Stone Design Forums

Mr. Stone, we really want to use your app. That's why we're here. Quark was threatened by the needs of its users, even Adobe heard the footsteps when Graphic Converter and Corell carbonized before it did.

Then, it tried to do it to Quark. We're not trying to push or be demanding. This forum is titled "Create Suggestions and Coments", and we're the users. We like what we see, and think it's possible to use your app.

I personally, would buy this app for the printers i use just to have the compatibility, however, more features are necessary, to move to a Create Only (no illustrator, Quark, InDesign) environment. However, i can't get enough of this app.

I am not a curent user, although I'm tempted to buy. My basic desire is to have one reasonable priced graphics/illustration suite that I can use for everything. I haven't bought the Stone Studio because I don't want have to have a copy of Illustrator or Canvas around for when I want to import and edit PS/PDF graphics. It's not only a waste of money, but I don't want to wastge time learning multiple user interfaces.

As for supporting Adobe, the files I want to import are not outputs from Illustrator (though there are times it would be useful), but data plots generated by various science/engineer software packages. I'm pretty much locked into Illustrator because I need this functionality.

Then you'll be staying with Illustrator.

And from your post, it doesn't sound like you would be a potential user even if this functionality was added. Was there a point?

The point is that one quite often has to deal with art/graphics from applications other than Stone Studio. In the word processing arena applications have to import Word files, for art and graphics the 800 lb gorilla is Adobe Illustrator. Even more importantly, PS & PDF are defacto standards, a graphics application that can't import these is essentially isolated. I have numerous files I've generated in PS & PDF format using other applications and Stone Studio can't read them (at least not as editable objects.) If I switched over to Stone Studio I would have recreate them from scratch any time I needed to modify them or incorporate parts in a new graphic image. I'm just making a suggestion on how Stone Studio could be more marketable, if there is no interest, then so be it.

The ability to import PDFs as editable graphics (as opposed to placing them in a Create document, which is doable, and useful, right now) is on Andrew's radar. It's a lot of work to do correctly, so I don't know when, or if, we'll see it in Stone Studio. But Andrew definitely knows there are people who want to see this happen. You're not the only one.

I'm sorry, I just don't see it as logical to be chasing after Adobe products. Illustrator is $499 while Create is $149. To upgrade to Illustrator CS2 is $169 while all Create upgrades are FREE! Stone Design is a small dedicated Mac OS X software house while Adobe has been pushing Windows as their preferred platform and has comparably limitless resources.

You are right, Adobe (not just Illustrator) is an 800 lb gorilla. And you are recommending that Stone Design try to stand toe-to-toe with them... that is how you get crushed.

The only way around Adobe is not to play by their rules. Create is not just an illustration app, Illustrator pretty much is. If I would have upgraded my copy of Illustrator during each of the last upgrade cycles I would have spent almost $500. For $149 I got Create 10.x and free upgrades to 11.x and 12.x.

More importantly, if something is wrong with an Adobe app, you're pretty much stuck with a buggy program. If there is something wrong with Create I can tell the developer and it gets fixed.

It is just foolhardy to try to compete with Adobe's strengths, it is better that Stone Design compete with Adobe's weak points (slow to respond to user's needs, way to expensive, and becoming more and more pro-Windows).

Now that Adobe will most likely kill off Freehand (the better app over Illustrator) it is a perfect time to push Create to the forefront!

By adding the advanced path operations (import/edit EPS vector files), most of us would never have a need to even open Illustrator. I hate the freakin' app! And at Create's price point, many new users would definitely by-pass the $499 Illustrator package and go for Create first (and without Freehand around to compete, you can bet they will raise the price even higher now).

Yes, definitely do not play by Adobe's rules.
1. Offer software at a reasonable price
2. Listen to your user base
3. Offer upgrades that actually add features
3. Native Mac OS X support
4. Fix bugs
Yup, definitely not Adobe's rules!

I don't think Create has to stand toe-to-toe with Illustrator. They don't need all of the same features, but having some of them could easily shift the paradigm away from Illustrator and onto Create as a main stay on the Mac OS X platform. With Freehand dead and Illustrator prepared to stand alone, it is a great opportunity to get Create out to the masses. Import/Edit EPS would be a step in the right direction.

Here Here. I think Mr. Stone does Amazing work. I'd like to see his work get acknowledged by the industry as it is no mere..hack of an app.


Yeah, "Create Tips" on Mac Design (um.. Layers...) magazine! wouldn't that be nice? LOL okay... No pushing here... just waiting to try iMaginator! No Screenshots? LOL. Hey, Seashore just got support for .svg files.... i was suggesting he make the importer a plug in... useful for all cocoa apps.. now... an editable .svg format.. would be a nice...cross platform vector format right? what about just exporting vector files as xml? or is that the attempt of svg? i know it wont keep the effects... well, i don't think it will... but its a nice way to pass around a few things... okay. again.. just some "Suggestions and Comments"

If it's agreeable with the author... cool.. if no one else thinks this is important cool... not trying to start a fame war or anything... just using the forum.

is there a possibility that we might have a keyboard shortcut for things like "add point" or "delete point"?

Sure! Now let's see what keys are left! I'll check with the doc folks - Kris has been keeping track of those....

Command-Option-n adds a point (think "new")
Command-Option-r removes a point (think "remove")

This build of Create has these added, as well as more automator stuff.

Great but, awwww... i can't get the link to open.. in Safari.. or Camino..

so, off to main downloads site.... or.. rather the .mac site.... !!! Thanks Mr. Stone!!!!

That's because I misstyped the URL!

LOL! well, actually, Cyberduck came to the rescue... i hope that was ok. And...GREAT!!!! THANKS MR> STONE!!!!


do you think that fox news reporting on a video ipod based on appleinsider.com will get mr. jobs a little hot under the collar?


I won't tell them that there's a version of Create for the iPod, at Stoneinsider.com

is there a way to allow blends to travel a path? curves n all?