file names and extensions to export each item as a different file format.

Core Graphics code export allows Mac and iOS developers to copy vector shapes and effects directly as Core Graphics drawing code, making it possible to convert fully-styled buttons and icons into the appropriate CGPaths, CGColors and CGGradients code. Related is the ability to convert styled shapes and buttons into CSS color, border, gradient and shadow definitions. This can speed up web design workflows by automatically generating CSS properties with the appropriate vendor prefixes, with CSS font name and style attributes copied from text objects. Included are shape libraries for creating iOS iPhone and iPad UI mockups, as well as example symbol and floor plan libraries. Users can import and export custom shape library files, which can be shared with other users and devices.

Interesting are Graphic plugins, which are text-based scripts written in JavaScript, with access to Mac OS X's Cocoa APIs. Graphic's plugin APIs can be used to create plugins for such things as generating new shapes, modifying vector paths, changing the current selection, customizing appearance settings and importing/exporting data. A built-in editor can be used to write, test and run plugin scripts directly within the application, with example plugins and API documentation available.

What's New?

Autodesk sees Graphic as appropriate for a wide range of tasks, everything from from dimensioned to-scale 2D floor plans, product mockups, UI designs, artwork for media and game development projects, as well as importing and exporting vector designs to other Autodesk products, such as Fusion 360. So what's new in Graphic, for this first post-purchase release, which Autodesk calls version 3? We can start with support for pressure sensitive, variable-width brush strokes and the ability to draw with pressure-sensitivity using Wacom tablets and Force Touch trackpads. Users can now create, save, and reuse custom calligraphic brush stroke styles. A new transform toolbar pane is welcome, as is the ability to quickly edit selections of objects and numerically position path points.

It's possible to recolor vector elements or an entire artwork using a new Adjust Colors panel. You can import and export PDF files with CMYK color profiles, and import and export Photoshop PSD files in CMYK color mode. And users can now easily place editable elements from SVG, AI, and PSD files directly into a design using drag and drop. As you might expect, it's possible to create and share designs across devices and sync documents seamlessly with iCloud. All in all quite an impressive release, but will it be enough to dim the current lustre of Affinity Designer?

Autodesk Graphic for Mac is available for $24.99, while the iPad edition is priced at $8.99 and a new iPhone version is $2.99. More information is available on the Autodesk site.

Mac
vector
illustration

› See More: iDraw Relaunched as Autodesk Graphic for Vector Design and Illustration