My Creative Software Toolkit

Here’s a quick peek into my creative software toolkit: the programs I depend on all day, every day, to turn around jaw-dropping multimedia … in record time … and on a budget, no less!

Presentation Software

Keynote. Everything PowerPoint can do, Keynote does better … but Keynote is far, far more than Apple’s answer to PowerPoint. The included templates are more elegant than any I’ve ever seen for the Microsoft product. Slide to slide transitions are brilliant, eye-catching, and smooth as glass. Almost every day, I use Keynote animation and effects features to produce jaw-dropping mini-movies that would once have required a film crew and a dedicated computer workstation to produce. Oh -- and it never, ever crashes. Nirvana! (Apple, part of the iWork suite, $67.99 at Amazon.com)

Graphics Software

Pixelmator. I own Photoshop. I use Photoshop. And I hate Photoshop. As the official 900-pound gorilla of digital image editors, Photoshop has become turgid bloatware, taking more than sixty seconds to launch on the Windows PC The Company provides me. By contrast, Pixelmator -- a sleek, fast-launching image editor -- offers 90% of Photoshop’s functionality … and 100% of what I use most … and for just $59 bucks, for cryin’ out loud! (Pixelmator, $59.00 with free trial available)

Skitch. There's no faster way to snap, capture, resize, crop, and annotate a screenshot. This little gem loads fast and makes short work of basic graphics tasks. I use it every single day, several times a day. Fire it up, drag a box around what you want to capture (or Shift-Click to capture an entire window), and drag the image directly into Keynote, other applications, or your desktop. (Skitch, in beta, free download as of this writing)

VectorDesigner and LineForm. I'm of two minds here, as you can see. VectorDesigner works the way my mind works, and, with the exception of how it handles .EPS files, is perfect for all my logo creation and illustration needs. LineForm opens .EPS files pretty well, so it's still on my list of valued apps … for now. (From TweakerSoft, $69.99)

Video and Screen Capture

QuickTime Pro. I don't have time to load up Final Cut Pro every time I need to lop the beginning and end off a video loop! Instead, I crank up QuickTime Pro and perform simple edits as quickly as I can select a few frames and hit Command-X. Oh -- and the Edit > Add to Movie … menu option makes adding a soundtrack to an existing clip as simple as it can be. (from Apple, $29.99)

iDVD. Hardly a day goes by that I do not offer a little prayer of thanks for File > One-Step DVD from Movie... (from Apple, included with most new Macs, and part of the iLife suite at Amazon.com for $69.99)

ScreenFlow. Every training and media development team on Earth should own ScreenFlow, which makes it waaaay too simple to capture everything happening on the desktop (or on your iSight camera) and convert it into a beautifully-rendered, self-playing video presentation. Put a subject matter expert and her slides on your Mac, start up ScreenFlow, capture the slides and the camera feed … and with just a little post-production twiddling, you'll have a sophisticated pre-packaged presentation you can share with anyone, anywhere. (from Flip4Mac, $99.00)

Sound Editing

Sound Studio. I know. There's another 900-pound gorilla in this category, too … but I never, ever use it. Sound Studio makes it possible for me to load, edit, and convert sound files in record time. The interface is a pleasure to use -- which, for me, means everything just makes sense. I own other audio editors -- but I never use 'em. (from Freeverse, $79.99)

Productivity and Organization

Things. Things is the best task and project organizer on the market, and its integration with the iPhone lets me carry (and update) my task list from virtually anywhere on the planet. While I’m not a GTD fanatic, Things has become my trusted system -- once a task is in there … it gets done. (from Cutured Code. $39.00 now, $49.00 after January 6)

Together. Like Yojimbo and Circus Ponies Notebook, Together makes a great database for capturing and organizing random bits of information. But unlike those other programs, Together is a visually attractive, nimble, stable piece of software that is a real joy to use. It's my virtual daybook (for recording notes about what I did and when) and my portfolio (for keeping pristine copies of every project close at hand) combined. Flexible tagging and a powerful search feature lets me summon any scrap of info or any past project with a few well-chosen keywords. (From Reinvented Software, $39.00)

Writing

Scrivener. This little-known program makes it easy to outline and write documents of any size … but it also serves as a handy repository for all the research, video clips, audio clips, images, and quotations you compile as you plan and create your book, textbook, script, novel, speech, or presentation. Scrivener lets me break a huge project down into tiny pieces … identify what still needs work … and reorganize all those bits into one exquisite final document. (From Literature & Latte, $39.95)

The combined power of these tools -- all purchased with my own money! -- make it possible for me to be a lean, mean multimedia production machine. Despite my shoestring budget, I've got access to some of the fastest, most elegant apps out there ... and the combined price of every app in my toolkit (about $555.00 total) is less than a single license to Adobe Photoshop CS4 Basic ($699).

I can't justify bugging my boss for seven hundred bucks to buy one graphics app ... when $555.00 will buy me an entire creative arsenal for editing images, creating illustrations, organizing my work, editing basic video, capturing and editing sound, and creating stunning presentations!

But these are just the tools I use ... and the whole purpose of this site is to share insights and secrets ... so if you're using an app I need to know about, please post a comment. (And if this post helped you find an app that is going to save you time, energy, or money ... please let me know about that, too!)

Comments

[Joanna Powell Colbert]

Mark, love this new site of yours! It appeals both to the Tarot deck-creating side of me and the web-designer side of me. I use Scrivener in writing the Gaian Tarot companion book and love it - also cannot live without Yohimbo but may now try Together. I've created one presentation in Keynote (intro to the GT that I did at BATS last year) - found it very easy to use. I deeply appreciate your reviews of these products and more.

[Mark]

Wow, Joanna! Imagine how happy I was to spot this comment -- especially since it comes from someone whose projects I genuinely admire!

I did the Yojimbo/Together dance a long time before finally casting my lot with Together. I loved Yojimbo's candy-coated interface ... but, ultimately, felt that Together gave me more flexibility. In the end, Together just felt more ... "Mac-Like" in terms of how it presents and organizes my information.

I also like creating tiny, dedicated Together databases for certain projects. For an upcoming family vacation, I like having all my info on Argentina (tagged with things like hours and neighborhoods and attraction type) all in one space ... and not having that space *have* to be the same space where my portfolio and other projects are stored.

Thanks for stopping by ... and for the very kind comments!

M.

[David Roberts]

Sounds like you are doing well, and your pix certainly makes you seem happy!

Dave Roberts