June 2009 Software Closet
Helpful Utilities
Pandora 2.5
Pandora ($30 shareware) is a powerful Web search tool for images, PDFs, sounds, and other documents. It has two modes: you can either search for an item by name, or view all the items on a website -- great for downloading all the graphics from a website at once. You can limit the search by size, file type, color, and other criteria, and it seems to do a more intelligent job than Google Images at delivering what you're actually looking for. The results appear as thumbnails in a scrolling pane, from which you can drag the actual files onto your desktop. It can also display them as a high-quality slide show.
BrushView: Preview Photoshop Brushes
If you use collections of custom brushes in Photoshop, BrushView (free) is really handy: this plug-in for the Quick Look feature in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard lets you preview Photoshop brushes in the Finder by simply pressing the Spacebar. It's a lot easier than loading the brushes into Photoshop to see them.
Adobe Photoshop Plug-In
Dr. Brown's Services 2.0.2 for CS4 and CS4 Extended
This free script installs the new CS4 Extension Manager for managing scripts, as well as Dr. Brown's 1-2-3 Process script that lets you batch process large sets of images.
Brush Collections: Italian Postcards & Travel Images
Susan Libertiny's Italian Postcard Kit (free) is a set of 26 brushes for Photoshop that include images from postcards and other Italian imagery. If your tastes focus more on London, Tokyo, Ireland or Stonehenge, try her set of 14 free brushes named Travel Images.
Adobe InDesign Plug-Ins
2010 Calendar Template
Creating a calendar from scratch in InDesign can be a time-consuming task. Next time, try using this free script from Juliana Halvorson. It includes holidays, moon phase images, and easy font formatting using Character Styles.
Calendar Wizard 2.9.5
Calendar Wizard (free) is a popular JavaScript routine for InDesign CS2–CS4 that generates mini or full-size calendars on the fly in several different languages.
Adobe Illustrator Plug-In
Select v13
Select (free) adds a "Select" item to the Filter menu in Illustrator CS3 or CS4 to select 18 additional things: stray points, text objects, guides, paths, open paths, closed paths, filled paths, unfilled paths, stroked paths, unstroked paths, dashed paths, undashed paths, compound paths, groups, live object groups, gradient meshes, envelopes, symbols, embedded raster art, and placed EPS art. You can get more plug-ins like this at www.rj-graffix.com.
QuarkXPress XTension
Badia PrintPreview
Badia PrintPreview (free) is an incredibly useful XTension for QuarkXPress 8 that displays a live print preview inside the Print dialog. The preview is updated in real time as you change the print settings, giving you immediate feedback as to the way those changes will affect the final output. Most print parameters are shown, including spreads, print marks, manual or automatic tiling, page rotation, bleeds, page gap, flipping and negative printing. You can also manually tile a page simply by dragging the mouse over the preview.PrintPreview was formerly a component of Badia Printools, which has since been updated for QuarkXPress 8.
Free Fonts
Bleeding Cowboys
Post Office
Wood Stamp
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