11.9.0 November 8, 2024 build 4197

EazyDraw Version 11.9.0 restores and improves QuickLook and thumbnail icons on macOS Sequoia. This version implements a new macOS protocol for providing preview images of your drawings for QuickLook and thumbnail icons.

After the upgrade: You may need to trigger macOS to restore previews and thumbnails.  In general, we find that after about 24 hours, macOS will begin supplying previews and thumbnails, or there are a few tricks you may want to try.  Preview seems to restore more quickly, but thumbnails can take longer.  First is a simple restart of the Finder; use the command on the Force Quit panel.  Next is a reboot for reliable restoration to check that you only have one new EazyDraw version on the system.  Perform Get Info on an EazyDraw drawing, then view the Open With popup menu; on the popup menu, choose the new 11.9.0 EazyDraw, and remove all other versions of EazyDraw seen on the menu from the system if possible.

11.7.2 September 18, 2024 build 4193

EazyDraw 11.7.2 is the primary release of macOS Sequoia compatibility.

EazyDraw Version 11.7.2 adds two new features for dashed lines: convert to strokes and convert dashes to spaces. Converting Dashes to Strokes generates a new individual dash segment with Bézier curves or lines. Dashes to Spaces flips spaces of a dashed curve to the dashes and dashes to spaces.  Use the Tools -> Convert To submenu to access the new dash convert commands.  Find the new commands on the Attributes bar, the Dashes popup, and the Convert To buttons.

Fixed issues on macOS Sequoia related to redo of undo and the state of selected graphics. The issue only related to the intermediate state of selected graphics; the actual undo and redo were performed properly. Now, undo, redo, and subsequent undo redo sequences behave properly, including selected graphic states.

EazyDraw now automatically names graphics created by dragging and dropping an image file. The file name is assigned to the graphic name, and these names are shown on the Easy Look report.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a possible crash or hang when dragging and dropping a bitmap image into a drawing on the newest versions of macOS, Sonoma, and Sequoia.  We found this problem only from reports of crashes shared by the user community with Apple, the crash being too rare to reproduce in test sessions.

11.7.0 August 2, 2024 build 4173

EazyDraw version 11.7.0 adds support for the newest versions of macOS. This version fixes several minor problems, including changing bitmap image DPI using the Graphic Details inspector and applying automatic cross-over indicators to Bézier curves with linear segments. This version improves JSON file format support, extending this file format to edge cases involving arrays of graphics. This version improves the exact positioning of automatic cross-over and arrow flourishes. EazyDraw on Vision Pro offered better accuracy and speed; these algorithms are now incorporated in this macOS version.

This version fixes several issues related to changing bitmap image dots-per-inch resolution with the entries on the Graphic Details inspector. Newer versions of macOS generate screen grabs and other system images in new Apple private API graphic formats. EazyDraw now detects the problem image representations, then generates a documented public representation and adds this representation to the internal Image object. This approach allows EazyDraw to properly analyze and access the raw bitmap and apply well defined resampling algorithms to the image.

This version fixes a problem with cross-over flourishes applied to a Bezier segment that is actually linear. Previously the cross-over indicator failed to draw correctly..

This version improves the JSON file format support. JSON array parsing was extended.

This version fixes occasional positioning errors for Cross-Overs when specifying position as a percent of path length. The positioning on Vision Pro, iPad and iPhone was different than the curve position on macOS. The macOS computation was the incorrect position. This is now correct and precise on all platforms.

11.5.6 May 5, 2024 build 4168

EazyDraw 11.5.6 adds the capability to split Bézier curves at vertices. The split creates two independent Bezier paths or curves with the targeted vertex endpoints. Think of this action as Un-Weld.  Control-click a vertex to bring up a contextual menu to use the new split function. Or, execute split on the Graphic Details inspector using the vertex edit popup menu.  Use Tools->Convert To->Curves to split a multisegment Bezier into individual segments. The latter method is similar to Convert To Lines, working with all Bezier segment forms, not just lines.

EazyDraw 11.5.6 slightly changes the shape of rounded corners of rectangles with rounded corners. To this date, a well-defined cubic curve formed the rectangle corner using two control points positioned at exactly one-half (0.5) of the specified corner radius, which does not result in an exact conic section (arc with a constant radius).  This version changes the control points from 0.5 to 0.55228 to cause the cubic polynomial to more closely match the arc of a circle.  The visual change in the corner's path is barely noticeable at 10x zoom. 

EazyDraw 11.5.6 addresses reports of ghosting when moving graphics that have horizontal or vertical edges.

EazyDraw 11.5.6 provides several other stability improvements and feature enhancements.

11.5.3 March 25, 2024 build 4165

EazyDraw 11.5.3 corrects problems with adjusting the width of the Graphic Details Inspector, for the English localization. Other languages did not have the problem.

11.5.2 February 14, 2024 build 4164

EazyDraw 11.5.2 corrects a severe compatibility issue with macOS Sonoma introduced with the corrections in version 11.5.1

11.5.1 February 14, 2024 build 4161

EazyDraw 11.5.1 corrects a severe compatibility issue with macOS Sonoma 14.4, discovered by our beta testing. Use EazyDraw 11.5.1 or newer on macOS 14.4 or newer.

This release also corrects a few problems with arrow and Bezier paths on macOS Ventura and older. EazyDraw 11.5.1 is an essential update for Big Sur, Monterey, or Ventura users.

EazyDraw 11.5.1 finalizes the new JSON drawing format, which will be the primary exchange format for EazyDraw on Vision Pro.

11.5.0 February 10, 2024 build 4159

Photo Drag and Drop with analysis

This version of EazyDraw add a new feature to assist importing photos and other bitmap graphics. The Help page is complete for this new feature, Photo Drop Help Page . Use drag and drop to add a photo to an existing drawing. When the cursor enters the drawing window a new target element appears at the center of the drawing view. If the cursor remains some distance away from the target, the drag and drop proceeds in the normal fashion, the photo is accepted and is often large and resized to fit by resampling and adjusting with morph or uniform scale handles. Bring the mouse cursor close to the new target to engage then new feature and EazyDraw analyzes the image and the zoom of your current drawing view then prepares an appropriate resampled and resized image. The target has a red-X if the analysis is not complete or if the cursor is away from the target, when the red-X is not showing, lift the mouse button to accept the automatic preparation of the image. Resampling reduces, significantly, the number of pixels used for the inserted image. This helps to keep drawing sizes reasonable. For example a high resolution photo used as a small postage stamp size graphic comes in with millions of pixels, when only a few thousand is adequate.

The new drag and drop target has two adjacent gauges, on the left and right. The one on the right is used to increase of decrease the size of the imported image. Keep in mind the amount of zoom is the primary determinant of import size, higher zoom resulting in smaller final image size. Position the cursor near the size gauge and adjust up and down to tweak the image size. The target shows a minimal preview of approximately the size to expect.

The second gauge indicates the amount of down sampling for the image. EazyDraw uses an optimal (yet cpu time consuming) algorithm to resample, the algorithm decreases the pixels across and down by steps of 2. This decreases pixel count by steps of 4. The target displays the resulting size for resulting image in memory and file storage bytes.

The persistent bitmap image model used by EazyDraw is PNG. PNG is lossless and preserves full image quality. PNG is compressed requiring fewer storage bytes. This is the difference between the Memory value and the PNG values shown on the drop target. Often the incoming image is JPG. JPG compression losses image quality. The full, non-resampled, image shows as JPG and may have fewer storage bytes than the first resampled image, this is normal and EazyDraw uses the JPG representation for storage.

Other Additions and Corrections

Enhancement of custom arrow support on both the Arrows and Dimension parameter palettes. The enhancement expands the capabilities of the Save custom named arrow action which is found at the bottom of the named arrow-shape popup menu located on the Custom tab of the Arrows parameter palette. Before the save function only applied to the shape of a custom arrow. Now the save named action applies also to standard arrow shapes and includes the adjustable parameters of standard shapes, such as angle, size, color and style. A saved named standard arrow then appears at the top of the main named arrow popup menu, and on the Dimensions popup menu. The new form standard name custom arrow appears and is managed on the Custom popup menu found on the Custom tab of the Arrow parameter palette. The use of this new feature is actually very simple and natural, easier to understand by experiment than this description, simply adjust an arrow as desired, then save it with a name.

Expands the editing area to extend beyond the active drawing area. It now extends off the page or pages of the drawing. Graphics off the drawing page can now be edited and moved, they can be moved back onto the drawing. Bezier control points that extend off the active drawing can be edited..

Fixes a problem knife cutting rectangles and other closed polygons. In some cases the knife was not detecting the close segment of the polygon.

Fixes a problem ruler markers not updating properly, they were leaving small ghost trails when moved quickly. This was introduce with Sonoma. The issue is now resolved, the rulers draw cleanly and update properly even when moved quickly.

Fixes a problem with Node edit tool and deleting vertices. For some Bezier paths, some vertices near the start of the path failed to delete. This is now fixed.

This version of EazyDraw fixes a problem with Hatches. In some cases a changed line-width of a hatch path failed to restore when saving and reopening the drawing.

This version of EazyDraw f fixes a problem with some dimensions when attached to only one graphic, such as a Diameter Dimension. When exporting Graphics only the export included a large area of the drawing, back to the origin point 0-0. This is now fixed and the export includes only the bounds of the dimension.

This version of EazyDraw has changes to the file type information registered with macOS for EazyDraw and EazyDraw drawings. This update excludes xml in the file format hierarchy. It seems that macOS starting with Sonoma allows other Apps to interfere with EazyDraw access to EazyDraw drawings using the primary EazyDraw graphic format and the text based format for EazyDraw libraries. This issue seems to prevent Apple Mail from showing EazyDraw drawing attachments, for the two text based formats. This extra system information is a very esoteric detail and its deletion should not cause any problems.

This version of EazyDraw fixes a problem inserting a vertex in a single segment cubic Bezier. A recent update of EazyDraw 11 introduced the problem.

This version of EazyDraw fixes possible problems using Combine Filet or Chamfer with zero radius to extend and add a line segment to a curved Bezier. This problem was introduced with EazyDraw version 11, it is now fixed.

This version of EazyDraw fixes a rare problem with automatic Cross Overs. Applying Cross Over to a polygon and possible other straight path Bezier graphics resulted in extra crossover jumpers at each vertex, when using Automatic for Cross Over placement. This problem is now fixed. And this version added an optimized algorithm for automatic Cross Over detection and insertion.

This version of EazyDraw adds GIF external image support for SVG import. The SVG specification defines JPG and PNG for bitmap images. Safari now supports embedded GIF images in SVG content. EazyDraw uses Safari as the gold standard for SVG parsing, and now GIF images are accepted in SVG. They are converted to PNG for future save and SVG export.

This version of EazyDraw provides a full solution to the specific multi-thread issue encountered when opening large drawings with numerous layers, when many of the layers are not visible. The 11.3.2 solution was expanded after further testing.

This version of EazyDraw fixes recently introduced problems with Filet and Chamfer commands. These two Combine commands now work properly.

This version significantly extends the SVG import handling for the PreserveAspectRatio attribute as applied to bitmap image content. These improvements follow current Safari implementation. The values of a user specified view box or definition rectangle are combined with the image pixels wide and high according to SVG specifications for PreserveAspectRatio. EazyDraw adds a Crop rectangle if necessary to provide the same content appearance and layout as Safari.

This version fixes occasionally seen problems for the multi-page preview on Page Setup panel.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a specific multi-thread issue encountered when opening large drawings with numerous layers, when many of the layers are not visible. This version corrects the multiple thread conflict crash.

11.3.1 December 18, 2023 build 4147

A recent version of EazyDraw introduced a problem with the detailed placement of Arrows at the end of lines and curves. The Relief mode failed to provide the early termination of the end of paths with an arrow. A zero relief must shorten the host path by a small amount calculated from the path line width to prevent the path from extending and going under the arrow tip. EazyDraw 11.3.1 fixes these problems with arrows.

This version of EazyDraw corrects Arrow drawing, placement, and orientation when applied to a Quadratic Bézier. EazyDraw Version 11 introduced Quadratic Bézier; in many cases, EazyDraw did not draw the arrows correctly. EazyDraw 11.3.1 fixes this appearance detail.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a recently introduced problem with double vertices action applied to linear paths. The double vertices function sometimes failed to include the starting or ending path segment for linear paths. The problem caused erratic behavior for subsequent undo and redo actions, further doubling or halving the number of vertices.

11.3.0 December 12, 2023 build 4145

Knife Improvements

This version of EazyDraw improves the knife functionality. Now cutting a circle or oval creates two arc graphics. Previously the cut provided two basic Bezier paths. Two arcs are often more useful, if the Bezier construction is desired, one or both arcs may be converted to Bezier using the convert to function on the Tools main menu.

This version of EazyDraw improves behavior of the knife tool, when simultaneously cutting multiple graphics, with both vertex and slicing cuts. Previously this mixed mode situation removed vertices for all graphics. Now each graphic cuts with appropriate cutting action.

This version of EazyDraw enhances the behavior of the knife tool. Previously a cut at an intersection severed both of the intersecting graphics. Sometimes this is not desirable. Now, if one graphic is selected and the other is not selected the cut only applies to the selected graphic. If neither is selected, or both are selected, the behavior is unchanged, both graphics are severed. Several other minor quirks associated with the knife are improved.

JSON Transition

EazyDraw 11 on Sonoma introduced a problem for saving and using saved palette layouts, toolbar layouts, advanced duplication configurations, and font character maps. EazyDraw 11.3.0 fixes the problem and changes the saved configuration format to JSON. The default format for these exported configuration files is now JSON, but the older .plist and .txt formats still load.

EazyDraw 11.3.0 provides the ability to create and use Libraries in the new JSON format.

User Library Improvements

The system setting for Keyboard Navigation caused a problem with User Library palettes in the button mode. Under specific palette size situations, opening a User Library then switching to Button mode presented a spurious highlight (normally blue) rectangle on the palette. This is now fixed. Using Keyboard Navigation with User Library palettes not in button mode often present a highlighted button, but this is macOS behavior for this system setting.

This version of EazyDraw improves the accuracy of creating a graphic from a user library in button mode. If the library graphic used a drawing scale (1/4 inch for example) and the target drawing had a different scale the new graphic jumped position and size after the user interactive creation step. Now the new graphic is added to the destination drawing exactly as drawn, independent of the size in the library. Note: if the new graphic is needed at scaled size, and the library is in button mode: drag the button to the drawing.

This version solves a few problems with User Libraries running in the Tool-Button mode. Double click of a button failed to lock the tool palette tool for multiple use. Adding a tool button graphic to another tool button user library caused EazyDraw to hang in a recursive loop when trying to use the second tool. This recursion issue is fixed with EazyDraw 11.3.0.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a problem with the user library panel when in tool-button (icon) mode. The top row of buttons is now fully below the title bar.

This update improves the appearance of User Library palettes viewed in icon mode, also known as tool button mode. The title bar used to cover the top portion of the top row of tool buttons. Now, the buttons begin below the title bar.

Keynote Support

EazyDraw 11.3.0 corrects problems exporting directly to Keynote. EazyDraw 11 introduced a problem with the export, the problem is now fixed.

This version of EazyDraw improves support for converting SVG graphics to Keynote Slides.

Quicklook and Spotlight

This version of EazyDraw corrects possible problems with Quick-Look and Spotlight investigation of EazyDraw drawing files on Apple Silicon. Both Quick-Look and Spotlight are fully supported on Apple and Intel silicon and all supported versions of macOS.

Mini Palettes

This version addresses several issues with mini-palettes. There were problems with saved and restored panel height. There were appearance issues with the topmost panel parameters covering the control button icons at the top right of the palette.

Recent versions of EazyDraw initially opened mini palettes at full height, not the correct reduced height matching the choice for active parameter settings. When first switching to their mini-mode, this was a problem on all twelve mini-palettes. This is now fixed; mini palette heights are consistent with the default and user-modified choice of active parameters for all rollup choices.

This release of EazyDraw addresses several minor details with mini-palettes across all languages.

Previously, some choices of active parameters for the topmost parameter on a mini palette obscured the Fine Scale and Rollup buttons at the top left of the palette. This release of EazyDraw fixes this problem.

Other Improvements

This version of EazyDraw corrects a problem loading very large drawings saved on Ventura and opened on Sonoma.

EazyDraw Version 11 on Sonoma had a problem Exporting TIFF, the export extension was added as jpg. This is fixed. TIFF export sometimes estimated the file size as zero. This version fixes this problem.

This version of EazyDraw changes the behavior of grids when using grids and rulers. Together, but without linking grids to rulers. The grid remained stationary when moving the drawing origin by dragging, Cmd-dragging, or a ruler. Still, a subsequent resize of the drawing window would automatically re-adjust the grid to the new origin. Now, the grids move with the ruler as the ruler is adjusted.

This update improves the presentation of help pages. If the EazyDraw The help window is obscured behind other windows when a help question mark button is clicked, the help window moves to the front for accessible location and reference. Before, the help window would change to the proper help page but remain obscured.

This update improves the Help page presentation. If the EazyDraw Help Browser is open and the Help menu command is executed, the help window is brought to the front of all other windows. Previously, calling the help menu action with help open closed the help window. Cmd-w or the red close button overrides all and closes the help window.

Cmd single quote cycles through all open EazyDraw drawings, the EazyDraw Settings panel and the Help browser window, all of that are open. This works when using Tabs and not using Tabs. To cycle across tabbed drawings in one EazyDraw window, use the Control-Tab key as the shortcut key.

This version of EazyDraw reestablishes the Touch Bar functionality. EazyDraw supported the contextual Touch Bar functionality on MacBooks with Touch Bars made from late 2016 until early 2020’s. The highly contextual Touch Bar shortcuts are now available when using Side-Car with iPad on a compatible MacBook. Full featured touch buttons are available along the bottom border on the Side-Car iPad.

11.1.7 November 15, 2023 build 4135

EazyDraw 11.1.7 solves a very rare macOS instability related to date processing.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a problem introduced with EazyDraw Version 11 and the updated Sonoma Bezier technology. Path graphics with Arrows that use Relief setting for fine positioning of the arrow tip failed to draw the full path in some cases. This is now fixed.

This version of EazyDraw corrects a problem introduced with EazyDraw Version 11 and the updated Sonoma Bezier technology. Knife tool cuts had error points after cut for straight Bezier segments drawn after full cubic Bezier with two control points. This is now fixed.

EazyDraw release 11.1.7 fixes a bug when importing SVG drawings. The problem was closed paths, in some cases the closing segment of the path was not drawn. The missing drawn segment persisted when saving and reopening the drawing. Fix drawings saved with this problem manually, or reopen and save the SVG with this new version of EazyDraw..

Align To Grid: This version of EazyDraw changes and, hopefully, improves the behavior of Align to Grid used with Interaction Level graphics. The Interaction Level graphic, such as a Freeze, now inherits the Align To Grid setting from the target graphic. For example. If a group graphic has a specific Align to Grid designation, such as the first point, and if this group graphic is changed to a Freeze interaction level, the Freeze graphic automatically has the same specific Align to Grid snap point. If a different Align to Grid is applied to the Freeze graphic, the setting changes the Freeze graphic. It does not change the setting for the contained graphic unless the new setting is the default, top left, in which case both the Freeze graphic and the target graphic settings are cleared and return to the default setting.

11.1.3 October 30, 2023 build 4123

Critical update for Sonoma. This update is required for MacOS Sonoma version 14.1 and newer. Older versions of EazyDraw 11 do not start on newer versions of Sonoma.

11.1.1 October 19, 2023 build 4119

EazyDraw Version 11 is a significant release that provides compatibility with macOS Sonoma, performance advances with Apple Silicon, and new features made possible with macOS Ventura and Sonoma. This new version introduces support for an improved drawing file format based on JSON. The JSON format is more compact but still human-readable, offering cross-platform compatibility with strict Unicode encoding. See October 6 release information found below for details.

EazyDraw release 11.1.1 fixes a bug with the reverse Bezier path command. The command incorrectly interchanged Bezier control points. The reverse path subroutines are used for welding bezier actions too. All of these now perform correctly on Sonoma.

MacOS Sonoma introduced a low level inefficiency for a specific Bezier path editing system subroutine. This caused long load times, in some cases even spinning beach ball when loading large EazyDraw of SVG drawings containing complex Bézier curves. EazyDraw 11.1.1 avoids this inefficient construction. Drawing load times are again very efficient for all EazyDraw drawing formats and SVG.

Sonoma on Intel: Opening the Help pages with the initial Sonoma release of EazyDraw, on Intel systems using a Local other than our development Local (English US) sometimes crashed. This bug is now fixed. Thanks to our initial users on Sonoma who took the time to report this, and other problems. Note that we welcome all bug and crash reports which are used to debug and improve each subsequent release of EazyDraw.

EazyDraw on Sonoma had problems with several (about half) of the builtin Patterns that are provided on the Pattern toolbar user interface menu. The problem Patterns failed to convert to alternative colors. This problem is fixed with this release.

Short Version: Extend and Trim by double clicking an end works again, experiment with modifiers to use, the menu options are simple and reliable . The initial Sonoma release had problems with Extend and Trim features which extends or trims lines, paths, and curves to exactly end at the intersection of other elements. These two menu commands now work properly again. The convenience feature, to double click a line end to extend a line end works as defined in the documentation. The extend convenience feature had a conflict with the other convenience of Option-drag to add a vertex to the end of a line. Now CMD-drag adds a vertex and extends interactively, while Option-double click extends a line, path, or curve. This configuration allows simple double click the end of a path or curve to Close the shape, while Option double click extends a path, curve (or line). For lines, since Close is not a valid option, not command modifier key is needed for extend. Summary: for lines, double click end to extend and Option double click to trim.

EPS Support: EPS support is dropped by macOS beginning with macOS version 14 (Sonoma). EazyDraw too is dropping support for import of EPS on Sonoma. This release of EazyDraw adds an error message explaining this situation. EazyDraw version 11 still supports EPS on macOS 11 through 13, ceasing support going forward beginning with macOS 14. EPS is a deprecated format that is replaced by PDF. EPS was deprecated by Adobe in 1992.

Quadratic Bezier: Quadratic Bezier support has continued testing and several improvements in this release. The Knife tool now cuts Quadratic Bézier curves correctly and populates the drawing with a pair (or more) of new Quadratic Bézier curves..

11.1.0 October 6, 2023 build 4107

EazyDraw Version 11 is a significant release that provides compatibility with macOS Sonoma, performance advances with Apple Silicon, and new features made possible with macOS Ventura and Sonoma. This new version introduces support for an improved drawing file format based on JSON. The JSON format is more compact but still human-readable, offering cross-platform compatibility with strict Unicode encoding.

Sonoma

EazyDraw 11 runs on macOS version 11 (Big Sur) and newer. EazyDraw Version 10 runs on macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) through macOS 13 (Ventura). EazyDraw 10 nominally runs on Sonoma but is not tested on Sonoma, EazyDraw 11 is recommended for Sonoma. EazyDraw 10 accepts EazyDraw Version 10 and Version 11 license codes. EazyDraw 11 requires a version 11 license code but accepts a version 10 license code for at least 15 months after purchase (a grace period for upgrading). EazyDraw Nine month license codes are accepted by EazyDraw 10, EazyDraw 11 and EazyDraw Retro.

Quadratic Bezier

EazyDraw has always provided a full suite of Bezier editing tools. Version 11 extends these editing tools to support second-order (quadratic) curves. The quadratic form is slightly more compact and often encountered in SVG drawings. Two new Quadratic Bezier tools are found about half way down the main tool palette, just above the two standard Bezier tools.

JSON

EazyDraw Version 11 introduces a new drawing format that uses the open standard JSON data interchange format. JSON uses human-readable text to store and transmit data. JSON is language- independent, even though the definition references Java language. The file extension is .ezdjson.

EazyDraw JSON is UTF-8 encoded, ensuring open ecosystem compatibility across operating systems (Apple, Microsoft, and Unix) and languages supporting Emoji characters. EazyDraw JSON drawing files may be examined and edited with present-day text editors and integrated code development systems.

JSON is slightly more compact than Apple's PList format; the base format for EazyDraw Graphics format is PList. Over the next few years, beginning with 2024, the EazyDraw Graphics and Binary form will be phased out in favor of JSON. At this time of the release of EazyDraw 11, users should still use the time-proven EazyDraw Graphics format for large critical drawings.

Optimized Data Format

EazyDraw 11 improves the performance of all 3 (Graphic, Binary, and JSON) graphic formats, compared to EazyDraw versions 10 and earlier. These improvements are designed to provide an inherent data compression with re-use of persistent drawing data. For example: if a complex bezier path is duplicated and used several times in the drawing, the path data is stored once in a data archive and re-used as a simple index for the duplicated graphics. When the drawing is opened, the complex Bezier is only instantiated once and re-used there by reducing the EazyDraw memory footprint. This same principle is applied for many constructs that have significant memory and data footprints. Bitmap images (such as PNG graphics) are saved once and re-used in the same manner. These changes are forward compatible.

Bundle Format

EazyDraw 11 does not support the EazyDraw Bundle format. Newer technology and methods have replaced the Bundle format. If a Bundle file is encountered, use the Finder to show contents, then use EazyDraw to recover and reconstruct the drawing. Or use an older version of macOS and EazyDraw version 10 or older to recover.

10.11.0 June 18, 2023 build 4103

EazyDraw 10.11.0 provides preliminary support for macOS 10.14, Sonoma developer beta relase.

We have added a new command on Convert To submenu. The new conversion applies to Joined Bezier graphics. The new command converts the normally invisible Join lines to visible lines and adds them to the drawing. The original Bezier graphics remain in the drawing. The new lines are left selected after creation, and the originating Bezier is not selected. This state allows for convenient changes to color, layer, line width, dash pattern, and other attributes of the new lines.

We changed the default color for the normally invisible Join lines to correspond to the Join Indicator color provided as a user setting using User Interface EazyDraw settings. The default color was orangish; now, it is light blue for Join Groups. Now the two colors match as they logically should. This indicator color and a short dash are applied to the new lines added by the Join Lines convert to command.

Improved Unicode and Emoji support when changing fonts. Previous versions sometimes needed help finding characters and glyphs for extended Unicode code points correctly.

Fixed problem using Zoom or Select tools on Quick Keys. These did not work until the zoom (or select) tool panel was opened. Now these always work with no prerequisite opening of the tool palettes.

Fixed several synchronization issues with Easy Look inspector when several multiple layer drawings or open and editing activities include closing and opening drawings. The drawing and layers inspector is now very stable in these complex situations.

General stability and performance updates.

10.9.2 January 22, 2023 build 4097

EazyDraw 10.9.2 is an essential update for compatibility with macOS 10.13, Ventura.

This update improves PDF ungroup for editing. Unicode interpretation of mathematics symbols is expanded. This provides proper conversion and placement of complex Unicode characters .

This update improves upon the recent optimizations for file storage and retrieval of bitmap graphics. The optimizations had problems scaling some images originating from screen capture on retinal quality displays. All known issues are now corrected.

10.9.1 November 21, 2022 build 4095

EazyDraw 10.9.1 is an essential update for compatibility with macOS 10.13, Ventura.

This update corrects a bug with parameter palettes in the mini-mode. Palettes in this mode could not be closed. This problem prevented the EazyDraw Settings palette from opening. Also, the Morph, Free Transform, and Font panels would not close. This update corrects these issues.

This update corrects an incompatibility with Ventura when copying large complex graphics with nested groups.

EazyDraw 10.9.1 corrects the display of icons in the main Toolbar. Icons with pop-down menus were larger than the button, and the top portion of the icon graphic was clipped. This version corrects this problem; all Toolbar icons now display correctly in the Toolbar.

10.9.0 November 2, 2022 build 4093

This is the major release with full support for Ventura. This is a free update.

This update provides optimization for large complex drawings incorporating bitmap images. The optimization algorithms take advantage of multiple core processors available with Apple Silicon architecture. The optimizations significantly reduce the applications memory footprint for drawings that contain photos and other bitmap images.

This update also includes improvements in stability.

10.7.4 July 22, 2022 build 4088

This version supports macOS version 13 known as Ventura. We now have several weeks of testing on Ventura. There are no known problems with EazyDraw 10.7.4 on Ventura.

Corrected bugs related to import of Intaglio, SVG, PDF, PNG, and JPG when the default page layout includes a non-zero canvas margin. Imported graphics were not shifted to active design area. This is now fixed.

Further improvements for Intaglio import. Improved support for radial gradients. Improvements for centered text that is asymmetrically stretched.

Fixed possible crash importing bitmap images with 16 bit depth.

Corrected two SVG import parsing bugs. The problems relate to asymmetric scaling and text position.

10.7.3 March 30, 2022 build 4083

EazyDraw Version 10.7.3 provides significant improvements for DXF NURB import. The new methods analyze the NURB construction and attempt a closed-form mathematical conversion to Bezier construction, reverting to approximation methods when a precise mathematical structure is impossible. Approximation algorithms are accurate but involve additional Bezier segments.

This version has significant improvements for SVG import of text content from Inkscape. The EazyDraw parser processes a range of deprecated CSS constructs that remain prevalent in Inkscape authored drawings. The recent improvements have added the capability to analyze and reconstruct text content with elaborate typesetting nesting SVG and CSS constructs. In other words: improved text placement accuracy.

This update corrects possible problems when converting typeset text using Arabic script fonts to Bezier Path. The improvements provide very accurate glyph placement and interpretation.

This version corrects a problem with color modification for layers containing images with 16-bit color depth (16 bits per color component). Expanded color depth images that use 16 bits per color component are becoming more prevalent, making this an important addition.

This version corrects possible problems using Match feature with matched graphics nested in group graphics.

10.7.2 February 7, 2022 build 4075

This update improves SVG support for Hue-Saturation-Brightness color specification. The HSL color interpreter now works properly and is updated to utilize wide gamut (P3) color space.

This update improves support for interpretation of Intaglio drawings. Support for Arrows now includes more shapes. A problem with interpretation of white fill in Intaglio drawings is corrected with this update. This update provides a new Help page covering the Intaglio import topic. Anyone importing Intaglio drawings is advised to study this relevant documentation.

There is a new Intaglio Help Page that provides useful tips and details for converting Intaglio vector drawings to modern supported graphic formats.

This update adds capability to the Convert To menu to convert Lines to Auto Lines. This is useful for converting Intaglio drawings. Intaglio content looses information that identifies Auto Lines (Dimensions). The Line with two arrows is recorded in the drawing, but the text and indicators concerning the dimensioning aspect are not preset. Note for Intaglio conversion, when Dimensions are missing: After conversion, select one of the problem dimension lines, use Match (found on Edit menu), select to match Arrow attribute, click Match, all dimension lines are then selected, perform Tools->Convert To->Auto Line. All dimensions are then restored with this one action. Advanced Tip: study Defaults Condensed, then set defaults for Dimensions on the Dimensions palette, then all the new Auto Lines will reflect your choice for dimension format, accuracy, appearance, and other attributes. This technique for recovering Intaglio Dimensions is explained on the new Intaglio Help page.

Added capability for Intaglio conversion. Layers are not detectable for the reversed engineered EazyDraw direct reading of an Intaglio drawing file. This version of EazyDraw introduces a patch method to record a marker for layers. Before saving the Intaglio drawing, group all graphics on each layer. If all layers have one top level group and no individual graphics, EazyDraw interprets these top level groups as layers and creates a layer for each top level group in the new EazyDraw drawing. It is still necessary to re-name the layers, but the important, often complex, layer structure is conserved in the converted EazyDraw drawing. Note: If an Intaglio drawing is exported as SVG, the layer Information is present and detectable by EazyDraw. However the exported SVG version is missing many other attributes such as Arrow heads, Grids, Scale and more.

This update corrects problems opening drawings that contain EPS images. Recent versions of EazyDraw convert EPS content to PDF content when saving. Drawings saved with EazyDraw 8 and older may still contain EPS content. Opening these older drawing with EPS content caused EazyDraw 10 to crash. This problem is now fixed.

This update improves import of PDF (Ungroup PDF) and SVG drawings. The content is analyzed for rounded rectangles, when found these are promoted to EazyDraw rounded rectangles. This is helpful when converting Intaglio drawings and other content rich in rounded rectangles.

10.7.1 November 10, 2021 build 4068

EazyDraw 10.8.1 is a minor update to the recent Monterey release.

This update corrects problems with the new HTML 5 Help module. Some users, especially on older versions of macOS, could not open the new Help module. Version 10.7.1 fixes this problem.

This update improves the appearance of the Selection tool palette, the icons were not sized correctly on Monterey.

10.7.0 October 28, 2021 build 4061

EazyDraw version 10.7.0 is a significant update that provides full support for Monterey (macOS 10.12). This update has several additions and improvements for SVG import, including support for recent CSS advances and the USE SVG construct. This version no longer uses the Apple Help Book technology, which is not reliable on Monterey. This version of EazyDraw Help uses our own HTML 5 browser with an internal keyword search module. The new EazyDraw help system does not need internet access and does not require communications with Apple servers. This update provides remastered Help illustrations created at Retina resolution, with P3 color gamut, on Monterey (they are stunning).

Apple Notarized. The download disk image and binary content are code signed and Notarized with Apple Gatekeeper verification. This ensures secure delivery and installation of the free market version of EazyDraw. Note: the EazyDraw App has been Notarized in the past, beginning with macOS Monterey the disk image is also uploaded to Apple Servers, security scanned, code signed and Notarized. When you download the disk image Gate Keeper uses the Notarized ticket to confirm secure tamper free delivery of the content including the EazyDraw App and all plug-ins.

This version of EazyDraw is compiled against the newest Monterey development environment using Xcode 13. Xcode 13 ensures the best utilization of the new M1 processors and soon-to-be-released MacBook Pros.

This version fixes problems with winding rule application to Crop and Frame group graphics. Everything is working correctly again, the issues related to geometry imported via SVG with complex clipping geometry.

Major update for SVG. Several newer constructs are now supported. Revision 2 of EazyDraw mobile (for iOS and iPadOS) will support SVG import and export. This release for macOS is updated to match our current internal best SVG implementation.

EazyDraw 10.7 fixes a problem with layer color modification for grayscale png images with no alpha channel. This color metric for PNG images is now processed correctly for opacity and tint.

Recent EazyDraw versions lost the ability to paste from LaTeXiT. EazyDraw 10.8 repairs this problem; pasting from LaTeXiT works again. All the interchange support between EazyDraw and LaTeXiT via the Services menu is again working correctly. Note that the EazyDraw Help pages Services Help page provides information on the more advanced exchange actions available. Testing on Catalina and Big Sur using the most recent releases of MacTex and LaTeXiT confirmed the repairs.

10.5.3 June 23, 2021 build 4052

This update provides a significant update to the PDF manual. The update includes re-mastered illustrations. The update gives the manual a bright, refreshing appearance.

Update to support Monterey. Please report any issues; thanks. Warning for those using Monterey: PDF exports with multiple cropped bitmap images are corrupt on Monterey. One image often overwrites successive images. Our developer team isolated the problem to a graphic context module in macOS and reported the issue to Apple. We have not found a workaround. The bug is present in Preview, and the bug is probably present in any app that generates pdf content on macOS Monterey.

The Match panel had two scroll bars and no title. This update fixes this problem. The window now has one scroll bar and a localized title of Match.

There was a problem with highly compressed (lossy compression) JPG images included in a drawing. The JPG compression was not conserved in the EazyDraw original file and for exported PDF. The EazyDraw drawing file and exported PDF files had a much larger size. We have decreased the file size. The EazyDraw drawing file has nearly the same file size as the JPG content size. Exported PDF, using the Export -> PDF option on the main File menu also does not grow excessively in size. However, if the PDF is generated using Print, then Save to PDF, the JPG compress is expanded to PNG compression sizes, and in some cases, the PDF file size may increase significantly.

10.5.2 May 1, 2021 build 4043

Necessary bug fix for German localization/

EazyDraw 10.5.2 is a minor update that contains a necessary correction that affects only those using the Germain localization. See details for EazyDraw Version 10.6.1 for several recent improvements and additions.

10.5.1 April 27, 2021 build 4040

Web Color Picker

This version includes a significant update of the WebColorPicker. The color picker plugin was a standalone plugin that required manual installation. The EazyDraw Application bundle now contains the plugin, no installation required. The plugin is fully updated to run native on Apple Silicon and supports color space management with support for Displaying P3 color space. The color picker should automatically appear on the system Color Picker toolbar. The manual for the color picker is updated and included in the EazyDraw App bundle, access from the EazyDraw Help menu.

Intaglio

Improved support for Intaglio import of drawings with PDF content. Also added a feature to EazyDraw to mimic Intaglio implementation for multi-page PDF documents. A multi-page PDF found in an Intaglio drawing will display as one page in EazyDraw. EazyDraw Graphic Details inspector now has a parameter to inspect and set a select page of a multi-page PDF. PDF content from an Intaglio drawing is a complete vector representation available for print and export from EazyDraw. EazyDraw still opens a multi-page PDF as a multi-page layout; use the new parameter to change this behavior.

16-bit PNG

16-bit image depth. There are two new parameters on the Export PNG panel, a popup for the Alpha channel and a new popup for bits per color (pixel depth). EazyDraw now supports eight and 16-bit pixel depth. Previously all PNG exports were 8 bit, premultiply alpha last. The two new popup menus provide support for several other settings and combinations. Updated Help pages document the new capability. These new parameters should allow EazyDraw to match any specific format required by video or streaming applications. And, of course, the 16-bit color depth is growing as a requirement for many workflows. These new parameters should allow EazyDraw to match any specific format required by video or streaming applications. And, of course, the 16-bit color depth is becoming a requirement for many workflows.

Text Style

This update provides additions and corrections to the Font panel and defaults for text font and typeface. The Current and Default buttons on the Font panel now present the complete EazyDraw condensed default management for the Font panel. These buttons currently support the Command-key-slide convention to manage temporary and permanent default for text font and typeface. In addition, a new popup menu is available to address the scope for text font and typeface default, allowing a drawing and individual layers to hold a font and typeface default independent of the App wide default. All should be self-explanatory, and Help pages have complete details.

Bug fixes and improvements

Fixed problem working with linked text box. After editing a linked text box would not show editing handles for a semi random period of time. This was only with linked text box that was actually linked to another text box. The bug was introduced recently in EazyDraw 10. All is fixed now.

Fixed several issues related to Cross-Over elements when performing Copy then Paste to other Apps as PDF?also fixed issues related to Cross-Overs nested in groups. There were situations where the cross-over was not drawn in the exported PDF. And there were situations where Cross Overs nested in groups would fail to draw in the drawing. Most of these situations involved a Cross Over right at the end of a path. All of these edge cases are now tested and working correctly.

Fixed issues with Intaglio imports containing embedded bitmap images. The images were not properly scaled and placed. This is fixed now.

This update includes significant improvements to the three logical graphic combine actions?the functions of Union, Intersection, and Difference. Previously, shared boundaries were not well defined. Now the analysis for these actions detects and logically interprets shared boundaries. The algorithm now handles complex curves, such as a doughnut shape.

Improvements for text editing when adding text that causes text content to overflow the defined text box. Previously one could still type, but the text was not displayed, and the text box did not grow, resulting in the red box warning icon when editing ended. Now the entering text view grows as typing continues. The solid color text editing background shows a tint as a visual clue that the text has exceeded the current text box size. At the end of editing, the text box grows automatically just to fit the text content. If the text content exceeded the text box (red box indicator showing), the text box does not grow at the end of text editing. Use Lock against Move (Format main menu, near the bottom) to prevent a text box from automatically changing height when adding excess text.

We have fixed the issue with Dimension (Connectors) snapping into nested pivot groups. The last version of EazyDraw fixed several problems in this situation, and there is now an additional follow-on correction. Further testing of this geometry was completed.

10.5.0 March 2, 2021 build 4031

Help Pages

Help pages have been updated to document the recent improvements on the Preferences panel. Further work completed on the recent major update to the Help pages. Help caches may need to be cleared to properly view the new content. See the ReadMe companion file on the distribution disk: Help Viewer - Tips and Quirks. The home help page now has details on how to check that macOS has rebuilt your help book cache and is showing the new help content. Remember to try to find and remove all older versions of EazyDraw. macOS can access these, and cache your help content and indexed search terms with the out-of-date help book contained in the older app bundle. It is important to study the first / home help page to check that you have the new content.

Drawing Scale Improvements

Major update for the Scale palette. The user interface now has two more entry / inspection menus to support measuring units when specifying the scaling ratio. For example, a map scale of 5 miles per inch may be entered a 1 inch : 5 miles instead of the direct ratio of 1.0 : 316,800.0 . The two new units entries can be the same as or independent from the drawing scale. This change is found near the top of the Scale palette. The direct ratio is still supported in an inspection field at the top of the scale palette.

Added a new feature to automatically compute the drawing scale from a known length on the the drawing. This is found on the Scale palette, main Scale popup menu, near the top of the scale palette. There is a new selection titled From Known Length. If necessary draw a construction line that matches the known length feature in your drawing (often an arial photo, or web-earth view). The known length dialogue has a text field and units popup menu for entry of the length

Added the ability to name and save a drawing scale. This is accessed from the Scale palette (near the top of the Format main menu). The Save selection is on the main Scale popup menu, near the bottom of the menu. Use is self explanatory and supported with a Remove entry. Advanced users will find the named scales in the EazyDraw Application support folder save as Text : XML : pList.

These additions allow EazyDraw to fully support Intaglio's corresponding numbered Drawing Rulers. The Intaglio drawing ruler active when the drawing was saved from Intaglio is converted to the equivalent EazyDraw drawing scale.

EazyDraw Help has been updated to document the use of the new scale features.

Colorful Icons - User Interface Theme

This release continues, and nearly completes, the re-introduction of the colorful User interface. Thanks for all the input on this topic. The end result is looking great, color icons are back. They are all re-mastered with support for P3 colors, light and dark mode, and Retina resolution.

This release has added most of the user customizable toolbar icons and icon pull down menus. These now support all 3 user interface theme options (Color, Monochrome, and Highlight). The 3 theme options are supported live when changed on EazyDraw preferences. No need to quit and restart EazyDraw after a change, this includes a System preferences change of Accent color.

This release has added full UI theme support for User Tool palettes, including the Editing palette where User tool palettes are created and edited. In recent releases User Tool Palettes were not included when the UI theme was changed. They are now fully supported including live support of EazyDraw theme change, Light and Dark mode system change, and System Accent color. We have tried to transition your existing user tool palettes that may have been created even before macOS light and dark mode. But - if you have an old tool palette and if it is not behaving properly in this respect, you may need to delete it and re-create to get all of this technology to dynamically track user changes.

This release has added full UI theme support for the Quick Keys visual keyboard. This user element shares a great deal of code with User Tool palettes. The notes in the above paragraph apply to the Quick Keys keyboard. Bottom line, the Quick Keys keyboard now dynamically supports all aspects of user settings for UI icons.

Command Line Interface - Batch Graphic File Conversion

This release introduces a widely requested Command Line Interface (CLI). EazyDraw will run from Terminal / Command Line, and / or a shell script. Launch from Terminal and include at a -C (C for Command line) option. EazyDraw will run with no Graphic User Interface (no GUI), no drawing windows, menus, palettes.

At this release the primary use is graphic file conversion. The command processes all files listed. The input file format is automatically determined from the content, output format is specified on the command line.

Unix Standard I/O is supported for all text based formats (EazyDraw Graphic, SVG, and DXF).

Intaglio drawing files (actually bundles) are supported as input for conversion processing.

The suite of control options provide management necessary for automatic processing of SVG input and DXF output. Options include control of SVG pixel scale, DXF drawing scale, DXF axis direction, DXF origin placement, and other practical details necessary for automatic batch processing.

Expect new capability in this area. Development is planned in the batch automatic packing and unpacking of layers. One use for this capability will be automated work flow for software development media catalogues.

This new capability is documented in the EazyDraw Help pages. You will find a new top level link to Command Line Interface, just below the master Menu reference link on the Help main page.

Intaglio Transition

This release includes new capability to assist user transitioning from Intaglio to EazyDraw. Thanks to all the Intaglio users that have provided input and beta testing for this crash (bad word choice) project.

We have tested with Intaglio version 3.9.5. Drawings saved as to the Document file type from Intaglio version 3.9.5 should open seamlessly in EazyDraw. This is a bundle file type. The EazyDraw pList is updated to provide a backup icon for this file type. Intaglio does not need to be installed for the bundles to be identified properly displayed by the Finder. Use the normal Open command from EazyDraw to access the Intaglio drawing and open it for editing. The core format for these files is SVG, therefore the content found in EazyDraw is native graphics and text - fully editable. There is a second .intaglio file type, defined in the Intaglio pList as the Flat file type. This is a binary format, EazyDraw is NOT capable of parsing these files. An informative error message is presented if you try to open a flat binary with EazyDraw. Our tests have shown that the Flat files will open in Intaglio 3.9.5, running on macOS 10.13. A Flat format Intaglio drawing can be converted to the supported Intaglio Document (Bundle) file type using Save As in Intaglio 3.9.5. The Bundle copy of the drawing has the same extension ( .intaglio ) and macOS will grant edit privileges for this file to EazyDraw.

EazyDraw now has Intaglio icons and file information for macOS. This provides icon presentation on macOS including Big Sur on Apple Silicon even if Intaglio is not installed. This is important to identify the drawing folder as a bundle. This in turn can prevent undefined behavior in other Apps. EazyDraw App information (pList) registers EazyDraw as a Read Editor for Intaglio drawing bundles.

As noted above: EazyDraw now reads the Intaglio Ruler information and sets the EazyDraw drawing scale accordingly, scaled Intaglio drawings import with correct drawing scale.

Grid spacing, settings and color are read from the Intaglio drawing and restored in the EazyDraw drawing.

The Arrow reconstruction is not 100 percent complete, some Intaglio standard arrow shapes were not in the set of EazyDraw standard arrows, they will be added to EazyDraw soon to complete this aspect of the import.

Several graphic forms are now detected and promoted to their EazyDraw graphic construct: Rounded Rectangles, Rectangles, Polygons, are conserved. Gradients are imported and conserved. Arrows are now re-created as corresponding EazyDraw Arrows.

Fixed issues importing SVG related to special purpose font families. Problems were encountered with Intaglio imports using older non-unicode font packages. These now import properly directly from the Intaglio files.

Arrows

Some improvements to the Arrows palette. The Standard arrows popup menu now has high quality preview icons for each standard arrow. Historically these were described by names only, the added preview images are very helpful especially on Retina display.

Standard arrows were updated with a few new shapes. Those are found added to the bottom of the Standard Arrows popup menu.

With the addition of the new Arrows, EazyDraw can map all arrows from an Intaglio drawing to a Standard EazyDraw arrow. Intaglio uses should keep in mind that EazyDraw Arrows have angle (and size) as a user accessible parameter. The angle adjustability applies to all EazyDraw standard arrows.

Morph

Made a improvements on the Morph panel. Our support team was receiving input that Uniform scaling was not obvious on the Morph panel. This release has changes to the wording and labels for scaling. We think this will make Uniform scaling clearer as a choice. The Help pages were updated to be in fully in sync with the current Morph panel parameters and layout.

Other minor improvements and corrections

The Transfer feature for Vector Hatch was not working. It is now fixed. Transfer allows a User Library element to function as a defined set of graphic properties. The Hatch property was being skipped and not applied to the target graphic(s) even when a Hatch was present and the Transfer parameter set included the Hatch. All is working again. This seems to have been broken since EazyDraw Version 8. Remember to report problems to our support staff.

Improved PDF ungroup to recognize rounded rectangle geometry. When detected the generic closed Bezier path is promoted to an EazyDraw rounded rectangle with corresponding corner radii.

Fixed issues importing SVG related to special purpose font families. Problems were encountered with Intaglio imports using older non-unicode font packages. These now import properly directly from the Intaglio files.

Fixed problem snapping connectors and dimensions to nested pivot graphics and free transform graphics. The snapping target points were not mapping to the correct rotated or transformed points.

Fixed problem with Graphic Details inspector when positioning the end of a line whose length and angle are pinned. The Numerical input was slightly modified on input. This is now fixed.

Improved appearance of the dash line popup menu which appears in several palettes such as the Dashes and Hatches. These are now higher quality preview images. These now have proper Big Sur UI colors in light and dark mode.

10.3.0 January 26, 2021 build 4023

This release completes a major update of the over 400 Help pages. They have all been updated to correspond with EazyDraw 10. Illustrations have been recaptured at 2x resolution (Retina resolution) with P3 colors on Big Sur. Content text has been reformatted with contemporary font face and Big Sur typesetting. This upgrade was about half complete with the introduction of EazyDraw 10 last November. It is now complete. EazyDraw Help still uses the Mac Help book technology which employs heavy handed caching. You may want (and / or may need) to remove all old EazyDraws from your system - this is always a good idea. Then remove the Apple Help caches in your home library. Then reboot after installing but not running EazyDraw 1-_ .0. It is common that the first time you access the updated Help pages you may see a message that content is not available. This a good indicator, it means the help index in the new EazyDraw bundle is being cached. Wait about one cup of coffee and try again, then you should see the new content. To test: check that you can find a new help page on the topic copy and paste drawing, on the Edit menu, near the bottom.

There is a new feature to copy and paste drawing setup parameters. The new commands are found near the bottom of the Edit main menu. These commands should be self explanatory and extend the paste special concept from graphic attributes to drawing attributes. Help pages are complete, refer to these for more information on the use of the new capability. Study this new feature on the Help page, as this will insure you new Help content has updated the macOS cache.

The EazyDraw Preferences panel has a major update. The top toolbar portion is completely redesigned. The concept of a default - set was (is) a bit cryptic, and was probably even more obscure for non-english speaking users. The new design employs more informative icons instead of wording, which should make the functionality more obvious for everyone. We think the concept of having different groups of defaults will now be discoverable with the icons and visual clues, the two new popup menus, and the indicators on the extended toolbar. Keep in mind that this is not where one changes parameter settings, and it is not where one makes a simple change to a default setting. This is for managing task specific groups of defaults. In any case it all looks much better, the last design update was over 10 years ago. The scope of the default set was missing a few parameter palettes, these are now included.

More colorful icons are complete. Reminder: choose your icon look on the EazyDraw Preferences -> UI Theme (top left icon/tool button on EazyDraw Preferences panel. EazyDraw 10 re-introduced the colorful icons for the user interface. The initial version 10 release had all the tool palettes supported for color icons. But most of the toolbar icons were still monochrome. This did not go over so well with the color icon crowd. Now we have most to the toolbar icons supporting the all 3 user interface modes (Monochrome, Highlight, and Color : or Mojave, Big Sur, Sierra) The project is about 80% complete and should be finished with the next release. We know that a cursory view of the project would be to simply put the old icons back - but it is not that simple of course. Icons now need to support light and dark mode, the old icons only had one design. In actuality a good icon needs light and dark mode for normal and 2x resolution. The EazyDraw Media Assets catalogue have 12 icon entries for each icon seen. Of course we have used EazyDraw to design, draw, and populate the project catalogue - using color managed P3 UI colors of course. As one might guess, this complexity was simplified if the icons are designed monochrome / gray scale.

Major upgrade for the Graphic Details and Layers inspector for Czech, Chinese, Italian, Norwegian and Spanish users language users. All the Graphic Details inspector panels, there are about 50 of them, have now been fully updated to Big Sur design standards. The dark mode designs have been updated. The Graphic Details and Layers inspectors are now resizable in all 12 languages supported by EazyDraw. All inspectors, tabs and panels resize and auto format for unclipped numeric inspection even if units are displayed with very high precision numeric settings.

Improved support for import of drawings from Intaglio. SVG has proven to be a good transition path from Intaglio to EazyDraw. There were a few problems, including a possible EazyDraw crash. Intaglio saves the SVG content in a folder with the extension .svg, but the folder is not actually a bundle (perhaps it was a bundle on older versions of macOS but now on Big Sur it is just a strange finder element, a folder with an extension. These caused EazyDraw to crash. That is now fixed. EazyDraw now has a file system patch to simulate bundle behavior and access the SVG content in the folder. This is working now with EazyDraw 10.2. In addition: The Intaglio SVG files degraded geometric classes to paths, loosing identity of rectangles and other geometric forms. EazyDraw now tests for these situations and promotes the groups of lines to more useful graphics such as rectangles, squares, rounded rectangles, rotated rectangles, etc. We are still working or the Intaglio import work flow. Please send in test drawings that could use improvement or have issues. We will fix them and all Intaglio transitioning users will benefit.

Fixed problem with Text when opening a drawing saved from EazyDraw 3 and opened with EazyDraw 10 on High Sierra. Some text blocks would fail to load, causing an empty text box. This is now fixed. Fail safe code has been added to retain the original text data content if problems like this are encountered in the future. This code relates to the significant, behind the scenes, effort to keep all old drawings accessible on the new versions of macOS. Apple has depreciated the unarchivers and left users with no avenue to access the old text technology, dating to 1990s and early 2000s. EazyDraw has reverse engineered the old formats to provide our users with the solutions needed. Apple has fixed the bug that caused this issue on macOS 10.14 and earlier. Best advise to users is to make certain you have an EazyDraw Graphic format copy (not the binary file format). EazyDraw Graphic format is XML based, human readable, which insures data integrity across technology and time..

Fixed Dots Per Inch input on Graphic Details inspector for German, French, Spanish.

Changed behavior for Copy and Paste - Drag and Drop of text between scaled drawings with different scale. Previously the text was scaled to match the destination drawing scale. Now transferring text is not adjusted.

10.1.4 December 15, 2020 build 4009

Fixed Finder preview icon images and Quicklook previews. These were not displaying on some installations. The problem began with EazyDraw 10 and the Big Sur release. The EazyDraw drivers were updated to dual binaries for Apple Silicon support. But it seems macOS is not yet compatible. We replaced the drivers with older versions running Intel only - using Rosetta on M1 CPUs.

Fixed Apple Help pages. Starting with EazyDraw 10.1.0 some installations, and all users on macOS 10.13 could not access the Help pages. The Apple Help index built for Big Sur was not compatible on macOS 10.13. Help pages work again on all systems.

This release has further updates to Help content. Updating is about 90% complete and continues. All graphics and content are being upgraded to reflect the Big Sur user interface. Of coulee, the content and graphics apply for EazyDraw 10 on all supported macOS versions, 10.13 and newer.

Fixed Color icons for right facing trapezoid tool button. The wrong icon was shown on the toolbar for the color icon theme.

Update for the layers inspector for Chinese, Czech, Italian, Norwegian , Portuguese, Spanish. Swedish was updated with version 10.1.2. The update is a major appearance improvement. It adopts the new guidelines Apple has specified and implemented with Big Sur.

Update for the graphic details inspector for Italian, Norwegian , and Spanish. Swedish was updated with version 10.1.2. The update is a major appearance improvement. It adopts the new guidelines Apple has specified and implemented with Big Sur. The update provides natural field width adjustment as the inspector panel is resized.

Fixed bug on the Help menu display indicating, erroneously, that there were zero days left on expiring license. This is fixed now.

10.1.3 December 1, 2020 build 4004

Fixed failure to launch. An Apple security module limit date was overlooked. All is fixed now.

10.1.2 November 24, 2020 build 4001

Fixed problem with attaching dimensions when the target graphic is embedded in a group nested in another group. The attach points were not computed correctly and the snap point would sometimes revert to the origin of the drawing. This was recently introduce in EazyDraw 10. Was not present in EazyDraw 9. All is fixed now.

Fixed problem with very narrow (hair line) vertical or horizontal lines. If the line width was less than 0.05 Points, the line would not display. This has been present for about 18 months, in late versions of EazyDraw 9.

Major upgrade for the Graphic Details and Layers inspector for Swedish language users. This was especially important for dark mode users. All display panels are now upgrade to Big Sur design standards and dynamic colors for light and dark mode.

Fixed Monochrome icons for dark mode for Brace tool button. These 4 buttons were nearly invisible in dark mode. Their icons are now properly shown in both light and dark mode on Retina and classic displays.

10.1.1 November 11, 2020 build 4000

!!Colorful Icons Back!! They are back, but not default: open EazyDraw preferences -> UITheme, choose Color on Icons popup menu. Highlight mode is controlled by your choice of System Accent color (on General tab -> System Preferences). EazyDraw now has three user interface themes with support for the 2010-ish colorful icons. All 3 themes support and adapt to both light and dark mode system appearance. The third choice is the Mojave subdued monochrome look. Go to EazyDraw Preferences, select UI Theme. Near bottom of the panel the Icons popup menu provides 3 selections. Color is the older theme with colorful tool icons. A new theme, the default for Big Sur, is named Highlight. This theme tints the icons using System Preferences setting for Accent Color to highlight a selection and a compliment color as an icon tint.

Match New feature to search for graphics that match parameter attributes, such as fill color, or text font family. This is found on the Edit menu, near the bottom. Select a single graphic that has the desired trait, this graphic is the master for the match search. Match then enables. Choose desired traits to match, then execute. The search for matches encompasses all selectable graphics. Check Help pages for full documentation.

Universal Binary. The App runs native on Intel or Apple Silicon. This means native optimal performance on Apple M1 CPU. Nothing needs to be performed by the user, macOS will choose the correct binary for your system. No compromises: if your CPU is intel, if your macOS is older than Big Sur, no problem: the Universal Binary has a complete Intel version. Drawings exchange seamlessly, if you have a new M1 CPU and an older Intel system EazyDraw will run optimally on both and drawings will interchange seamlessly.

Help Pages. The EazyDraw Help pages which work with macOS Help Book Viewer have undergone a major update. While these pages are updated with each release to remain consistent with the evolution of EazyDraw, the last major update was over 10 years ago: before Retina resolution graphics and P3 colors were a thing. With EazyDraw 10 the illustrations and images have been re-mastered on Big Sur with high dynamic range (brighter P3 colors) and Retina grade (@2x) resolution. The improved appearance benefits tremendously with the amazing new clean crisp Big Sur design.

Full support for Big Sur. This version supports macOC 10.13, 10.14, 10.15 and 11.0. Support for universal binary means that EazyDraw is able to optimally support systems back to macOS 10.13. Three user interface themes means that the App will not look out-of-place across all platforms going back 5-6 years.

Many other code improvements and re-authored user interface graphics from over 6 months of top to bottom testing and coding optimization for Apple Silicon native support.

9.7.2 September 29, 2020 build 9091

Corrected problem with Menu Keys used with a user installed Library Menu. Shortcut keys applied to custom library menus were attaching to elements in adjacent library menus. Hard to explain, but fixed now. A user created library may be added to the Libraries menu and short cut keys may be assigned to user graphics using the Menu Keys feature.

Corrected problem exporting drop shadows on Mojave and Catalina. PNG, TIF, and JPG exports had the drop shadow direction flipped up vs down. PDF exports were sometimes dropping shadows. All is working properly again.

Corrected possible problem exporting raster graphics with a solid background, on Mojave, and Catalina. Occasionally these exports would have a visible one pixel colored border on an edge or two. Most noticeably exporting a white background JPG might have dark lines on a couple of edges. These arise from the anti aliasing algorithm and how the edge colors are handled mathematically. EazyDraw now overtly paints a one pixel border of the solid background color around all exported bitmap (raster) images. If content at export is Graphics Only or Selected Graphics the one pixel border is added to the graphic. If content at export is Full Drawing Area, the border is still painted but no pixels are added. Of course this is all avoided properly under user control by exporting PNG with no background; if a colored background is needed then the user should draw the background with a filled rectangle properly positioned a few pixels interior to the edges and then anti-aliasing will have room to work.

Short version: Corrected a few reported issues with SVG import. As the use of SVG is expanding we see more SVG content that is technically outside the documented specification but is interpreted by Safari. This specification drift is probably inevitable and we will continue to use Safari as our gold standard. Issues recently addressed generate warnings for proprietary attributes when analyzed and cleaned with BBEdit xml utilities. Please report any issues encountered with SVG import or export, thanks.

Corrected problem reordering parameter fields on mini palettes, using drag and drop. The parameter field was dropping to a rather random new position, when dropped. Reorder by drag and drop now works properly.

Fixed issues when opening EazyDraw Binary files saved with EazyDraw pre-version 8 with text in some non-english languages, Swedish, Spanish, and Japanese especially. These files are now opened and updated to current archive standards seamlessly.

Corrected problem when using the Scale Worksheet panel. Setting the scale via this panel could later cause a problem with the Save or Save As browsing panel. EazyDraw would hang when trying to present the Save Browse panel. This is now fixed..

9.7.1 June 17, 2020 build 9088

Fixed issues for gradients with extended convergence ranges. Most noticeability a few of the gradients in the default toolbar palette were not drawn properly. For example: gradients that transitioned from light to dark and back to light. These are again working properly.

Fixed SVG import for SVG content containing new CSS3 constructions.

9.7.0 March 30, 2020 build 9087

Added new capability for editing Bezier curves and paths. Cmd and Option buttons have new vertex editing modifications. Cmd and Option will modify to insert a vertex in a Path (Path being a Bezier of straight, non curved, segments). Cmd and Option will modify to extend either end of an open Bezier path or curve. Hold down the modifier key then click on the target vertex and drag, the newly inserted vertex will drag and follow mouse movements. For end point extension Cmd extends a linear segment with control points. For end point extension Option extends a curved segment. For a path Cmd adds the vertex after the vertex, Option adds the point before the vertex. Cmd and Option drag of a non-end point vertex for a Bezier curve does not insert a vertex, the modifier keys cause adjacent control points to move with the vertex.

Fixed SVG import for SVG content that contains a single point Bezier path or line. Previously EazyDraw printed an error message and failed the conversion. Several browsers were tested and they accept the file, therefore it seems that EazyDraw should accept the drawing.

Fixed SVG export of rotated text when using outlines for text (no fonts or glyphs used for text). Rotated text was rotated twice on the export. This is now fixed.

Fixed a problem with grid color for users running on older versions of macOS (10.13). EazyDraw 9 had progressed to use Catalogue colors for the grid default colors which provides better future support for wide gamut displays. But madOS 10.13 is older and did not properly handle the new grid color . Grids sometimes would open and not be seen until the drawing was saved and re-opened on macOS 10.13. This is now all fixed. The correction still provides full support for wide gamut display colors on macOS 10.14 and 10.15.

Fixed bug with the Snap popup menu found on right side of the Attributes bar. The popup menu did not work if the Align to Grid palette had not ben opened. Now the menu always works, even if the Align to Grid palette is not open and has never been opened.

Export iconset did not properly select the content for the individual icons. The problem was introduced with recent changes to support wide gamut colors. Export iconset now works with all png supported color space selections including p3 colors.

9.5.2 January 2, 2020 build 9084

Added new controls for attributed text background. The macOS system font panel previously provided this control but with Catalina they have dropped support for this parameter. We have added the parameter to the Accessory view found at the bottom of the system font panel. This text background is distinct from the text box background. The text box background is managed on the Color and Style palette. The attributed text background applies specifically with each glyph. Normally this version of text background in not used by EazyDraw users, the text box background has the most commonly sought appearance. The main need for this parameter is to be able to turn off an attributed text background that might be pasted into an EazyDraw drawing.

Fixed a multi-thread problem associated to the system font panel. A very rare situation that normally would not cause a crash. All is robust now.

Fixed issues when copying to Clipboard using bitmap (TIFF) images, on Catalina. Starting with Catalina bitmap images for the System Clipboard are formatted at 16 bit per color component with wide gamut color encoding. Many Apps on macOS (about half it seemed) require Little Endian byte order for the 16 bit information. EazyDraw 9 now uses Little Endian byte order. Previously Apps like the Finder and Messages did not respect the actual byte order of the image content, the images were highly distorted with color speckles and blurry content. This was only a problem on Catalina, Mojave and High Sierra did not experience this problem. All is correct now.

Fixed issues when copying to Clipboard using bitmap (TIFF) images. The copied images were not using wide gamut colors. This is now fixed, the copied image will have the same color space (color gamut) as defined in the drawing. Inspect and set image color space on Graphic Details inspector. Default color space for images when copying to the Clipboard is now P3 color space..

9.5.0 November 14, 2019 build 9075

Fully tested and integrated with the new mobile EazyDraw versions for iPhone and iPad. Download the EazyDraw companion app to your mobile device: open the App Store from your mobile device (iPhone or iPad). Search for EazyDraw - you will need to spell it out correctly with the z. Download and install, the mobile version is free - no charges, no subscriptions. Exchange drawings and / or individual graphics with Hand-off copy and paste. Move drawings to and from the mobile device using the new Catalina Finder capability or iCloud. Drawing format, both EazyDraw Binary and Graphic formats, are the same for mobile EazyDraw and EazyDraw 9.

Finalized Catalina support. All is stable on macOS 10.15, Catalina.

Fixed issue opening drawings saved from EazyDraw Version 6 that contained PNG or JPG images. The images were often flipped, up and down directions. This is now fixed .

Changed the orientation for exported PNG and JPG images. These were not displayed properly by several Linux and Windows apps. The images were prepared correctly and displayed properly on most apps including Preview. However apps that did not read and respect meta-data defining the image orientation would display the images upside-down. The EazyDraw exports were flipped and, of course, noted accordingly in the metadata. Now all apps should display the images properly.

9.3.4 October 23, 2019 build 9074

Fully tested on Catalina, macOS 10.15, golden master release from Apple.

Integrated with Universal Clipboard to share copy and paste with iPad and iPhone devices. This provides for copy and paste across devices.

Fully tested for round trip exchange of drawings with EazyDraw for macOS and EazyDraw for iPadOS and iOS. Testing assured accurate and faithful edit across all 3 operating systems, using both iCloud and Files on iOS.

Fixed a bug with save for Pivot interactive graphics.

9.3.3 June 12, 2019 build 9064

Runs well on Catalina developer release (macOS 10.15). Please report issues if encountered.

Support for Beta release of SF Symbols. Access the new SF Symbols with the SF Symbols App. Use standard Convert to Bezier commands for design and editing of the new UI symbols; as allowed with Apple copyright information.

9.3.2 May 8, 2019 build 9063

Corrected DXF import. Recent versions of EazyDraw for Mojave had problems properly converting DXF NURBs to Bezier curves. This is now fixed.

Corrected y-axis flipped bitmap image. Rare situation, involves images that had no y-axis meta-data that were created with older versions of EazyDraw, then used by EazyDraw versions 8 (late versions, 8.7 and later). These images would open once in correct orientation then second save (or Duplicate of the drawing) would experience a y-axis flip. This situation is now corrected.

9.3.1 April 1, 2019 build 9059

Improved performance for drawings that contain large PDF images. Apple has made changes to a technology called responsive scrolling, which added a very large CPU overhead drawing a large number of small rectangles of the large PDF. EazyDraw now swaps in a bitmap image of the PDF image for drawing to the screen. Quality should be the same. The bitmap representation is only used for screen drawing, not export or printing. The bitmap image is able to efficiently supply the large number of small sub-images required by macOS for the responsive scrolling engine. The vector aspect of the PDF image works well for drawing the full image but is not optimal for drawing the large number of sub-regions.

Improved performance for drawings that contain large bitmap images on layers with Color Modification. This is situation had similar issues supplying information to macOS for responsive scrolling (see above). EazyDraw now caches the fully color modified bitmap image which solves the performance issue.

Fixed problem reading drawings saved from older versions (pre version 5) of EazyDraw, saved in the binary format. There was a problem reading orthogonal .paths in these drawing files. This problem is now fixed. The overall goal is to fully support opening any drawing created by EazyDraw from 2001 to present. This requires reverse engineering low level operating system binary parsing modules. Please report any issues in this area.

Improved Text Flow via Text Links. There was a possible recursion if, some how, the out text link of a text box was connected to the in text link of the same text box. A verification is now integrated into the code to make certain that in and out text links are robust.

9.3.0 March 13, 2019 build 9056

Fixed Dimension and Connector snapping to groups. Snap points near the top of a group were not being detected. Problem fixed.

Fixed possible crash when adjusting the overall length of a Dash pattern on the Dashes palette and / or the vector Hatch palette.

Further corrections for the intermittent issue of setting line weight, dash pattern or arrows from the Attributes bar. In rare cases use of the Attributes bar popup menus would disable use of the corresponding controls on the Color and Style, or Dash, or Arrows primary tool box palette. Hopefully this is fixed now, our apologies for nagging problem.

Improved SVG support for CSS constructs of the USE property. There were issues causing a crash, and other problems associated with inheritance of color and style attributes. Imports using these constructs now seems robust.

9.1.8 February 4, 2019 build 9050

Minor update with major changes for the Dutch localization. The Dutch localization has major changes for the Graphic Details and Layers inspectors. These have been improved with full resizing capability and enhanced light and dark mode support.

Fixed intermittent issue with setting line weight from the Attributes bar on Mojave.

9.1.7 January 25, 2019 build 9050

Minor update with major changes for the Japanese localization. The Japanese localization has major changes for the Graphic Details and Layers inspectors. These have been improved with full resizing capability and enhanced light and dark mode support.

9.1.6 January 15, 2019 build 9049

Corrections for Spanish localization. Some phrases were still shown as Norwegian. Spanish should be correct now.

Added French localization of the PDF user manual. Access from the Help menu, when running in French.

Added French localization of the PDF user manual. Access from the Help menu, when running in French.

Updated French user interface for Graphic Details and Layers inspector. This now has a full Mojave look, improved resizing support, optimized appearance for light and dark mode.

(Short Version: EazyDraw Preferences, set Window Tabs to Disallowed -> to prevent Tabs.) A new setting is now available on EazyDraw preferences for additional control over the use of Tabs for new or opening drawings. Recent changes in macOS result in Tabs being used as a default condition. There is a System Setting, on the Dock settings panel, for managing this user preference. But we have several complaints that Tabs remain in use. The new setting on EazyDraw preferences when set to Disallow will prevail and new drawing windows will open in separate windows. The EazyDraw setting and the system setting do interact, thus all possibilities are available: for example set the System setting to Always and Safari will use tabs, and EazyDraw will not use tabs when the EazyDraw setting is Disallow. Note: a change to the EazyDraw setting applies to the next window that will open and to the front most window that is open, keep this scope statement in mind to avoid confusion when testing behavior.

Fixed several problems associated with setting dashes or arrows from the Attributes bar buttons. These problems were rather random and sometimes caused a change in defaults (all new lines might start drawing as dashed - for example) These are all fixed now.

Fixed a rare crash that was possible when closing windows.

Fixed the Tablet icon in a few places in the user interface.

9.1.5 January 6, 2019 build 9036

Fixed a specific image y-axis flip problem for a specific class of TIF and JPG images in drawings saved by EazyDraw 8.7. We are transitioning EazyDraw away from macOS internal image archives (which date to the 1990's and are being deprecated) to reverse engineered code with additional capability to detect and respect image meta data orientation information. If any issues are seen, please report the problem and send in the originating drawing and raw image if possible.

9.1.4 January 5, 2019 build 9036

Fixed a specific image y-axis flip problem for a specific class of TIF images in drawings saved by EazyDraw 8.7. We are transitioning EazyDraw to strictly respect image meta data orientation setting. If any issues are seen, please report the problem and send in the originating drawing and raw image if possible.

Fixed a problem exporting JPG, graphics only. There was a translation error that in some cases shifted the image and left a black band or possible a full black image. This was introduced with version 9.1.3 and the correction for JPG image flips when used as a web image - only present a few days. All fixed now..

9.1.3 January 3, 2019 build 9036

Reboot Keynote export. Apple has reinstated the public Keynote file format. We have added back to EazyDraw the ability to export *.key file format. The export is a full native vector and fill export. Graphics (including Bezier paths) created in EazyDraw and exported to Keynote are editable in Keynote. Bezier paths and other shapes may be used as masks in Keynote. SVG content from the web may be opened in EazyDraw, edited in EazyDraw, exported to Keynote from EazyDraw for use and native editing in Keynote. The keynote export is found on the File main menu, Export submenu.

Corrected several rare to happen stability issues associated with Mojave.

Fixed a few more text colors and UI graphics associated with Mojave light and dark modes .

Corrected a few SVG import issues.

Corrected the Spanish UI localization. The last version of EazyDraw had problems with menus and other parameter palettes Spanish translation, it was intermixed with Norwegian. Sorry about that, all is fixed now.

Fixed an issue with exported JPG images. These images were often y-axis flipped when used as web graphics. They would display properly natively on any Mac or iOS device. These were seen flipped when viewed by a web browser. The EazyDraw export for JPG was y-mirrored at the pixel level with a corresponding mirror for the meta data image information. This assures proper y-axis orientation on all systems that we tested.

Fixed possible problems changing color or line width from the Attribute bar when the Color and Style palette was not in use.

9.1.2 November 30, 2018 build 9030

Fixed problem saving newly created drawings on macOS 10.13. Mojave users did not have this issue. The error message mentions Grid color. This is now fixed. Drawing save properly again. This was a new problem with version 9.1.1 .

Fixed problem with ruler color on macOS 10.13. The default color for new drawings was a stark black. This is now fixed and provides a more pleasing gray background for the ruler. Mojave users did not have this problem .

9.1.1 November 25, 2018

Fixed long standing issues related to customizing the main toolbar on High Sierra and Mojave. Each version of macOS had problems. High Sierra blocked the toolbar with the tool selection palette, when not in Full Screen Mode. Mojave had problems in Full Screen mode, the tool selection palette extended off screen preventing mouse click of the Done button. These are both actually macOS issues present in other Apps. EazyDraw now has patches to correct the problems. When first presented the tool selection palette still has the position and auto resining errors, then you will see a brief flash and the palette is corrected by the EazyDraw patch - making everything again fully usable.

Fixed a problem with Find for text strings. Rare problem related presence of corrupt empty text boxes. This is now robust and always works.

Fixed problem with y axis flipped bitmap images in drawings save with EazyDraw Version 8. The issue was with TIFF images. They are now opened correctly.

Fixed ruler background color on High Sierra, with multiple drawing windows. The non-main windows had a sharp black background color. That color should be less saturated, a softer gray to indicate the window is not in focus. This is fixed now..

Fixed problem on Grid Reference palette. Clicking on the reference view to set a user defined reference point was not setting the exact point indicated by the cursor. The cursor-pointer is now accurate again..

Changed wording for the Inspector menu on the View main menu in Japanese. A native Japanese user submitted improved phrase for this function.

Fixed problem when adding a new tool to a user tool palette. The tool palette icon was oversized, until the next quit and restart of EazyDraw. This is now displayed properly immediately after an edit session for a user tool palette.

Fixed speed problem with large JPG images. Display was much slower than with previous versions of EazyDraw on previous versions of macOS. Lag times are now much better on Mojave.

Fixed problem with certain pattern fill images. They were displayed with severe banding and inaccurate colors. This is now fixed.

9.1.0 November 2, 2018

Mojave release with support for dynamic light and dark mode user interface.

All New Look: The user interface has a major upgrade. The new look is predominately monochrome for consistent contemporary appearance in both light and dark mode.

Light and Dark Mode. Stay focused and productive under both light and dark ambient conditions. Change between light and dark modes on the fly, no need to quit and restart EazyDraw. Choose light or dark mode on System Settings, General Tab. This is a new Mojave only feature.

System settings choice for Accent Color is reflected throughout EazyDraw UI. This is a system setting on the General tab, experiment to get the best choice for your viewing environment.

Wide color gamut enhances the visual experience on compatible displays.

Support for wide gamut color, also called high dynamic range colors. Newer Macs (powerBooks, and iMacs 2016 and newer) have displays that provide P3 Colors. Older technology screens use sRGB colors. The P3 color space has a much wider color gamut than sRGB. Simple terms: colors can be brighter on a P3 screen. Actually there are two requirements to see these brighter colors, the App must support and present P3 colors and the display must be a P3 display.

For professional (or semi-pro) use, EazyDraw 9 provides fully color managed image authoring. This includes live visualization and tagged image export (PNG, JPG, TIFF, PDF, SVG). If your audience includes mobile, then P3 images are a must.

All color wells provide intelligent tool tip that clearly indicates the color space (gamut) for colors used in a drawing. The system color picker, color sliders tab, gear menu, provides interface point to select the color profile (synonym: color space, color gamut, color dynamic range).

Quick Look PNG, JPG, and TIFF preview images are now color managed and support P3 colors. The Quick Look image format is set on the Properties palette, access from File main menu in EazyDraw. The default format is PDF. The Quick Look image is included in the drawing file. Large detailed technical drawings can lead to very large PDF vector images perhaps even doubling the size of the drawing. In these cases a PNG or JPG format (or None, that is a setting too) may be the best choice. All these formats have been optimized and are fully color managed with EazyDraw 9.

EazyDraw’s color management is implemented by layer, each layer may have a defined color space. This attribute is inspected on the Layers inspector, near the bottom. EazyDraw 9 has additional selections for wide gamut RGB color spaces.

It is now possible to change the DPI (Dots Per Inch) of imported bitmap images. This feature is found on the Graphic Details inspector, Quality tab. The DPI value is shown for inspection, as it was in earlier versions of EazyDraw, now the value may be changed. The image is intelligently (triangle apodization) resampled. This is very useful when incorporating high resolution photos as small thumbnail quality images in a drawing. 72 DPI is often all that needed for presentation quality drawings. This can reduce 100 megabyte drawings to kilobyte drawings.

Export and import of bitmap (PNG, JPG, and TIFF) images has been significantly improved with EazyDraw 9. The color space information contained in the image meta data is carefully conserved and incorporated with all pixel color actions (such as the DPI re-sampling noted above). All bitmap images are color managed with color space inspection found on Graphic Details, Quality tab. The color space popup menu provides inspection and accepts user input for transitions across different color spaces.

Export palettes have new selections for 3 wide gamut color spaces: sRGB, Display P3, Adobe1998. Images are (if necessary) automatically mapped to the export selected color space and the exported image’s meta data is tagged accordingly.

EazyDraw’s color management is implemented by layer, each layer may have a defined color space. This attribute is inspected on the Layers inspector, near the bottom. Layer wide color space changes are applied to images with each pixel color being mapped to the targeted color space. And this action is undo-able.

Improved Pattern support. Major update for patterns to take advantage of wide gamut colors.

EazyDraw 9 has significantly improved tiling patterns. The toolbar convenience palettes have been upgraded to wide gamut (P3 or sRGB as appropriate for the main screen) colors. These application support files should automatically upgrade the first time EazyDraw 9 launches.

The Pattern palette now supports the wide gamut color spaces. Pixel by pixel pattern design is supported using P3 (or sRGB) colors. The end result pattern image is fully color managed (for display, and export) using the Color Space popup on the Pattern palette.

Wide gamut color management is fully integrated with CMYK authoring. Mapping of RGB to and from CMYK is reversible in most cases (where mathematically possible). Export CMYK is supported for TIFF and EPS images.

Developer Colors: Mojave has greatly expanded the super powers of developer colors. EazyDraw 9 supports these new capabilities. There is a supporting drawing included with the download disk image that demonstrates and explains how to use these.

MacOS Mojave includes a palette of dynamic system colors, referred to as Developer Colors on the system color picker, color palettes tab. This color palette provides semantic references that are dynamic and change significantly between light and dark mode system setting. In addition they may have subtle changes in vibrancy and translucency in response to Accessibility system settings. EazyDraw 9’s upgraded color management includes drawing support for developer colors.

For Example: Light and Dark mode automatically control the appearance of user interface elements such as tool palette background and button icons. Light and Dark mode does not control the colors used in a drawing, consider drawing a red stop sign - the red color should not change with light and dark mode. But if appropriate for a project, drawing colors may be defined semantically using Developer colors, a blue print technical drawing could have drawing background color (found on Page Layout palette) set to textBackgroundColor and graphic outline color (on Color and Style palette) set to textColor; then both the user interface and the drawing will respond to the light and dark mode system setting.

There is a new method (new with Mojave) to provide confirmation that the downloaded App has not been intercepted and infected with .malware. This is called a notarized app. Prior to distribution we (EazyDraw) submit the compiled App to Apple. Apple scans and cross checks the App with a through security check. Problems would be reported to developer before distribution. When the security check is successfully the App has an encrypted certificate stapled to the compilation package. Then when you install the App the encrypted information is confirmed against the actual App on your system, ensuring the installed App is secure and clean.

64 Bit. EazyDraw transitioned from 32 bit to 64 bit several years ago. Mojave is forcing depreciation of 32 bit Apps. This is not an issue for EazyDraw.

Clear Color tool has been improved. The clear color action is compliant with color management and supports wide gamut colors.

SVG, several improvements with improved CSS support for SVG imports.

Updated look for user library menus, including dynamic light and dark mode support for the menu icons. Full light and dark mode support for user library palettes, quick keys palette, and customized tool palettes. Customized palettes saved from earlier versions of EazyDraw will automatically update to the new icons and the new icons will dynamically support light and dark mode

Improved layout and refresh for drawing used in tabbed windows. The layers inspector especially had minor layout issues when switching drawing tabs. The tab mode (which is a system setting found in the Dock parameter palette) is now quite robust and very useful in some work flows.

8.7.3 July 31, 2018

This is initial release with support for macOS Mojave, version 10.14. This version will launch and run reliably on Mojave. Testing is preliminary, please report any and all issues noted on Mojave. This version does not support Dark Mode. It is planned that EazyDraw 9 will support Light Mode, Dark Mode, and Enhanced Contrast appearance when Mojave releases to the public.

This version corrects issues with the display of Box and Along Annotations on Mojave.

Note for future compatibility issues: deprecations in Mojave will dictate dropping support for the older original EazyDraw file format (named: 2001v0). It is advisable to only use the new format (named Mobile Friendly) going forward.

Improved the SVG import with added parsing for embedded CSS color and style content with cascading inheritance.

Fixed further potential crashes when closing windows or quitting EazyDraw. These all relate to multiple-thread computing support, hopefully these issues are converging to a full solution. Please continue to send in crash reports if any are experienced.

Fixed bug with the display of Doors, hinged right. The sweep indicating arc was not drawn correctly, right hinged only.

Fixed bug with Ribbons, when Morphing, or converting to Bezier. A full closed ribbon would change to a single line wall graphic upon Morph or Convert to Bezier. All is correct now.

8.7.2 May 4, 2018

Added support for SVG import and export at 96 Pixels Per Inch. Parameter is found on EazyDraw Preferences.

The App is now 64 bit only. All support for 32 bit computing is dropped.

Fixed potential problem with drag and drop of PNG images from the desktop. These images could change and have noticeably lighter colors. This could happen immediately with the drag and drop or later after the drawing was saved and re-opened. It is suspected this would only happen on systems with new wide gamut P3 displays running latest macOS High Sierra.

Fixed bug saving drawings with EPS images in CMYK color space on macOS 10.11 and 10.12..

While trying to reproduce the color swatch crash we ran lengthy (month long) memory and multi-thread stress tests which did result in several significant stability improvements. These are all now integrated into this release candidate.

Correction for flipped png images when dropped on a drawing using the 2001 v0 reverse compatible old file format.

Further stability corrections closing a drawing immediately after opening a drawing.

One more tweak to the drawing window shut down sequence, Properly dis-assemble window elements when App Kit executes close from a secondary thread.

Changed the logic for clicking the graphic menu and user library toolbar buttons that open into graphic menus and submenus. Newer versions of macOS caused the quick click to be very sensitive and make it difficult to quick-click and select the pre-set color (gradient, or pattern). This now seems to work smoothly again.

Fixed small problem with properly enabling Flips for Rectangles. Now only correct logical possibilities are enabled.

8.7.1 December 21, 2017

Support for High Sierra, and Display P3.

Corrected issues associated with the system color wheel color picker. The problems relate to newer systems, iMac 2016 and newer and MacBookPro with TouchBar. These have the improved P3 wide color gamut technology which interacts with the colors selected on the Color Wheel. EazyDraw is an authoring App saving uncorrected Calibrated colors. This update now properly maps the colors from the new P3 wide gamut color space to calibrated colors..

Improved import and export of DXF drawings. Changed the handling of Carriage-Return-Line-Feed sequence to be more CAD friendly. Prevents crashes on reading of some CAD packages.

Dropped support for 32 bit operation. On advise from Apple, this older technology is now deprecated.

Corrected problem with text input in Japanese input mode with autocompletion and suggestions. In the case where the first suggestion was correct and accepted with a simple return key click - the text would duplicate. The problem is fixed, there is no longer an unwanted duplication.

Corrected problem with the Layer Configuration feature. If a layer configuration had a layer in the Off state and if that layer was the active layer when the layer configuration was selected from the popup menu, then the layer that should have been Off was actually On. This is now fixed.

8.7.0 August 28, 2017

Support for High Sierra, macOS 10.13.

Corrections relating to saving drawings on macOS 10.13.

Fixed Customize Toolbar on macOS 10.13.

This version fixes several problems with the Toolbar color pickers.

Fixed Touch Bar crashes while editing text on macOS 10.13.

Fixed Undo issues related to moving graphics that were selected via the Shift-lasso-drag technique.

Restored EazyDraw App name when viewed on the Force Quit table. For the past few releases the icon was seen, but not the name.

Fixed the Kerning buttons on the Text contextual Attributes Bar.

Fixed rare problem opening drawings with very large imbedded PDF images.

8.5.2 February 16, 2017

Full support for the Apple’s new Touch Bar. Improvements and stability corrections related to the Touch Bar.

Fixed Spelling panel on macOS Sierra. We now have a patch to fix the macOS Sierra problem with auto layout and sizing of the spelling panel. The EazyDraw spelling panel is now fully supported on macOS Sierra.

Improved support for PDF Editing. Improved PDF ungroup for stretched logo text and rotated text using Type 1 font tables, these situations are now properly ungrouped as stretched and / or rotated text boxes in EazyDraw. Corrected problem with ungroup pdf, related to use of UTF-16 Little Endian unicode encoding. A rather specific issue, but serious if encountered.

Improved SVG support for interpretation of font size using CSS conventions. The SVG import now parses font size specifications of "xx-small", "x-small", "medium", &hellip "larger", "smaller". Use of these conventions previously caused the report of an error.

Corrected problem seen on new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Creating a new text box would fail after one or a few text boxes were created. Problem related only to machines with the new Touch Bar. This is now fixed.

Added complete support for the informal Mac standard for adding accents in Spanish, German, Portuguese, Estonian, Hungarian, and other languages that use diacritic accents. EazyDraw text entry now has support for both the Option-char and the long press of key that has diacritic marks.

Fixed problem with brushes using complex self-crossing brush strokes and the Even-Odd winding rule. The Winding Rule was not honored. This now works properly.

Changed behavior when exporting single page PDF when selecting a Printer (not. Electronic Prepress) on Page Setup. EazyDraw now provides the same results as obtained when printing then selecting Save To PDF. Electronic Prepress printer selection still provides explicit user control when exporting PDF and does not attempt to emulate the printer and margins.

Fixed issues when exporting PDF, compared to printing and then Save To PDF. Export PDF had problems with margins and often the output result was not properly centered on the virtual page of the PDF file. This problem is fixed.

8.5.1 December 15, 2016

Support for Touch Bar on new MacBook Pros (13 and 15 inch).

Full support for the Touch Bar. Applies to users who have MacBookPro late 2016 model with the Touch Bar. The Touch Bar tools are contextual, the presented tools depends on the front drawing window and what is selected in that drawing window. We have tried not to duplicate the functionality of the Attributes Bar, instead we have tried to provide useful additional tool functionality. Per Apple Guidelines the Touch Bar augments and does not replace the common keyboard short-cuts. This means you can watch the Touch Bar for newly available short cuts and productivity enhancing capability.

The View main menu, near the bottom now has Customize Touch Bar menu item. Use this setup to arrange and personalize the tools presented in your Touch Bar. There are several different Touch Bars that depend on drawing context, to customize each: first make selections (or de-select all) to present the context Touch Bar of interest, then execute the Customize Touch Bar command.

When selecting tools to access and use on the Touch Bar notice that the Touch Bar slider is much larger, more sensitive and more useful than traditional slider inputs on your main screen and driven by the mouse.

There is a full capability color picker available on the Touch Bar. There are three new icons presenting color selection for Outline Color, Fill Color and Text Color. Explore all the functionality. Hue, saturation, brightness, and opacity are presented for responsive smooth (we mean very smooth) accurate adjustment of color components.

New revision of PDF manual. The built in electronic pdf manual has a new revision. All graphics and images were updated on macOS Sierra with retina image quality. The manual has been generalized to cover all currently supported versions of EazyDraw. We now have one book for all versions. This new edition is now in print, all physical versions of purchased on the EazyDraw store now ship with this newest edition.

Added virtual paper to Page Setup for App Developer. Added two new page sizes for support for the new NSTouchBar Icons. The Apple API Reference defines target icon size for NSTouchBarItem as 36 x 36 @2x and a maximum size of 44 x 44. Both are define now and present in the App Developer paper size popup menu on Page Setup. Remember to execute setTemplate:YES after instantiation of the NSImage, the final exported and processed @2x image does not carry the template metadata information. There is no need to prepare or include a normal size image or a @3x image as the Touch Bar is always a Retina display.

Corrected problem with the subscript and superscript toolbar buttons enabling properly when in text editing mode. They now enable reliably.

Corrected problem with color modification of a layer that contains a PDF image that has a non-standard size and scaling. The pdf would jump to a different size when color modification was turned on. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem with text entry using Spanish keyboard and entering vowels with accent. The accent would was duplicated with the entry. This is now handled correctly with the pre-accent character merged with the accented-vowel.

Corrected typing behavior for the automated period insertion. Previously typing just the double space would incorrectly insert a space-period-space. Now the simple double space will automatically insert the period followed by the two spaces.

Made a correction to the Spell Check panel. This panel has a serious problem on macOS Sierra, the top area of the panel is clipped. The bug seems to be in macOS Sierra and we do not have a complete solution or work-around at this time. To make the panel operational, the extra options at the bottom of the panel have been temporarily removed. This allows access and functional use of the spell panel. Work will continue on this issue.

Corrected rare problem reporting proper name for an Along Arrow Shape.

8.5.0 October 18, 2016

Follow up release for macOS Sierra.

EazyDraw 8 now fully supports macOS Sierra (MacOS version 10.12).

New revision of PDF manual. The built in electronic pdf manual has a new revision. All graphics and images were updated on macOS Sierra with retina image quality. The manual has been generalized to cover all currently supported versions of EazyDraw. We now have one book for all versions. This new edition is now in print, all physical versions of purchased on the EazyDraw store now ship with this newest edition.

Corrected problem copy from, or drag from EazyDraw to FileMaker Pro on macOS Sierra for PDF format images. This capability stopped working with macOS Sierra. It is now fixed and working properly on macOS Sierra.

Corrected problem drag and drop of a Bezier path from EazyDraw to the Custom Arrow palette. And the path was flipped upside-down on the Arrow palette view, this is corrected too. This was reported as a problem on macOS Sierra, it is now working properly on Sierra.

Corrected problem exporting PDF with multiple pages as a multi-page export. This was blocked in some cases when an empty guides layer was present. This option is now selectable on the Export PDF panel.

Corrected problem saving and re-opening drawings that used pattern colors and that were saved in the new mobile friendly file format. If the drawing used multiple different pattern colors it was possible that after a save, close and reopen all the various pattern colors would become the same single pattern color. Note: this was a file writing issue, therefore a drawing previously saved will still exhibit the bug and have one pattern color. After the pattern colors are restored future save-close-open actions will work properly and conserve the multiple pattern colors. This bug applies only to the new file format, it did not happen with drawings saved in the 2001v0 format.

Corrected rare problem saving and reopening drawings that contained fonts that with specific family - font naming conventions. If there were several fonts of one font family then the naming conventions could cause EazyDraw to loose the distinction of the various fonts in the font family. In this case it was then possible (not always) that the wrong font would load after saving, closing and re-opening the drawing. All is fixed now. We do not think this was possible with Apple provided fonts, this was found with a 3rd party font family.

Corrected problem with time stamps when saving and reopening a drawing that contains time stamps with formatting that is different than the formatting for the drawing and different than the default time format. All variations of these format settings have now been tested and are working properly.

Corrected problem with date time stamps. If the time stamp applied to a time between 12 noon and 1 PM, and if the 12 hour clock format was in use then the time was marked as AM (not PM). These time marks now will read correctly, across the noon to 1 PM time span.

Corrected problem on macOS Sierra when inspecting a vector shadow that has the fold down transform active. This would crash on Sierra. This is now corrected.

Corrected problem with pattern colors, when using the newer Mobile Friendly file format. Drawings using several different patterns, after save and re-open, could have one pattern color overwrite other pattern colors.

Corrected rare possible crash when working with very large complex joined Bezier paths.

Corrected possible problem exporting PDF, multi-page drawings that have a guides layer. The export panel choice for multi-page might not enable properly in all cases. This is now fixed.

Corrected possible problem ungrouping PDF for editing. The line join style did not convert correctly in all cases. This is now faithfully transferred from the PDF to EazyDraw Color and Style setting.

Corrected a few rare but possible crashes on Sierra. It was not likely that any of these ever actually caused a crash. They are now robust and corrected.

8.3.1 July 19, 2016

Support for MacOS Sierra public beta OS release.

EazyDraw 8 now supports MacOS Sierra (MacOS version 10.12). Preliminary testing complete. No know problems. When using MacOS Sierra the Free Market (non-App-Store) version of EazyDraw is allowed to access iCloud directly. This is a newly lifted restriction.

Fixed rare problem opening drawing with grids enabled and not linked to rulers. In some situations the Grids and all graphics were shifted until a user action (such as window resize) caused a window / screen update. This is now fixed.

Fixed problem with very small line widths (less than 0.05 Point). Straight lines exactly horizontal or vertical would not show on the screen, when using very small line width. This now works properly again. The problem was recently introduced with EazyDraw 8.

Fixed problem exporting SVG with multiple layers and the ampersand character is used in a layer name. The & was, of course, treated as a special character and caused parsing to fail. EazyDraw now still allows & in a layer name, when present it is replaced with a . Exports now work in this situation.

Fixed a problem using the Text Color toolbar button to set the text color to no text color. This should provide invisible text. This setting corrupted the text which then prevented the drawing from saving successfully. This is now fixed. Clicking the no-stroke checkbox on the Text Color toolbar button provides invisible text that saves properly.

Fixed a problem when saving and reopening a drawing with text with shadow, when using the direct text bitmap shadow found on Graphic Details, when saving drawings in the non-reverse compatible format. The shadow angle would flip plus-y to minus-y when reopening the drawing.

Fixed a problem when exporting SVG with a Canvas Margin, and choice of Graphics Only for export content. In this case all graphics of the drawing would be offset after the SVG save. This is now fixed, the export of SVG in this situation does not change the drawing.

8.3.0 January 19, 2016

Major El Capitan follow-on release. Rock-Solid on El Capitan.

LaTeXiT - several improvements.

LaTeXiT support is once again fully operational. Since EazyDraw 6, EazyDraw has full internal support for LaTeXiT equations and typeset text. However newer OS X clipboard conventions (use of NSPasteboardItems and Universal Type Identifiers) have not been adopted by LaTeXiT, this caused LaTeXiT exchanges with EazyDraw to fail with EazyDraw 8 (and later revisions of EazyDraw 7). We have now patched in support for the classic clipboard conventions needed to once again smoothly exchange equation data with LaTeXiT. EazyDraw 8 now has full support for LaTeXiT. This includes options found on the Services menu, copy and paste, drag-and-drop and inlace Tex typesetting.

The following will serve as a minimal tour for this support: a) write an equation in LaTeXiT b) perform LaTeX it! c) Drag and Drop or Copy and Paste the equation into an EazyDraw drawing. d) now there is a full quality PDF image of your equation - in the drawing c) to revert the equation to source text use Services menu "Revert" then you have the source text as a Text Box in EazyDraw e) edit the source text f) Use Services menu to re-LaTex-itthe equation is typeset inlace in your drawing and again you have a PDF representation of the equation. g) this equation is backed with the source text which is saved as a LaTeXiT equation embedded in your drawing so these edit operations are possible even after the drawing is saved and re-opened at a later date h) create a new text box, enter TeX source code h) use Services menu to LaTex-it. These tests were all performed using LaTeXiT version 2.8.0 with the mactex-20150613.pkg , it is advised to upgrade to these levels to assure smooth operations.

Gestures Working Again.

Fixed recent problem with EazyDraw on El Capitan, machines with older trackpads. Apple appears to have undocumented changes with the trackpad drivers. This has prevented the EazyDraw software from detecting trackpad gestures for pinch and rotate. The issue seems to be well known and reported but we have seen nothing from Apple with respect to a solution or new documentation. We have patched in code that hopefully will not fail if the problem is fixed in the future. Now trackpad gestures are again working properly on hopefully all trackpad hardware.

There is on quirk: you must click the trackpad ( click on the drawing ) to end a rotate or pinch gesture. For example if a rotate gesture is started and a successive expand gesture is needed then there must be a mouse click between the two gestures. This seems to be an acceptable solution. The operating system issue is that EazyDraw no longer receives notice of the start or end of a gesture. We are able to patch in reliable detection that a gesture has started, but we have not found a reliable patch to sense the end of the gesture, hence the next user mouse click ends the gesture.

Full Screen Mode - several improvements on OS X 10.10 and 10.11.

Updated the Windows menu for Full Screen display of drawings. The menu now properly shows the icon for Full Screen next to each drawing that is showing in Full Screen mode.

Corrected rare crash situation. The crash would trigger when closing a drawing directly from the Full Screen mode. In some cases it was possible that the crash would happen every-other time the drawing was closed from Full Screen mode. Any time the drawing was saved from normal display the possibility of crash would clear. This has been identified and fixed.

SVG Enhancements.

Fixed problem exporting SVG with Centered Text when exporting Graphics Only (Full Drawing Area export did not have the problem), or when using a Margin for the drawing being exported (margins do not export to the SVG). The Centered text was offset from correct position. This is now fixed.

Improved SVG parsing. Text Anchor now allows the value left. This does not seem to be allowed in the specification, but at this time testing indicates that Safari, FireFox, and some svg test sites are accepting the value and equating it to start. Cautioned use would be advised, perhaps the specification will be updated to support this value, but the value left is ambiguous in some languages.

Improved SVG import for text using tSpan to form and position columns of text. Successive TSpans were not cascading delta values properly. All seems to work properly now.

Other Corrections and Enhancements.

Fixed a problem with the Find Text highlight. The highlight would not display for the standard system color (the default for EazyDraw) highlight. Since the color did not display it appeared that Find was not working.

Fixed a Find and Replace problem. If the search target phrase repeated in single text box and if the replace text string was not the same length as the find text then formatting of the text box could be compromised. This is now fixed.

Fixed a few problems with Find (which impacts Replace) when using Entire Word qualifier. Improved the checking for word delimiters. Previously only white space was allowed as a word delimiter for exact word match. Now other punctuation characters are included.

Fixed rare problem on Page Setup panel. In some cases the printers and papers popup menus would be blank. They would load after certain changes were made, but they could present as blank. One trigger was to open Page Layout first, make changes to the layout then open Page Setup. All is fixed now.

Fixed issues with mini palettes and their window height. The initial height of several mini palettes was not being set correctly. The heigh would correct with a flip of the window shade button, but initial height was rather random. This is now fixed and all mini pallets default height settings have been checked and tweaked for pleasing appearance.

Fixed issues with the Shadow palettes mini palette. This mini palette would not respond to re-positioning of parameters (with drag and drop). Only a few of the Shadow parameters were shown on the mini palette. This is now fixed, all parameters are available and the user can set their order (or position) as desired.

Corrected possible problem for Morph panel, for translate. There was an interaction with a non-zero origin setting for the Scale for the Layer or Drawing. In other words: if the drawing origin was not at zero, then the translation value reported on the Morph panel would be incorrect and the amount translated would also be incorrect. All is fixed now.

Corrected possible problem with Send commands. The problem surfaces when using multiple layers with Select Others for Enabled Actions. If the target graphic was not on the Active Layer, then in some cases the Send command would fail and replace a graphic on the Active Layer. This is a long-term bug, it has been present for several years, but actual occurrence was rare. Now a Send will not send the graphic to a different layer, the Send is executed on the layer of the target graphic.

Fixed a problem with Graphic Details inspector, inspecting text characters. Entering Unicode values, or selecting unicode from the popup menu would fail when the text was in editing mode, with the target character selected. This now works properly.

Copy and Paste of a layer, on the same layers inspector, or on another drawings layers inspector was not working. This is a recent problem on EazyDraw 8. It is now fixed.

Fixed problem with the User Interface Theme on El Capitan. The release of EazyDraw 8 provided updated user interface theme colors optimized for appearance El Capitan. However these colors did not engage for all uses. This is now fixed. Everyone that does not have a custom User Interface Theme will see the new colors when this version is launched. There was also a possible crash related to saving the User Interface Theme, this is now fixed too.

Fixed a user library issue when moving several library graphics from one library to another. The order of the elements was reversed. Rather a nuisance. This is now fixed.

8.1.0 September 30, 2015

Major release for El Capitan - OS X 10.11. A required upgrade for all users of OS X 10.11.

Additions - new features.

Major release for OS X 10.11 (El Capitan). This version of EazyDraw supports OS X 10.10, and 10.11 --- warning: Mavericks users should remain at EazyDraw 7 ----. Use El Capitan for best user experience. The user interface graphics have been further refined for full integration with El Capitan's look and feel and for crisp bright appearance on 5 k displays. All interface graphics are dual mastered, so everything runs fine on a normal display too.

New Silhouette tool. A great addition if you have a stylus and tablet - and works well with mouse or any pointing device. It is an extension of the free-hand pencil and brush tools. This tool draws a filled shape that automatically combines (adds as union) with successive applications of the tool. Documentation is found in the PDF manual, page 151 and in the Help pages. Use the Shift key modifier for a negative action, successive applied shape is subtracted from the combined shapes. For details we refer you to the PDF manual (access from the Help menu).

Attributes Bar has all new graphics with a bit more use of Color for easier recognition and access to these frequently used buttons. Fully optimized for Retina of course.

Character Builder tools available from Libraries menu. New menus on the Libraries menu. Default setup for EazyDraw now has all the creation tools present on the Libraries user menu. And  a now the Character Builder library is included with the EazyDraw application binary. Access the Character Builder graphics from the Libraries menu.

New virtual printer for creating Favicons. Historically Favicon was one small 16x16 bitmap graphic installed on a web site and used by browsers as the address bar icon. Now this technology has expanded to include 10 to 20 individual icon image graphics. These are rapidly becoming expected and necessary element of the web browsing experience. Different browsers and mobile operating systems have specific graphic format specifications. We have researched these requirements and they are now conveniently available on one popup menu on Page Setup. Documentation is provided in the PDF manual page 59, this reference includes a summary of the full topic and information you will need to update your web site.

Greatly expanded the Restore All To Factory action, accessed from the EazyDraw Preferences palette. Changes to OS X have made it more difficult to clear user defaults. The old technique of removing the preferences file (com.dekorra.eazydraw8) doesnt really work any longer. Hidden folders, cached content and other issues make this approach less than full proof. Now this command button performs a complete erase of user defaults and history. Warning - this erases the license code too, so have that available for re-entry. The button will erase defaults, causing them to revert to clean install factory settings, and then push the erasure to OS X for caching. Then EazyDraw immediately quits (so you will also restart cold, after using this button).

San Francisco Font. Users of EazyDraw 8 on El Capitan will notice that the EazyDraw user interface fully incorporates this new font developed by Apple. This is especially advantageous on Retina (5k) displays. The font is perfect for clean readability of icon elements and user interface labels. -- and this web site supports San Francisco font, if you are viewing the web page on an El Capitan (or iOS 9) system this text is rendered with the new font.

The virtual printers for developers have been updated to include the latest platforms of iOS and AppleWatch. Access these from the Page Setup palette. IconSet export has been improved and is a bit more full proof.

The Convert To Filled shapes command has been expanded with added capability. Previously only a few graphics supported this capability (creating the outline path of a path). Now all Bezier graphics should respond to this conversion. Keep in mind that path-of-a-path is a two dimension constrained ribbon geometry, so kinks and sharp arcs may not have reasonable approximations to human visual expectations. But the tool will now handle many more situations than the previous implementation.

Several improvements to the Quick Keys keyboard. Now if it is left visible (as a convenient cheat-sheet) buttons darken as they are clicked on the keyboard.

New option on Export for PNG and TIFF. New option applies when exporting No Background and applying Anti-Aliasing. Before, when exporting No Background with anti-aliasing the anti-aliasing pixels were a combination of gray and transparent. In most cases this is correct. But if the graphic color is very light (bright - near white, or full white) then the bordering anti aliasing pixels were dark, a combination of gray and transparent. This if fine if the white (or light graphic) is used on a dark contrasting background (of course, this is normally the case). But if the graphic is used on a light background the gray is not correct. Now for No Background there is two options. The new option anti-aliases to full transparent white, so a light colored (or white) graphic anti-aliases with white and transparent pixels. The No (white) Background option is used for light colored graphics on light colored backgrounds. This works on Tiff and PNG.

Several new toolbar icons are available for customization of the main toolbar. These provide more efficient access to common (but less frequently used) menu actions. These are also available for addition to user tool palettes and to the Quick Keys palette. They are found on the Other popup menu, use that to add these short cuts to your tool palettes or the keyboard.

New menu command, New From Clipboard. This is found on the File main menu. This command will check the Clipboard for graphic content, if present the image is used retrieved and added to a new EazyDraw drawing.

EazyDraw is now more robust against several forms of crash-failure. This applies when opening drawings that might be corrupt or inconsistent (extensions modified manually - erroneously). In many cases now EazyDraw will recover from the fault, present an error screen and remain operational and internally consistent.

Copy Special, Path as SVG has been improved. This export is now more full proof and should properly support all Bezier graphics. This is a very efficient compact format ideal for Mobil App development. Include these compact strings in pList drawings for integration with user interface graphics on iOS or other mobile development environments.

NOTE: For those upgrading from EazyDraw 7 or another earlier version of EazyDraw: EazyDraw 8 will create a new clean Applications Support folder and a new preferences identity. Preferences and custom user tools, color palettes, dashed lines, arrows,  are not automatically brought into the EazyDraw 8 environment. Save these to user defined backup files (this is of course recommended in any case) then bring them into EazyDraw 8. Or - move corresponding files from the EazyDraw 7 Applications Support folder to the EazyDraw 8 Applications Folder. All content formats are compatible, but we have decided that the best user experience is a clean start for each major version release of EazyDraw.

7.5.1 July 30, 2015

July 28, 2015

El Capitan - OS X 10.11

Preliminary support for OS X 10.11.

Additions - new features.

We have added the Character Builder library to the EazyDraw App bundle. It is now a standard built in feature. It is found on the Library menu. If you are making use of the Library menu and have an installed configuration (a few user tools for example), then you will need to look for the Character Builder tool set on the Manage Menu -> Add Tools menu. If your Library menu is not configured (the old default - blank menu) then EazyDraw will (one time only) install all User Tools and the Character Builder on the Library menu. This is to aid users in discovering these capabilities.

Made the Restore All To Factory function more robust. It seems that OS X now caches and retains user settings for EazyDraw, even if the com.dekorra.eazydraw preferences file is removed. Now the Restore All To Factory button forces removal of all settings and performs a system sync. This should again be robust so that one can truly reset EazyDraw settings. This is sometimes needed for debugging operational problems, in these cases use the button as removing the preferences file doesnt seem to work reliably on Yosemite.

Added a feature to the QuickKeys window. This window was originally intended as only a preferences, or setup, window. But it seems that many users like to keep it open, as it show nicely where each tool is located on the keyboard. In this case it is nice to be able to see the clicked key-tool. That is now the case, the active tool (key) is indicated as darkened and if the tool is in sticky-mode that state is indicated in the normal fashion with a red border, on the QuickKeys window.

The Edit Text menu item now exits editing as well as enters text editing. In other words it is now a full toggle function. This is convenient especially when assigned to a command key shortcut.

Corrections and Improvements.

Corrected a long standing but rare nuisance bug, seen primarily with Wacom tablet. When selecting a graphic, there was a possibility for a very small (less than a Point) inadvertent move of the graphic. The small nudge would not clear with Undo. The problem was noted mostly with Wacom tablets but was seen (very rarely) with mouse input. It turns out the bug was more likely on small simple drawings, used with a fast CPU, when working quickly. The problem is now fixed. Extensive worst case testing worked flawlessly on a fast new iMac Retina with a new "Wacom Intros Pro Large".

Fixed the problem of clearing the user license code that was present in version 7.3.0b. Sorry about that, it appears to be a compiler bug from Apple, in any case it is now working properly again.

Found and fixed an inefficiency related to the Page Setup panel. This panel has a preview of the one page of the drawing. The preview was faithfully updated, which can be a problem for a complex drawing page. Normally one will not have this panel open, so the problem was not noticed (also on a reasonably powerful CPU, it would take a rather large and complex drawing to be noticeable). This is now optimized appropriately and not updated live as changes are taking place on the drawing. The preview is updated about 1 second after interaction with the drawing is complete.

Corrected AutoLine when reporting Angles. The angle value was not respecting the Direction setting of Numeric Format, as set on Graphic Details, the Angle Display tab. For example, a small angle to the right and up on the drawing was reporting as 340 degrees with direction set to Right, the correct reading as displayed on Graphic Details with Polar display would be 20 degrees. This is now all consistent and correct.

Fixed problem with Grid Rectangle graphic. The Outline setting of Color and Style should control the presence of the outline rectangle for the graphic. The grid lines are always drawn (stroked) independent of the setting, but the outline box should be under user control. This was outer rectangle, present or not present, was not working. It is now fixed.

Added safeguards against saving User Libraries at reduced precision. If there is an open drawing with reduced archive precision, then the save of a user library could have been at the lower precision. User Libraries now always save 12 decimals of precision.

Fixed a rare crash, possible when performing Flatten of layers, with a gradient that had been turned off.

Improved Copy Special -> SVG path. Previously the full archive precision setting for the drawing (as set on the Scale palette) was used. In most cases a lower precision value is desired. Now the precision setting is taken from the Graphic Details setting of precision for lengths. This provides a more convenient user control of the number of decimal places included in the SVG string representation of the selected Bezier path.

Improved the User Library Tool Menu. These menus have icons, the icons are now updated for pristine quality on Retina display. All these icons have been updated when used on the User Library Tool menu.

Fixed problem with Copy and Paste preferences, on the main EazyDraw Preferences panel (parameters found on lower right of the panel). Changes to these parameters were not being restored properly after quitting and restarting EazyDraw. They work properly again, all changes here are persistent.

Fixed problem exporting DXF, with a Dimension, when the Nothing format is in use. This did cause and exception error message. Now the call to export the nothing text skipped by the DXF generator.

Fixed problem exporting DXF, with a Dimension, when the Nothing format is in use. This did cause and exception error message. Now the call to export the nothing text skipped by the DXF generator.

Corrected Graphic Details inspector for PDF image, on the Quality tab. PDF representation does not support composition (fading and other pixel manipulations). These parameters do not apply to PDF. They should be disabled when inspecting a PDF image, they were not. This is now consistent and the parameters are disabled as they should be.

Corrected Graphic Details inspector for PDF image, on the Quality tab. The Rotation value was not being updated properly. Entries to the field were accepted, processed and displayed properly; however, the initial correct value was not displayed or updated when a new pdf image was selected for inspection.

Added a Repeat Icon to the new Repeat menu item (on Edit menu). Provides a quick visual clue to this action.

7.3.0 March 1, 2015

Added a new Repeat feature, located on the Edit menu, near the top, just below undo and redo. Repeat is supported and associated with a few (not all) menu commands. The commands included are a) ones that are not frequently used, b) actions focused on one or more graphics on the drawing, c) not normally assigned to simple menu keys, often found on nested submenus or drawing panel dialogues . After the menu command is executed once, then the Repeat menu command is associated with the specific menu action and the the menu item indicates what will be repeated. Then the command can be repeated quickly from the Edit menu, or Cmd-R (the default command key assigned to Repeat). The Repeat remains active for 5 minutes or until a succeeding menu command with repeat support replaces it. By assigning only to more rarely used commands, the repeat function can remain active and available even after several other drawing actions (a longer span than seen with undo or redo). More frequently used commands (like Flip, Copy, or Duplicate in place) are available for use with well learned/conditioned command keys.

Improved the algorithm for Brush of form Stretch Between when using Curve-Linear setting. The old method was not properly interpreting the stretch between boundaries and the result was often not a smooth curve. Much more useful now with appearance as one would expect from the Curve-Linear setting when a linear brush path is applied to a curved host path.

Improved the performance of the Shift key on Launch feature. This is used with a crash on launch situation. If the shift key is held down, loading of drawings at launch is avoided. This is important if the re-opening of a drawing is causing a crash, then a endless loop is established where every time a launch is attempted the App crashes, and there is no way to open-then close the problem drawing to allow the App to run again. This potential problem was introduced with OS X 10.8 . Apple and OS X then introduced a partial solution, using the Shift key. But for Auto-Saved and un-named (Untitled) drawings the OS X solution is not evoked. Now EazyDraw senses the Shift key, and remembers that it was "down"at launch, remembers this state for 12 seconds, then abort loading of any drawings during the first 12 seconds after launch. This provides a fail-safe, probably full-proof, backup for the Shift Key on launch solution.

Improved Double Vertices algorithm. It is now must faster and more reliable with highly complex Bezier forms.

Fixed numeric input for Spiral, on Graphic Details. The Start and End Number of Turns values were not displayed correctly. Entries were correct, but confusing of course. Now the read out values are correct. All works properly now.

More robust error recovery upon auto save. There have been issues reported with auto saving of drawings that reside in an active DropBox folder. While the problem is likely a Dropbox bug, EazyDraw will now have a better chance to recover and not crash or hang.

Change for Grid snapping behavior of Orthogonal Connectors. Previously these have snapped only the intermediate orthogonal vertices, not the active connection ends. Now all vertices snap to Grid if grid snapping is active. The actual snap point is forced to the grid, the grid snap position takes precedence over the geometric snap position on the target graphic.

Internal additions for saving of custom (OS X defined) colors. Now Named and Pattern colors are archived in the drawing file in an open public defined format. We are trying to completely remove all non-public-defined data formats in the "new" EazyDraw file format.

Changed the default fonts for Rulers and Axis Labels. Yosemite introduced new "internal" fonts which were then connected to the rulers. These do not seem to be appropriate for user access. Now, while the Ruler might be considered a User Interface element and hence defined by these internal fonts - EazyDraw instead applies the User’s Default font for Rulers and Axis labels. This is change would be of interest only to power users. This only applies to the Factory default, and may be over ridden with normal user default settings via the Ruler Style palette.

Fixed what appears to be a very rare possible problem with Axis Labels (the text / numeric labels - not the tick marks). On some older hardware running the newer Yosemite operating system it was possible that the Axis Labels would not draw after a change to the labels (resize or re-orient). The non-drawing issue would clear itself when the drawing was saved or re-opened. This is now fully robust on Yosemite.

Corrected problem using Morph with Dimensions. Translation caused some dimensions to double translate, then undo would not work properly. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem with SVG import, relating to a specific transform notation using extra white space. Our parser has been updated to deal with these properly.

Corrected problems with Clear Color. The toolbar button was not enabling reliably. Images that originated from a high resolution Retina display would Clear Color properly, but when the drawing was saved and re-opened the image was distorted and displayed at double size. These issues are now fixed and a full pass of quality control testing of was completed on Yosemite on a dual screen Retina / Classic resolution system.

Corrected problem with Dimension from files saved with EazyDraw version 3.6 and older. When opened with EazyDraw 7 it was possible that Dimensions might be mis-placed on the drawing. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem rotating graphics on multi-layer drawings, when using Enable Actions - Show Others. Graphics on non-active layers, that were visible could be selected and rotated. This was not correct - the graphics on the visible but non-selectable layers should be seen but not altered. This now works properly.

Corrected problem with DXF import, related to dashed lines. A vendor specific dxf format was found to have incorrect dashed line specifications, this caused the dxf import to fail. EazyDraw now has a redundant pre-flight check for dashed line information which detects and corrects the problem so the import may proceed to completion.

Corrected possible, rare crash on launch. This may be related to OS X 10.10.2. It relates to Autosave of drawings that have not been saved to a particular file, the "Untitled" drawings. The potential problem is now detected and the crash avoided.

Corrected problem using Back outline (stroke) position with Pattern fill in the non-overlay mode. The outline was not drawing. This is now fixed, all possibilities of fill, overlay, gradient and stroke position draw correctly transparent bitmap pattern overlay.

Fixed problem with drawings that contain copy and pasted, or drag-and-dropped multi-page PDF content. The source pdf image data could remain saved in the drawing file even if all pages of the multi-page pdf were deleted. An orphaned data problem. This would not be a problem if any of the PDF pages were still in the drawing. And single page PDF images would not trigger the problem. Multi-page PDF opened directly also did not trigger the problem. A second related problem; copy and pasted, or drag and dropped multi page PDF, which then is fully deleted, then reintroduced to the drawing with an Undo of the last PDF delete: then when the drawing was saved and reopened the PDF content would be blank. This second issue is fixed too.

Improved behavior of Color Modification. This relates to the opacity and tint adjustment for a full layer. The fix and improvement relates to PDF images on the target layer. The recent version 7 release had a problem that the PDF image would flip vertically when color modification was applied. This issue is fixed. This problem was just recently introduced. The color-tint aspect of color modification did not work with a pdf image. This is corrected too, both opacity and tint are applied to a PDF image.

Fixed Copy and Paste and Drag and Drop problems between EazyDraw and LaTeXiT. This capability had problems that were introduced with EazyDraw 7 and OS X 10.10. This is now working again. LaTeXiT appears to not be totally complaint with OS X 10.10 requirements and the system Paste Board. So there are error messages that appear on the console, this seems to mean that LaTeXiT does not receive the actual equation data packet, but a second version of the equation information is annotated to PDF. This information does seem to reach LaTeXiT. Things seem operational again.

Corrected problem with rotated image graphics, such as imported PNG or JPG bitmap images. If the image was scaled and rotated, the on-screen adjustment handles were not positioned correctly. This is now fixed. This was introduced with EazyDraw version 7, it was not a problem in earlier versions of EazyDraw.

Fixed problem with saving large sets of Quick Keys. If nearly all keys were assigned then the Quick Keys import would not enable the file. This is now fixed, all works properly export and import of Quick Key sets.

Fixed problem with QuickKeys when assigning Knife, Rotate, or Insert tools to a QuickKey. If EazyDraw was launched without the main tool palette showing (the one with these tools). Then the corresponding QuickKeys would not work when their assigned key was clicked. They would continue to not work until the main tool palette was opened once. The main tool palette could then be closed and the QuickKeys would then work, but not until the palette was opened once. This is now fixed.

Fixed rare possible crash when quickly dragging a complex graphic from one drawing to another. If the drop on the destination drawing happened before the dragging image appears, then the crash was possible. This would probably only happen to users using a tablet, that was about the only way to be fast enough to trigger the failure. All works properly now.

7.1.1 November 3, 2014

Code Signing update. Version 7.1.0 developer credentials were not accepted by Yosemite (version 2) GateKeeper on some machines. In early 2014 Apple changed the status for the EazyDraw development team from individual developer to corporate developer. The impact of this status change is the likely cause of the issue. EazyDraw is now code signed with version 2 corporate (DEKORRA OPTICS LLC) credentials. It should now be possible to use "App Store and Verified Developers" for Security and Privacy setting. We apologize for any inconvenience, internal and beta testing did not reveal the issue.

Corrected possible problems with Copy from, and Drag and Drop from EazyDraw. In many cases Text and Annotation was not included in the exported content. For example a copy from EazyDraw to Pages using PDF as the number one Copy Format (the factory default) would not include text. This is now fixed.

Corrected cosmetic problem on Layers inspector. The checkboxes on the layers table were "jumpy" and would sometimes draw large-bloomed and would jump between a normal display and the bloomed look. This was seen on some systems, mostly older machines, and was not seen on Retina displays. This would trigger when scrolling the table, especially with small scrolls as happen with a magic mouse. This seems to be a basic issue in Yosemite, related to scroll views and their animation. EazyDraw now has a patch and intercepts the drawing of these specific buttons. Now they still will jump one or two pixels on non-retina displays, as the table is scrolled, but they always draw the correct size and display a very crisp vector icon. As a side benefit they are more effulgent on the Retina than the Yosemite button icon.

Corrected problem with on-screen editing - adjusting the inner end point of a Spiral. The end point setting was jumpy and erratic when the adjustment wrapped around plus or minus a specific revolution. All is smooth now.

Corrected problem displaying Fraction Feet and Inches in Graphic Details and Dimensions for the specific case of remainder inch values less than 1 inch, for the Abbreviation display format. The inch remainder value did not display. The small inch remainder displayed properly for the Punctuation format and all decimal formats, only the Abbreviation and Full Units settings exhibited the problem. All is fixed now.

Corrected appearance format of Fraction Feet and Inches in Graphic Details and Dimensions for the specific case of remainder inch values less than 1 inch. There was a leading zero for the inch portion of the reading. While correct this was aesthetically unpleasing. The leading zero in this situation is now suppressed.

Fixed problem setting Dimension Default. Using the Current button on the Dimensions palette, when the Dimension Form was set to display units (of any form) would result in the units portion of the dimension reading being added to all new dimensions added as a suffix to the end of the dimension. This is now fixed. It is still possible to have a prefix and/or suffix for the Default dimension, this aspect remains unchanged.

Corrected problem viewing User Library elements. Very small features were sometimes not shown in the preview image.

Corrected issue with Export FAVICO, and Window Icons (ICO). The selection for Full Drawing area is now disabled as this is a non-logical selection. The sizes of the various icon formats are defined by the export specification. If the export selection was Visible Graphics, this was taken literally and all visible graphics were included. This is not correct logic if the choice for Export Content is Selected Graphics. This is now fixed, a selection for Selected Graphics is now honored. If the Export Source is One Layer then Selected Graphics would not be logical and it (along with Full Drawing Area) is disabled and not allowed. The Help pages define this rather complicated (Windows construction) logic, probably the most helpful documentation is the export panel’s tool-tips. So be certain to review the tool-tips. The intended method of use is "Visible Graphics", with Source set to One Layer and a defined layer for each individual icon - and a bounds defining invisible rectangle to set the source graphic’s size. Review the example FAVICO in the Additions Pack.

It was possible to have extraneous entries in the User Tools menu. Hidden unix files, starting with "dot-period" would appear in the menu. Primarily the ".DS_Store" entry could appear, if a user made direct changes to the corresponding Application Support folder (a hidden folder). This is now blocked and these files if they should exist will not appear in the User Tools menu.

Fixed problem exporting BMP, for Just Graphics setting. This was actually drawing a different portion of the total drawing, often a blank area. This is now exporting correctly.

7.1.0 October 20, 2014

Yosemite release.

New capability for the Graphic Details inspector. For several graphic constructs that are similar to a rectangle, there is now the ability to set the numerical "Pin" position for the shape bounding box. Top Left was the fixed and only choice, now there is a popup menu to select any one of the 9 primary geometric reference points for the rectangle. The Pin-Reference can be changed freely for convenient inspection and entry.

Preferences UI Theme now has a built in theme for Yosemite and Mavericks. If you have not customized, EazyDraw will choose automatically based on the operating system version. Mavericks is the same ui theme as Factory for EazyDraw 6. Yosemite has newer colors, several new coordinated colors with various Toolbar and Attributes Bar button colors. The Yosemite theme really shines on a Retina display.

New feature for the Combine -> Filet command. It is now possible to create a circle of defined radius tangent to two intersecting lines. Use the check box on the Fillet specification panel (Tools main menu -> Combine submenu) to create circles in this fashion.

Dropped support for Keynote export file format. Apple no longer supports a published open file format for Keynote. The format has actually not been in use for about 10 years. PDF replaces the old format and provides much broader more stable exchange of graphics between Keynote and EazyDraw.

Corrected problem on Paragraph palette (Format -> Text -> Paragraph -> Form). The Padding setting always shown in units of Points, not in the actual palette Fine Scale units. This became confusing when Fine Scale units were something other than Points, then it would seem the values jump by large amounts. This is now fixed - Padding is entered and shown in units of the Palette (inches, mm, or Points).

Corrected rare problem with imported images, images that have Metadata associated with the image and that have dots per inch at other than 72 DPI. In some cases these images would change position when the drawing was closed and re-opened. The images would move and remain as placed while editing the drawing but would revert to their initial position when the drawing was closed the re-opened. This is now fixed.

Fixed problem with the Grid Reference menus. There was an interaction between the ones found on the Hatch palette and the selections presented on the Grid Reference palette. This was a small problem with possibly missing options on the popup menu. All is correct now.

Added compatibility for printing from the Finder for the newest versions of OS X. This includes printing a drawing without opening EazyDraw, or printing a drawing from the Finder without opening the drawing while EazyDraw is open (but the target drawing is not open and displayed in a drawing window). This now all works properly with Mavericks and Yosemite.

6.5.0 August 19, 2014

This version is now operational on Yosemite (OS X 10.10 developer preview).

SVG improvements Easy Look Display Improvements. User Library Element Display Improvements.

Robust version as result of recent broad quality control testing review.

Significant optimization and improvement for the User Library inspector preview images (the image for the selected item of a User Library palette). There were rare intermittent problems on Mountain Lion and Mavericks, the images would appear at low quality. This is corrected, images draw reliably with perfect clarity. Transformed and rotated content is now reliably indicated in the library image.

SVG export: added the new naming support for groups. See below, the new naming worked for individual graphics, but groups were missed. Now they have a ID that corresponds to the Graphic Name for the group, if present.

Improved click - hit detection for Center Dimension, Diameter Dimension and Report Dimension. These were selected with any click in the full bounding box, which is often rather large. Now they are only selected when the mouse click is near the actual dimension graphic.

In some cases a Report, Center or Diameter Dimension would not display properly immediately after opening a drawing. The dimensions would update and report the proper metrics as soon as a change was made to the drawing. But if the drawing was only viewed, the dimensions would display NA indefinitely - until the drawing was touched or moved or edited. Now these update and display properly after the drawing is opened. In some cases it may be one or two seconds before they update and display, this is a result of optimizations for quicker opening of all drawings.

Fixed issue with Angle Dimension, adjusting the reference handle, when the dimension was not attached to a graphic. The interactive adjustment was somewhat erratic. This is now correct with a smooth and accurate adjustment.

Further additions for SVG export, external linked images. The logic was significantly expanded. XLinks are now supported on the Easy Look inspector. Both the graphic name and the xLink (Property 2) on Easy Look are examined on export when Embedded images is not checked (when using external linked bitmap images). Upon SVG import an external link image is preserved, the xLink file path is saved with the EazyDraw content, and may be inspected/changed with Easy Look inspector. A new Overwrite control is found the Export SVG panel, uncheck this to avoid overwriting external images. If the name - xLink information indicates an image file, and there is no existing image file then a new image file is saved. The Overwrite checkbox only manages overwriting existing image files. If a graphic has a name and no xLink, then the image file is placed in the same directory as the svg export and the image file is given named from the graphic name. If an xLink is provided, the graphic name is not used. The user is responsible for providing properly constructed xLinks to existing directories. If Graphic Names are used, the user is responsible for name uniqueness, in the event of duplicate names the overwrite setting applies. Documentation is not complete for this new capability at the time of this beta release.

Corrected SVG export, external linked images. In the case where no name or xLink is provided EazyDraw automatically generates unique image names. Previously an image file was created for each use in the EazyDraw drawing. This was not optimal when one image was used several times. Now linked images are checked for repeated usage. One external image file is created for each unique image. An image that is repeated in the drawing will have only one external linked file.

Added feature to SVG export to support exporting a Graphic Name into the SVG ID field. If"DOM ID" is set to Yes on the SVG export panel, then each graphic is exported with a unique ID, the name of a graphic is ignored. If DOM ID’s is set to NO on the SVG export panel and if a graphic has a name assigned then the graphic name is exported in the SVG ID field. The name of the graphic is inspected and set on the Easy Look table.

Corrected problem with SVG import, with the "use" element. In some cases where multiple colors were applied and inherited to the same element, there could be mistakes in the applied color. This was introduced with EazyDraw version 6 on Mavericks. This is now working correctly again.

Fixed issue with Angle Dimension, for angles greater than 90 degrees with Dimension Format set to Dimension. The text read-out box had the arc indicator pass through it. Appearance is better when the indicator arc is broken and does not interfere with the text. This now corrected for the improved appearance.

Corrected minor problem with 4 of the standard arrows. The Bar and Diode shapes. The length of the bar was reversed and became smaller as the arrow included angle was increased. The appearance was fine for the average arrow angle but adjusted in a reverse fashion with a wider arrow drawn with an more narrow bar length. This is now correct.

Corrected Box Arrow. The size of the box was dependent on the arrow included angle and the Relief value was not set correctly. This is now correct. In some cases there may be a small but noticeable change in existing drawings that use the box arrow shape. However the problem is significant enough to warrant this correction.

Corrected problem with Dash menu on dashes palette. if EazyDraw was launched with the Dashes palettes closed, then if a dash pattern was set from the dash popup menu in the Attributes bare, then if the Dashes palette was opened the dash menu on the palette would be blank. This is now fixed.

Optimized moving very large images (including PDF) with Graphic Details inspector open. This combination was slow and sluggish for large images. EazyDraw is now more responsive in this situation.

Fixed bug with Quick Keys palette configuration. In some cases it was not possible to drag the actions tools at the top of the generic tools palette (knife, rotate, …) to the QuickKeys palette. This is fixed, now these tools may be added at any time with drag and drop.

Fixed possible problem using the underline button on the Attributes Bar. In some cases it would not properly turn off an underline state. This was only on the Attributes bar button, the menu commands did not have the problem. All works properly now.

Added capability for DXF to import datum points. They have no size so technically they are not supported in EazyDraw. DXF data input now accepts these POINTS and adds them to the drawing as small circles (2 Points diameter).

Added capability for DXF to import layers with duplicate names. Previously a DXF file with 2 layers with the same name would cause EazyDraw to hang. It is not clear if this is an allowed configuration for a DXF file. Now EazyDraw checks for duplicate layer names, if found the names are modified (with dash number) to be unique. These files now read properly into EazyDraw.

Fixed problem with Layer Color Modification, when the layer contained a non-pdf image and when this image had resolution other than 72 Dots Per Inch. The image would scale to 72 DPI, and thus display larger or smaller when Color Modification was in use. This is now fixed. The image appears the same size, with only the color modification change.

Added the capability to change only one component of Hue, Saturation, or Brightness Color for a color change applied to several graphics. This now behaves the same as RGB or CMYK, where one component change will apply over several graphics, changing only the one color component in each target color and not making all the target colors the same. This is not a perfect solution. The HSB system color picker is not consistent with respect to its conversions between RGB and HSB. For example a HSB might be changed and set, but when you click off then back on a target graphic the HSB values will display differently. Other HSB Color Picker plug-ins were tested, none provided a proper solution, each seems to have a different class of mapping inconsistencies. A robust HSB color Picker is now on our to-do-list.

Added Tool-Tip support for the Quick Keys palette. This was intended for setup only so Tool-Tip was not provided. But it seems many users keep the palette open as a ready cheat sheet, hence the need for this addition. Any tool installed as a quick key now has its Tool-Tip available on the Quick Keys palette.

Corrected a performance for the new version 6 file format for drawings that contain multiple copies of bitmap images. Multiple copies of the image were included in the saved file. Only one copy of the image is needed. This is now corrected, providing potentially smaller saved file size.

Significant optimization and improvement for the Easy Look inspector preview image (the image for the selected items in the Easy Look table). There were intermittent problems on Mountain Lion and Mavericks, the images would often fail to draw. This is corrected, images draw reliably with better clarity. The background for the image was a solid off-gray, the background now reflects the background setting for the drawing (from Page Layout). This includes the Checker-Board setting. Checker-Board is especially useful for Easy Look preview, properly reflecting transparency as individual and group graphic elements are inspected.

Corrected random problem on Text Graphic Details inspector for Characters. In some cases, after a new piece of text was entered, the three character popup menus would not refresh and did not show the character information. This is now fixed.

Corrected about 10 grammar errors with use of "it’s" instead of "its" in the PDF manual. A full search check and correct of this proper grammar form was completed for both the PDF manual and the Help pages.

Corrected rare possible problems associated with spurious lines of nearly infinite length (greater than 10**32). If these made their way into a drawing there could be trouble with Select All and drag select. These are now handled gracefully by EazyDraw.

Corrected problem with Export PDF, Full Drawing Area, White Background, when Page Layout had a non-white background specified for the drawing. The non-white background was printed in error. Now the proper White Background is printed for this combination of settings.

Fixed problem with the Rectangle Spoke graphic. This is allowed to have a rounded corner. The corner radius parameter was not saved properly. When a drawing was re-opened this radius returned to zero. This is now fixed, the radius is saved and restored properly now.

Corrected problem with Spiral, the control handles for the Spiral. They were not drawn at the correct locations on the Spiral. This was not a problem until interactive distortion of the spiral, such as flatten of the spiral. This was introduce with EazyDraw version 6, not present in the older versions. This is correct now.

Corrected problem with Spiral, numeric entry of the Flatten Axis Angle parameter on Graphic Details inspector. The entry was not properly read as an angle. This is now correct.

Corrected problem with the Notch Circle on Technical tool palette. A small problem with two of the interactive on screen adjuster handles. The ones adjusting the width of the notch were somewhat jumpy and slightly inconsistent. They now are smooth and precisely responsive.

Corrected problem with on screen adjusting handle for Corner graphics and Exponent Math graphics. The blue adjusting handle response was inconsistent. It is now smooth and precisely responsive.

Corrected problem with Double Flat Circle, in some cases the drawing geometry was incorrect. All is correct now. This was introduced with EazyDraw version 6.

Corrected very rare problem mapping color space. This happens when the color space is changed for a layer (on Layers inspector) or exporting to EPS or TIFF. It is possible to import, or perhaps to copy, a color form that would not convert. The color conversion now performs a preliminary test of each color before conversion, thereby avoiding this problem.

Corrected problem snapping to an invisible line (a line with no stroke) that was exactly horizontal or vertical. The infinitely thin aspect prevented proper snap testing. This now snaps properly.

Corrected rare problem with Copy operation. If a graphic contained text but if that contained text was empty and actually did not have any text characters, then the copy operation would fail to place any content on the system Clipboard. EazyDraw has blocks to prevent a drawing from having empty text boxes, unless they are linked to a chain of text boxes that has non-zero text content. One user somehow created a drawing with this situation, so now EazyDraw has internal protection against this situation.

Corrected problem with Annotation. When creating a new annotation text the full new text might not display (it was cut-off). The problem would self correct at a later time. This is now fixed. This was introduced with EazyDraw version 6 and Mavericks.

Corrected the Percent text input on the Page Setup palette. The Fine Scale for the palette did not have a setting for Percent Precision, and this prevented changing the display precision for the Percent field. The input for the field was always rounded to even percentage. All is fixed now, any typed value is accepted exactly as typed and the display respects the Fine Scale Percentage Precision setting for the palette.

Improved the direction of arrows for curved paths that have very sharp curvature at the end of the path. The problem was noticed with Sine wave shapes (from the Math palette) that ended exactly at a peak or valley of the waveform. For larger values of N (the number of Bezier segments per cycle of the waveform, as defined on Graphic Details) the interval of the ending Bezier segment would be very small and the tangent was not computed to a high enough degree of accuracy. The accuracy is now improved.

Fixed issue when using double click to extend an angle constrained line to the intersection with another graphic. The line end could possibly snap to vertex, thereby ignoring the angle constraint. This is now handled correctly, the line extends to the intersection and properly ignores the possible vertex snap giving priority to the angle constraint.

Fixed the S break cross over jumper. The "s" was not drawn correctly. This was introduced with EazyDraw version 6. The S jumper now has a proper "s" shape.

Fixed a few problems with deleting colors from a gradient that had more than 2 colors. In a few situations the minus-color button on the Gradient Fill palette would fail to delete the intermediate color. This now works properly again.

Improved the accuracy of the definition of the extreme color limits for gradients. The colors at the very corners of a graphic, when the gradient is drawn at a non-orthogonal angle, were sometimes not fully saturated with the defined start and end colors. This was a minor, not often noticeable, adjustment. But now it is precise.

Corrected problem with Tab leaders that used Dashed lines. The dashed tab leaders were not drawn in most cases. This is now fixed, and they draw correctly. The problem was introduced with EazyDraw version 6.

Corrected problem on Advanced Duplicate, Polar Duplicate. The Spin option rotated the set of new duplicate graphics in the wrong direction. This has been reversed. This was a problem introduced with EazyDraw version 6.

6.3.1 March 14, 2014

Minor Update for Free Market Release 6 Corrections and Enhancements. Several advances for SVG import support including more integrated CSS capability. Improved Font Mapping for SVG import, covering embedded fonts and OS X font translations.

Corrected issue that evolved on Mavericks. A new feature on Mavericks called Responsive Scrolling can cause large drawing overhead for drawing applications such as EazyDraw. This new feature may be helpful for simplistic applications that employ inefficient drawing algorithms. For EazyDraw the problem was only apparent for lager complex drawings, a certain level of drawing activity would trigger large drawing overhead for this new feature and cause EazyDraw to be slow and unresponsive. This seemed to be rather random, some users and certain situations would trigger the sluggishness and response issues. One drawing was observed to clear with no setting changes, then a simple reboot brought the problem back. We have this new feature completely patched out now. Performance is again now the same as it was on earlier versions of OS X. The problem was only present on Mavericks, it was present on both Retina and legacy resolution screens. No improvements for scrolling were observed for EazyDraw so we will leave this feature patched out for the foreseeable future.

Fixed an issue with accessing EazyDraw Help. Some users were experiencing problems accessing EazyDraw Help files on Mavericks with EazyDraw version 6.

Added new features related to deleting vertices (nodes) for Bezier paths. Previously there were two algorithms. The primary algorithm attempts to remove the node and still approximate the original path, by computing best match control points that follow the original path as closely as possible. This is the algorithm used by the knife, it did not change. The second method simply removed a node and associated control points, these are the two control points "ahead" of the node. The newly added method removes the designated node and control points on either side (if present) of the node. The new method is available on the Graphic Details inspector, the Bezier path needs to be in the normal (non-continuous) mode. The contextual menu (obtained by a Control-Click on or very near a node, when the path is selected) now presents all 3 methods for convenient short-cut access.

Fixed problem using comma as decimal separator, for regions such as Italy and Germany. Several fields on parameter palettes and a few on the Graphic Details inspector were not displaying and accepting this alternate decimal delimiter. This is a new issue with Mavericks. All numeric input and display fields have now been tested and confirmed for correct operation using both decimal and comma as the decimal delimiter.

Fixed possible problem with default settings for paragraph alignment and the text flow-around setting. Portions of the logic for setting and using the default setting for these parameters was faulty. All is now correct. The Paragraph Form parameter palette now defines and manages these values and their default settings in the normal fashion using the Current and Default buttons. The palette was upgraded to show Flow Around setting on the Alignment popup menu with the flow-around icon as an added visual clue in the popup menu. If you have experienced trouble with the default setting for Flow Around: after installing the upgrade go to the Paragraph palette, hold down command key, move mouse over the Default button, when you see the button change to Factory, click the button, this will clear out the troublesome setting. If the default for Text was set to Flow-Around, then SVG and DXF import and PDF ungroup could have poor results importing text, this potential problem is now handled properly.

Corrected problem with Zoom Calibrate and the new Zoom Interactive tool when used on a custom User Tools palette. These two tools (only these two), which were recently added to the Zoom Tools palette, would not work from a custom tools palette. They now work properly on a User Tools palette. The Zoom tools were not enabling properly, on a User Tools palette, immediately after launch and immediately after switching from another App back to EazyDraw. They now properly enable.

Fixed problem with the Angle Dimension control knob for clockwise and counter clockwise setting. This was broken with EazyDraw 6, it is now fixed and again works properly.

Fixed problem using trackpad gestures to rotate a fixed angle graphic (such as a rectangle or oval). EazyDraw would perform the necessary conversion to a rotatable graphic but then would repeatedly make the default bell sound. The rotation would proceed with the next gesture. Now all proceeds smoothly with no annoying bell sounds.

Fixed the Dash 7 Toolbar button (found on the Customize sheet for the main drawing window toolbar). This button provides the Short Dash Pattern. The button was not working, problem introduced with EazyDraw version 6. The problem is fixed, the button works again.

Fixed problem dragging pattern colors onto the EazyDraw Pattern palette's working area. This was actually always unreliable, but became more so on Mavericks. The problem is now fixed.

Corrected problem reducing the width of a text box. If the first line of the text was a "white space" (a newline for example) it was not possible to interactively reduce the width of the text box. This is fixed now.

Corrected problem with the new Brush tool (the one next to the Pencil tool on the main tool palette). If the tool was used to draw a new curve on an empty drawing and if the next user action was an Undo, EazyDraw would crash. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem rotating groups that contained an Arc or Pie shape. The problem was introduce with version 6.

Removed the window shade control from the Brushes panel. This panel supports full interactive resizing and should not have the window shade control. This control icon was visible and active, clicking on it caused the size of the panel to become corrupt. The corrupt state would require a quit and restart of EazyDraw. Don't experiment before updating. The update of EazyDraw should be done with the panel at full size (window shade not active).

Updated and improved the tool tips on the Font Map panel. The English and other translations had many of the tool tips in Spanish. All localizations are now correct and the tool tips reflect the recent improvements and additions for Font mapping and character mapping support.

Added capability for mapping and import embedded glyph font sets in SVG drawings. There is now support for multiple font / glyph tables for fonts with the same names but different font face styles or weights. For example two embedded fonts one normal and one bold will now import correctly for both embedded and font mapped interpretation.

Added a factory Hatch for Concrete. The new hatch will appear for new users (new installations). This will not appear in the menu on the Hatch panel for users that are updating. The named Hatches file in the Applications Support folder needs to be removed for this to rebuild at this time. Caution, removing the file will erase any user built and named hatches.

Corrected issues relating to a few of the Stellate graphics. These issues were introduced with EazyDraw version 6 and Mavericks. Two stellates were not drawn correctly, a few had problems with interactive adjustments. All stellates have been fully tested and are now working correctly with EazyDraw version 6.

Corrected issues with Label and tick mark text. Interactive adjustment of the tick mark length was not tracking properly. This was introduced with EazyDraw 6.

Corrected Label Text to properly utilize the correct decimal delimiter for international regions. Label text was always using a decimal point. Now the Region setting in System Preferences properly determines the decimal delimiter. This was a new problem with Mavericks. It now works correctly on both Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

Fixed possible crash. Related to use of Tape Tool, closing an un-edited drawing, then continuing work on another drawing. Problem not present on OS X 10.8, but found to be present on OS X 10.9, versions 10.9.1 and 10.9.2. Situation is now stable and correct for all versions of OS X.

Improved logic relating to including and excluding Report Dimensions when forming a group. Applies to Report Dimensions, Center Dimension, and Diameter Dimensions. These were forced to be excluded from groups in some situations. All is correct now.

Several improvements for SVG import relating to text spans and white space handling with text spans.

Embedded fonts, corrected problem interpreting embedded fonts for longer strings.

Fixed several minor issues with font mapping. The Font Maps panel is now more user friendly. If an import is performed with the Font Map panel open, after the import a drop down sheet appears with information about fonts and embedded glyphs found in the SVG drawing. The drop down sheet will indicate how each was handled. In many cases where an SVG is coming from a non-Mac system it is advisable to perform a trial import, review the information, set font mapping accordingly then import again.

Added ability to define a preference for use of embedded fonts. The Font Map panel now has that parameter always enabled, if no specific font is named the checkbox applies to a persistent (across quit and relaunch of EazyDraw) preference to use embedded fonts if they are included in a SVG file. Not all SVG files have embedded fonts. Use of embedded fonts more faithfully reproduce the exact text, but the text is imported as Bezier paths and is not editable as text. The factory default is to attempt to locate an installed system font and avoid use of embedded fonts.

Fixed an issue importing SVG Markers (called Arrows in EazyDraw). The default setting for Relief or Offset was applied. This behavior was not correct, the import must always use the Offset choice. The setting may be changed after the import but SVG definitions follow the Offset method not Relief. Arrows now import correctly.

Fixed issues related to importing SVG dashed lines. Certain style arrangements would cause EazyDraw to fail to apply the line dashing. All is correct now.

Correct issues related to importing SVG ellipse arcs. A bug was introduced with EazyDraw 6 and clockwise vs counter clockwise was reversed in some cases. All is fixed now.

Fixed problem ungrouping PDF. Rare configuration of the PDF content could cause some text to render as white text on white background, instead of black text. This is parsing error is now fixed.

6.3.0 December 17, 2013

Major Update for Release 6 Corrections and Enhancements.

Added visual feedback when interactively editing graphics with Uniform Scale. A dashed line is shown indicating the allowed adjusting corner positions. This works with a Uniform Scale interactive graphic and the line appears when the Cmd key is used to constrain a rectangle-bounds resize action.

Added full support for LaTexIt. Support for LatTeXIt developed several issues after LinkBack support was dropped with EazyDraw 5. Several corrections and additions are now included in the EazyDraw source code to provide bi-directional support for typesetting equations with LaTeXIt, this is now accomplished in a robust fashion consistent with Mac security requirements and independent of third party code (LinkBack). EazyDraw now internally maintains two copies (one native to EazyDraw and one native to LaTeXIt) of the LaTeX markup source text. This insures that an included equation will have the associated source code and will be editable in the future on future platforms and versions of OS X. Equations may be Copied and Pasted or Dragged and Dropped between (both directions) EazyDraw and LaTeXIt. The Services provided by LaTeXit on the Apple (via EazyDraw) Services menu are now supported. With the Services menu a typeset PDF equation may be reverted to source LaTeX markup text and LaTeX markup text may be compelled to typeset PDF in-situ with the Services menu commands. Services in both directions are allowed for equations that originate in LaTeXIt (or any other LaTeX App) or from Text on an EazyDraw drawing. Testing completed with LaTeXit version 2.5.4.

Additions to the Node Edit tool. The tool now works fully with Groups. The capability was expanded to provide node editing for graphics in groups. Group Edit needs to be set to the Free state (for both the individual target Group and the Drawing). This capability is useful for intricate group size and shape editing. Specifically one editing node may be assigned for overall size of the group and other nodes for specific group graphic changes, which all interact in unison. These additions apply for Groups and Interaction Levels.

Corrected behavior when resizing a group, when interactively decreasing the width or height to a very minimum and negative values. The Group would jitter and make small jumps at the near zero and negative heights. The jitter and jump behavior is fixed and the group will smoothly decrease to the minimum allowed height or width, if the interactive motion continues to the negative height or width the group flips and smoothly adjusts to increasing width or height.

Added capability to SVG export. It is now possible to select the content for export, before the only choice was Full Drawing Area. It is now possible to select Graphics Only or Selected Graphics Only.

Group Edit for a drawing was not being saved and restored when opening the drawing. The setting for new drawings and the setting for individual groups was saved and restored properly, but the Group Edit in effect for a drawing was set at the default for new drawings when opening the drawing.

Added a toolbar button for Numerate. It is found on the Customize table for the main drawing window toolbar. Numerate was also added as a Quick Keys option, access from the Add -> Other QuickKeys popup menu.

Corrected issue using the iconset feature for App Development setting for Page Setup. When the iconset template was first created the reference names for each icon did not show. The names returned after a save and re-open of the drawing. Now they appear properly when the template is first created.

Improved vertex cloaking. Now groups with nested graphics will cloak or present uncloaked vertices respecting the settings of each group graphic. The cloaked state is defined by the settings for cloaking before forming the group. Nesting applies.

Improved interactive resize of images (TIFF, PNG, PDF, ...). This now supports the Command key to constrain to uniform scaling. Images now accept Pin Center. And Pin Center responds to the Control key to temporarily toggle the Pin Center on or off.

Changed behavior when for insertion of a PDF image. When a PDF is opened with EazyDraw the page size, orientation and number of pages for the drawing is automatically set to match the PDF page specification. When a PDF image is inserted into an existing drawing with Copy and Paste or Drag and Drop the drawing's Page Setup (size, orientation, margins, ...) should remain as set (they should not take on the page settings of the PDF). EazyDraw was changing the page size on PDF insert, this is now changed back to the intended behavior. Summary: use Open to pick up the PDF page settings. Insert to keep the drawing's fixed page settings.

Fixed problem with the new Node Edit tool, selecting nodes on a rotated text box. These were set and shown incorrectly at the non-rotated positions. All works properly now.

Fixed problem interactively adjusting the stretch controls for a Text Box. The adjustments were not smooth and could distort the text layout. The problem was introduced with EazyDraw version 6. It was more likely to happen when adjusting smaller rotated text. All is correct again.

Corrected possible problem selecting graphics that were near a Text Bubble graphic. The Text Bubble was interfering with a favored selection over other graphics in the area of the text bubble pointer. Selection is now as expected, respecting clicks close to the text bubble outline but not responding to the full bounding box of the Text Bubble. This applied to all 4 forms of text bubbles.

Corrected issue relating to Dimensions, when performing an export of Graphics only. In rare cases, such as a dimension with Form set to Nothing and no connections (measuring nothing as well). The exported drawing would cover a large area including the graphics and the drawing origin. This problem could also cause CPU loading for large complex drawings that contained a Dimension graphic in this state.

Corrected several issues on the Advanced Duplicate function, Polar duplicate. The angle values were not properly synced to the angle format as assigned on Graphic Details. This made things rather confusing. This was introduced with EazyDraw 6. All is corrected and fully tested now.

Corrected rare problem with Dimension, related to rounding. For drawings to scale, with large number (> 10) of inches, with Dimension precision set to one decimal point, with format set to Feet and Inches. In some cases the display value of the Dimension, on the drawing, would show an extra 0.1 inches. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem with the new Node editing tool. In many cases Undo commands were not recorded. They are now recorded properly and are available in the Edit Undo menu selection.

Made an addition to the Fit Text Box command. The original behavior is not changed, the new capability applies when nothing is selected. If nothing on the drawing is selected (no selected text or any other graphic) then the command recursively analyzes all text on the drawing looking for any text that does not fit. For all text that does not fit, first the text box width is increased 75%, if this allows the text to fit, the exact fit new width is used for the text box. If text still does not fit the width is restored to the original and the height is increased as necessary to allow the text to fit.

Fixed issue introduced with version 6. If the temporary default for Arrows was set to apply arrows, then a new drawing would have arrows added to all graphics that did not have arrows when the drawing was saved. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem adding graphics from a User Library to a drawing. The issue related to certain interaction settings. The graphic would fail to appear in the drawing. This was introduced with EazyDraw 6. Problem is now fixed.

Corrected another issue related to making copies of graphics with active "pin" states. Version 6.1.0f corrected the issue with Duplicate of a graphic. The problem was present with Copy and Paste, and with drag and drop of a layer that contained pinned graphics. All of these issues are now responding correctly and conserving the pinned state.

Corrected a problem opening drawings with Arrows that were saved with an early version of EazyDraw 5. The Arrow information was not saved correctly, the drawing would open in EazyDraw 5 but the corresponding Arrow information was lost. EazyDraw 6 would crash when opening the problem drawing. Now EazyDraw 6 does not crash and handles the drawing problem in a stable fashion.

Corrected problem, new to version 6, with Dimensions using the Box format and angles between 90 and 180 degrees. These would sometimes fail to show the dimension text on the drawing when the drawing was opened or when the target graphic was resized. This is now fixed, the text loads and displays properly in all situations.

The asterisk was not showing on the Current button on the Page Layout palette. This happens when the Cmd key is held down to make the default setting permanent. This is now fixed.

Corrected efficiency issue (rare) with linked text. If the linked text boxes were using the flow-around text justification then an inefficient recurring loop could establish. The recursion was throttled so the responsiveness of the program did not diminish but CPU resources were wasted. This is now fixed.

Fixed a problem duplicating graphics with Pin attributes, for example a line with the Center Pinned. When duplicated the Pin attribute was not replicated. This is now fixed. The issue was introduced with EazyDraw 6.

Fixed potential problem with export PNG and TIFF images with white or colored background with DPI greater than 72 and not an even interval of 72 (not 144, or 288). Then it was possible to get a narrow faint bar of gray at the right or bottom edge of the image. This is fixed, no more gray lines at the edges.

Fixed problem changing Color Space using the popup menu on the Layers inspector, for languages other than English. The problem was only for the Paper layer (Paper being in the non-english language).

Added a new parameter on Gradient Fill panel, on the Transition tab. The new parameter provides user control of the Color Space for the gradient. Previously this was "semi-automatic", if a CMYK color was added it may have been converted to RGB, or the gradient may have been converted to CMYK depending on the color space of other colors in the Gradient. This logic was fine in many cases but it is really necessary in some cases that we have the ability to simply set the color space. The "automatic" logic is still used, for example it is possible to have one Gray color and other RGB or CMYK colors in the gradient. But now we have the ability to simply specify the color space and cause all colors in the gradient to map to the desired color space.

Corrected issues setting individual parameters of Vector Hatches and Gradient Fill in groups (and nested) groups of graphics. Some parameter changes would clear any Hatch or Gradient Fill in the group. This now works properly. The issue was introduced with new technology in EazyDraw version 6.

Corrected an issue related to the new Quick Keys palette. Executing a Menu Command key for a menu function that was disabled would be interpreted as a Quick Key (if an action was assigned to the corresponding key). Now the action is ignored as it should be.

Corrected an issue related to Gradient Fill applied to a Join or Weld Group. Some changes to the gradient would result in loss of the gradient, it would revert to Gradient set to None.

Corrected performance issue related to text entry for larger text boxes (several paragraphs) with very large multi-layer drawings. Rapid typing would tend to lag input somewhat. This is now corrected, even the fastest typing entry should be instantaneous even on a machine of limited cpu capacity.

Changed wording on About EazyDraw for users that have not upgraded to an EazyDraw 6 license and are using an EazyDraw 5 license. The wording now indicates clearly that EazyDraw is fully operational.

Corrected occasional problem with the new export layers configuration popup menu. If the window was made very large on the screen, the popup menu (near the top of the Layers drawer) would disappear behind the Layers Table.

Corrected color reversal for Contour - gradient fill. EazyDraw version 6 released with a reversed interpretation of the color sequence, relative to earlier versions of EazyDraw. This is now corrected and colors are drawn in the proper order for the gradient, Contour Minus gradient will look the same in EazyDraw 6 as EazyDraw 5 and earlier. This related to EazyDraw 6 actual code, the problem did not depend on the version 6 file format.

Corrected problem with User Tool palettes re-opening on restart. They were not opening on Mountain Lion. This is now fixed, all tool palettes including User Tool palettes, built-in tool palettes, and User Library tool palettes re-open on launch if they were open on quit.

Corrected problem with loss of Menu Keys settings. This could happen when using a User Library custom tool palette. The conflict is now corrected.

Corrected problem editing and change some parameters on the Hatch parameter palette. Some parameter changes would cause the hatch to clear.

Cleaned up issues related to the use of the User Keys editing palette. A "return" was required to ensure a name change was recored, now when the panel closes if the name is in editing state the edited value is retrieved and the name is changed. If the window is closed, this previously indicated "cancel", now there is a warning dialog with request for clarification. It was possible to open the Edit panel and then re-open the corresponding user tool palette this opened the possibility for conflicts. Now the appropriate items in the User Tools menus are disabled during editing to avoid conflict states. Now at the completion of editing a tool palette, if the tool palette was open at the start of editing it is re-opened.

Fixed a performance issue, related to locking or unlocking large numbers of graphics, with the Graphic Details inspector visible. This now happens instantaneously as it should.

Corrected possible problems with Graphic Details reporting the new content metric (near the bottom: length, area, word count, or number of characters), This was confusing length and character count for groups that contained both text and Bezier paths. The report is now consistent. The first graphic of the group (by painting order) determines which metric is reported (a text metric, or a geometry metric such as area) then the proper total for the full group is reported.

Fixed a very rare typesetting problem. The issue would arise for multi-paragraph text, with short last lines in a paragraph, and extra paragraph line spacing between paragraphs, and Flow-Around graphics in use and a flow around graphic near the left edge of the text box. The one line defined above would not respect the Flow-Around graphic, the line would start in the normal position. All is corrected now, all lines of the paragraph flow away from an interfering graphic on the left.

Cleaned up the Font tab for the Graphic Details Text inspector. Near the top of the display for the number of selected characters was formatted with two decimal points, the fraction display has been fixed, the formatting is now for integer. The position and text justification were not proper, this is now cleaned up for improved readability and appearance.

Cleaned up formatting for Graphic Details Image inspector. A text label was clipped and the inspection view not centered. This is corrected now for clarity and appearance.

Several menus are constructed and custom menu keys are added to the menus soon after launch completion. It was possible to launch and immediately open a menu, before the menu was synchronized and the user menu key shortcuts were overloaded. The issue was that while the menus were open EazyDraw did not have access to the menus to correct the situation and properly prepare the menus. There is now a blocking interrupt called to prepare the menus ahead of schedule if needed, so menus are now always synchronized and prepared before a first opening.

Corrected a svg parsing issue related to CSS font-face attributes. Corrected svg parsing issue related to shifted viewBox. These were encountered with SVG generated by OmniGraffle.

Corrected SVG import bug, related to Bezier paths that were curved but only had two vertices and the SVG coding used a specific construct. This somewhat rare combination is now parsed correctly. The actual EazyDraw drawing would appear correct, the problem only surfaced if an immediate export to KeyNote was used.

Corrected problem with Dimensions, related to change for the temporary default of dimensions, for the Color and Style of the dimension box. Parameters such as Outline and Color would not set for the temporary default (changes made when no Dimension was selected). These all now work correctly, this problem was introduced with EazyDraw 6.

Corrected problem exporting EPS with active Dimensions and potential Color Space modifications.

Improved appearance of Graphic Details inspector and Layers inspector when not using Attributes Bar. Corrected issue related to showing and hiding Rulers when the Attributes Bar not visible. There were slight appearance issues near the top of the inspectors panels, especially for small drawing window sizes.

Further corrections for the appearance of the new Layers Configuration popup at the top of the layers inspector. There have been troubles in EazyDraw 6 with this new menu moving and / or being positioned incorrectly. An earlier public beta for 6.1.0 made improvements but there were still errors for very small drawing window sizes. All is now correct, and the inspector now has improved appearance when the inspector width is increased or decreased.

More work on the DXF issue related to DXF drawings with INSERT objects that populate more than one layer, when the ENTITY layer is not the same as the defined INSERT layer. Corrected issue with DXF import, related to DXF files that have layers but do not have a layer defining section. It is not clear if this is a proper DXF construct but EazyDraw now handles this situation. Now if an entity is encountered that belongs to a layer that does not exist, EazyDraw creates the layer even if it was not defined. Corrected two bugs in DXF export, relating to Ovals filled with solid color.

Made several corrections to the Czech localization. We owe a thanks to Zdenek Podr�sk� for taking the time to send in corrections and suggestions.

Corrected issue with auto numerate. The Annotation option was not adding new numbering annotations. If annotations were present on the graphics then auto numerate worked, but not for a new graphic with no Annotation present. This is now fixed.

The Area or Length readouts on Graphic Details inspector was not updating during interactive editing of graphics. The live reporting has been reactivated. This stopped working with EazyDraw 6. All is correct again now.

6.1.0 October 10, 2013

Initial release with support for Mavericks and several new features and enhancements.

New File Format & Mavericks integration.

One of the key improvements expected of Apps on Mavericks is improved efficiency and performance. EazyDraw has evolved all 3 native file formats to significantly improve performance while reducing CPU and power load (extending battery life). Mavericks also has an advanced strategy for auto saving as you work, this reduces the chances for data loss and is interwoven with efficient iCloud synchronization. These design goals are attained with the new file format. It is optimized for the information flow which involves one read and many writes of your drawing information. The new information structure bridges the internal RAM representation and the external file data format. As soon as you make a addition or edit to your drawing the merged internal and external information is updated and the operating system is alerted of the change. Mavericks then monitors total system load and saves changes at the first opportunity of low system use. This is all multi-threaded and makes use of all available CPUs.

The preferences panel has a setting for Reverse Compatibility. Older versions (version 5 and previous)) of EazyDraw cannot read the new format. Set the Reverse Compatibility parameter to "2001 v0" to exchange drawings with older versions of EazyDraw. The factory default for this parameter is "No", meaning the new efficient format is used by default.

The new format is still XML based and human readable. It is somewhat more complex but still self documenting and human readable. Some of the structures (such as Bezier path) use well documented SVG constructs, which are interpretable with a short study of the SVG specification. The SVG constructs are used for the efficiency of their design. Bitmap images are saved in PNG format which is efficient and documented in the public domain.

There is no longer much of an advantage to the EazyDraw Bundle format, except perhaps for very large complex drawings.

These elements are backwards compatible with Mountain Lion, but not Lion. Use EazyDraw version 6.0.2 on Lion.

Initial release with support for Mavericks and several new features and enhancements.

Brushes

There is a new parameter palette for Brushes. A Brush is a Bezier path, which may be complex and include multiple individual paths, that is applied along a Master Bezier path that may be curved. The Brush path(s) conform to the shape and contour of the Master path. One example would be a sequence of arrow shapes that would flow along a curved path. The sequencing is adjustable, for example the arrows may diminish in size and sequence in direction for a rolling effect. Another typical example of a brush would be a long narrow closed filled shape with jagged ends, when applied to a short curving path the appearance is similar to a artist brush stroke on a canvas.

The Brushes palette provides two major functionalities: A) easily creating brushes and B) efficiently using brushes. A normal EazyDraw drawing is used to design the brush Bezier shape, path, or curve. This allows full use of EazyDraw’s the creation of the brush path. The Brushes palette provides a "Scratch Pad" to hold brush paths as they are completed and edited. Then the Brush palette provides a full Brush inspector to construct and edit total Brush information and apply this to a master path.

The Brush palette has a second tab view for Use of brushes. This provides graphic table of a full set of Brushes, ready for instant access while sketching a drawing. The user interface here has several innovations to minimize key clicks, distractions and hinderances while creating a sketch using multiple brushes.

One brush form is Cyclical, and will work with the cyclical function curves found on the Math tool palette. For example, a sine wave may be drawn on a circle with controls to exactly synchronize a defined number of cycles around the circle.

Other version 6 enhancements documented below allow efficient creative use of brushes, especially when used with a drawing tablet.

User Tools

The new User Tools submenu is on the View main menu, just below the list of tool palettes. This menu has a User Tool construction and editing palette. This is used to create full featured tool palettes. Drag and Drop tools from any EazyDraw tool palette (including zoom, selection, all shapes and editing tools) to the button matrix on the construction palette - it is that simple. When complete the new tool palette is accessible from the User Tools submenu. The advantages here are rather obvious and there is really not much more to explain as far as instructions.

Your custom tool palette can have 3 sizes: normal, small, and mini. It can be any number of buttons across and down, horizontal or vertical primary geometry allowed.

Pencil and Brush

The Pencil tool on the primary tool palette has been completely redesigned. A new companion Brush tool is found next to the Pencil tool. These are designed for fluid free hand drawing. They have advanced tracking capability to compute and fit a Bezier path to the path traced by a tablet device or mouse. The Bezier path is automatically reduced to as few control points and vertices as needed to follow the drawn shape. The Brush tool will provide a smooth Bezier, one with continuity of position and slope (no kinks). The Pencil will follow the exact drawn shape more closely and allows for sharp turns and corners. Both tools work well with the new Brush strokes, providing a real-time feel for tablet and pen sketching.

Both Pencil and Brush are adjustable, relative to the closeness of fit. The settings have been added to the Tablet palette (Format main menu, near the top). The Tablet palette has two new Tabs one for the Pencil and one for the Brush. There is Fit setting, in approximate terms the fit value determines how close each actual drawn point must be to the computed Bezier curve. Larger values will yield a smoother path with fewer vertices and control points. Smaller fit values will produce a closer fit to actual drawn path which often leads to more control points (depending on artist skill).

Hot Keys

The EazyDraw menu has a new palette for definition of Hot Keys. These are tools assigned to keys on the keyboard. EazyDraw has always had the "i" and "o" keys for efficient zoom in and out. This concept is extended to apply to any tool on any tool palette. The Hot Keys palette provides a schematic of the keyboard, drag and drop a tool to a key location to assign the tool to the corresponding key. A single click of the designated key (without a modifier such as Cmd, Shift or other Modifier) is then equivalent to a mouse-cursor-click of the tool on a tool palette. The tool palette does not need to be open for the hot key to work.

It is a full featured design palette. Tool sets may be exported for archive, future use or exchange with other users.

Hot Keys work with all tools, creation, editing, selecting, zoom and a few others. They do not work with Menu commands. Menu commands have shortcut capability with Command Key shortcuts, managed on the Menu Keys palette (just above Hot Keys on the EazyDraw menu).

Hot keys are one component of the new support for artistic sketching. When used with the Use Brush palette, drawing and sketching can proceed with fluidity across brush strokes and editing actions with various drawing tools.

Node Edit Tool (white arrow tool)

There is a new "Arrow" tool, found on the main tool palette, near the top. This form of the generic "Arrow" selection tool provides enhanced editing of control handles (nodes, vertices, control points, and all other interactive adjusting handles). The main use is to move several control handles in unison. The tool combines normal graphic selection capability with multiple node selection and interactive adjusting.

The Node Edit tool is commonly used with Bezier vertices and control points. The EazyDraw implementation is not limited to Bezier nodes. Any control handle for any graphic form is selectable with the Node Arrow, for example the left side of several rectangles could be adjusted in unison.

Snap Drawing

A new snap function for snapping relative to the drawing. This is on the Grids and Guides submenu of the Format main menu. There is a button on the Attributes bar, visible when no graphics are selected, found in the snap grouping of buttons. When enabled graphics will snap to the center lines and edges of the drawing and individual pages of a multiple page drawing.

Zoom Interactive, and Zoom Calibrate

One new zoom tool, Zoom Interactive. Click on the drawing, then drag up or down to zoom in or out. This method is common in many CAD packages. Zoom Calibrate now has a button on the zoom tools palette. This makes both techniques available for Hot Keys or a User Tool palette.

Two Color Dash Lines

The Dashes palette has an added parameter to optionally specify a second color for the "open" sequences of the dash.

Morph Palette

The Morph palette has been updated and converted to a free standing, floating palette. This allows a specific Morph method to apply across multiple open drawings. And the palette’s appearance is now more consistent with OS X conventions.

Layers Configuration

It is now possible to export (save) and re-load a particular layers configuration. This is often referred to as a "view" in CAD software packages. The configuration information records the viewing state for each layer and all other information found on the Layers inspector. If a layer based drawing is multi-purposed and perhaps has several arrangements for different presentations or print outs, these may be easily saved for convenient re-use. The configuration feature is managed with a new popup menu found at the top of the Layers inspector.

Libraries Under Document control

Improved user libraries. User library palettes now support OS X Revisions and auto save. Now the user library palettes have all the title bar features found on the main drawing window, including browsing all saved versions, reverting the library, and frequent auto saves to avoid loss of data during a system failure or OS X initiated pause. There are also improvements for the user library main menu.

Support for Micro Font size

This version provide accurate typesetting for very small font sizes (for example 1 or 2 points, or even fractions thereof). App Store versions of EazyDraw have had this upgrade in recent releases, it is now present in the primary Free Market release of EazyDraw 6. It is not available for EazyDraw 6 Retro versions.

When working with micro font sizes control is needed for Text box padding. EazyDraw 6 provides user definition for text box padding. This padding is a small margin (factory default value is 5 Points) used by the typesetter when formatting text in a text box. The new parameter is found on the Paragraph palette (access from Text main menu, Paragraph submenu).

This is available for normal text editing and when importing SVG and PDF incorporating micro-font sizes.

Improved SVG, DXF, PDF and EPS editing.

Improved Layer detection for SVG. EazyDraw notes if all top level graphics are actually groups and if all top level graphics have reasonable human understandable identifiers, it is then reasonable to expect that these are actually layers and the ID’s are layer names. In these situations EazyDraw assigns these to layers with the names found. If a drawing is imported and this behavior is incorrect, use Flatten on the Layers drawer to convert to a one-layer drawing.

Several improvements for SVG. There is now full support for the ViewBox and Aspect Ratio information. If Slice is used for an aspect ratio specification EazyDraw performs the slice in one page of a multi-page format. All other settings, both Slice and Meet are now fully supported and properly interpreted.

Several improvements for SVG import using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). The import now supports class and obtect specific specifications (for example a Class that would apply only to Lines and Rectangles). These improvements are targeted to provide full support for SVG generated by Google Crowbar. Crowbar authored SVG now seems to import very well.

SVG enhancements related to import of very small font size text. Improved typesetting for tSpans typesetting across single rows of text. Improved speed for some SVG imports.

Improved Color Editing.

Changed the methods for application of Line and Fill colors using the Color and Style palette. The change applies when several graphics are selected for simultaneous change of color. Previously all graphics would receive the same new color. The new method applies when only one component of the lead color is changed. If only one color component changes then all colors (that use the same color model, RGB or CMYK) will only have the individual component changed. For example only the Red component would be adjusted to the new value for all target colors, or more precisely for all target RGB colors. One obvious use of this capability is to change the Opacity of several colors without altering the actual color. This new capability applies when using the system color picker Sliders, or WebColorPicker, but not when using the toolbar pull down color palettes. If the new method is not desired, hold down Cmd key while changing the color and the new altered lead color is applied completely to all target colors.

A new look and feel for the toolbar picker pull down palettes (Color, Gradient, Pattern). These now have appearance update to look better on Mavericks. At the time of this release, the revised pull down palettes are needed for proper display on Mavericks, but this may be temporary as Mavericks (OS X version 10.9) has not been released and the issue may well be a bug in the pre-release operating system software.

5.5.0 August 2, 2013

Better marking of drawing’s edited state, improved integration of User Libraries, connectors more robust, improved SVG and DXF support.

Revamped Morph panel, the panel is now a normal floating panel, no longer tied to the drawing window. The logic associated with Morph is improved, better handling of scaling by Text Font size change and other improvements for associated attributes. The new panel presentation is needed for robust use on Mavericks.

A new look and feel for the toolbar picker pull down palettes (Color, Gradient, Pattern). These now have appearance update to look better on Mavericks. At the time of this release, the revised pull down palettes are needed for proper display on Mavericks, but this may be temporary as Mavericks (OS X version 10.9) has not been released and the issue may well be a bug in the pre-release operating system software.

Improved user libraries. User library palettes now support OS X Revisions and auto save. Now the user library palettes have all the title bar features found on the main drawing window, including browsing all saved versions, reverting the library, and frequent auto saves to avoid loss of data during a system failure or OS X initiated pause. There are also improvements for the user library main menu.

Added the capability for snapping Connectors to centers of graphics. This was possible with the "Center" connector resolution setting, but that setting would exclude snapping on the graphic’s other possible snap points. The new checkbox is on the Connectors palette (accessed from Tools main menu). When checked an additional snap point at target graphic’s centers is enabled.

Improved logic that defines a drawing as edited and eligible for the Save command. Previously a newly opened or newly saved drawing would become Edited if the drawing was scrolled, zoomed, or a graphic selected. These initial actions now proceed without marking the drawing as edited. These actions are still included in the undo-redo recording of drawing edits, but they do not begin until and after the initial content changing action. Now a drawing may be opened and read-only viewing actions performed without advancing the last saved time of the drawing.

Corrected several issues related to custom user Menu Keys. Dynamic menu items, ones that change depending on viewing state, were not always allowing programming of custom short cut keys. This was most noticeable with Enter Full Screen, and Exit Full Screen. This issue is now resolved. The Factory short cut key for Full Screen mode changes is changed to Command-Option-F, from Command-F, this seems to be the most prevalent choice among other Apps for this command.

The Save command was disabled when another App was used and then use of EazyDraw resumed (such as clicking on the Finder, them back on an EazyDraw drawing). The Save command is now enabled at all times, even if the drawing is not in the Edited state. The logic issue here appears to be an OS X Mountain Lion (and Lion) minor problem. Apple seems to have solved the issue in Text Edit by forcing Save to be always enabled (even if the drawing is not edited), so EazyDraw has adopted the same approach. The OS X logic problem is also exhibited with a Quit and Restart of EazyDraw, when drawings are automatically restored (a System setting, General Settings). The problem of the disabled Save command was not very noticeable because any action on the drawing marked the drawing as edited and then enabled the Save command.

Update of Help pages graphics and a few of the help pages relating to User Libraries.

Corrected a few issues with creation tool cursors. Previously creating a graphic while editing a parameter on a parameter palette would fail to show the correct creation cursor (the Arrow tool cursor would remain). This now works properly.

Corrected issue with the user library menu. Open user libraries were not being added to the menu. All open user libraries now appear in the 3rd section of the Library menu, as they should.

Corrected rare issue when opening user libraries. If several libraries were opened at once, sometimes one or two the the library panels would display as blank for a period of time or until the window was resized. This was rare and sometimes not obvious (the window would eventually update). All is correct now.

Corrected issues with Connectors relating to drawings containing connectors in groups saved by earlier versions of EazyDraw. EezyDraw 5 would scramble the connections if one of these groups were moved or ungrouped. Groups with

Connectors are now more robust and EazyDraw performs additional consistency checks when reading drawings that contain connectors.

Corrected possible hang situation when working with Blends, in the case where non-bezier graphics (such as text or an image) were mistakenly included in the Blend. EazyDraw now protects against this situation and simply skips drawing the non-bezier graphics, thus avoiding the hang situation.

Corrected a problem for dashed lines of zero dash and zero space length. This would cause different crash or simply error log reports on different versions of OS X. These are now detected, blocked and avoided (a solid line is drawn). The Dash line input panel now blocks against any dash length or space of zero size.

Corrected problem on Graphic Details inspector, when inspecting a Bezier path, the X and Y end values did not respond correctly to new numerical input. They would read the correct value but values entered would always apply to the actual path start point, not the segment start point. All is correct now.

Corrected problem re-establishing connectors and dimensions that reside on different layers. In some cases the actual connection was dropped, this depended on the layer ordering and possibly CPU speed, the issue related to the multi-cpu parallel processing of layer information. All is correct now.

Corrected problem exporting bitmap formats when Annotation with a Shadow was in use. The Shadow did not export in all cases. This probably was introduced recently. All is working correctly again.

Corrected problem setting persistent default font and the default font attributes found on the main Font panel. Things like size and sometimes color were not saved and restored across a quit and restart of EazyDraw. The short term default changes worked properly, but not the persistent setting. This now works properly.

Corrected a very rare but problematic issue with recursive embedded Free Transform interaction level graphics. Going to Full Screen mode and returning, would in rare instances move Group graphics that contained the recursive Free Transform graphics. All is robust now.

Corrected a few other issues with Annotation Shadows concerning refreshing correctly after a change from Vector shadow to Bitmap shadow - for the Annotation Text.

SVG:

Fixed problem with SVG export when using a non-zero Canvas Margin. The SVG exported graphics were shifted by the canvas margin amount. They now export correctly.

Improved SVG import, one issue related to symbols and their linking ID.

Corrected issue with Oval (Ellipse) when they are drawn extremely asymmetric. The issue was introduced recently when the math accuracy of circles and ovals was increased to 10-12 decimal places. Now the recently increased accuracy extends from circles to an extremely stretched oval shape.

DXF

Improved SVG import and export in the area of gradients. There were possible direction flips and slight mis-match in appearance of the SVG image and the EazyDraw native gradient appearance. The flip errors are corrected and several other geometries now have better appearance match to SVG as viewed in browsers.

Improved DXF import. Corrected hang problem when the DXF drawing might contain null text strings, these are now properly managed. Changed behavior for a seldom used text attribute that according to documentation was to specify text rotation, but in use it appears that is not the correct interpretation.

Improved DXF export. The export is now more robust with respect to degenerate lines and paths. Very small and zero length paths and curves would generated DXF elements that could crash CAD packages when reading the DXF. EazyDraw now filters these and avoids writing out the problematic lines and paths.

EazyDraw Version 5.3.1 April, 3 2013

Added localization for Swedish language support.

EazyDraw Retro (for AppleWorks, MacDraw, ClarisDraw - and support for 10.4 and 10.5) - updated to version 5.0.7. EazyDraw Legacy for Snow Leopard updated to 5.0.8.

Font Map

Several improvements and enhancements for Font Mapping. These improvements apply to SVG and DXF import, and EPS and PDF ungrouping. After an import (or EPS / PDF ungroup), if the Font Map panel is open, EazyDraw will generate a report covering the Fonts used in the external drawing or graphic and the resolution to your native font. For a "new" import - run the import once and study the report, then make your choices for Font mapping (and character maps is necessary), then import again. Repeat the process until you have satisfactory import and are happy with the text appearance and typesetting.

Added capability to use embedded font glyphs for SVG import. This is managed on the Font Mapping panel. If a SVG drawing has embedded glyph information and the font name does not match to a font installed on OS X, the embedded glyphs are used. Note that in this case the text is not editable as text, each glyph is drawn as a raw bezier path. The Font Mapping panel allows user choice for use of the glyphs or mapping to an installed font. Using embedded glyphs will provide a true appearance for the drawing. Using a mapped font will provide supported text editing and OS X typesetting but exact appearance for the drawing’s text will likely be altered.

Added two more character maps for SVG and PDF import. These are managed on the Font Mapping panel. The most important is a character map for Wolfram Mathematica. Wolfram designed a proprietary math font, and (for some reason??) assigned many of the math symbols to non-unicode proprietary code points. While unicode provides a range of unicodes for proprietary use, these usually apply to company specific glyphs such as the Apple logo. Wolfram assigned proprietary unicodes for standard math symbols, such as an integral symbol. These private unicodes are then exported in the SVG, where technically they are meaningless unless one used embedded glyphs, which Wolfram provides yet claims they are proprietary and then technically they cannot be used unless you own a Wolfram software package that includes their font. The solution is a character map, this allows Wolfram equations to be represented in any Font that legally available that supports math symbols. EazyDraw now has 3 character maps: Wolfram, non-unicode classic Symbol font, and non-unicode classic Wingdings font. This allows a Wollram SVG to be imported, mapping to your non-proprietary OS X font of choice for mathematic symbols. The Font map panel now has a check box to choose embedded glyphs, and a popup menu with the 3 character maps.

Retina Support

(Retina display not needed to use this version -- these are only optimizations used when a Retina display is present) (Check notes below with version 5.3.0 release)

Updated several menu images to provide support for Retina Display. All EazyDraw menu and popup menu images now have 2x improved resolution images for optimal display on high resolution Retina systems.

Shift Key on Launch

(prevents open of all drawings, including auto-save recovery drawings)

Added a new fail-safe capability. If EazyDraw launches with the Shift Key held down - EazyDraw will launch without opening any drawings. This is a hard-coded backstop, nothing will open. This is important now that OS X has new (with Lion and Mountain Lion) behavior to prevent loss of data. OS X frequently will automatically instruct EazyDraw to open a copy of a drawing that was present at quit, external shut down, force quit, or a crash. This means that it is possible to be trapped in a loop: a) drawing data issue leads to crash, b) EazyDraw terminate, c) EazyDraw launch, d) OS X recovers the file with data issue, repeat to -a) drawing data issue leads to crash. According to OS X documentation the Shift key at launch is supposed to break the cycle however this does not always seem to work. OS X gives a higher priority to not loosing the work in progress data and thinks the launch was successful followed by "another" crash. Hence this new absolute fail-safe mechanism. Hold down shift and you can now force a break in a crash at launch cycle. "they are extremely rare of course :-) " .

SVG Improvements

Major additions and corrections for SVG import. EazyDraw now handles the use of Clipping paths for many more exotic uses. The full SVG test suite relating to clipping paths is now imported correctly. EazyDraw now handles clipping paths that are defined integral to the drawing content. The SVG specification strongly recommends that clipping paths be defined in the DEFs section at the before the content. But: it is still valid to the letter of the specification that DEFs be defined later or at the end of the drawing and Clip Paths may be intermixed with drawing content. EazyDraw now handles all of these situations. One need for the "non-recommended" usage is SVG content produced by Wolfram Mathematica, testing for import of the "Wolfram dialect of SVG" is in progress.

Corrected problem on import of SVG with text that is is mirror flipped left to right. The flip was incorrectly interpreted as a rotation. This situation is now handled properly.

Fixed SVG import issue related to scientific notation used with length specification. These issues relate to reading SVG generated by Wolfram Mathematica.

Fixed 3 issues with SVG import. Primary addition is the support of nested TSpan elements. Corrected issue of possible incorrect scaling for symbols.

DXF Improvements

Improved speed for DXF import of large drawings that utilize non-black&white colors. If your import for very large (100,000 + graphic elements) dxf drawings is somewhat slow, please be patient a future version of EazyDraw is in testing and the time for these imports is decreased by about 1000 fold. This color reading optimization will prove a significant improvement for EazyDraw 5.

Corrected issue when importing DXF, where the originating CAD - DXF was drawn in metric units and dash lines were used. The dash length and space sequences did not reelect the metric units (mm) this is now converted correctly and the overall appearance of the dash line is conserved. This was not a problem for DXF drawings based on English inch measurements.

Corrected issue when importing DXF, where the originating CAD - DXF was drawn in metric units and Associative Dimensions were used. The font size for the call out text was too small by the 1/2.54 ratio. This improvement might change Associative Dimension text size in other imports too, but they should all be more accurate now. If problems are seen in this area contact EazyDraw support and send in the DXF drawing if possible. Some of these interactions will depend on the specific originating CAD program, system, international location.

Corrected problem for export DXF for the shapes found on the Charting palette. In some cases, when these shapes were filled with a solid color or hatch, the filled shape (in CAD terms this would be a Solid Hatch) in the DXF file would be a filed rectangle.

Corrected possible problem for export DXF with dashed lines in drawings with one layer and few other special conditions. The DXF output appeared to be valid, but would cause AutoCadLT 2013 to crash. Some changes were made to the assignment and creation of DXF line type handles (internal names), this should insure against internal handle naming conflicts for AutoCadLT. All seems correct now and AutoCadLT does not crash when opening the DXF. This issue did not impact eDrawings, only AutoCad.

Changed the DXF export behavior for white text. Previously white text color remained white in the DXF file, it was not swapped to black as is the case for path color. These color mappings are fuzzy logic, and it seems that most users will expect this to be included in the automatic white-black color swaps. This is the new behavior.

DXF export now includes line width for curves, lines and paths. Keep in mind that a CAD program will likely not show the line width on the screen display. But now your postscript line widths from EazyDraw will be present on printing. Keep in mind that line caps and line joint style is a global drawing parameter for DXF and CAD programs (the newer versions that support this in any fashion). So you cannot export line cap and line join information via DXF, the recipient user setting for these parameters will be the values used.

General Improvements and Bug Fixes

Changed the behavior of Centered Text. Previously this form of text (inserted centered in a graphic) was forced to have Centered paragraph (text) alignment as well as the specific vertically aligned position. However, when in text editing mode one could set the paragraph text alignment (left, right, center, justified). This user setting would hold and override the default centering paragraph mode. But if the text was edited EazyDraw would ignore the user-override and return to Centered text alignment setting. Now EazyDraw defers to the user setting. Centered text alignment is still always the initial setting when a new Centered Text element is created (usually by double clicking the graphic).

Added customizable toolbar buttons for the Hatch and Tabs palettes.

Improved the file save times for the new (non-reverse-compatible) drawing format. The optimization applies to drawings with large (> 10,000) numbers of complex bezier paths, For cases that apply the save time is 100 fold improved.

Corrected error in Graphic Details read-out for a Line, with the Delta option selected. The Delta values were in error if the Page Layout for the drawing used a non-zero canvas margin. The read-out is correct now in all situations.

Corrected problem with custom tools for text justification. They were only enabling in the text edit mode. They should be enabled and available anytime text is selected. They behave properly again, and the customizable toolbar pulldown menu is enabled properly now.

Corrected a problem with automatic dimensions, for the Reverse format. The dimension value would initially report correctly, but if the target graphic was moved or resized the dimension display value would not update. All is reporting correctly now.

Corrected rare but serious possible crash when using smooth wall (ribbon) graphic, the crash would occur at launch and open if the the drawing had a degenerate smooth wall of zero length.

Corrected problem the insert tool, in the case of multiple inserts into different Bezier segments of a single graphic. The insert would generate multiple copies of the original graphic. This is now correct, only one new copy of the graphic with multiple inserted vertices replaces the original.

Corrected problem related to Connectors and Dimensions attached to elements in a Group. The problem was that connections were lost when the Group was ungrouped. This happened if the connector was internal or external to the group. Now the connections are conserved.

Corrected problems with drawings that have spell check highlights at the time of Print or Export. There is a warning dialog for this situation. This dialog was "stuck" and could not be cleared without closing the drawing. This is now fixed.

Corrected very rare possible problem with Patterns, when using the new drawing file format (Reverse Compatible set to NO). If the drawing had multiple patterns, of the same dimension, then save and re-open would possibly use one pattern rather than the different distinct patterns on re-open. This is fixed now.

Corrected problem entering and leaving full screen mode for drawings with Connectors (or Dimensions). In some cases the ends of the connectors would loose their position and connections. This works correctly now.

Corrected problem with Combine -> Difference. If the subtrahend graphic was small and only extended a small distance from the minuend graphic, and if their shapes were curved, then the difference was executed as a join (as if the smaller shape was completely enclosed). This is now handled correctly.

Corrected problem accessing the Transfer palette in Germain, Spanish, and Japanese. The menu item to access the Transfer palette was always disabled. This is now corrected. Corrected problem with Cross Over. Saving and opening a drawing with a fixed (not automatic or percent) Cross Over could have the y position move when the saved drawing was opened. This is now correct. The saved drawing will have the correct value, the issue was a the time of open, so the update should completely fix the issue.

Corrected problem with bitmap patterns. If the host graphic was resized to a larger size, the pattern would fail to fill the full interior of the graphic. This would self correct upon a save and reload. This was recently introduced in the latest version of EazyDraw. All is correct again.

Corrected problem saving and opening a drawing with multiple different dimensions, when using Reverse Compatible set to No. All dimensions were saved with the same attributes (arrows, color, etc). This problem is fixed, dimensions save and restore properly now. The problem was only present when using the new (with version 5.3.0) drawing file formats.

Corrected perimeter calculation for the new (version 5.3.0) area / perimeter value shown on Graphic Details. There was a mistake in the reading for rectangles and possibly other closed polygons. All is correct now.

Corrected problem for export DXF, for text distorted with a Free Transform. The export would fail, EazyDraw would not crash but there was no DXF information written. This is now corrected and the export in this situation is generated correctly.

Corrected problem on Graphic Details with Delta X and Delta Y inputs for a Line. New values were not computed correctly when using non-zero Margins (the canvas margin on Page Layout). There were problems if the axis directions were changed from the common default settings of plus-to-right and plus-down. All is correct now.

Corrected problem with Short Cut Menu Keys that used the Option button modifier (such as Flip Horizontal). These were being blocked by OS X, this is now fixed and in general your Settings on Menu Keys for user defined short cut keys should be more robust against OS X over-ride.

Improve certain situations for DXF text import. Some situations would leave the text box too small to hold the OS X typeset text, the imported DXF would have the light red squares indicating that not all text was displayed (then the user would need to execute the Fit Text command to correct). The import behavior is now more robust against this situation. Display and position of imported text should be more accurate. And Text sizing is more accurate for metric based DXF import.

Two corrections for DXF import. a) related to possible flip of an imported rectangle. b) proper handling of MTEXT font size specifications that are not a relative size specification, there appears to be two forms for this specification one absolute and one relative both are now parsed and interpreted.

Corrected problem if a PDF export was executed while a text box was in editing mode. The text box would show as a simple rectangle - no text in the PDF. This is now correct.

Improved User Library in the Button mode. These would always open showing the small panel to set the number of columns for the custom palette. This behavior was annoying - so now the column setting panel only shows when the custom tool button palette is resized.

EazyDraw Version 5.3.0 November, 26 2012

Added localization for Brazilian Portuguese language support.

Retina Support (Users)

EazyDraw is now optimized to take full advantage of the high resolution Retina display. All user interface graphics (tool palettes, toolbar icons, cursors, icons, and images) are now provided with the improved quality dual image representation. The dual images allow optimal display on both traditional and the new Retina screens. The use of the improved images is automatic, there is no parameter setting required. The proper image for a display screen is selected automatically by EazyDraw. This is true even for multi-screen arrangements, as a drawing window or parameter palette is moved from one screen to another the images are swapped and updated on the fly if appropriate. In most cases you can notice the image change when you slide a palette or drawing window from an older screen to a Retina, the new images are brighter and lighter in color for improved appearance with the higher pixel density. FYI (perhaps a warning): once you try a Retina you will no longer want to work on an old clunkier.

Retina Support - IconSet Export (App Developers)

Added support for Apple Development for High Resolution (Retina) graphics. Apps for the iPhone, iPad and now Mac OS all require new icon source graphics with multiple images. The multiple images are packaged in an iconSet folder. The folder must contain two full sets of icon images, one set at 72 Dots Per Inch (DPI) and the other at 144 DPI. This can be a tedious job to properly assemble this full set of PNG images. EazyDraw now provides a one-click export mechanism to export the full set of images, all properly named and composed with the proper image size and resolution. This is found on the PNG export panel, a new option called "iconset" is found at the bottom of the export content popup menu. The iconset menu allows the selection of one layer that will specify the bounding rectangle and name for each exported png image. For convenience, on the Page Setup menu, with App Developer selected as the electronic printer, there is a "page" option for iconset. This selection will add an iconset layer to the drawing, with bounding boxes of the appropriate size for each image required for an Apple Specified Iconset. When exporting a iconset the Apple defined convention that specifies the character sequence "@2x" indicates a high resolution image (144 dpi) is used to trigger the required resolution doubling. If this note is cryptic then study the Apple Developer documentation for high resolution user interface design and all should be clear. Brief documentation is found on the PNG export help page.

Trim and Extend

New commands on Tools main menu, Combine submenu. These will trim or extend the start or end of a line, path or curve. The end is extended to the intersect point of another graphic. Trimming shortens the end to the exact intersection of a another graphic. Double Click on the start or end point (when selected) is the convenience short cut for these actions. Use the Command or Option command key modifiers to indicate Extend or Trim. A simple double click of the end of a line will extend the line, for a path or curve the Command Key is needed because Double Click in that case indicates "Close the Path". Documentation is complete, consult the Help pages for a full description .

Smaller File Size

Smaller File Size: New parameter on EazyDraw Preferences. Set "File, Reverse Compatible" to "NO" to significantly reduce drawing file size.

Smaller File Size Details: Major changes were made for the native EazyDraw file formats. The new Mountain Lion (began with Lion) technology increases file input and output activity a significant amount. This related to Auto Save, crash recovery and iCloud. This means that saving and opening a drawing needs to fast and efficient. EazyDraw version 5 provided several new efficiencies making better use of multiple processors and simultaneous loading of drawing information with priority on exact file information needed to present the drawing window. This release provides further input output efficiency with a significant reduction in file size. EazyDraw design criteria from the original release in 2001 has emphasized forward and reverse compatibility, indeed the first version of EazyDraw could read a current drawing and the current version of EazyDraw can seamlessly open a drawing saved by EazyDraw version zero. And the EazyDraw graphic format is text based and fully human readable. This release breaks from the reverse compatibility constraint in order to allow for smaller files sizes. There is a new parameter on the Preferences Palette, it is titled "File, Reverse Compatible". If the setting is "2001 V0" drawings are saved in the original format and are readable by all older versions of EazyDraw. If the setting is "NO", that means the drawing is saved with the new format and cannot be read by earlier versions of EazyDraw. The setting of "NO" will result in smaller file size by 50% to 90%. The EazyDraw Graphic format is still human readable, Bezier paths use SVG text based formatting so they are still readable but much more compact. EazyDraw Binary is still readable with the Property List editor. And the format is still fully self documenting, albeit a bit more complex with a re-use store of properly dictionaries.

Smaller File Size Summary: Default setting is still set to the "2001 V0" setting. Users involved with critical work should avoid the new format for a few months. New users that will not be sharing drawings may want to gain efficiency with the new "NO" choice for reverse compatibility. Users with large complex drawings will benefit by changing to the new format. In any situation it is usually advised to save archive files at the completion of a project in the most verbose format, that would be the "2001 V0" setting.

Improvements to the native storage format for Text and Bitmap Images. Now text is saved as a human readable string in the EazyDraw graphic text file, and the binary equivalent Property List. All aspects of the rich text formatting are now human readable XML tagged content, this includes text style, paragraph formatting, tabs, and all other text attributes. These now human readable, and self documenting while providing smaller size and improved read write speed. Bitmap images are now (when Reverse Compatible is set to "No") saved as PNG - base64 format. This is not exactly human readable but the format is completely defined in the Open community. This provides a smaller size and a public / open representation of the images. When these changes were applied to the full 350 page EazyDraw manual, the saved file size was reduced from 90 Megabytes to 18 Megabytes. Now for many drawings the saved file size and corresponding read/write time improves by a factor of 10 - all with improved open access.

Graphic Details Revamp

Revamp of a Graphic Details fields. Bezier and Continuous Bezier Graphic Detail reports now provide more detail, more information and better accuracy (on 64 bit machines). The import of SVG and DXF content often leads to various degenerate Bezier path constructions. The graphic details report now detects and indicates all possible Bezier segment constructions. Documentation is not complete, but the new capability is robust and has been extensively tested. The new information is largely self documenting.

Graphic Details reporting for enclosed Area has been extended. The text field with associated label/button is found near the bottom of the Graphic Details. It now reports Area, Length, Bytes, Character Count, or Word Count. The metric(s) reported are contextual and reflect the properties of the selected graphic or graphics. If multiple graphics are selected, then total sum for the metric is reported. The associated label is also a button - each click will cycle through all applicable metrics for the current selection. Documentation is not complete, but all is tested and robust.

Graphic Details reporting for Arcs has been enhance. Now Arc Length, Chord Length, Median Angle, Start Angle and End Angle may be reported. Use the new popup menu to select the desired parameter. The value is reported and new numeric input is accepted (for example you may now set the arc-length, or chord (Secant) of the arc directly.

Corrected issues on Graphic Details for Polygons. The last segment (the close segment) of a polygon would not correctly accept new numerical values. When entering values the focus segment would jump and the value entered assigned to the wrong segment. All is correct now.

Improved Accuracy for Circles and Ellipses

The introduction of 64 bit computing increased the defining precision for all EazyDraw graphics. It was found that the normal OS X treatment of Circles and Ellipses results in display approximations that no longer match the inherent accuracy of the geometry. EazyDraw now provides more accurate screen and print drawing for Arcs, Circles and Ellipses. The exact drawn paths are now drawn accurate to the 64 bit precision. These "errors" were of course quite small, on the order of a fraction of a typical line width. However, there are situations where they can impact geometric constructions.

Improvements for Export and Import

Improved DXF import with several minor corrections. Improved the error handling of corrupt dxf drawings. Several classes of corruption that would previously cause a crash now properly terminate the import and present an error message. The new error messages report the line number for the problem text, this allows the user to easily investigate and correct the problem with a text editor.

Improved DXF import with added support for different text encodings. DXF is inherently defined as and ASCII encoded text file. However, comments and text that are part of the drawing must use other encodings for non-english/latin languages. There is a semi-defined DXF header variable that in some cases indicates an extra-encoding, the variable has a Windows CodePage value. EazyDraw now checks for this header parameter and will use Windows 1252 CodePage (primarily for German language) or Windows 932 CodePage (for Japanese language) depending on the value found.

Several improvements for SVG import.

Corrected and improved PDF ungroup. In some cases filled shapes would present the shape covered with a rectangle swatch of color, the fill is now properly inserted in the color. Tiling of embedded images is improved. Ungrouping large embedded images is now much faster. an example 20 mega pixel image was taking several minutes, it now converts in a few seconds.

Corrected issues with EPS images. The EazyDraw version 5 release introduced an issue of the EPS image being flipped when inserted in a drawing. Then Ungroup EPS would shift the image in the y-direction. All is again correct, EPS images do not invert and ungroup in place with no flip or shift.

Other Corrections and Improvements

Return, Enter and Escape now clears and deselects any selected graphics. This behavior is now similar to Canvas and AutoCad, which will aid those users migrating to EazyDraw from these and other applications.

Improved DXF import with added support for different text encodings. DXF is inherently defined as and ASCII encoded text file. However, comments and text that are part of the drawing must use other encodings for non-english/latin languages. There is a semi-defined DXF header variable that in some cases indicates an extra-encoding, the variable has a Windows CodePage value. EazyDraw now checks for this header parameter and will use Windows 1252 CodePage (primarily for German language) or Windows 932 CodePage (for Japanese language) depending on the value found.

Several improvements for SVG import.

This version has a full set of patches to correct the Mountain Lion pattern color hang issue. The patches include all uses of Patters for fill, including Patter Colors that are derived from not-EazyDraw pattern that may be present on the system color picker. The patches include display and printing, as it has been determined the Mountain Lion bug extends to PDF printing as well as display on screens. The issue was introduced with Mountain Lion. Mountain Lion has a somewhat rare but severe bug displaying or printing pattern fill colors. In certain situations Mountain Lion will hang host application while the operating system is drawing the pattern fill.

All language localizations have design and layout improvements. Popup menus and and label fields on Graphic Details have been reviewed for each language, with touchup for size, position, and design / layout to properly present information and content for each supported language.

The Align To Grid indicators on the Align To Grid panel were being drawn slightly low. This problem was introduced with EazyDraw 5. Problem fixed, they draw properly again.

Removed Image Composition parameters for Gradient Fill. The image composition operations are no longer useful or meaningful on todays displays and images. The operations also do not render well on the new high resolution Retina display. So the parameters were removed. The full capability is still available if the graphic with the gradient is converted to an image (Tools -> Convert To submenu).

EazyDraw Version 5.1.2 August, 20 2012

Corrected a major problem for Mountain Lion users. Mountain Lion has a somewhat rare but severe bug displaying pattern fill colors. In certain situations Mountain Lion will hang EazyDraw while the operating system is displaying the pattern fill. If the hang occurs it may keep EazyDraw from launching, opening a drawing, or printing (depending on when this random issue triggers). This version of EazyDraw has replaced all Pattern Drawing algorithms with internal code to avoid the new system problem. It would be advised to avoid using Pattern Colors as a color choice (from the system color picker), this should be avoided in EazyDraw and other Apps on Mountain Lion. It is not necessary to use these colors with EazyDraw - apply the Pattern fill from the Pattern palette instead of applying the pattern color from the system color picker. Patterns now display in an improved fashion, they no longer are pinned to to the bottom left of the drawing window, now patterns are synced to the actual graphic. The Pattern panel has two new parameters that provide a means to tweak the display start of the pattern tiling (phase). The improvement insures that the pattern seen on a display will be the same in all respects when printed. Patterns now zoom in a normal fashion for detailed inspection, keep in mind patterns are pixel based and should be viewed at zoom 100 percent to see actual presentation or printed appearance.

Added localization for Czech language support.

Menu Keys menu command was not enabled in German, French, and Japanese. This was a recently introduced issue. It is now enabled and working properly.

Further changes for the new issue on Mountain Lion relating to improper placement of windows when launching EazyDraw. This seems to be rare, on some systems. The issue corrected with 5.1.1 was reported to extend to parameter palettes. This version has a correction for all parameter palettes. At EazyDraw launch all parameter palettes should now properly restore to their previous locations on the desktop.

Added default cmd - comma for keyboard short cut access to Preferences.

Corrected a problem exporting DXF with multiple dashed lines. This situation now exports properly.

Corrected the localization for French. The Arrows palette was in Spanish, it is now correct. A few menu items were shown in English, they are now shown properly in French.

Corrected a hang situation when creating a Guides layer by dragging from a ruler onto the drawing. This issue was intro ducted with version 5.1.0, (not present in version 4 or any of the retro versions). This now working again.

EazyDraw Version 5.1.1 August, 6 2012

Full update of the PDF manual. The version 5 manual is now updated to cover the current state of the user interface including Mountain Lion look and feel. The manual is accessed from the Help menu.

Correct problem with the drag image. When dragging a graphic on screen a trail of edge artifacts was possible. This happen if Drag Image was something other than Live Graphic. In some cases the image could be flipped. The problem was possible when dragging a graphic from one drawing to another. This was introduce with version 5. All of these issues are fixed now.

Corrected Mountain Lion issue when opening an existing drawing. In some cases the drawing was not positioned at the saved location on the screen. In some cases the drawing window was positioned at the point of another tool palette, or in strange locations. This should be correct now. This was introduced with version 5.1.0 and only noticed by a few users on Mountain Lion (not seen Lion).

Corrected problem with Keynote export. The export was not produced with the right data format. This is now working properly again. This issue was introduced with the new Mountain Lion Save and Open changes for EazyDraw version 5.

Added Gray Scale color space for EPS export. Now EPS may be exported as Gray, RGB, or CMYK.

Corrected issues with DXF export when exporting complex paths that have "breaks" - Joined Bezier. A common instance of this construction are Walls, Windows and Doors. These were not exporting to DXF. The problem is now corrected. All graphics with this construction (including walls) now export properly.

EazyDraw Version 5.1.0 July, 30 2012

Chinese, Dutch Netherlands, Italian, and Norwegian

Initial release with localization for 4 new languages. This localization presents the full user interface now in 9 native languages (Chinese Simplified, Dutch, English, French, Italian, Japanese, German, Norwegian, and Spanish).

Full update for Open and Save Operations

The user interface for opening and saving drawings has been redesigned to conform with the latest conventions for Mountain Lion. The unpopular aspects of changes in this area for Lion have been re-worked for a clean new productive design. Save As is again supported, although changes are automatically written to the original, together with a new Move To mechanism. These improvements require the upgrade to Mountain Lion, which is advised for the best EazyDraw user experience.

The file Input-Output was completely rewritten to take better advantage of multiple processors that are now common on all Macs. Several threads are spawned to load the data, create the graphics and generate the display window in a simultaneous fashion. The full advantage of this OS X technology is seen when opening very large multi-layer drawings, EazyDraw assigns individual CPU’s the task of reading and preparing individual layers while the main thread creates the drawing window.

There is now one simple standard system Open panel, for all graphic types understood by EazyDraw. You no longer need to set a particular file type. Drawings and User Libraries all open with the same panel. This approach give users access to the improvements provided by Mountain Lion, CoverFlow and QuickLook are both integrated with the system open panel.

Export is now a normal system save operation. Choose the Export format directly from the new submenu on the File main menu.

New Dual Representation TIFF export

For Mac, iPhone and iPad Developers. Export TIF now supports the new High Resolution user interface graphic and icon standards for Retina Display.

SVG export for Vector Hatches

Added support for SVG export of Vector Hatches. This is now fully operational and tested.

DXF Export - major additions

Work has continued on DXF export. The export is now more robust with several bug fixes and improvements. More of your EazyDraw graphics are now converted to native DXF AutoCad geometry (EazyDraw does not use straight line segmentation to generate the DXF drawing). This will provide better work flow for CAD and CNC utilization.

Bug Fixes

Added the capability to interpret and import Postscript Axial and Radial Shadings when ungrouping EPS and PDF. These Shadings are sometimes the mechanism for rendering of Gradients (Linear and Spot gradients in EazyDraw terminology) in PDF and EPS. This is seems to be contained in PDF from more recent applications such as Adobe Illustrator CS5 and CS6 and recent versions of Excell. EazyDraw now interprets these and generates a corresponding EazyDraw Gradient Fill. Rendering, display, printing and export are fully operational, full editing of this gradient form with the Gradient Palette is not complete. This form is currently supported with an EazyDraw vector gradient. A new gradient form will be incorporated soon to provide full editing of gradients with 100’s and 1000’s of color shades.

Corrected two problems with DXF export. The two issuers related to exporting drawings with text that use non-Mac carriage returns for hard line breaks in text, and Bezier paths that are not closed-contain only one segment-but do have a fill color.

Added capability to SVG import for detecting the presence of layers and generating EazyDraw layers for appropriate top level groups. Added support for embedded Base64 encoded images. Corrected text placement and transform situations.

Solved problem with SVG import related to Text with inherited Anchor property. This introduced a parsing error, and this particular error would possibly trigger a crash in the error message dialog. Both errors are now corrected. This was introduced recently.

Corrected issue with connectors when used in groups. The issue related to nodes with more than one connector and a normal graphic attach point. If the two connectors connected to each other instead of both connectors attaching to the third (non-connector) graphic attach point. Then when grouped and a subsequent move of the group, the two connector ends would behave erratically, sometimes pinning to their position on the drawing and some times attaching to and moving with the group. Now when a connector attaches to a node with another connector and a non-connector graphic, the non-connector graphic is favored and will be the attach target. This will correct the problem. Groups created before this fix may still have the problem (about a 50-50 chance), to correct the issue ungroup and re-attach the connectors.

Corrected issue with SVG import. The issue related to proper interpretation of super-scripts, sub-scripts and text base line offsets. These were not always parsed and processed correctly. Now all these situations are properly imported.

Corrected issues with DXF import, relating to the TEXT objects. Most DXF drawings have MTEXT, and there were several updates needed for EazyDraw’s interpretation of TEXT objects. TEXT objects are now imported, positioned and sized with good accuracy.

Corrected issue with DXF export of Corner graphics. If the corner was fully circular-elliptical and if the width and height were equal, then the corner might have been exported flipped. All is correct now for all orientations and geometry of Corner graphics.

Corrected problem with Tick mark graphics. Tick marks with larger tick lengths would not select for on-screen editing, interactive changes would be difficult or in many cases impossible. That is now fully operational again. This problem was introduced recently in version 4.

Added support for DXF export of graphics with Arrows. These are now exported with color and style as well as size for all forms of arrows including custom, along and transformed.

Corrected problem with numeric entry on Graphic Details, when using full non-abbreviated units. An entry with both feet and inches, fully spelled out, would have problems. The issue related to the use of the plurals in the entry string. Everything is correct now and the corrections make these mixed entry strings more robust so it is possible that other word combinations in English or other languages may have been corrected as well.

Corrected problem with the popup menu for straight walls on Graphic Details. The menu for wall direction was not loaded and not operational. All is correct again. This issue was introduced with a recent release.

Corrected problem with PDF ungroup. If the PDF contained a series of images, all with the same cropping path, then only the first image was recovered. Problem is corrected now all the images are combined into one EazyDraw Crop graphic, providing the proper appearance and more convenient graphic arrangement.

Corrected issue with SVG import, when using 72 per inch pixel size with SVG files that mixed implied and explicit pixel lengths (this from Canvas generated SVG with certain non-default settings for the export). The problem related to the newly introduced option for pixel size of 72 per inch or 90 per inch. In cases where the explicit units of "px" are used in the drawing, EazyDraw interpreted these at 90 per inch in all cases. This appears to be incorrect or at least inconsistent with most other viewers of SVG. So now EazyDraw also applies your choice for 72 or 90 to explicit as will as implicit pixel dimensions.

Correct issue with DXF import of an associative dimension with no Font information. The default font used was very small (less than on point). This is now correct, the current EazyDraw default font size is used.

Corrected possible crash after exporting as DXF if the drawing contained a dashed line. All is correct now. It was a rare crash but chance would increase for drawings containing numerous dashed lines.

Corrected problem exporting DXF with colored text, if the full string was the same non white or black color, the color attribute did not get exported.

Corrected problem on Dash palette. When adding a new dash sequence interactively on the palette, using the right-most interactive dash tab. The new dash sequence was correctly added but the display on the Dash palette did not draw the new dash until completion, so the interaction was not - live. Now it is correct, you can view your new dash sequence and position it interactive with a single interactive drag action.

Corrected issue with Graphic Details entering vertices and control point values for normal Bezier curve. Paths and Continuous Beziers did not have the problem. All is correct again. This problem seems to have enter at version 4.1 and 4.2.

Corrected a problem on copy from EazyDraw to another App, when the copied graphics contained an Cross Over and the Cross Over was in Automatic mode. The automatic Cross Overs would be missing in the pasted graphic when pasted as PDF, or a Bitmap Graphic. Now the Cross Over marks (or jumpers) will be present, with respect to all other graphics in the Copy and Paste operation. For example if the Cross Over was jumping another path, but that path is not included in the Copy, then there will not be a jumper; but if the other line is included then the jumper will be in the pasted image.

Corrected a possible hang when ungrouping PDF with Auto Combine text enabled. There have been a few corrections for this situation, this fix looks promising - it was probably the root cause. So Auto Combine text should be more reliable now. It still can increase the conversion time quite significantly especially when used for situations where there is no individual text glyphs to auto-combine, the algorithms will naturally take a long time to keep checking for something that is not there.

Corrected issue with Dimensions, when using the Nothing setting and there is no additional text string. The Dimension would draw an extra box at the top left of the drawing. And an export of Just Graphics would expand to include the extra box. This is now handled correctly.

EazyDraw Version 4.3.0 April, 30 2012

Vector Hatch

Vector Hatches. There is a new palette, accessible from Tools main menu, for management of Vector Hatches. These are similar to Pattern colors but where Pattern Colors are based on bitmap images, vector Hatches are drawn as vectors. The hatches are based on Dashed lines, which you can sequence at user controlled offset intervals. The Hatches follow exactly the definitions used with AutoCad and other CAD drawing applications. This means that if you have access to a Hatch definition for AutoCad or Solid Works, you can use that information to define a Hatch for EazyDraw. Several ISO, ANSI, and other standard Hatches are automatically built and installed by EazyDraw, access these from the Named Hatches popup menu. When importing DXF you can now choose to have the DXF (AutoCad) hatches imported as Patterns (bitmap) or Hatches (vector) - normally you will choose vector.

The Vector Hatch page has more informationThe video tutorial on Vector Hatches Tutorial is available, it is included with the current Addition Pack video tutorials.

New: DXF Export -- Improved DXF Import

DXF Export is now available. This is a new feature with this release. Access from the normal export panel, File main menu. The export supports layers. The export supports the current AutoCad DXF standard, "AutoCad LT 2010", all older formats back to R12/LT2 are supported, use the version popup menu to select. If you are not certain about the version choose the newest LT 2010. Gold Standard for testing this implementation was AutoCad LT 2011 running on Windows 7.

Significant improvements to DXF import. This version provides full support and accurate import results for the latest AutoCad DXF version -AutoCad LT 2010-. There is full documentation on the new DXF review panel. This panel allows you to set an appropriate drawing scale and printer/paper arrangement for the incoming DXF drawing. The preview shows the areas of DXF content and the outline of the drawing paper at a chosen scale. It is important to understand and make good use of this panel when importing DXF drawings. It is infinitely easier to adjust the scale and drawing area here compared to using Morph after the content is inserted in the EazyDraw drawing. Documentation for this process is found in the Help pages. Gold Standard for testing this implementation is AutoCad LT 2011 running on Windows 7.

Font Mapping

Font Mapping is fully implemented now. There is a new palette on the Text -> Font submenu. A new option for mapping, on import only, the older style Symbol Font (not Apple’s unicode Symbol font, but the older non-unicode symbol font from the 1980’s and 1990’s) characters to correct unicode codes. This is needed for Canvas X import of SVG and ungrouping of PDF made by Canvas. This is primarily for Canvas users, but the issue may be seen in pdf files made in the early days of OS 9 or from Windows.

The Font Map table will record and show missing fonts after import conversions. Then you may easily add a substitute font from those available on the system and repeat the import.

Font Mapping will be useful for DXF export and import. This is rather important as DXF drawings often have fonts not normally found on a Mac System. This works for both import and export, often important when exporting drawings as DXF for users on other platforms. The best strategy is to request a DXF from the other platform, perform the import, assign the Mac substitute fonts, then copy the font map table (using the utilities popup lower left of the Font palette) and paste it to the DXF export font map table.

There is a Factory provided font map designed to be used by Canvas users importing drawings that use Symbol font (normally for Greek characters used in mathematical expressions). Canvas users should select this prepared font map using the utility popup menu, lower left on the Font palette.

Drag Select With Default Arrow Tool

Enhanced options for the drag select behavior of the default (Arrow) tool. Previously drag select would select any graphic that was touched. The only way to get the drag-select-enclosed behavior was to use the special tool on the Selection Tools palette. Many users from Canvas are accustomed to the drag-select-enclosed behavior. Now there is an option on the View -> Select submenu for these two choices, Drag Touch and Drag Enclose. ALSO: The behavior of the Option key for default drag behavior was changed, previously this triggered Pan action instead of drag select; but Pan is available with the more conventional modifier of Space-Bar drag, so this behavior is not really needed on the Option key. Now the Option key, during a drag-select action (for the default Arrow tool) will temporarily change to the other drag-select behavior. This provides efficient access to both (touch and enclose) behaviors.

Arrows

Major additions and improvements to Arrows. There is a new setting that provides two methods for defining the exact reference position for an Arrow. The new method provides a setting for "Relief" for drawing the arrow. With the new setting the tip of the arrow is placed exactly at the end of the defining host line, path, or curve. The host graphic ending section is then relieved from the arrow to end precisely at the base of the arrow. This provides improved placement accuracy and a clean appearance. Full documentation is complete in the Help pages, use search phrase "arrow relief".

Three new arrow shapes are provided, Bulls-Eye, Pie, and Open Pie.

Hybrid Path

Added a new conversion command called Hybrid Path. This is similar to Convert To -> Bezier, but if a path has segments that are essentially linear, control points are not added or removed if necessary. For example a Rounded rectangle when converted to Bezier will have two control points on each segment including the straight segments on the 4 sides, but with Convert To -> Hybrid Path there will only be control points on the corners. This combined with Convert To -> Continuous Bezier allows full management of editing modes for Bezier paths. The short-cut key is Control-H (think of it as control-Handles, or control-Hybrid). So Cmd-B, Cmd-Shift-B, and now Control-H allow quick switching as you edit the details of a path.

Added intelligence to the Bezier Weld command. Now if a welded Bezier result does not contain a curved segment the result provided is a Path of straight segments, not a Bezier curve. For example, if all element of a weld action are lines, the result will be a path not a Bezier. This is the logically correct behavior, it saves the added step of then converting the result from Bezier to Path.

Copy Special as Numbers data to the Clip Board

Update to the Copy Special menu. The actions for copy special of Style, Gradient and similar attributes were removed. Any Copy of a graphic will load these attributes on the system clipboard, so there is no need for a copy special of these attributes. The menu is now populated with actions relating to placing paths and curve on the clipboard as text. There are now 4 text formats supported and 3 options for separators. The Comma, Tab, and Space options can be combined, each one that is checked is included as characters separating values. Each vertex including control points if present are on one line of text. The Table option is a comma separated format that will paste into Excel or numbers. The Text option is a simple table of vertices and controls points as numbers. Interpolation outputs only points on the curve, so no control points. SVG formats the Bezier information in accordance with accepted SVG path formatting. The values are in drawing units, formatting follows exactly the numeric display settings for the Graphic Details drawer. Consult the Help pages for full documentation.

SVG (and Canvas migration)

Numerous minor bug fixes for SVG import and export. Corrected problem with SVG import related to rotated rectangles. The width and height of the rotated rectangle could have a size error. This is now correct. Corrected SVG parsing issue with very long poly-line curves. it was possible that a zero-glitch would be inserted. Situation parsed correctly now SVG import correction relating to rectangles in drawings with flipped y-axis (negative y-axis direction).

Many other SVG import corrections with a focus on SVG generated by Canvas X. SVG is now the recommended method for Canvas X users (Mac or PC) to bring their work into EazyDraw.

PDF and ESP

Several significant improvements to PDF ungrouping. More precise text placement. More color spaces handled. More unicode Font encodings handled. Improved handling of Japanese and Hebrew fonts and text encodings. Improved handling of PDF generated by Canvas, both recent and classic versions of Canvas.

Improved PDF ungroup to include Text Rendering Mode. Most significantly invisible text is now ignored. Now Outline and Stroked text are properly added to the EazyDraw drawing.

Corrected problem with colors on PDF ungroup. Related primarily to PDF drawings from Canvas. In some cases RGB colors that had full saturation of a component were incorrectly interpreted resulting incorrect colors. All is correct now.

EPS import correction relating to drawings with tiled images.

Corrected problem using Color Modification (on Layers Drawer) with PDF image. The image would flip upside-down when first imported. The issue would not present if the drawing was saved then reopened. All is now correct. Corrected rare problem forming a new group. If the group contained more than one Free Transform graphic, and an Image that had been recently moved, then the new group might possibly position the image (or images) incorrectly. All is now correct. This problem has been present for approximately 24 months in late version 3 and all of version 4.

Corrected possible PDF ungroup issues with content containing series of cropped images, in rare cases only the first image would be imported and accepted. Issue is now correct.

Center Out Creation

Upgraded the utility of the old "Circles-and-Squares" preference setting. This changes the creation action from a box (or bounds) create sequence to a center-out create sequence. With center-out action the initial mouse click defines the center of the new graphic, the drag action then extends the graphic in both directions from the center. This setting now defines the behavior for all rectangle graphics and lines as well as circles and squares. The Option key will create with the "opposite" (the other choice for this preference setting) behavior. Option key action works for all applicable graphic forms.

Tool Tip Delay

Tool Tip Delay added, this is a new parameter found on EazyDraw preferences. You can use this to increase the time for a tool-tip to popup. It is useful if you are new to EazyDraw and desire them to be faster, or if you are experienced and do not want them distracting as you work. We used the parameter to suppress them while making the EazyDraw video tutorials.

Lion Fixes

Lion Only: Improved behaviors when importing SVG and DXF and quitting EazyDraw before saving the drawings as an EazyDraw native drawing. This situation is now handled properly.

Lion Only: Corrected possible crash when duplicating drawings using the Revert to original option. A rare crash but quite possible.

Manual Update

Corrected page number for the manual. The "Logical" page number was not set, this caused the table of contents pages (i, ii, iii, iv, ) to interfere with the "Go To Page" numbering, with a 17 page offset. Now, so long as you have Preview’s preferences set to "use logical page numbers" the "Go To Page" numbering will agree with the page numbers in the index, table of contents, and the number showing at the bottom of the pages.

Text Numeric Alignment

Added settings for text number alignment (left, center, right) for numeric display in the Graphic Details panel and other palette inputs that work in drawing units. This setting is found on a new submenu to the Form popup for Lengths, Percents, and Angles on the the Graphic Details panel.

Bug Fixes

Corrected problem on Graphic Details for wall - lines, free form single segment straight walls. The numeric entry on Graphic Details was not accepting changes. All is correct now.

Corrected problem Advanced Duplicate, Linear Array. Certain combinations for X offset then y offset would fail to accept the y offset value. All is correct now.

Corrected issue with Space Edges (Format -> Align and Size -> Distribute -> Space Edges). The units for the spacing were always being read as Points rather than the units of the drawing. The bug was fixed and the Distribute Panel was updated to provide more room for the x and y entries and the drawing units are always displayed for added clarity. All works correctly now.

Made adjustments to the Contextual menu. The Send items were moved up to near the top of the menu, they were getting left off when the contextual click would happen near several colors, so their priority is now higher than it was. Added items on the context menu (when appropriate) for Pin Center, Pin Angle, and Pin Length for lines and similar graphics.

Numerous corrections and "clean up" of all Tool Tips for all palettes and user interface elements.

INTERESTING: Dashed Line Bug. We found a core bug in Apple’s graphic display technology. Certain (very specific) combinations of line angle and dash patterns will cause a line to fail to draw completely. This was demonstrated on two different drawing programs on Snow Leopard and Lion. The bug has been reported to Apple (no response) and EazyDraw has been patched to avoid the situation.

Optimized the text font convenience menus on the Attributes bar and in the Graphic Details area. There have been reports of slow text editing, mostly from Japanese users. This related to systems with large numbers of installed fonts. The font menus are now fully cached and EazyDraw only updates them when the OS X system notifies that fonts have changed, such as a new font family installed, or a font removed, or changes to font favorites. Text editing and typing should be instantaneous even with Graphic Details inspection active and Attributes bar in use.

Corrected a problem with the stepper control on Graphic Details for Bezier curves, values for the inspecting index could be entered but the stepper would not advance the index. This is now working properly again.

Corrected bug in Distribute Edges panel. The numeric values were inconsistent (appeared random). The proper units (the drawing units) were not interpreted on input. All is now correct and the panel was enhanced to always show drawing units (for clarity and confirmation) and to allow setting of text field width in accordance with numeric display settings from Graphic Details.

Corrected possible problem with Graphic Details display of values. It was possible to set a very wide display width, then resize to a smaller Graphic Details view width and then cut off the display values. Now this mis-match in settings is detected, and adjusted insuring that display values are always shown.

Corrected bug is selection logic for Groups. Previously if a group contained at least one graphic with Fill, the whole area of the group would respond to a click for select. That behavior was incorrect, clicking in an open region with no graphic content should not select the group. All is correct now. A few other tweaks were applied to selection logic and several speed optimizations were added for the selecting logic.

Corrected rare case of "white dots" that could appear on an RGB image when converted to CMYK. This would only happen with larger images

Corrected problem with Page number text stamps (Page Number of Number) and (Page Number) not updating when moved to a different page. Previously these text stamps would not update if nested in a group. They would work properly as independent graphics. They now work as expected and any movement will cause an immediate update - even during the move process.

Center Marks were not drawn or managed for graphics nested in a group. They now draw properly even when the graphic is in a group. You can now set or clear all the center marks for a group from Graphic Details.

Corrected issue with failure to select and manipulate the gradient control handle. This could happen in certain situations for paths that had a graphic but were not fully closed.

Flow around text has been improved to interact even when embedded in nested groups and to interact across layers. Now graphics that trigger flow around do not need to be on the same layer as the text. Overlapping graphics on all ON layers above the Flow-Around Text now cause text reflow. So it is possible that graphics that are not visible can impact text typesetting, while this could be confusing it is the correct logic, so caution is advised.

Corrected rare possible crash opening a library with math functions Absolute Sine and Absolute Sine Cubed. And possible problems with these functions for Periods less than 0.5 with certain non-zero phase settings. All is correct now.

Corrected possible problem with Ungroup PDF, when using AutoCombine Text. In some cases the conversion would abort and not complete, EazyDraw would not crash but the conversion would fail. This is now corrected. A note on AutoCombine Text, one use for this setting are PDF Drawings authored by Canvas where the Canvas setting "exact text placement" is used.

Corrected problem entering numeric values for certain wall line graphics. The position, length and angle values would display properly but entries were not accepted. All is correct now.

Corrected issue with Advanced Duplicate, for Polar and Linear duplication that used rotation. In a few cases the rotated graphics would present their rotation but could revert to their pre-rotation state with future editing actions, and copies to the clipboard would receive a non- or partial- rotated version of the graphic. All is correct now.

Rare bug on Advanced Duplicate, Linear Array. Entering an x offset value and immediately entering the same value for y offset would fail to read the y entry. All is correct now.

LinkBack

Dropped support for LinkBack. This was an open technology for managing content across Apps. It was only used by a small percentage of EazyDraw users, and it added quite a bit of code bloat. The primary reason is to prepare for tightened App Store security limitations. Dropping support for LinkBack will improve security against hacking threats. Soon Apple will require Applications to conform to Sandbox security limitations. The inter-app communications required by LinkBack will likely conflict with security entitlements that Apple will allow for a drawing App such as EazyDraw. In actuality LinkBack adds only a small bit of convenience to a workflow and is certainly not required to use EazyDraw drawings in other Apps or to incorporate graphics from other Apps in EazyDraw. There also is a great deal of new convenience and capability provided by OS X for managing documents and revisions of graphics that might be used in other documents.

Version 4.1.2 December 14, 2011

New With Lion: The Save As, and Save To menu commands are now removed on Lion. The correct document / drawing model for Lion is to use "Duplicate" before changes not "Save As" after changes to an existing drawing. Long time computer and Mac users will need to study this significant design change. One can no longer assume a drawing that has not been saved has not be changed. The old work flow of opening a drawing and making a few trial changes then deciding not to commit the changes does not work on Lion. Everything is a bit more like an iPhone. The new work flow model requires an up-front duplicate of an existing drawing in order to make trial changes that do not modify the original. Of course Undo can revert a drawing and there is now the advanced "revisions" user interface to recover the original, but these all involve success and integrity of the operating system and EazyDraw for the restoration - plenty to go wrong -- although there are no know problems for this process. If one quits EazyDraw there is no warning about "unsaved" changes - the changes are committed by OS X, at that point at this point revisions or Time Machine are needed to recover the original drawing. If an original drawing has not been accessed for a few days - the operating system will "lock" the drawing and provide a warning with suggestion to make a Duplicate before beginning changes. The time limit setting for this warning is accessed via system preferences. But drawings that were recently used do not get this warning. If you are working in a productive environment and are new to Lion, the best advise is to be certain that a Time Machine disk volume is online and active. Help documentation on this topic is complete for EazyDraw and there are numerous discussions on the web concerning these changes. The EazyDraw pdf and printed manual does not fully document these changes at the time of this release.

Lion Only: EazyDraw has changed over fully to the new "overlay scrollers" convention. A system with a Gesture Enabled pointing device (track-pad, magic mouse, ... ) will no longer show scrollers on the right and bottom edges of the drawing. If a pointing device does not support Gestures, then EazyDraw shows the scrollers. Your main OS X system preferences provides control over this behavior on the General Preferences panel, Show Scroll Bars has 3 settings. EazyDraw works with OS X to properly reflect these system settings. The settings may be changed while EazyDraw is running - no need to restart to see the changes. If the scroll bars are hidden or transitory then the convenience Layer and Zoom menu at the lower left corner of the drawing are not shown; but if the Graphic Details or Layers inspector is shown on the left then these two convenience menus are still provided.

Added the ability to name, save, and load a ruler style. Corrected a few issues with the default Ruler Style and reloading an altered ruler style, these were introduced with the 64 bit transition to EazyDraw version 4. Now all aspects work as they should. Note on defaults and behavior: Ruler Style is saved with a drawing, therefore any changes made to the ruler style (color perhaps) will restore when the drawing is saved and re-opened. But if a drawing has never had a change to the Ruler Style, that drawing will open with the Default ruler style. Therefore a change to the Default ruler style will often be applied to an existing drawing when opened, not just to new blank drawings. But it is not always the case that the Default Ruler Style will apply to an existing drawing when opened.

Lion Only - Several improvements to the Duplicate command. The new duplicated drawing now mimics the size, position and inspector (Graphic Details and / or Layers) states for the duplicated drawing. Before the new drawing would assume default conditions, the new behavior is more convenient and generally expected.

Lion Only - Added Command F as toggle for Full Screen mode. This is in accordance with Apple guidelines, the supplanted "flip" command was changed to Option F.

Lion Only - Made several improvements to the logic for entering and exiting Full Screen mode. The two independent toolbars are more reliably chosen. The logic issues revolved around quitting EazyDraw with more than one open drawing and different Full-Screen / Non-Full-Screen states for the drawings. All this works reliably as one would expect now.

Lion Only - Several improvements for the return from a Revisions session. There were problems with palette restoration. User Libraries would either not re-open or would open but be hidden. Now all palettes and user libraries are faithfully restored to their prior open / closed state and view precedence.

Corrected issue related to default settings for Graphic Details display settings, such as display precision. EazyDraw records the last choice for these settings and these values are used as defaults when a new drawing is created. This worked correctly for normal instances of creating a new drawing. However if there was no drawing open at Quit of EazyDraw, then on the next launch a new drawing is created automatically (in accordance with Apple standard behavior) - the display settings for this drawing reverted to factory defaults rather than the correct last used settings. This is now corrected, all new drawings reflect the last used settings.

Improved Color Modification by Layer. Previously patterns did not reflect opacity color modifications, and CMYK patterns and images did not respond to color modification by layer. Color Modification was improved to cover all cases of images and patterns for RGB, RGBA, CMYK, and CMYKA colors. All is tested, opacity and tint now modifies the layer content as expected.

Improved the Area Report found on Graphic Details. It now reports the area when multiple graphics are selected. Previously area was reported only for individual graphics that had area. If any selected graphic does not have an area, then no value is reported for the multiple selection.

Improved the Area Report found on Graphic Details. It now reports the area when multiple graphics are selected. Previously area was reported only for individual graphics that had area. If any selected graphic does not have an area, then no value is reported for the multiple selection.

Corrected possible hang situation when converting a Bezier path to a Ribbon.

Corrected possible hang situation when converting an Orthogonal Path to a Orthogonal Radius Path.

Corrected possible crash, Lion only, during the reporting of a File Save problem, this should have been quite rare. It is now corrected.

Corrected possible crash, Lion only, at launch when launching into Full Screen mode, with secondary drawings that were not in Full Screen mode, when the Toolbar size was different for Full Screen and Non-Full Screen. A rare crash, but serious if the problem situation came to pass.

Two menu problems in French translation - View -> Select and Format -> align -> orient.

Corrected Help pages for Morph, the Help documentation indicated that values were entered and inspected as fractions, they are used a percentages. Documentation was changed to reflect the actual usage.

Version 4.1.1 October 10, 2011

Outline Mode. When in Outline Mode: only the outline of graphics is shown on the drawing screen, the outline is drawn with a thin line width that is independent of zoom. Images are not drawn and shown as a rectangle with crossing lines. Gradients, Patterns, or Solid fill is not drawn in Outline Mode. The menu command to toggle this mode is on the Format main menu. The Outline mode may be applied to a full drawing or to individual layers. There is a simple user interface element to adjust the "thin" line width for the outline mode. The colors use in Outline mode are checked against the background color and adjusted if necessary to always be visible when in Outline Mode. There is a customizable toolbar button to toggle Outline Mode, it is a two state icon to provide an independent visual clue for the Outline state. Cmd-Shift-O is assigned as the shortcut key, this toggles Outline Mode for the full drawing (not individual layers). Documentation is complete, use Help search phrase "outline mode" to learn more.

New Toolbar buttons for Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete. Use customize tools action to find these new tools and add to the main drawing window toolbar. There is also a new smart toolbar menu for these actions.

Improved Associative Dimensions with respect to application of changes of attributes multiple Dimensions. Before, when changing multiple Dimensions at one time, most attributes (arrow shape, color, witness lines, …) were changed to match the lead Dimension. Now this action only changes the specific attribute. For example, now with multiple Dimensions selected each with different color, a change of Arrow shape will not change the various colors.

Improved behavior when changing between Full Screen and Mult-Window mode on Lion. The Canvas Margin parameter (Page Setup palette) was supposed to have independent values for each mode. There was a problem when returning to Multi-Window mode the Canvas Margin for that mode would reset to zero. It now returns correctly to the user setting, providing two independent settings, one for each mode.

Several improvements for SVG import. Corrected issues related to support for colors with transparency. Several improvements for better import of SVG’s created by Canvas. Added support for several classic (older color conventions) bitmap formats. Added a bitmap reconstruct for SVG exports where the bitmap images were tiled into an array of bitmap images, this would result in an array of small tiled images upon import. EazyDraw now senses this situation and combined the tiled array into a single bitmap image.

Corrected problem of possible crash when ungrouping EPS or PDF images. Problem could happen if the images contained text with fonts not present on the host system. This is now corrected. EPS import benefits from the additional bitmap formats described in the SVG import improvements.

Improved LinkBack support. Full series of testing and verification of LinkBack content exchange with other OS X applications. 64 and 32 bit support for LinkBack. Corrected one possible crash situation that could occur on re-edit of an embedded graphic.

Corrected display bug on Page Setup, when inspecting multi-layer drawings. The layers were drawn in reverse order on the Page Setup preview panel. This now displays properly.

Better presentation of the Attributes Bar, it is no longer "clipped" when the window is adjusted to a small size. Now the attribute groups are not shown if any of the groups buttons extend beyond the right edge of the window.

Corrected problem zooming with gestures on a trackpad. The problem happened when a graphic(s) was selected. Then the focus of the zoom would be unpredictable. Normally the point of the cursor is held constant when zooming with the pinch or anti-pinch gesture. Now all is correct and this is the behavior for all situations.

Corrected problem working with Pivot and Free Transform Interactive graphics, when more than one drawing window containing Pivot or Free Transform graphics are open on the desk top. Problems would not surface with all graphics, but exhibits if the Pivot or Free Transform contained rectangles.

Corrected issue with selecting graphics when the selecting action causes the drawing to scroll and causes selected graphics to scroll out of view. The graphics that scrolled out of view were then omitted from the selection. They are now included. This problem has been present on recent versions of EazyDraw, an optimization caused the out of view graphics to be dropped from the selection. All is proper again.

Corrected problem running on older versions of Snow Leopard, such as 10.6.4 or 10.6.5. EazyDraw would not launch unless Snow Leopard updates of 10.6.6 or newer were installed. Now EazyDraw 4.1.0 will launch on 10.6.0 and newer.

Corrected possible (rare) issue with corruption of the display of the Graphic Details drawer.

Corrected problems encountered when adding a gradient fill to a weld-group. This did not apply correctly and could cause EazyDraw to hang (not crash). This is now handled correctly.

Further improvements on Lion when using the time-machine-like Versions interface. All parameter palettes and the layers and graphic details drawers are restored and displayed correctly when returning from the Versions interface.

Version 4.1.0 July 20, 2011

Paid Upgrade

There is a $35 upgrade fee for EazyDraw version 4 for users who have purchased an earlier version of EazyDraw. There is a 2 year grace period which allows full use of EazyDraw version 4 with your current version 3 license. You may purchase the upgrade from the online Store , the upgrade is at the bottom of the store web page. The electronic / download upgrade is $35, the upgrade with a new printed manual and CD with the Additions Pack is $55.

Runs on 10.6.0 and newer. EazyDraw 4.1.0 runs only on Intel. Support is provided for both 64 bit and 32 bit computation (select mode from Finder using Get Info panel). EazyDraw 4.1.0 runs on Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.x) and Lion (OS X 10.7.x). We still have support for import of the classic mac drawing formats (AppleWorks, ClarisDraw, MacDrawPro, MacDrawII, and MacDraw) - but EazyDraw 4 does not directly import these formats. You will need to download a companion version (EazyDraw 4.0.0) (EazyDraw_Retro) from the support page in order to recover these drawings. EazyDraw_Retro will run on Lion, but only in 32 bit mode. EazyDraw_Retro does run on OS X 10.4 and newer (including Lion). See the support page for all the details.

User interace localization for 4 languages in addition to English. This is the initial release with support for German, Japanese and Spanish. The French localization has been fully re-done with significant improvement and depth of support. All is included with the download, no additional installation steps required.

Lion Only Feature: Support for Lions new "Versions" technology. Now when you save a drawing, a hidden snap shot of the drawing and all contents is archived. The Revert to Saved command is significantly enhanced, it presents a "Time Machine Like" interface for convenient review of all previously saved versions of the drawing. This is a powerful recovery tool and one that will quickly find use in the normal design work flow. Documentation is found in the Help pages, use search phrase "Save" or "Revert".

Lion Only Feature: Support for Lions new "Full Screen" mode. The upper right hand corner of the drawing window now has a Full Screen / Multi-Drawing mode switch. EazyDraw has integrated two Toolbar collections and two independent canvas margin settings. These change when switching from Multi-Drawing to Full Screen presentation mode. This allows customization for both modes to get attain the most productive working environment for any project. Documentation is complete and found in the Help pages, use search phrase "Full Screen".

Snow Leopard and Lion Feature: Multi-Thread computing for improved utilization of systems with multiple CPU’s. There is now a third native EazyDraw file format, the EazyDraw Bundle format. Use this format for large drawings that have multiple layers. This format saves each layer in a separate file in an OS X Bundle. A Bundle is a special folder that the operating system treats as a normal disk file. Since each layer is saved in a different disk file, multiple CPU’s can be used to read and write information in parallel. EazyDraw also keeps track of the state of each layer, since each layer is in a separate file EazyDraw can skip reading or writing of layers that have not changed since the previously write or read.

Case Sensitive volumes. Full support for OS X disk volumes formatted with case sensitivity.

Corrected rounding error for associative dimensions when using Feet and Inches (also Yards and Feet, and Miles and Feet) display when. The rounding was 12 times too large and caused a consistent "one" in the last decimal place. This is now correct and rounding applies at the correct decimal place location.

Fixed problem with the Export Shortcut button. Double click of this (just to left of drawing name in title bar) button causes an automatic re-export (exporting with same settings as last formal Export action). The export was not being saved in the correct folder. The save was going to a system temporary folder. Behavior is now correct, the export is found in the same folder used for the last export; note: this is not necessarily the same folder as that of the originating drawing.

Fixed the Center Mark property so that it prints to printed drawings. Previously it was shown only on the screen and not printed. Documentation indicated that the mark was always printed and that was not the case. Now the Center Marks are drawn on printed and exported drawings, when Hide Dimensions (a Layer property) is not checked.

Fixed some issues with tab stops. Some tab parameter (such as position: left, right, center, or decimal) were not accepted from the Tab panel popup menu. These problems were introduced with recent (last 4 months) versions. All is correct now.

Corrected a problem entering User Library element names when in the Element view. In some cases clicking Return or Enter would cause the element name to inadvertently change. Now it stays as entered.

NOT SUPPORTED IN 4.1.0

This version of EazyDraw support for AppleWorks, ClarisDraw, MacDrawPro, MacDrawII, and MacDraw classic drawing formats. This version of EazyDraw does NOT support these formats. Go to the EazyDraw Support web page for more information and a solution for converting these drawing files on your current version of OS X. EazyDraw version 4.0.0 is provided as a solution for importing these drawings on OS X version 10.4 and newer, including OS X version 10.7 (Lion).

PowerPC processors are no longer supported beginning with EazyDraw version 4.1.0. EazyDraw 4.0.0 is provided on our Support web page, it still supports PowerPC on OS X versions 10.4.x and 10.5.x.

Version 3.6.4 June 13, 2011

Enhanced the Advanced Duplicate capability. A new tab view was added with support for saving a set of duplicate parameters and managing user defaults for the Advanced duplicate settings. Added full numeric formatting and numeric-math input for all duplicate parameters, the display precision and format are now under user control following the settings for the Graphic Details drawer - these parameters follow the drawing’s scale settings (not a Fine Scale setting for the panel). Help documentation is complete, new features should be self explanatory.

Corrected a few bugs and expanded the capability for convert to Filled Shapes for free form Bezier paths. Previously a few degenerate cases that can result from ungroup PDF or other import techniques would cause problems with the convert to Filled Shapes, these are now properly supported.

Corrected issue with converting RGB images to CMYK. The problem happened when converting using the Graphic Details popup menu and when automatically converting for EPS export of an embedded image. Also improved the speed for converting RGB and CMYK to Gray Scale, this is now table driven and several thousand times faster.

Added an Option Duplicate action for the Rotate tool. Now if the Option key is held down during a rotation tool operation the target graphic is duplicated in place before rotating. This behavior mimics the automatic duplication of Option Drag that is common procedure for most drawing applications.

Fixed another issue with SVG, correcting the issue noted on the EazyDraw discussion board by Grandadpete . The SVG import of the Ball_14 graphic no longer hangs EazyDraw.

Corrected issue with Angle Associative Dimensions. The problem could arise when more than one Angle Dimension needed to use the same reference line, such as when dimensioning all interior angles of a rectangle. The Angle Dimensions would become confused and attach to each other and the reference line hence trying to dimension a zero span angle. This is now handled properly.

Corrected bug importing MacDrawPro drawing with a smoothed variant of Bezier path that actually represents straight line Bezier. This construct was not seen before, it is now handled and imported as drawn.

Version 3.6.2 March 22, 2011

Added new feature to calibrate the size of graphics on the display screen. The new command is found on the Drawing Zoom popup menu, located lower left of the drawing window. The "Calibrate" command queries the system for the physical dimensions and resolution setting of the display screen that contains the center point of the drawing, then computes an average (average of horizontal and vertical pixels per unit length) zoom factor that will match screen lengths to the real world. The "Calibrate" selection is user driven, there are no automatic updates if a drawing moves to a new screen, if a new screen is added to the system, if the resolution of screen is changed, or if the drawing is opened on a different system. If zoom setting matches the calibrated setting the Drawing Zoom popup menu indicates the match with a blue value color.

Added new user preference to draw Circles and Squares from a center point out to a radius or side dimension. The preference is found on the main user Preferences panel. Two settings, the new Center Out setting and the bounding box (corner to corner) setting.

Added a customizable toolbar button for Fit Text menu command. It is available for user customization, it is found near the other text buttons, bluish icon.

Fixed possible issue with Dimensions, when content for the Dimension is set Nothing for use as a user comment. The crossing dimension line could be drawn through the text after the drawing was saved and re-opened. Now the crossing line has a break for the text in all cases as it should be.

Fixed several SVG issues. Please continue to send in svg files that have problems. Improved SVG import to handle SVG drawings exported from CorrelDraw. Support for extended CSS style specifications was required. EazyDraw now supports CSS styles nested in CData blocks. CorelDraw SVG now imports properly into EazyDraw.

Solved a possible problem with exporting EPS to CMYK color space when the exported content contained an image (either bitmap, EPS, or PDF) and that image was larger than a few inches and the image did not use CMYK color space (in other words the drawing contained a large non-cmyk image that required automatic conversion to cmyk).

Improved functionality and corrected problems with Group Edit. There were a few graphic forms that were not responding properly for interactive in situ editing of group graphics. All is working properly now, problems were introduced with recent revisions.

Fixed Guide-Snap for lines with the center pinned.

Worked on problems of a pdf graphic being flipped when color modification is applied to a layer. This may be fixed, ultimate resolution may not be possible until the release of Lion. With Snow Leopard the operating system added several internal optimizations for processing of pdf images, the vertical orientation of the pdf when displayed no longer seems to be processed in an absolute consistent fashion. If trouble is noted, use the Flip Vertical button to get correct display.

Version 3.6.1 February 18, 2011

Enhanced and made corrections for Kerning functions. The Kerning settings in the Graphic Details drawer now have full professional capability, one may kern across different font and attribute runs, adjust single character kerning all with reliable detailed undo and redo. Previously the numeric Kerning setting applied primarily to full text boxes and uniform text runs. One should now be able to accomplish any kerning action.

Corrections to the SVG import, support for non-comma separated point lists was added.

Improved EPS and PDF ungrouping. Several additional text constructs are now properly supported including kerning specifications.

Improvements for DXF import.

Added support for dimensions for suppression of leading zero for Fraction form. The Leading Zero checkbox on the Dimension Palette (Datum Tab) controlled inclusion of the leading zero for decimal dimensions. It was not controlling a leading zero when fractions (rather than decimal format) was in use. Now it controls both as one would expect.

The menu commands "Make Same Width" and "Make Same Height" were not keying off the correct graphic. The "master" graphic should be the first one selected. This is now corrected.

Made several improvements and corrections for the Numeric Entry feature. If, during the creation of a graphic, the letters (o,d, x,y, a, or L) are typed: the Numeric Input pops-up to accept numeric values for (over, down, x-across,y-down, angle or length). The inputs were mostly "raw" and would not work for scaled drawings. Now the inputs (and values shown) are all interpreted and presented correctly according to the drawing’s scale and the settings on the Graphic Details drawer for numeric display. For example if you have angles set to Radians - the the "a" numeric input will be Radians rather than Degrees.

Changed response of text graphics that are copied and pasted between drawings with different x or y axis directions. The copy and paste now does not flip the text, this would normally be the intended behavior.

Corrected issues with grouping for groups that involved connectors. In some cases connectors were sent to the back or the front of the group. Now the appearance of connectors is precisely maintained when groups are formed. Connectors that attached to elements involved in a grouping operation were sometimes disconnected. Now all connections are consistently applied to the new group.

Fixed a few issues with editing text that contains Overlines. All editing situations now follow standard text editing conventions for insertions and deletions adjacent and across ranges that include Overlines.

Corrected issue related to graphics created by welding. The new resulting welded graphic would accept a Connector but the Connector (or Dimension) would not remain attached and follow movements of the new graphic. This would correct itself upon save and reopen of a drawing so it was in this sense temporary. All is correct now.

Corrected possible crash when applying Factory default to the Page Setup palette.

Cutting all the way through a rotated oval would sometimes result in 3 resulting paths rather than 2 as one would expect. This is fixed now and works as one would expect.

Version 3.6.0 January 14, 2011

Version 3.6.0 ... Improvements and Corrections

Improved the SVG import to include support for SVG symbols. Corrected a small group of rare parsing bugs.

Added support for PDF and EPS ungroup of images that incorporate use of indexed color space. This is the older technology color table usage where and image is drawn using 2, 4, 8, ... up to 256 colors. This is needed for importing and ungrouping eps images from MathLab. Improved PDF ungroup for text encoded with 2 byte Unicode schemes. Test case involved Gentium font with ancient Greek glyphs.

Axis Labels (Technical Tools - bottom row) now support Center and Right Justify. This was requested by several users and overlooked for last release. All works now without any hacks the printf format or splitting label runs.

Corrected an accuracy problem when entering values in the Graphic Details drawer, when the values contained a fraction computation. These computations were rounded to the nearest Point and fractions of a Point values were lost. Accuracy is now maintained at the full 32 bit floating point computation limits.

Expanded the capability for using Function keys as keyboard short-cuts. Previously the Function Key (F1, F2, ...) could be used but a modifier key (Cmd key for example) was required. Now Function keys are accepted with no modifier key. In other words: a function key such as F1 may be assigned as a shortcut for any menu command. Note that one must type the letter "F" then a number "1, 2, ... , 11, 12, ...) into the Menu Keys field to assign a function key - it is not possible to type the actual function Key as these keys are blocked to the text field on the Menu Keys palette.

Added an inspect / entry field for Diameter of circles to Graphic Details drawer.

Corrected issue the Grid Reference point for graphics when the graphic is flipped. Previously the Grid Reference point would remain constant and not change with the graphic orientation. Normally it is desired that the grid reference point remain constant with respect to the graphic hence the grid reference point should reflect the orientation change. This is now the behavior. For example if a graphic had an arrow with a tip at the right center of the graphic and if this point is chosen as the grid reference point, now if that graphic is rotated 90 degrees and the arrow tip is now at the top center - the grid reference point is also changed to top center.

Corrected issues with the Library main menu, library names were not being updated when saved with a new name. It is now refreshed properly.

Corrected issue with maintenance of the Grid Reference point for graphics installed to a User Library. When using the library graphic the Grid Reference position would revert to default if the interaction level of the destination graphic was different than the original graphic. Grid Reference is now faithfully maintained for Library graphics. The error was at the time of use, so it is not necessary to rebuild libraries - the Grid Reference information was installed in the user library correctly.

Improved interactive resizing of Text Boxes. The minimum size is now computed with respect for the font size. Minimum size will now exactly fit one row or one column of characters. Before is was a constant small value and the text box could reduce to less than a character. Also in some cases the text box would inadvertently grow when resizing to a negative rectangle size - this is now fixed.

Changed the behavior of Free Transform and Pivot interactive graphic when added to a Group. Now these special case interactive elements are "applied" before the graphic is placed in the group. Often a Free Transform or a Pivot would have problems when nested in a series of groups, this approach will convert these back to normal graphics for more reliable behavior for modifications to the host group.

Corrected the Wall Specification palette, when interactively changing the wall thickness and other wall parameters the palette was not updating. Now it updates live as changes are made.

Corrected issues with conversions of Pivot graphics. In some cases the conversion would revert to the un-rotated state of the core graphic.

Corrected issues with conversions of Pivot graphics. In some cases the conversion would revert to the un-rotated state of the core graphic.

Corrected problem for groups that include dimensions. It was possible that filled graphics would draw over the dimensions.

Corrected issues with conversions of Pivot graphics. In some cases the conversion would revert to the un-rotated state of the core graphic.

Added the ability to export individual graphics as individual image files. This is supported for PNG, TIF, JPG, GIF and CSV. Then new option is found for the Export Contents (middle) popup menu on the Export panel. Selected graphics are exported, each to an individual image file. The file name from the export panel is used as a base, an underscore followed by an incrementing number.

Fixed bug with user libraries. When closing a library with a partially edited element name, a crash was possible. This is now fixed.

Fixed bug with Walls, if new defaults were set from a wall that was auto-mated to another wall, then newly drawn walls could have a bad end shape that extended up to the drawing origin. This is now corrected and the situation is prevented.

Fixed bug with the Center Mark checkbox on Graphic Details drawer. This was introduced at final stage of the 3.5.0 release. It was possible to turn Center Mark on, but not off. This is now fixed.

Version 3.5.0 August 24, 2010

Version 3.5.0 continued ... Improvements and Corrections

Expanded the capabilities for Gradients. Bitmap gradients are now supported. There are 4 new gradients available on the Gradient Fill panel, Effect popup menu - they are at the bottom. Previously all EazyDraw gradients were drawn with vectors, this implementation technique has many advantages but in some cases a traditional bitmap gradient can have advantages. The bitmap implementation will often have better behavior for gradients that use transparency with colors. Vector gradients will often have banding when working with transparency. One caution: transparency is not supported with bitmap gradients when printing to PDF - transparency is supported for vector gradients when printing to PDF. The primary use for the bitmap gradients is for the design of PNG and TIFF icons such as those used for iPhone and iPad user interface elements.

On-screen adjust for Gradients is now available. This is an option found on the Gradient Fill panel, the new default "factory" setting is for the "on" state. Gradients that have a direction and/or position will show an new adjuster handle when the hosting graphic is selected.

Added a new export format, CSV (comma separated values). This is a simple text format compatible with spread sheet and database applications or for use with any text editor. The values in the table are Bezier vertices and control points for all line art found in the drawing. Text and images are not included in the export. The vertices and control points of each graphic are presented on one line in the export destination text file. Documentation is complete, use search phrase CSV to learn more.

Made several improvements to Export for the TIFF, PNG and the other bitmap. PNG now has support for gray scale colors. TIFF export for CMYK was optimized and is about 70 times faster now (a text export that took 1 minute 10 seconds before now completes in less than 2 seconds). All bitmap exports may now be larger in size, previously most systems would fail at around 100 meg for export image size, now most systems should be able to create 1 gigabyte images without crash and rather quickly as well. TIFF export now supports more color space options including alpha (opacity) masks.

New options available on the Layers drawer. It is now possible to Lock a layer, this is a lock against move and delete. This is set with a new check box column on the layers table list. There is a new option to show the active layer above all other layers. Copy and Paste to and from the layers drawer has been expanded to accept graphics dropped on a layer and allows more fluid copy and paste between layers - previously one often needed to explicitly click back on the drawing or the layers drawer for different paste actions.

This version has improvements to the color accuracy for TIFF, PNG and the other bitmap exports. Recent versions of EazyDraw would have small changes to some colors (out of gamut colors), when the bitmap was generated. Now the RGB and CMYK components are faithfully passed to and saved in the export bitmap. This allows matching of colors for web graphics; for example, saving a web graphic with a particular rgb component set will now match the web page exactly when the same rgb components are specified as a CSS background color. These issues relate primarily to the operating system, ColorSync technology, and ICC profiles. There are basic problems in this area for OS X versions 10.4 and 10.5. The small color variations will still be present for EazyDraw users on 10.4 and 10.5 - there is no solution possible. EazyDraw users on Snow Leopard (OS X version 10.6) do now have precise calibrated color bitmap exports for TIFF, PNG, BMP, GIF (note that JPG’s compression algorithms can be expected to introduce slight color shifts). Test have been conducted on all the current popular web browsers to verify that background colors of EazyDraw export graphics do match exactly with CSS hex color specifications on all browsers (but only when using EazyDraw on Snow Leopard). A test pattern is found at the bottom of this web site’s Web Graphics page, follow the link and go to the bottom of the page to view the tests in your browser. When checking colors with the Color Picker spy glass or the utilities application Digital Color Meter: ICC corrected colors are reported for the EazyDraw drawing window but uncorrected Calibrated colors are measured for exported bitmap images viewed in Preview this discrepancy is unavoidable at this time, options to this behavior will need to await further operating systems advances.

Expanded the Select Special submenu (Edit main menu) to include selecting graphics with Patterns, Gradients, Arrows, and Dashes.

Documentation was added for the Services menu. Details on the use of EazyDraw with the LaTeX utility LaTeXiT were added. If the core TeX utilities and LaTeXiT are installed, the services menu allows one to enter LaTeX mark-up plain text in an EazyDraw Text Box and convert the mark-up to fully typeset pdf vector content (a mathematics expression or equation). The implementation uses LinkBack technology to exchange the content with the LaTeX utilities, thus one may edit the source markup by double clicking on the typeset pdf content.

Improved the Vertex Insert tool. It now will do multiple inserts with a single invocation. The key point is to allow detection of intersections and insert two vertices exactly at the intersection of two graphics. Another advantage is that a series of vertices can be added on an exact straight line. The documentation has been updated to reflect the new capability, use search phrase "insert tool". The new behavior is obvious from the indicators. The command key modifiers work in the same fashion as defined for the knife tool, these are useful for inhibiting the intersection detection.

Improved the PDF and EPS ungroup. A new parameter is found on the Images submenu of the Format main menu. This menu controlled setting is named: "Auto Combine Text". When ungrouping PDF (and EPS) images, EazyDraw applies algorithms to attempt to reconstruct the higher level ordering of text characters. The PDF format does not actually define things like a text block or paragraph (nor even a word or line of text). In many cases the combined text generated by EazyDraw will be convenient for editing but the typesetting will not be faithful to the placement of the characters on the PDF page. Turn this option off to get an ungrouping that favors precise placement of text characters over automatic assembly of paragraphs and text boxes.

Fixed problem on Advanced Duplicate / Linear Duplicate - when using a scale with non-default axis direction. The sign of the offsets could sometimes change each time the linear duplicate was used. This is now fixed.

Corrected several issues with the special Select Tools palette. Several of the options had various problems, the select back first cursor was not changing as it should and the settings for the radio buttons at the bottom of the palette were not always respected for selecting behavior. All the special select functions have been extensively tested and are quite robust.

Improved and corrected a few things with Graphic Details display of Bezier control points. Previously a closed Bezier would show too many vertices or segments, now the display computes these correctly as they appear on the drawing. Now when a Bezier control is simply clicked the focused segment is changed to the appropriate clicked segment, previously the control point would need to be moved in order to change the displayed focused segment. Continuous Bezier Graphic Details now shows values in yellow that are not actually "smooth" at the vertex, implying that any change here will adjust both vertex controls to satisfy the smooth continuous constraint. Leading and Trailing control designations for the Continuous Bezier details display were logically reversed, these were switched.

Fixed problem with refresh of Morph panel. If the panel was over the drawing area (not in Graphic Details drawer area) and to the right of the actual working drawing area (window was wider than the drawing area), updates were not correct and old static images of the panel could appear after a scroll.

Fixed further issues using a Dimension with Form set to Nothing. If Nothing was in use and no additional text was used (nothing and nothing) the bounding area of the dimension would erroneously include the drawing origin. This is now corrected.

Fixed problem using morph on multiple graphics, especially likely when morphing several (10’s or more) graphics. The morph would be correct on the first graphic but could have problems on others.

Fixed problem on Graphic Details reporting the position - when using a scale with offset origin and when the selection included multiple graphics. The location is now reported correctly.

Corrected a bug in the SVG interpreter - a very specific issue relating to paths whose value string ended with a single number and no decimal point. This occurrence is now fixed and should have been quite rare.

Corrected problem with Free Transform graphics contained in a Group (in particular in a Uniform Interaction special group). If the outer group was scaled in size (such as a change in size with the Uniform Interaction graphic) then subsequent moves of the outer group would have problems - the embedded Free Transform graphic would move more than it should ("scooting" out of the enclosing group). This is now fixed.

Corrected rare problem using connector with cloaked vertices. This could cause an unexpectedly quit. This combination is not typical for a connector or dimension. The situation is now stable, will not crash and will default back to a reasonable behavior.

Corrected problem flipping arc graphics by 90 degrees. The flip was in the wrong direction. The bug was introduced with version 3.3 when Arc flips and rotations were improved. The problem was not particularly noticeable unless the arc was included in a group and the group flipped. All is fixed now.

Corrected problem with the Line Weight toolbar buttons and Line Weight toolbar menu button. The "thicker" and "thinner" line weight actions were reversed with respect to the icon indicators. Those are now switched and will work as expected.

Corrected problem changing a dimension from the special form: "nothing", when there is no additional text. Then switching back to a normal form, such as Decimal, the dimension value would not appear. This sequence of events now works properly.

Corrected Advanced Duplicate - when using "inverted" axis directions. The duplication values (+ and -) were offsetting the new graphics in the wrong direction. Now the axis direction is reflected properly in the duplicate’s offset.

Decreased the minimum allowed distance between tab stops from 0.2 inches to 0.08 inches.

Corrected several typing errors and a few broken links in the EazyDraw Help pages.

Corrected updating of check-marks on the Font Panel and Colors menu items on the Font submenu (Text main menu). This were often "out-of-sync" with the actual open state of these panels. Now their check-marks reliably reflect the open / closed state of the respective panels.

Corrected problems with Option-Drag duplicate of various (but not all) kinds of graphics. After the Option-Drag the new copy could have trouble updating on the screen. This was introduced at 3.4.1, all corrected now.

Corrected possible problem reading multi-page PDF. If your setting for page numbering was "across-first" then the multiple pages were added "across" which is not correct for a multi-page pdf. Then only the first page of the multi-page PDF was shown. All is fixed now, numbering is changed to "down first" for the multi-page PDF.

Corrected a possible problem with Annotations, in particular rotated annotations. If several were in use, in close proximity to one another it was possible that CPU usage by EazyDraw would climb dramatically for a few seconds. For larger drawings on older CPUs this spike could cause a lock-up of EazyDraw. All is corrected now. And CPU usage in these situations is now cleared back to normal amounts for this situation.

Corrected problem with the refresh and updating of the Easy-Look panel. The problem related to inspecting of multiple drawings and use of the drawing selection popup menu on the Easy-Look panel. The root cause of the problem likely starts with drawings that were made by a copy of a full drawing or "Save As". The panel then would not update properly when switching between the to copies - even after changes were made to the drawings. In other cases of normal random stack of drawings all would probably work fine. All cases now update correctly. The bug was present since the introduction of the Easy-Look capability.

Version 3.4.1 April 20, 2010

Added new virtual paper sizes for iPad development support. On Page Setup when using the Buttons and Icons virtual printer, new sizes for iPad launch screen in both landscape and portrait orientations. There are now virtual paper sizes for required graphic elements for iPhone and iPad development: main icon, iTunes store icon, small (settings and search) icon, iPhone and iPad launch screens - both orientations. These are all accessed from the Page Setup panel, choose Buttons and Icons for the virtual printer then select from the Paper popup menu.

Corrected a bug with Copy and Paste. The problem appeared with EazyDraw version 3.4.0. In some cases of Copy-and-Paste ( on the same drawing) and Duplicate With Offset, a Group graphic would have an incorrect bounding box indicator and perhaps misplaced graphic locations. This somewhat rare but a serious problem, making 3.4.0a a recommended upgrade. There will likely be a follow-on version 3.4.1 soon to address this issue.

Added a control checkbox for showing the leading zero of a Dimension. In the case of a fraction value less than one it is sometimes desirable to not show the leading zero (save drawing space). This is now possible using a new checkbox found on the Dimensions palette, Datum tab. The checkbox should be self explanatory. Documentation is complete use search phrase Dimension to learn more.

Corrected proper save and open for the setting on Page Layout of "Number Across First". This parameter would not always save and restore properly with the close and re-open of a drawing. All is correct now.

Fixed problem saving a new default snap sound on the Grids panel. Normal setting of temporary or permanent default snap sound (other than nothing) did not work. Now all works properly.

Version 3.4.0 March 31, 2010

Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG) import is now complete and available for use. SVG Export has completed over 2 months of testing and debugging from beta tester’s input (thanks). Exchange of SVG drawings between Adobe Illustrator (CS4) and EazyDraw, both directions, has been tested extensively. The SVG open format provides a reasonable workflow to and from ai-CS4. A large set of the W3C SVG test suite was tested for proper import into EazyDraw, this test suite is provided with the Contributions Pack download. Performance is optimized for importing very large drawings. Output of SVG from EazyDraw was tested and confirmed with Safari and Opera which seem to be the two best SVG supporting browsers, two were used because some esoteric situations are not properly supported by one or the other of the two browsers. The export SVG is accessed from the Export menu command, SVG drawings are imported with the normal Open command - select SVG for File Type. Documentation is complete, use search phrase: svg. EazyDraw provides high quality 512 icons for SVG files, if you have other SVG authoring applications their icons may take precedence, set up your preferences with the Finder Get Info panel. A double click on an SVG file will open and import in EazyDraw, this behavior depends on Finder settings and the presence of other SVG authoring applications - use Get Info from the Finder to manage SVG Finder opening and Icons display behavior. The Contributions Pack has a SVG folder with a set of test files from the W3C archives, these are also useful templates or examples if you wish to author drawings with XML code.

Added new custom Arrows for drawing Entity-Relationship diagrams. These new arrowheads conform to the conventions for "crows-foot" notation of one-to-many, one-to-zero-or-one, etc relationships. A new user library with simple tool buttons for all possible relationship connectors is available - contact EazyDraw support if this is of intreats, it will be included in the next release of the Additions Pack, it is now available on CD and Boxed versions of EazyDraw. The new arrowheads are accessed from the Arrows palette, Custom Tab, the Name popup menu. These are installed automatically for new users. Existing users (those who have ran EazyDraw and accessed the Custom Arrow Tab) will need to remove the Arrows.plist file from the EazyDraw Applications Support folder ( ~home -> Libraries -> Applications Support -> EazyDraw ). One must quit EazyDraw then remove the Arrows.plist folder, then restart EazyDraw; the Arrows.plist file will be re-created by EazyDraw with the new custom arrowheads. If you have custom arrow heads - then keep the Arrows.plist file and move your custom arrows into the new file (contact EazyDraw support if you need help with this).

The Additions Pack has been expanded again. The main new component is a full complement of Venn Diagram templates and symbol tools. Venn Diagrams depict the similarities and differences of groups of 2 or more entities or conceptual classifications. The templates provided cover many arrangements for 2 to 5 concepts including the traditional constructs with circles and tubes as well as other creative arrangements including the interesting Edwards Construction and Symmetric designs. If you have purchased the Additions Pack in the last year email for new link and password - no charge.

Added capability for Line-Over for Text. This will add a "Bar" over characters or a range of characters, the "Bar" is the common mathematical notation for the Average of a variable. The Text -> Style submenu has the menu command for this attribute and it is found on the Attributes bar with a - "Oh with line over" icon (note the use of the attribute must be verbally described in this Text Edit file because Apple’s standard text technology does not support this text attribute).

Improved AppleWorks drawing import. Corrected issues relating to strings with embedded graphics. These graphics caused the import to crash, now the import does not crash. The embedded graphics are not imported as EazyDraw does not support strings with inserted graphics.

Corrected issues with inserted JPG images that contain meta-data size transformations. These had trouble when rotated and cropped, the problem related to opening a saved drawing. Now Rotate and cropping of these graphics works properly, saves properly and reopens properly.

Significant improvements for PDF ungroup. Improvements were in the area of reconstructing and formatting text content. Several new text encoding constructs are now understood by EazyDraw. In general the improvements relate to pdf’s created on Windows and Windows Vista.

Improved performance when typing and entering text. Some users with large numbers of fonts and a slower or loaded processor would experience performance degradation when typing quickly. The issue related to updating the font menu on the Attributes bar. This process is now optimized and rapid typing now introduces negligible load on CPU computations.

Corrected problem resizing different forms of rectangles using the Shift and Control keys. These now work to constrain the aspect ratio (CMD key) or constrain to equal height and width - square shape with the Shift key.

Improved behavior for creating polygons. There are several modes for creating polygons, to accommodate users from users familiar with other older drawing applications. The problem happened when the polygon was completed with an extra double click at the originating first point of the polygon. Of course we don't need to do that as it is a tedious extraneous step. EazyDraw would mistakenly take this as an error and the polygon would disappear. Now this method works correctly if used.

Several performance optimizations for User Libraries were dropped in favor of improved image quality. These optimizations involved cached images of library elements. Recent years improvements of hardware, OS X core technology and EazyDraw graphic display performance allow this improvement.

Corrected problem with Text Bubbles, the radius rectangle version. If the radius was changed from default, and the drawing closed and re-opened the changed radius was lost. This is now fixed. There were undo-redo situations where the text bubble pointer would not properly undo an interactive change - all works now.

Corrected problem with Move Image setting (main Preferences panel). The selection Live Graphic was not persistent across a quit and restart of EazyDraw. Also dragging from the drawing to another drawing or library did not work when Move Image - Live Graphic was in use. Both of these issues are corrected now.

Corrected problem exporting PDF with White Background. The popup menu would show a blank entry and the exported pdf would still have a clear (nothing) background. Now the White Background setting is respected with a PDF export.

Corrected problem printing with x or y mirror. The mirroring option inherited problems with recent (beta) changes. This is now operational again.

Corrected problem adding libraries in the icon-button mode to the menu system. This would cause a crash of EazyDraw - all is corrected now.

Fixed problem entering negative angles, on Graphic Details drawer, for Lines and Paths, when using Y-axis plus down. This combination now works properly.

Corrected problems related to flipping radius rectangles by 90 degrees. There was a problem with the 90 degree CCW flip, if in a group the flip would distort after the file was saved and re-opened. All is correct now.

Corrected problems with Graphic Details entries for Text Graphics when using Comma as decimal delimiter for Region settings such as Germany. Some of the numeric entries and sliders were not working, causing very large values upon entry. Also many of the text fields did not respect the system settings and displayed numerical values with the period as the decimal delimiter. All is correct now.

Corrected anomalies with Send command, when multiple graphics were selected for a single Send To Back. The drawing order of the selected graphics was reversed by the send. Corrected problems related to Send to Front with graphics containing inserted text. Corrected problems sending graphics forward or back over a graphic with inserted text. And corrected some issues of the above cases that would not undo or redo-of-undo correctly. All seems to be working properly now.

Corrected problem with move of a shadow applied to a Uniform Scale graphic of an image. The shadow would remain fixed on the drawing. All is correct now.

Corrected a small extraneous white border that was added to images in groups with a bitmap shadow applied to the group. This was only noticeable in the above situation when the edge of the image or photo was not white.

Corrected issue with a Free Transform of an image in a Uniform Scale interactive state with a Flip (90 deg. cw etc) applied. A subsequent move of the graphic did not execute properly (the graphic moved in a wrong, unflipped direction). This situation is now handled correctly.

Corrected problem with the reported size of a group that contained a rotated text box positioned near one edge of the group. The rotation was not applied to the size and position calculation. All is fixed.

Corrected problem converting Flow-Around Text to Bezier paths. This would only work right after a resize of the text box, most of the time the Flow-Around layout was not respected on the converted glyphs. All is corrected now, the converted text should be positioned exactly glyph for glyph as the flowed-typeset text.

Corrected a few esoteric cases for the newly optimized Annotation text, relating to shadows on the annotation and colored annotation text.

Corrected a few issues with converting Annotation to Bezier paths, when the text style for the annotation used outlines or colored fill.

Fixed problem converting Annotation to Bezier paths on PowerPC running OS X version 10.5 (Leopard). This problem was present on the last release (EazyDraw 3.3.0). It now seems corrected as tested on a PowerPC mac-mini running OS X 10.5.8. Please report any problems in this area as our available PowerPC hardware is limited and the root cause of this issue is still somewhat in doubt.

This version included performance improvements for drawings with heavy usage of Annotation Text. The responsiveness of EazyDraw is now significantly improved when working with Annotation Text. Beta testers should keep an eye on the drawing of Annotation Text, as with all optimizations there is the possibility of missed refreshes of the drawing or misplaced graphics, thanks.

Corrected problem setting default font from the main system font panel. The "Set Current as Default" operation was setting color and other text attributes (bold, italic, ...) but not the actual font family and font point size. All is correct now.

Fixed a conflict in the menu short-cut keys for Ungroup Graphics. There was a duplication of the key selection on the Format->Images submenu. The caused problems for some (but not all users?) - now corrected.

Version 3.3.0 --- Snow Leopard Follow-up ---- October 22, 2009

EazyDraw version 3.3.0 is the follow up Snow Leopard release. This version has had extensive testing, performance improvements, and bug fixes on Snow Leopard. EazyDraw 3.3 is a highly recommended update for Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard users. It runs native on Intel and PowerPC processors.

Expanded and improved Additions Pack. Larger Network Diagraming library.

Text Bubbles, or Text Call-Outs. 4 new tools on the Technical Tools palette. A combination graphic with all the properties of a normal text block plus the Bezier properties of the enclosing "bubble" graphic.

New direct ungroup of EPS for editing. Found on the Images submenu, Format main menu.

Improved PDF export with new capability to export layers as pages with optional master page.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

A new contextual attributes toolbar for Dimension graphics is now available. The primary focus for these contextual tools is the text formatting for the dimension’s numeric values with prefix and suffix text. Operations like Bold, Underline, Kerning and typeface changes are now conveniently available with single click access.

Added the ability to insert Soft Returns in text. This is a Shift-Return which will insert a line break but not a paragraph break. There is a reference menu command now found on Text main menu, Typing Aids submenu. But normal use will be via keyboard entry of Shift-Return. Note this is a new combination of accepted keyboard entry and not a menu key shortcut. The Shift-Return menu key shortcut is blocked by the operating system. Net result is that all should now work as expected with text focused applications. Documentation is complete for the new feature, to learn more follow Help menu links to the Typing Aids submenu.

Added the capability to interactively adjust the position of Annotation Text. Previously the position of an Annotation along a path was set with the Position parameter (numeric and slider input) found on the Annotation panel. This worked fine but the adjustment sometime was too coarse forcing use of the numeric input. Now there is an additional interactive adjustment handle provided, when selected, for graphics with annotation. simply slide this control handle along the graphic’s path to position the Annotation. The normal parameter inputs are still available on the Annotation panel. Documentation is complete, use search phrase "annotation" to study the full specification for this new capability.

Added the capability to provide a center dashed line for the Walls, Roads, and Ribbons tools which are found on the Technical tool palette. Now the Dashes palette will apply the dash pattern to a central path that is drawn along the center line of the Wall graphic. This is useful for drawing roads, different dash patterns may be used to signify different types of roadways. The addition dashed line path will have the same characteristics (color and width) as the main outline path of the graphic. If more capability is needed to apply a different color or pattern, use the Arrow Along capability which now works with Walls, Ribbons, and Road - see release note on this addition below.

Added the capability to apply Along Arrow designs to Walls, Ribbons, and Roads. This capability is managed on the Arrows Palette, Custom Tab. These functions allow the ability to apply decorations along a path as a sequence of graphics attached to the main path. Some applications refer to these as "Brushes", an older term from '90s, in EazyDraw these are all fully vector graphics (as opposed to bitmap images) so they are managed as generalized "Arrow Heads." This capability is well documented in the PDF manual, the Help documentation, and a few tutorials specifically dealing with the topic. The addition is that these are now supported for Walls, RIbbons, and Roads. This is a rather powerful technique useful when drawing detailed visually rich maps. The Along-Arrow graphics may be used with solid fill, gradient fills, and now dashed lines to provide highly illustrative schematic representations of road ways (or rivers, hiking trails, rail-roads, ….) for maps. There is a new tutorial (Roads_And_Maps) that covers this new somewhat advanced capability - the tutorial can provide useful "cook-book" instructions for those not experienced in the Arrows-Along capability.

Improved and expanded the Fillet and Chamfer operations. They now are more intelligent in forming a complex shape from a group of individual lines and paths. Before it was normally necessary to build the shape by selecting only two elements at a time and building the shape with a series of Fillet commands. Now one may simply select all the individual elements and execute the command a single time. The automatic logic now analyzes the relative positions of the elements, decides which should be the start and ending element, then orders them automatically with start-to-end ordering based on relative nearness of end points. Finally the logic analyzes if a new closed path graphic is indicated and automatically closes the graphic with a rounded (or chamfered) closing curve. The new automatic intelligence applies to Welded Bezier and Welded Group actions as well.

A new "center mark" capability. This will draw a traditional center-mark/cross-hair graphic at the logical center of graphics that have a defined center point (such as arcs, circles, ovals, etc ). There is a checkbox on the Graphic Details drawer and a menu command on the Guides submenu (Format main menu). When the new center mark is showing the associated graphic has a full snap vertex at the center mark allowing vertex snapping and attach for connectors and dimensions. When showing the center mark will print - it is a normal part of the drawing. Documentation is complete, search phrase "center mark". .

Improved the cursor control for the zoom feature with the short-cut keys "i" and "o". Previously the cursor was positioned at the "point of interest" and the "i" key was hit, but then for the next zoom in it was often necessary to move the cursor to the center of the screen. Now if you hit the "i" key a second time (or multiple times) within a few seconds, and the cursor has not move much, the next and subsequent "i" key hits will zoom in on the same new center defined by the cursor when the initial "i" key was hit. The same behavior is works with the "o" (for zoom out) key. This logic is of course much harder to put in words than it is to use; the easiest way to see the improvement is to do a few practice zooms with "i" and "o" by clicking the key a few times quickly. The sensing time interval is about 5 seconds so there is time to view the new zoom and decide the next action before the repeat state automatically clears.

Corrected problem with copy and paste and drag and drop of graphics between EazyDraw drawings of different scale. Graphics should paste with their proper "project" dimensions respecting the different scales. This worked in EazyDraw 3.1 but was broken with version 3.2, it is now working properly again.

This version has several enhancements to the ClarisDraw import. Full support for embedded EPS vector images is now working. Several cases for this construct are now supported with EPS version 1 and 2 inserts both with and without preview data (EazyDraw only displays the vector image - not the preview from the the EPS header). And issues related to drawings created with the Japanese version of ClarisDraw have been resolved, these related to Japanese fonts that were working properly before the Snow Leopard transition - all are back working correctly now.

This version has several enhancements to the AppleWorks import. Additional embedded graphic types are handled. Added support for additional clip-art pasted graphic formats for the AppleWorks Import.

Added the Send (Front - Ft, Forward - wf, Backward - bw, and Back - Bk) buttons to the Attributes bar (which is turned on and off with menu command near bottom of View main menu) for Text graphics. This has been requested by many, sorry it was not done that way in the first place, thanks to all for the input.

Added 3 new toolbar buttons for the viewing control of Charting, Stellate, and Math tool palettes. These were "missing" on the available tools for customizing the main window toolbar. They are now available for addition to the toolbar - use the Customize button or selection at the bottom of View main menu to add them to your toolbar.

Added the capability to have both a major and minor arc for the Flat Circle graphic, the one found near the bottom of the Technical Tools palette. The selection for the new option is found on the Graphic Details drawer, a new check box is found there. When creating, hold down the CMD key to switch between Major and Minor Arc choice. This only applies to the Flat Circle, not the Key or other Cut Circle tools.

Added several new error messages for Save and Save As, these will provide more detailed information should there be an error when saving data.

Fixed the cut circle tools when used in a user custom library tool palette. These tools were not working in the the mode that is driven from custom user menu, the kind installed on the Library main menu. Now these create proper default tool graphics which means they now work properly when assigned to a key board shortcut. The new text bubble tools also are now debugged and work properly for this use.

Fixed problem selecting a new Pattern list on the Patterns panel - when there is no graphic selected on the drawing. The list would not change to the new selection, unless a graphic was selected. Now it works properly and a new list and selection will work both with and without a graphic selected on the drawing.

Fixed problems with small circles. There was a mode where they could collapse to zero radius when moving when a drawing was zoomed out far enough to make the circle about the same size as the adjusting handles. Another problem was that undo would not correct this and undo would not work properly if the small circle was re-sized. Now all works for even the smallest of display circle size.

Further testing of the public beta on OS X version 10.4, zoom with "i" and "o" now work again on 10.4; the new export pdf capability is now operational on 10.4. Both of these had problems on the recent public beta versions.

Fixed live resize of complex graphics, such as group graphics that contain a large number of graphics. The graphic was shown at the original size during the interactive editing of the size of the graphic (adjusting with the resize handles). The problem was introduced at Snow Leopard change-over. Correct now, original fast-responsive resizing is working well as in previous versions.

Fixed problem when typing a prefix to an automatic dimension. In some cases the measurement number string would overwrite the prefix. This is back working correctly now.

A slight change was made to the dragging behavior. The change applies when a floating palette is positioned right over the active drawing area. If the floating palette has working area that can accept a drop of the moving graphic the drag and drop sequence is initiated. This rather specific set of events has given problems to some users when trying to drag an EazyDraw shape to the Custom Arrow shape area on the Arrow Palette. Previously one needed to drag the graphic off the drawing window then to the floating palette, this would be a problem sometimes on smaller screen systems where the palette was likely to be over the drawing area. This is somewhat non-standard Mac behavior but should not present a problem.

Fixed ClarisDraw import for Japanese text from the Japanese version of ClarisDraw. This worked properly before Jan 2009, an error was introduced correcting import of Japanese text from AppleWorks. Now all should be working.

Fixed Edit for text that is contained in another graphic. The Edit menu command on Text menu did not properly enter text editing mode when the selected text was contained in another graphic.

Corrected problem with Walls, they could not be re-sized by clicking and dragging the end point handles.

Corrected problem with Ribbons, they were very slow and sluggish to edit - all back to normal.

Corrected problem with Text used in a graphic added to a user library, the Text was flipped up-side-down. This is now back to normal. This bug also flipped text graphics converted to Images.

Corrected problem with Classic PICT graphics, pasted into EazyDraw. In some cases, depending on the application that created the PICT, the image was shifted in the bounding rectangle - all back to normal.

Version 3.2.0 --- Snow Leopard Release ---- August 30, 2009

EazyDraw version 3.3.0 is the follow up Snow Leopard release. This version has had extensive testing and debugging on the production release of Snow Leopard. It is compatible back to OS X version 10.4.3 (Tiger). It runs native on Intel and PowerPC processors.

EazyDraw version 3.2.0 is the initial Snow Leopard release for EazyDraw. Snow Leopard is OS X version 10.6. This version of EazyDraw is optimized for OS X version 10.6 and newer with compatibility back to OS X version 10.4.3.

Easy-Look: This release introduces a new drawing inspector Easy-Look. Easy-Look presents the hierarchal organization of a drawing’s layers, groups and graphics with sub-group investigation capability..

Pivot Interaction level. This is found on the Format main menu, Interaction submenu. This graphic form provides convenient rotation of a graphic about a user defined pivot point.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Added 3 new shapes for Cross Overs. These are "Line Break" indicators, with variations on the rotated Z shape to indicate a longer line than is drawn. They are found on the Cross Over palette.

Improved error messages when problems are encountered with saving a drawing to the disc drive. Previously there were situations where no or perhaps the delayed fail-safe error message would present. Now we have nearly every issue properly reporting with a OS X provided message concerning the cause of the problem.

Corrected problem of possible interaction of text color of annotation with the host graphic (or possibly other color attributes). If the Color and Style palette was open and one of the Color Wells active, then editing and or changing the color of an associated annotation would change the Fill or Stroke color of the main graphic as well as the color of the annotation text. This is now.

Corrected an annoyance that would cause the grid snapping to sometime revert to off. The situation related to editing an existing text box and oddly enough related to the number of times the letter "g" was typed in the session. All fixed now, so one should not see grid snapping randomly reverting to "off".

Made a change to allow the Layers Drawer’s table of layers to have a larger height. Before the height was limited to provide esthetic balance for the typical drawer and window size. But the limit reduced the number of allowable layers that could be visible at a time, for users with large screens. Now you can grow the layer table height by making the drawing window have a larger height on larger and higher resolution monitors where this is possible.

Fixed export of rotated text annotations to JPG and other bitmaps. Last public release these became "fuzzy" with a sometimes noticeable degradation of quality. Recent public beta versions had worse trouble with the annotation not showing at all. All is fixed now and quality is restored to the proper level as provided prior to version 3.0.

Fixed problem with opening and closing the Preferences panel. When Preferences panel opens, all open parameter panels close, when the Preferences panel closes the previously opened parameter panels were supposed to re-open. Problem was that these open states did not restore properly, typically several other panels would open unexpectedly. Now this is back to normal. Problem was introduced recently.

Fixed a potential crash / unexpectedly quit situation when using the Orthogonal-Radius path tool as accessed from a user library custom menu, or from a library in the drag-n-drop mode. The problem is now corrected. The situation was isolated to this particular method of accessing the tool, normal access from the Technical Tool palette did not have the problem.

Changed the behavior of Flip for group graphics. Previously if the group graphics were symmetric upon flip, the flip of the group was disabled - for example a group containing a square and a circle. Now Flip is enabled for the group and flipping proceeds as.

Fixed several issues with dimensions, especially when dimensions are embedded in groups. There were cases where snap points would jump unexpectedly and the dimension text would move position, and duplicating a dimension would create a new dimension with larger default set-back. All of these are corrected now. Extensive testing was completed on grouping, ungrouping, moving and snapping complex groups containing dimensions. All seems in good order at this point.

Improved error detection and messaging when saving data to disk. Situations where a save might fail without any warning or a vague poorly worded error message have been addressed. Saves to disk should be more reliable and error messages more specific as to cause in the case of failure.

Improved several issues related to closed paths and curves. In many situations an extra handle would be present at the closing vertex and this would need to be cut or edited if changes were needed to the shape at that point. Now closing a graphic avoids the extra handle. Joined closed paths now have proper handles and editing at the closing positions. Closed Continuous Bezier curves now edit properly with continuous constraints at the closing vertex handle.

FIxed dimension formatting for reported lengths when using feet and inches. There were cases where values would report as 5' 12" rather than 6'. These are now corrected.

Fixed non-standard file saves when compression is in use. Exports of PDF and other formats would be compressed but the .gz extension was not added when the Save-As setting for the normal EazyDraw file type was compressed. This now works properly.

Corrected possible "unexpectedly quit" situation. The problem related to changing a drawing’s scale after deleting an autoline of automatic dimension graphic. There was a coding bug in this situation, in most situations the bug would not cause a fault so this was a rare crash. All corrected now.

Corrected problem with Undo of forming a welded group. In many cases one graphic of the welded group would become corrupt after the undo. Resizing the corrupt graphic would fix the corruption. Now all is fixed, Undo and Redo of the Undo work properly.

Corrected problems with fill color for welded groups. There were situations where the welded group graphic would not apply color to the full enclosed area of a welded group graphic. All is correct now.

Corrected problem applying the new Instant Alpha command to gray scale images. This situation was not handled with the new Clear Color command. It is now handled properly. Gray scale images are automatically converted to RGBA images then the clear color process proceeds in the normal fashion.

Improved the method for inspecting and setting the thickness (width) of walls. The Walls parameter palette (found on Tools main menu) has a parameter for Wall Thickness. Like most parameters it was defined in terms of the Palette’s Fine Scale (inches, mm, or points), and the value was an unscaled value much like the thickness of a line. For Walls this is not the best choice of units and numeric format, at least for architectural use. In this representative situation the thickness of the walls would be defined in scaled project units. For example a wall constructed of 2x4’s would have a logical nominal thickness of 4 inches, in the scale of the drawing. This is now changed, settings for numerical format and precision are derived from the drawing’s main setting for Graphic Details. Documentation is complete, use search phrase "wall thickness" to study the details and background discussions.

Corrected an issue with adjusting the thickness of "long" walls. If a wall was very long the interactive thickness adjuster was "slow", requiring long drag motion to get a small change in thickness. This now works properly.

Further work on commas in use as decimal delimiter. Changed the display height on several parameter palettes to provide room to see the full comma. Some of the numeric fields were slightly short and the comma was cut off and appeared as a period.

Further work on exporting graphics with live dimensions via Copy and Paste. Corrections were not complete as problems persisted with graphics embedded in groups and values were not exported for report dimensions that called out specific positions on a drawing. The "positions" issue relates to the fact that a Copy and Paste of a selected group of graphics will have not have a defined drawing origin. The export now maintains these callouts as they were on the originating drawing.

Fixed problem with Scale popup menu (found on Scale palette). It was showing blank when non-standard scales were in use and the selection for the scale worksheet was missing. This bug was introduced late in the 3.1.0 revision cycle. It is now fixed.

Added a warning panel when printing or exporting a drawing with miss-spelled words highlighted. Previously the drawing would simply print or export, the faint red highlights appear on the output. Now a warning message is presented with 3 options: print with highlights, clear highlights and print, or cancel - presenting an opportunity to correct the spellings.

Fixed problem flipping and transforming connectors and orthogonal connectors embedded in groups or nested groups. These would not always transform correctly and would remain connected to incorrect positions rather than releasing and re-connecting to the proper flipped location of target graphics.

Fixed problem on Graphic Details drawer when viewing size of a PICT image graphic. Graphic Details was reporting "zero width" now the proper width is reported.

Corrected problems using localized conventions for regions that use comma "," as the decimal delimiter (and period ".") as a numeric marker for thousand interval marking - for example Deutchland. The values on the the Guides palette were not showing correctly and they were not accepting input correctly, values would be multiplied by 100. This problem had the potential to occur for certain formats of entry on the Graphic Details drawer. All is correct now values are displayed with the comma as the decimal delimiter and entries with or without commas are accepted correctly now.

Fixed Align issues with rotated text: align left, align right, ... . The alignment was based erroneously on the unrotated text box. Now the proper rotated text box is used for all the Align and Distribute functions for proper results.

Corrected problems with nested group graphics containing interconnected connectors. Problems found were with flipping, copy and paste on the same drawing and moving the group with snapping enabled. There were various issues with connectors jumping to incorrect positions. Extensive testing of nested groups with embedded connectors under actions of copy and paste, duplicate, transform, flip, and move, all seems to be working properly.

Corrected problem adding an outline (stroke) to an image, the outline was offset down and to the right by 1 or two pixels. This was introduced with version 3.1 and the Clear Color tool. It is now corrected and back to proper operation.

Fixed issue with Dimensions and use of Hide Dimensions for specific layers. There were a few specific kinds of Dimensions that did not "hide" properly when exporting the drawing. This is now fixed. The issue did not apply to normal printing of a drawing, only the export of drawings. All correct now.

Corrected problem rotating and flipping PICT image graphics. They were rotating in the reverse direction and sometimes moving off the drawing with the bounds becoming separated from actual image. This correction may correct other issues with PICT graphics as well. Rotating and flipping are working properly now for all forms of images.

Corrected a few problems with Dimensions that have their form set to "Nothing", this is the "user comment only" dimension form selection; where the automatic length or other report values are not shown. The issues related to having a "Nothing" dimension with no text entered which could result in an incorrect save and re-open situation that would then lock out text entry. Several variations of "Nothing" dimensions were tested and all work as expected now.

EazyDraw Version 3.1.0 ---- May 4, 2009

Major Revision. New Tool: Corners, Bind Group, Clear Color (Instant Alpha). Support for Gestures with new Glass Trackpad notebooks. Snow Leopard (OS X version 10.6 - developers only, pre-release) support - now fully operational on 10.6. Ability to set and manage a default text color. Improved stability on Tiger, OS X version 10.4. Numerous stability and performance improvements and enhancements.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Added a way to set the DPI (Dots Per Inch) for TIFF images copied to the system pasteboard. The main EazyDraw preferences panel, the Copy Paste Format section, now has a "Copy DPI" parameter. Nominal value is 72 DPI, don't use large values over about 300 DPI. You may need to test before using values other than 72 DPI as receiving applications are probably expecting 72 DPI. This parameter is needed primarily when working with the new Microsoft Office 2008 as this version no longer accepts Classic PICT data from the pasteboard, and has stability issues when provided PDF data (these reported issues will likely clear in the near future); thus one needs to copy TIFF but the increased resolution will be needed for better quality representation in the Microsoft application.

Added a few new presets to the drawing scales popup menu. The added settings are probably most useful for metric users.

Improved behavior of Flipping of Arcs and Math functions. Previously an Arc (or Pie shape) was converted to a basic Bezier path then flipped, thereby loosing the convenient arc controls. Now the Arc remains an Arc of a circle (or oval) with appropriately adjusted angle and axis settings. Previously several of the Math function curves (such as the Sine wave graphic) flipped in a mathematical sense rather than a geometrical transform. This would move the math function graphic in a manner different than other Bezier graphics, causing problems for groups containing the Math function curve. Each math function’s performance under flip has been adjusted and tested to perform precisely in the geometrical sense thereby insuring consistent performance when included or nested in groups with other non-math graphics.

Corrected bug with Dimensions that were reporting Area and set to provide Alternate units. The Alternate unit value was scaled linearly and therefore did not report the proper scaled area.

Fixed problem entering size values for rotated images in the Graphic Details drawer. Previously the entered values interacted with the rotation angle of the image confusing the width and height values. All is correct now, width and height entries correspond to the "pre-rotation" dimensions of the image rather than the width and height of a bounding rectangle of the rotated image. This should be less confusing and is now internally consistent.

Fixed problem with Burst gradient fill. Crash was possible when adding a custom burst shape. All is corrected now.

Fixed possible problems dragging and dropping layers from one drawing to another. Checking for duplicate layer names was not working (problem introduced with EazyDraw version 3.0) which could lead to problems. Biggest issue was dropping a duplicate layer with the name Paper which would result in two of the key layers with the unique name Paper and it was not possible to change the name of either of the resulting layers with this reserved name. All fixed now.

Fixed problem duplicating grid graphics created with the grid tools found at the bottom of the Technical Tool palette. After duplicating the actual grid would not appear in the new copy, there would need to be a change or save and reload of the file to trigger drawing of the actual grid. This is now fixed, duplicating these graphics works normally.

Fixed problem with dimensions when used in complete user input mode, that is with Dimension Form set to Nothing. The problem happened when editing user text in the dimension panel, after typing each character the insertion point would jump to the end of the text, making new entries tedious to type. This is now corrected.

Fixed problem with comment dimensions used in the user input mode (Dimension Form set to Nothing). Comment dimensions would persistently insert the report labels (for example, cX: cY:) these insertions should not be present when in full user input mode. They are now removed.

Toggling Italic and Bold text worked in an odd fashion when a few words of a text graphic had one of these traits, and if the trait was toggled for the full text graphic, the few words or phrases with the trait would toggle as well. The behavior is now changed, the toggle is based on the first character of the text graphic, then all text of the graphic is changed to the new toggled trait. The previous behavior would likely never be the goal of a toggle, the new behavior should provide the desired result with a single click in most cases.

Guide lines were present when exporting as PDF and other formats. Normally this is undesirable. Now guidelines are not printed when exporting unless the special purpose Guides layer is the active layer. This should provide the commonly needed output while leaving the ability to print guides with an output if desired.

Fixed possible problem saving AppleWorks imported files. These drawings could have trouble saving unless Page Setup was used to set a printer. Problem is now fixed, after import a default printer is automatically set to avoid save and open problems for the new EazyDraw drawing.

Corrected opening a file with a rare combination of orthogonal connector connected to a text box embedded as centered graphic in another graphic. This would cause the file to fail to load. Problem is corrected. .

Corrected problems with the text menu being update while typing and entering text. Previously the menu did not always get updated to reflect changes such as bold or other font style changes. Now it reflects the selection faithfully and is update with any of selection.

Corrected problem on the Paragraph panel, the numeric fields accepted new values with the Enter Key, but did not update with a Tab key change to the next text field . Entries now are accepted and updated on Enter, Tab or any other completion of editing of the individual fields.

Corrected a Tiger (OS X version 10.4.x) only issue that was introduced with the new on drawing layers and graphic details design. Drawing saved with both the layers and graphic details drawer open, and the drawing rulers showing, would open with a corrupted drawing window. The drawing window and EazyDraw were stable, no crash or data loss, but the drawing area would not display the drawing and would often have random broken images of other drawing window graphics. This is now corrected. To repeat this issue only was a problem on Tiger, Leopard (OS X version 10.5.x) users did not have this problem, it related to the numerous newer Leopard style drawing window components that must be simulated on Tiger.

Corrected problem with undo - of resize of the height of multiple graphics by way of numeric value entry on the Graphic Details drawer. The graphics would resize correctly but the undo would incorrectly change the width rather than the height of each graphic.

Corrected issues with rotated text that contains a gradient fill. The gradient was not drawing properly. This is now corrected, the gradient spins as expected with the text upon rotation.

Modified the Preferences Toolbar Colors popup menu. This menu is used to select the color palette for main toolbar color pickers. The menu now only presents solid colors. Previously the host of pattern colors provided with the normal EazyDraw installation were included. This could lead to confusion, hence the change. This menu had not been documented, a new documentation page for the EazyDraw Help system was added.

Corrected problem on Graphic Details drawer for Text - the size tab view. A Tab after entry of these values did not register the new value, and a simple change followed by a mouse click on another parameter or elsewhere on the drawing did not register the new value. Previously an explicit Enter was required to establish a new value for these parameters. The problem was also found on the Label text view. This is now corrected, these values now behave the same as other parameters on the Graphic details drawer.

Corrected problem flipping and rotating several graphics found on the Charting palette, when the graphic was embedded in a Group graphic. The flip or rotation would work correctly, but subsequent operations such as duplicate or copy and paste would have problems with the orientation of the Graphic. Most noticeable issues related to the symbols from the Electronics libraries that used narrow triangles.

Corrected problem exporting a Gradient added to a Text Box, when the gradient had an orientation. The exported orientation was not at the same angle. The gradient also did not display the correct size when the drawing zoom factor was not unity. All works correctly now.

Improved the AppleWorks import to properly handle Japanese fonts. The import now recognizes the Hiragino Kaku, Hiragino Maru and Hiragino Mincho families and two Osaka font families.

Improved AppleWorks import, added capability to identify AppleWorks files. Now the "cwk" extension is not required for EazyDraw to locate an AppleWorks classic OS drawing file. EazyDraw peaks in the file and identifies the exact binary structure.

Improved AppleWorks import, added capability to identify AppleWorks files. Now the "cwk" extension is not required for EazyDraw to locate an AppleWorks classic OS drawing file. EazyDraw peaks in the file and identifies the exact binary structure.

Corrected behavior of the "Other" buttons found on the shortcut color, pattern, and gradient toolbar pull down menus. Previously these would toggle the corresponding full interface panel, resulting in closing the panel if it was open. This would not be the intended action. Now the button will bring the corresponding panel to the front of all panels as one would expect.

Corrected Problem sending multiple graphics to a new layer using the Layers popup menu found at the bottom of the Graphic Details drawer. This action would reverse the drawing order on the destination layer. Drawing order is now preserved properly.

Changed the behavior of Option Drag to duplicate, in the case of multiple layers that were enabled for selection and the situation where some of the original graphics are not on the Active Layer. Previously all new graphics were entered on the active drawing layer. Now the new graphics remain on the same layer as the individual original of each duplicate. In other words: Option drag holds to originating layers.

Fixed Tool Tip on the "hand" tool, Pan tool of main toolbar. It now reads: Move Tool, Option Key to Pan, Space Bar Pans With Arrow.

Fixed the Report Dimension when used with Orthogonal Paths having finite radii. There was a problem in that the Report Dimension did not enable and report a Radius. All is fixed. To use an automatic dimension for the a radius on an Orthogonal Radius Path (Technical Tools, top row, second Column): attach the report dimension to one of the virtual vertices of the path, use Dimensions Palette -> Report Popup menu to select "Radius".

Corrected rare problem that could occur when converting a graphic with contained text to Bezier path. The convert would fail and the selected graphics that were being converted would disappear. This situation is handled properly now.

Corrected import of ClarisDraw files using the "Rounded Ends" setting for rounded rectangles. This was not working in some cases in ClarisDraw files. It worked in all cases for AppleWorks import, so the bug did not affect the other classic mac imports, only ClarisDraw. All is correct now.

Corrected issue with "Option Drag" duplicate, from one layer to a new empty layer. Drawing order could transmute in this situation. Note that this was rather rare, "Select Others" needed to be in use and the destination layer needed to be empty. All corrected now.

Corrected issues flipping parallelograms horizontal and vertical. This was not working properly for the generalized parallelogram tool and for parallelograms drawn as rectangles with a Free Transform distortion. All corrected now. The generalized parallelogram is changed to a normal Bezier upon these two flips and the Free Transform version behaves properly for all flips and 90 degree rotations from the menus, the Arrange Palette, and directly from the Distort palette.

Fixed problem with Arc and Pie graphics related to the elliptical handles (light blue ones) with a non-zero elliptical axis for the degenerate case of a circle (both axes equal to 1.0). The center blue adjusting handle could get out of sync and cause problems. This would be initiated with setting the elliptical factors to unity in the graphic details drawer. This ill-defined state is now blocked and corresponding start and end angle values are compensated when this state would previously have initiated with a numeric entry. In short, all should work as expected now, in all cases.

Corrected problem with Page Stamps. Problem introduced with the new canvas margin capability of EazyDraw version 3.0.0. The page stamp was computation was not respecting the value for the canvas margin. So page stamps in lower right corners would be incorrect if the canvas margin was not zero. All is correct now.

Corrected issue with selecting graphics for the situation of smaller graphics inside larger graphics, when there is no fill applied to the enclosing larger graphic(s). The issue was introduced with EazyDraw version 3.0. The mouse down would select the larger enclosing graphic, which is often not desired. Problem is corrected and behavior is again as it was in previous versions of EazyDraw.

Corrected problem exporting bitmap formats of text with soft bitmap shadows. The shadows were omitted upon export, pdf export worked but formats such as png and tiff did not. All is correct now.

Corrected problem with dimensions of very small spacing. In some cases the dimension call out value (the numeric text) could disappear. This is now fixed.

Improved the user interface elements for specifying decimal (and fractional) precision. The changes are on the Dimension palette and the Graphic Details. This interface is now a contextual popup menu rather than a simple integer value. The popup menu presents decimal or fractional precision entries in accordance with display form (decimal or fraction). This will provide a clearer indication of the meaning of each selection.

Corrected problem flipping Orthogonal Path. The Flip commands (Horizontal, Vertical, rotate 90 degrees, ...) were distorting the path. All works correctly now.

Changed the polarity of the stepper on the Stellates palette. The up/down was backwards to the thinking of many users. It has had the same polarity since the beginning of EazyDraw but enough users have complained so it is now reversed. There is no real correct polarity, we'll see how many complaints this beta version generates and respond appropriately before the next release.

EazyDraw Version 3.0.0 ---- January 6, 2009

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Added a way to set the DPI (Dots Per Inch) for TIFF images copied to the system pasteboard. The main EazyDraw preferences panel, the Copy Paste Format section, now has a "Copy DPI" parameter. Nominal value is 72 DPI, don't use large values over about 300 DPI. You may need to test before using values other than 72 DPI as receiving applications are probably expecting 72 DPI. This parameter is needed primarily when working with the new Microsoft Office 2008 as this version no longer accepts Classic PICT data from the pasteboard, and has stability issues when provided PDF data (these reported issues will likely clear in the near future); thus one needs to copy TIFF but the increased resolution will be needed for better quality representation in the Microsoft application.

The plus and minus keys now zoom in the exact same manner as "i" and "o". This was added for consistency with other older drawing applications.

Added another choice for "Move Image", the new choice is "Live Graphic". In this mode the actual graphic(s) are drawn on-screen during the interactive move process. This can add to cpu load, but responsiveness is negligible for less than a few 100 graphics in motion. The advantage of this mode is more accurate placement of the graphic. The normal move uses an image of the graphics in motion during the move then the actual graphic This can result in one or two pixel jumps of the moved image. Some users have complained about this jump, the new selection provides a precise solution to this problem. Factory Default behavior remains as in previous versions, users with this concern will need to overtly change the preference.

Import of MacDraw drawings is now supported. MacDrawII and MacDrawPro graphic file formats were supported with previous versions, but the original MacDraw version was not supported. Most early users of MacDraw upgraded to at least MacDrawII, hence most users required the MacDrawII import. There do remain isolated cases where requiring support for the revision zero version. This is now fully supported. Use the normal Open command to import these. Read the note "AppleWorks, ClarisDraw & MacDraw" for more introductory information.

Fixed a bug that would cause EazyDraw to use high percentage of the CPU resource. This related to two or more, overlapping, annotations or dimensions. If clicked in the right sequence the cpu usage would spike until a clearing click on an unrelated area of the drawing. All fixed now.

Fixed problems printing very large drawings. This was associated primarily with the use of the electronic printer options. The print operation could fail, and then upon quitting EazyDraw the application could hang or crash. Now the hang and crash is corrected. There should be no issues printing very large drawings either to printer or for "Save as PDF". Exporting very large drawings as PDF or EPS had a potential for an operating system imposed arbitrary size limit, but not the hang or crash, this is all corrected as well.

Corrected problem with the Tape Tool live cursor. When used with an origin not at the top left of the drawing the live cursor readout provided incorrect position readings. A shift of the origin was double compensated. This is corrected and works properly now.

Corrected problem exporting graphics that have both a gradient and a bitmap shadow. The export quality for graphics with both of these attributes active was poor. Now corrected graphics have full quality for these exports now.

Corrected problem ungrouping PDF with CMYK colors. The ungroup could abort or not properly represent colors. This is now corrected, CMYK colors in PDF content will ungroup properly and graphics are created with correct CMYK colors.

Corrected possible problems flipping (flip - horizontal, flip - vertical, ...) group graphics that contained arc or pie shapes. All works properly now.

Corrected possible problems using the contextual menu to increase or decrease line width. The problem could happen if the Color and Style palette was not open. In this case line width could go to zero or a very large value.

Corrected problem, only on OS X version 10.4 (Tiger), entering feet and inches values on Graphic Details drawer. In some cases entry would not process properly. Again - only on Tiger. This is now corrected.

Corrected rare problem with Sending a graphic with a Command Key shortcut command. In rare cases the graphic would need to be deselected and selected again to allow the command key to work. All fixed now.

Corrected occasional problem with the Area Report Dimension that could happen when the graphic target of the report dimension was nested in a group graphic. Sometimes the total area of the group would be reported instead of the area of the targeted graphic. This could have happened with other report dimensions as well. All is corrected now.

Functions keys F1 and F2 now open the Layers Drawer and Graphic Details drawer respectively.

Functions keys F1 and F2 now open the Layers Drawer and Graphic Details drawer respectively.

CMD drag of a ruler now simply resets the origin. Graphics remain in place.

Fixed long time nuisance with converting text to Bezier outlines. Ligatures would cause an extra faint rectangle to be added to the text. Corrected.

Optimized converting large bitmap images from RGB to CMYK color space This is now three to nine times faster.

Improved rendering of gradients. improvements include better screen drawing of small and intricate gradients such as those applied to text glyphs. Added full support for gradient transparency for printing and pdf output.

Improved data entry in Graphic Details drawer, when using fractions and fractions with feet and inches. Previously in some rare cases entry of a numeric value would pop back to the previous value, preventing changed. Previously decimal notation was required for feet and inches input. Now decimal or fractions may be used when entering as feet and inches.

Further improvements for ungrouping PDF content. Recent work has been ungrouping of PDF from FreeHand. Text from FreeHand pdf now formats better and corrections were made to avoid dropping of text from these documents.

Corrected export of bitmap formats, when anti-aliasing is not in use. Normally a border of 2 pixels is provided for anti-aliasing to apply to the edge of the exported graphic. When anti-aliasing is not in use this border was still applied, now it is not. Turning off anti-aliasing now works to export the exact size in pixels.

Several corrections to text editing, especially with respect to undo and redo of undo’s. Now selected ranges and insertion points are restored to exact conditions when undo or undo-redo actions are performed. One annoyance was that when editing text and deleting text so that the text box shrinks in height, then a left-over gray background area would remain below the text now smaller text box. This situation is now corrected.

Corrected problem with default Time Stamp format. The default format had the month twice and not month, day. Corrected. Upgrading users may need to use the Time Stamp Format panel, correct the format and save as a new default to clear the problem. New installations will not see the problem. Removing EazyDraw preferences file will rebuild the preference in the correct format, but all other persistent defaults will be cleared by this approach.

Improved Guideline Snapping for squares. The snapping would show on the drawing, but the size of the square would not always adjust properly to the guideline snap position. Now all works properly when creating and editing squares.

Corrected minor problems with Find and Replace. Fully tested again, on Leopard.

Corrected problem forming a group, that contained a group which contained graphics with inserted text. The painting order (front to back ordering) of the graphic with inserted text could jump to a different painting order position and possible obscure other graphics of the newly formed group. All is correct now.

Added support for Space-Bar panning. If the space bar is held down, the cursor changes to the Hand cursor and mouse down and drag actions will pan the drawing, as in scrolling. Panning is allowed even if graphics are currently selected. Panning sequences are allowed, lift the mouse - move over, click down again and pan further in a given direction. The panning mode persists until the space bar is lifted. This action does not work id a Text box is in editing mode, or key board focus is in text entry mode on a palette or the Graphic Details drawer.

Upgraded the Underline capability. The Underline menu found on the Text Style submenu has been expanded with different styles and underline patterns. The menu on the Graphic Details drawer was upgraded as well. A Strike submenu was added to the Text Style submenu.

Added the ability to "pan" a drawing by holding down Option key while doing a click and drag operation. Pan operation is performed in place of drag-select when the Option Key is used.

Changed the behavior of the Graphic Details drawer during creating of a graphic. Earlier versions updated the drawer as the graphic was initially drawn - at creation step. Version 2.6.0 had this behavior optimized out, no longer showing the details of the graphic as it is initially drawn. Users have requested to return to the older behavior, now again the the Graphic Details drawer is "live" as a graphic is created.

Corrected problem exporting FAVICON files. Exports on Intel processors did not work, the exported file had a corrupt header. Exports on PowerPC’s worked, the problem on happened on Intel processors. Now all is fixed, the standard FAVICON settings for the ICO export now produce valid FAVICON.ICO files.

EazyDraw Version 2.6.0 ---- April 4, 2008

New tools for drawing Spokes, as in spokes of a wheel, added to the Stellate palette. Cross-overs for schematics to indicated connections or lack thereof, boolean Combine submenu for Union, Intersection, or difference of two graphics, New Parallelogram tools on Charting palette. New Free-Hand tool on main tool palette. New Pinning capability on Format main menu, Draw Tangents and/or normals to curves from the Tape Measure tool (type "t" or "n" ). Improved Knife when cutting cyclical math curves (sine waves).

Cross-Overs

New Cross-Over palette is found on the Tools main menu. This feature provides a method to indicate the state of two crossing lines or paths. The indicators are used to show schematically whether or not the crossing paths are physically connected. The easiest way to think of the concept is that of a "jumper" that would indicate one path "jumping-over" another and not making a connection. Several indicator shapes are provided: jumper, bridge, gap, and other. There are also indicators such as a "dot" that can be used to indicate the opposite state, that of a physical connection..

Boolean Combine

A boolean Combine submenu is provided for forming a new graphic from two graphics source graphics. The Union, Difference and Intersection operations are found on this new submenu about 2/3rds the way down on the Tools main menu. These are compound operations that cut two overlapping closed graphics, then recombine the sub-paths according to defined logical rules. Documentation is complete; use search phrase "combine" for detailed definitions of these operations.

Free Hand (Pencil) Tool

Added a new Freehand pencil path tool to the main tool palette. The new tool provides simple freehand drawing, the path placed on paper will follow the cursor with minimal smoothing. With this tool one does not need to lift and click the mouse to drop vertices, as is the case with the other Bezier path tools. The fitting of the mouse trail to the created path is sensitive to the degree of zoom of the drawing. Therefore if a more detailed (jagged) path is needed, zoom in. If a path is too jagged, zoom out. After completion the Smooth or Round commands found on the Tools -> Transform menu may be used to improve the continuity of the path, if necessary. The new Pencil tool takes the place of the radius - orthogonal path tool, the orthogonal path tools are still available on the Technical tool palette (near top).

Tangents and Normals

Added a new capability to draw tangents and normals (perpendicular) to a curve. For straight paths this was done using the guides capability but it wasn't possible to get a precise automatic line oriented with respect to a curved path. Use the Tape Measure tool to access the new capability. When ever the tape measure cursor is indicating the slope of a curve at a given point (the light green cursor read-out) simply typing "t" or "n" will add a tangent or normal line to the drawing. The line added has the center and angle pinned so resizing will not loose the precise orientation. It is recommended to review the EazyDraw.

Pin and Lock

Newly expanded Lock capability, now referred to as Pin and Lock actions. There are two new submenus at the bottom of the Format main menu with new individual selections for locking a graphic. The lock menu now allows a graphic to be locked independently against moving and deleting. The new Pin submenu allows the fixing of the center, length, or angle of a graphic.

The Pin selections are of primary interest for simple lines, using these choices will offer several new useful interactive editing forms for a simple line. The Pin Center selection works with lines, rectangles, and rectangular shapes such as those found on the Charting palette. When the center is pinned, interactive on-screen size changes are made relative to the rectangle (or line) center. The Pin state of a graphic is indicated by a new handle mark shown at the center of the graphic, no mark indicates no pinning. The new lock-against-delete state is indicated by round rather than the normal square handles. Documentation is complete; use search phrase "pin" to access.

Parallelograms

Added 4 new charting tools. Three new forms of parallelograms were added. We were missing two geometries of the orthogonal parallelogram form, two more of these were added, now all forms of this shape are possible. A free form parallelogram tool was added, it easily creates any possible parallelogram. A new "Bow Tie" shape was added to fill out the row of 4 tools. They behave and draw in the normal fashion, no new documentation needed. Full support on the Graphic Details Drawer is complete.

Spokes

Added 3 new stellate tools for drawing spokes. There are 3 forms, a simple straight spoke, a Bezier shaped spoke, and a rounded rectangle spoke. They are found at the bottom of the Stellate palette. They behave and draw just like other stellates.

Ungroup PDF - For Import from Canvas X

Made several improvements to the PDF ungroup. These focused on ungrouping PDF file generated from the Deneba Canvas application. The PDF ungroup now detects use of tile-pattern-fills in the PDF translates these to EazyDraw patterns. The text generation from Canvas is rather non-standard with individual character placement, this situation is now handled and the text streams are recombined into EazyDraw text boxes and positioned with normal typesetting attributes. This means that more text from these files is imported, sized, and positioned correctly. The import is somewhat slow due to this construction. Optimization will be added in the future after we have have more feedback and testing on the basic ungrouping correctness and accuracy.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Improved Knife, when cutting cyclical math curves, specifically all variations of sine waves and the triangle wave form. Before the knife tool would cut the cyclical math curve correctly but the resulting two or more curves were reduced to Bezier curves, loosing their cyclical control functionality. Now a cut sine wave will result in two new sine waves. The period and phase of each new cyclical function is adjusted to exactly match the original wave form. This improved functionality does not apply to the discontinuous cyclical wave forms, square wave, pulse and saw-tooth; these still drop back to Bezier paths when cut. If one of the resulting cut wave forms would have less than 1/2 of a cycle, the waveform is still reduced to a Bezier curve.

Changed behavior of superscript and subscript commands (both from Text menu and Attributes bar). Previously these commands only changed the baseline of the target text range. Now the commands change the baseline and decrease the font size by 2 points. The inverse command (No(rmal) on the attributes bar and "use default" on the text menu) returns the baseline and adds 2 points of font size. The independent raise or lower baseline commands behave as they did before.

Corrected inconsistency with the Knife tool when cutting a simple line. It was possible to drop the vertex of a line with the knife, the result would be a line with only one point. This inconsistency is now corrected, it is not possible to drop-cut either of a line’s two vertices or end points.

Corrected problems adjusting the size of some Free Transform interactive graphics, that contained rectangles or charting shapes nested in group graphics. These now all scale properly.

Corrected possible scaling problems with the new Cut Circle graphics that were introduced with version 2.5.0. Previously they would scale properly in a group, but if the containing group was removed by an Ungroup the Cut-Circle graphic’s resize handles would be misplaced. All is correct now. Cut Circles are the graphics found on the Technical Tool palette, second row from the bottom.

Corrected problem introduced with EazyDraw version 2.5.2, version 2.5.0 and earlier did not have the problem. It was a rare problem causing EazyDraw to launch incorrectly. It could only happen to users that were upgrading from an earlier version of EazyDraw. The trigger of the bug was custom (or inadvertent) additions to the colors found in the "eazydraw.clr" color list (in Colors folder found in the home Library folder). If fewer than 8 custom colors were added, the problem would occur upon launch. - very rare situation. All fixed.

Corrected problem importing MacDrawPro and ClarisDraw drawings with bitmap images (JPG, TIF) on Intel machines. Some bitmaps that would import correctly on PowerPC processors were not interpreted correctly on Intel CPUs (byte swap issue for those who understand what that means). All corrected now.

Corrected problem exporting TIF images. It was possible to have a dark line at the top of the image. The line was only a present when using a white background, transparent backgrounds were drawn correctly. The problem was introduced with version 2.5.0, and the dual-rep TIFF capability. It is corrected now.

Corrected problem importing MacDrawPro and ClarisDraw drawings with custom colored patterns. The patterns would import correctly but after saving the EazyDraw file and re-opening the Patterns would return to the default black and white pattern. This is now corrected.

Corrected problem rotating text with a filled text box, filled with solid color, pattern, or gradient. In this situation the rotation would not restore after a save and re-open of the file. This is now corrected. Another aspect of the problem was that text would be inverted (up side down) while rotating, this is now corrected as well.

Corrected issue importing ClarisDraw files related to long text fields. A new format variation was encountered and included in the text interpretation. This may help some users that were having trouble getting all their text to import.

Improved the Ungroup PDF for older versions of PDF that are commonly generated on Windows machines. Text size was not translating properly, one would see a corrupt text box with reported font size of 1.0 - this situation is now handled with the PDF conversion.

Corrected arrow at the end of a rounded or radius connector. The end arrow was not pointed in the correct direction. It now behave correctly. This only happened with the one particular form of a orthogonal connector that was drawn the had its corner shape changed via the Connector palette.

Corrected problems rotating some graphics 90 degrees clockwise and 90 degrees counter clockwise with the flipping menu commands or attribute bar buttons. Text was not flipping the actual text, only the text box. Other graphics were being changed to raw Bezier paths unnecessarily, for example a rectangle was not maintained as a rectangle with the flip action. All is correct now.

Corrected problem changing the text color from the toolbar button. If the text had multiple styles of typeface, a subscript for example, the color would only change up to the point of typeface change. Corrected now.

Corrected possible problems exporting to Keynote drawings that were imported from a Classic drawing application such as MacDraw, or ClarisDraw. In the old classic environment it was possible to "color" a line with a pattern color. This is not acceptable to Keynote and while EazyDraw would handle the situation, upon export to Keynote a block was encountered that would prevent the file save. All is fixed.

Corrected problem saving the color of a Grid Graphic, the ones found on the bottom of the Technical Tool palette. The color would revert to black, or default unless an outline was showing for the grid. Now the color saves and restores correctly.

Optimized the internal code for opening a new drawing. Opening a drawing or creating a new drawing was beginning to take a noticeable amount of time, especially on PowerPC processors or any processor on Tiger. The drawing initialization code was optimized, now there is no noticeable time to open a blank drawing. Opening larger drawings will still require a time in proportion to the size and complexity of the drawing.

Removed the support for creating and updating file icon previews in the main file open dialog. This was an older feature of relevance on Jaguar and Panther and no longer needed. The QuickLook technology in Leopard has superseded the older file icon technology that was used for these previews. On Tiger and Leopard support for the old feature would unnecessarily "touch" files while browsing the Open dialog, thereby changing the File-Modified dates - an undesired consequence. Removing the feature all together corrects the issue.

EazyDraw Version 2.5.2 ---- February 14, 2008

Customizable Toolbar improvements, Ability to convert a Blend to component paths, Improved MacDrawPro Import, Improved ClarisDraw Libraries Import, Fixed possible customizing toolbar lock-up.

Customizable Toolbar

Several improvements were made to the main window toolbar - when used in the Text label mode without icons. In this mode the palettes such as the color picker and gradient picker are presented as menus. These menu presentations were significantly enhanced to provide reasonable submenu organization for a more efficient user experience.

Lock-up during customizing toolbar

Corrected possible random behavior when customizing a toolbar. Extremely rare problem which would occur during customization of the toolbar on one drawing if another drawing was closed a minute or two before the customization action. The bug would take several random forms, possibly hanging the window or not completing a customization task but most in most cases there would be no visible sign of the problem, just a message in the system log files. All is fixed now.

Convert Blends

Added the ability to convert blends into individual paths or lines. This lets one use the blend capability as an interactive form of advanced duplicate, for linear duplication tasks. The blend function can generate a family of curves transitioning across a small set of defining curves. The new capability, found on the "convert to" submenu, allows the full family of curves to be "ungrouped" for individual management and editing. This is also useful for complex illustrations, the individual paths may behave better for scaling and distortion as a nested grouped component. The individual curve may in some cases draw more quickly as well, in the case where thousands of curves might be in use.

Graphic Details Limits

Added minimum limits for several parameters on the Graphic Details drawer. It was reported that a zero-radius circle would cause KeyNote to crash when exported. This problem is found with several other graphics, for example a zero width rectangle. Therefore minimum limits are now in place for several parameters. However, in some cases very small values might be required, for example a small dot of a circle. To allow entering very small values EazyDraw sets the minimum limit in accordance with the zoom of the drawing. Therefore, if a very small value is needed for a parameter it may be necessary to zoom in on the graphic before entering the value.

Import ClarisDraw Libraries

Corrected problem importing ClarisDraw libraries. The problem was related to library graphics that included text. This is now corrected, we have imported several large complex libraries that have been submitted by users. The ClarisDraw Library import is now quite robust.

MacDraw File Convert

Corrected import issue with MacDrawPro drawings. The problem was with certain forms of Bezier paths that contained vertex points with no control points. This seems to be a rather rare construct, one needs to know to option click a control point in the reshape mode in MacDrawPro in order to even create one of these curves. So the problem probably did not appear for most users. All is corrected now.

EazyDraw Version 2.5.1c ---- January 27, 2008

Attributes Toolbar, Charting and Graphing Tools, 512 based Icons, improved PDF ungroup, Multi-Rep TIFF export (for developers), Hex Grid for Game Design, New Scale Worksheet.

Attributes Toolbar

Improved performance of the new Attributes Bar, when text is selected. Users of slower PowerPC CPU’s reported sluggishness when using the Attributes Bar. The updating of the attributes for text has been optimized to minimize CPU load in this situation. Please note that the Attributes Bar has the newer Leopard appearance, to maintain Tiger compatibility EazyDraw needs to simulate the buttons and their detailed gradients when running on Tiger. This takes a fair amount of CPU load, and may be noticeable on an older PowerPC. PowerPC - Tiger users should consider upgrading to Leopard or turning off the Attributes Bar. Of course, for performance and stability the Leopard upgrade is strongly advised for all situations.

New Default Toolbar

We have a new default toolbar configuration. This configuration compliments the Attributes Bar better than the previous toolbar, some elements previously in the default toolbar are now present in the Attributes Bar, allowing other elements to be added to the main toolbar. If you have used EazyDraw before you will not see the new default configuration and you may want to customize your toolbar or customize and move the new default configuration to your toolbar.

French Localization

Additions and corrections for French localization. Dash and Arrow palettes formatted better for the French labels and wording. Export panel localized fully now. Fully tested on Tiger and Leopard using the French user interface. Corrected issues with Open AppleWorks files, using French interface, the open dialog would not show the option to select another file type for Open: now all works properly. Further work on the French PDF manual is now available, this project is still not complete.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Corrected a possible "unexpectedly quit" that could occur when applying a transfer property (shadow, or gradient for example) from a library. These are the property library elements that are placed in a user library using the small LL icon found on parameter palettes. The unexpectedly quit would happen when applying the property from the library to a graphic in a drawing. All is corrected now, the Library property transfers all work as documented now.

Improved the Keynote export. Support for arrows has been added. Corrected possible position errors for lines when exporting just graphics rather than full drawing area, now lines are precisely positioned in all situations.

Fixed a problem on Dash panel, the default list of defined named dashes was not provided. Now the menu has 8 named dash patterns properly listed and available for use.

Fixed pasting images into MS Word and other older technology applications that prefer the Classic PICT data format. Images often would paste up-side-down. A vertical flip was added, this should correct the issue, if unwanted flips are noted please report the problem.

Changed behavior of including an anti-aliasing border when exporting bitmaps. If anti-aliasing is on and you select to just export graphics, or selected graphics, a 2 pixel border is included to allow anti-aliasing of outside edges of the graphics. This is not desirable in some cases such as creating a background image for a web site where the image may be tiled, as an undesired white border will be present on each tiled image. The border is not included if you export "Full Drawing Area" and now it is also eliminated if anti-aliasing is turned off. Previously the border was still included when exporting just graphics without anti-aliasing, this was logically inconsistent.

Corrected rare annoyance associated with the pattern and gradient toolbar tools. The problem was that the use of one of these tools could inadvertently change the temporary default for a pattern or gradient, then new graphics would have a gradient or pattern. Then it would be necessary to open the Gradient panel and turn off gradient so that new graphics would draw without the gradient, (or pattern). This was rare but annoying. All is fixed now. The toolbar tools can be used freely without worry of this happening.

Corrected problem on EazyDraw Preferences, restore all to Factory would not close the pull down panel. This is fixed now.

Corrected problem with the new modified circle graphic, it was possible to set the minor radius larger than the radius on the Graphic Details drawer. This could then prevent the file from opening. This is corrected, and files saved with this error are now senses and corrected so that they are opened properly and the inconsistency is corrected.

Corrected possible problem using independent scales for different layers. If the scale panel was not open the grid could draw incorrectly when linked to rulers. All corrected now.

EazyDraw Version 2.5.0 ---- January 4, 2008

Attributes Toolbar, Charting and Graphing Tools, 512 based Icons, improved PDF ungroup, Multi-Rep TIFF export (for developers), Hex Grid for Game Design, New Scale Worksheet.

Attributes Toolbar

A new Attributes Toolbar is now available. It is a mini toolbar located at the top of the drawing area, above rulers and below the main toolbar. It is accessed from a menu selection at the bottom of the View main menu, you can turn it on / off from there. The preference control for showing the toolbar on new drawings is found on the Page Layout palette. Documentation is complete (EazyDraw Help, but not the PDF manual at this time) use search phrase "toolbar" to learn more, we refer to it as the "attributes toolbar". This toolbar is actually a family of toolbars, they are context sensitive, they change when graphics are selected or deselected. The tools shown are chosen to be relevant to the selected graphics on the drawing. This feature is similar to the mini toolbar found in the iWork '08 suite (Pages '08 and Numbers '08), use of these tools should be natural for iWork08 users.

Scale Worksheet

There is a new Scale Worksheet, access it from your Scale palette or the new attributes toolbar. The worksheet helps arrive at a proper scale for a scaled technical drawing. It interactively displays the relationship between your choice of paper size and the dimensions of the project. A great help for both a novice that may need assistance in understanding how a scaled drawing will work, and the expert planning a project and presentation format.

512 icons

All new 512 based icons for the application, drawing files, and library files. These were drawn with EazyDraw and saved in the updated OS X, Apple Icon Image format so that they look great on Leopard.

Charting and Graphing Axis Tools

New charting and graphing tools on the Technical Tools palette, near the bottom, are now complete. These now have full support on the the Graphic Details drawer and Help documentation is now complete . There are 4 new axis and grid tools to be used as integral components of a graph or chart. They consist of an integrated tick-mark, a compound text label graphic, rectangular grid, and hexagon grid. They can be used to build axes and labels for chart graphics. These have been highly optimized to display quickly. It is better to use one of these compound graphics, especially for text-label sequence, compared to a conventional group array of text or tick marks. To learn more use these search phrases in EazyDraw Help: "graphing tools", "text labels", "grid tools".

Unjoin Bezier

Added new command to Unjoin a Bezier path or curve. This will separate segments of a complex path at points where the path jumps (MoveTo segments) from one stroked portion of the path to another. This is useful and recommended when complex paths have been imported into an EazyDraw drawing. This situation is found when text is converted to Bezier or stylized. It also occurs with ungrouped PDF files, and is common for PDF files that originate from AutoCad. You may think of it as one more level of ungrouping available in these situations. An example might be a semi-colon, this would let one separate the two marks of the semi-colon. It is found on the Tools main menu, Convert submenu. If a complex path is not converting as desired, use this new Unjoin then attempt the convert.

Hex Grid

Hex grid tool on Technical Tool palette is now complete with Graphic Details support. The grid can be rotated and fully adjusted with respect to the origin. The sides can be extended or shortened for different appearance. When fully extended an isosceles triangle grid is attained. Documentation is complete.

Multi-Rep TIFF Export

Added the ability to export multi-representation TIFF files. This format is the new Apple standard for application images and icons. The format is a tiff file but it actually contains two tiff images, one at the requested DPI resolution and a second at 4x the DPI resolution. These will become important as Leopard moves onto higher resolution displays (think HD) in the future. This is of primary interest to software developers drawing buttons and icons for Mac and web applications. There is an example of one of these TIFF files in the examples folder, Preview displays the files and shows the two resolutions. TIFF Export now provides color space control. RGB, RGBA, CMYK, and CMYKA are supported. The DPI for TIFF saved files is now saved with the file so that the file opens with a proper nominal size in Adobe applications.

Improved PDF Ungroup

Improved the speed of PDF ungroup, the improvement can be quite significant (100-1000 fold) for some complex PDF images. Corrected problem opening a drawing that was the result of a PDF ungroup - the first time after the ungroup; opening would take a very long time for large PDF - fixed now, opening time is normal for the size of the file. Improved PDF ungroup in several respects, it now handles PDF files that originated from AutoCad more intelligently, more quickly, and with better results.

Problems Addressed

Corrected a detail point on the export of TIFF graphic files. Now the physical size of the image is properly represented with respect to the Dots Per Inch (DPI) that was specified when saving the file. The correction does not actually change or improve the bitmap image, but other applications such as Photoshop will now show the image at a more representative size.

Corrected entering lengths in the Graphics Details drawer when units and fractions were in use. In some cases the length entered, if it had a fraction, could become about 10 times larger than the value entered . This is fixed now.

Improved the Convert To Lines for complex paths. Now disjoined jumps in a complex path do not confuse the conversion. Previously one could see extra lines added at these jumps.

Corrected problem on Graphic Details drawer, when entering the radius for an Arc and completing with a Tab key, if Tab was hit again the radius would go to zero. Problem is now corrected, two tabs hit in succession now simply advance the entry point to the next then the next text fields on the Graphic Details drawer. All fixed now.

Corrected bug setting text alignment for larger text blocks with multiple font styles and sizes.

Corrected problem with palette layout selection at launch of EazyDraw. The problem was that a user defined palette layout for launch would be respected only on every-other launch. Corrected now, any selection for Palettes At Launch, EazyDraw preferences, is now respected each launch.

Corrected rare problem that was possible on Leopard, not Tiger, that would result in a bad drawing window opened when EazyDraw was launched. The bad window would not display and not respond to key clicks and could not be closed. This is fixed now.

The French PDF manual has been updated, it is still not complete, the work is still in progress. The newest version has updated figures and more pages complete. It is in the International folder.

Improved AppleWorks import, main improvement relates to images that were imported into AppleWorks. In some cases the size of the image was not correctly reproduced in the EazyDraw drawing, more situations are now handled properly.

Corrected problem resizing groups that had no width or height, for example two horizontal lines grouped together. This would produce different results, often the group would disappear. This is now corrected, if a group has virtual (not including line widths) zero width (or height) the selected group will not show the two handles or for width (or height) adjustment. Resizing will only apply to the other (non-zero) dimension.

Corrected problem with the undo of a group action, in particular when the grouping action involved a group (group of a group). The new group would un-group just fine, but the Undo action would change the Group-Edit for the group that was originally placed in the group. In other words: the sub-group would not return with the same Group Edit, upon undo. After the undo the original group would not have resize handles as the Group Edit would be placed to Solid. Now all works properly, Undo of grouping a group returns everything to original states.

New Features EazyDraw Version 2.5, see below

EazyDraw Version 2.5.2 Improvements ---- February 14, 2008

Customizable Toolbar improvements, Ability to convert a Blend to component paths, Improved MacDrawPro Import, Improved ClarisDraw Libraries Import, Fixed possible customizing toolbar lock-up.

New Default Toolbar -- Update your toolbar!

We have a new default toolbar configuration. This configuration compliments the Attributes Bar better than the previous toolbar, some elements previously in the default toolbar are now present in the Attributes Bar, allowing other elements to be added to the main toolbar. If you have used EazyDraw before you will not see the new default configuration and you may want to customize your toolbar or customize and move the new default configuration to your toolbar.

French Localization

Additions and corrections for French localization. Dash and Arrow palettes formatted better for the French labels and wording. Export panel localized fully now. Fully tested on Tiger and Leopard using the French user interface. Corrected issues with Open AppleWorks files, using French interface, the open dialog would not show the option to select another file type for Open: now all works properly. Further work on the French PDF manual is now available, this project is still not complete.

Keynote Export

Arrows are now supported for the KeyNote export. Added minimum limits for several parameters on the Graphic Details drawer. It was reported that a zero-radius circle would cause KeyNote to crash when exported. This problem is found with several other graphics, for example a zero width rectangle. Therefore minimum limits are now in place for several parameters. However, in some cases very small values might be required, for example a small dot of a circle. To allow entering very small values EazyDraw sets the minimum limit in accordance with the zoom of the drawing. Therefore, if a very small value is needed for a parameter it may be necessary to zoom in on the graphic before entering the value.

Text Only Toolbar Mode

Several improvements were made to the main window toolbar - when used in the Text label mode without icons. In this mode the palettes such as the color picker and gradient picker are presented as menus. These menu presentations were significantly enhanced to provide reasonable submenu organization for a more efficient user experience.

Lock-up during customizing toolbar

Corrected possible random behavior when customizing a toolbar. Extremely rare problem which would occur during customization of the toolbar on one drawing if another drawing was closed a minute or two before the customization action. The bug would take several random forms, possibly hanging the window or not completing a customization task but most in most cases there would be no visible sign of the problem, just a message in the system log files. All is fixed now.

Import ClarisDraw Libraries

Corrected problem importing ClarisDraw libraries. The problem was related to library graphics that included text. This is now corrected, we have imported several large complex libraries that have been submitted by users. The ClarisDraw Library import is now quite robust.

MacDraw File Convert

Corrected import issue with MacDrawPro drawings. The problem was with certain forms of Bezier paths that contained vertex points with no control points. This seems to be a rather rare construct, one needs to know to option click a control point in the reshape mode in MacDrawPro in order to even create one of these curves. So the problem probably did not appear for most users. All is corrected now.

Attributes Toolbar

Improved performance of the new Attributes Bar, when text is selected. Users of slower PowerPC CPU’s reported sluggishness when using the Attributes Bar. The updating of the attributes for text has been optimized to minimize CPU load in this situation. Please note that the Attributes Bar has the newer Leopard appearance, to maintain Tiger compatibility EazyDraw needs to simulate the buttons and their detailed gradients when running on Tiger. This takes a fair amount of CPU load, and may be noticeable on an older PowerPC. PowerPC - Tiger users should consider upgrading to Leopard or turning off the Attributes Bar. Of course, for performance and stability the Leopard upgrade is strongly advised for all situations.

Improvements and Bug Fixes

Corrected a possible "unexpectedly quit" that could occur when applying a transfer property (shadow, or gradient for example) from a library. These are the property library elements that are placed in a user library using the small LL icon found on parameter palettes. The unexpectedly quit would happen when applying the property from the library to a graphic in a drawing. All is corrected now, the Library property transfers all work as documented now.

Improved the Keynote export. Support for arrows has been added. Corrected possible position errors for lines when exporting just graphics rather than full drawing area, now lines are precisely positioned in all situations.

Fixed a problem on Dash panel, the default list of defined named dashes was not provided. Now the menu has 8 named dash patterns properly listed and available for use.

Fixed pasting images into MS Word and other older technology applications that prefer the Classic PICT data format. Images often would paste up-side-down. A vertical flip was added, this should correct the issue, if unwanted flips are noted please report the problem.

Changed behavior of including an anti-aliasing border when exporting bitmaps. If anti-aliasing is on and you select to just export graphics, or selected graphics, a 2 pixel border is included to allow anti-aliasing of outside edges of the graphics. This is not desirable in some cases such as creating a background image for a web site where the image may be tiled, as an undesired white border will be present on each tiled image. The border is not included if you export "Full Drawing Area" and now it is also eliminated if anti-aliasing is turned off. Previously the border was still included when exporting just graphics without anti-aliasing, this was logically inconsistent.

Corrected rare annoyance associated with the pattern and gradient toolbar tools. The problem was that the use of one of these tools could inadvertently change the temporary default for a pattern or gradient, then new graphics would have a gradient or pattern. Then it would be necessary to open the Gradient panel and turn off gradient so that new graphics would draw without the gradient, (or pattern). This was rare but annoying. All is fixed now. The toolbar tools can be used freely without worry of this happening.

Corrected problem on EazyDraw Preferences, restore all to Factory would not close the pull down panel. This is fixed now.

Corrected problem with the new modified circle graphic, it was possible to set the minor radius larger than the radius on the Graphic Details drawer. This could then prevent the file from opening. This is corrected, and files saved with this error are now senses and corrected so that they are opened properly and the inconsistency is corrected.

Corrected possible problem using independent scales for different layers. If the scale panel was not open the grid could draw incorrectly when linked to rulers. All corrected now.

New Features EazyDraw Version 2.5

Attributes Toolbar, Charting and Graphing Tools, 512 based Icons, improved PDF ungroup, Multi-Rep TIFF export (for developers), Hex Grid for Game Design, New Scale Worksheet.

Attributes Toolbar

A new Attributes Toolbar is now available. It is a mini toolbar located at the top of the drawing area, above rulers and below the main toolbar. It is accessed from a menu selection at the bottom of the View main menu, you can turn it on / off from there. The preference control for showing the toolbar on new drawings is found on the Page Layout palette. Documentation is complete (EazyDraw Help, but not the PDF manual at this time) use search phrase "toolbar" to learn more, we refer to it as the "attributes toolbar". This toolbar is actually a family of toolbars, they are context sensitive, they change when graphics are selected or deselected. The tools shown are chosen to be relevant to the selected graphics on the drawing. This feature is similar to the mini toolbar found in the iWork '08 suite (Pages '08 and Numbers '08), use of these tools should be natural for iWork08 users.

Scale Worksheet

There is a new Scale Worksheet, access it from your Scale palette or the new attributes toolbar. The worksheet helps arrive at a proper scale for a scaled technical drawing. It interactively displays the relationship between your choice of paper size and the dimensions of the project. A great help for both a novice that may need assistance in understanding how a scaled drawing will work, and the expert planning a project and presentation format.

512 icons

All new 512 based icons for the application, drawing files, and library files. These were drawn with EazyDraw and saved in the updated OS X, Apple Icon Image format so that they look great on Leopard.

Charting and Graphing Axis Tools

New charting and graphing tools on the Technical Tools palette, near the bottom, are now complete. These now have full support on the the Graphic Details drawer and Help documentation is now complete . There are 4 new axis and grid tools to be used as integral components of a graph or chart. They consist of an integrated tick-mark, a compound text label graphic, rectangular grid, and hexagon grid. They can be used to build axes and labels for chart graphics. These have been highly optimized to display quickly. It is better to use one of these compound graphics, especially for text-label sequence, compared to a conventional group array of text or tick marks. To learn more use these search phrases in EazyDraw Help: "graphing tools", "text labels", "grid tools".

Unjoin Bezier

Added new command to Unjoin a Bezier path or curve. This will separate segments of a complex path at points where the path jumps (MoveTo segments) from one stroked portion of the path to another. This is useful and recommended when complex paths have been imported into an EazyDraw drawing. This situation is found when text is converted to Bezier or stylized. It also occurs with ungrouped PDF files, and is common for PDF files that originate from AutoCad. You may think of it as one more level of ungrouping available in these situations. An example might be a semi-colon, this would let one separate the two marks of the semi-colon. It is found on the Tools main menu, Convert submenu. If a complex path is not converting as desired, use this new Unjoin then attempt the convert.

Convert Blends

Added the ability to convert blends into individual paths or lines. This lets one use the blend capability as an interactive form of advanced duplicate, for linear duplication tasks. The blend function can generate a family of curves transitioning across a small set of defining curves. The new capability, found on the "convert to" submenu, allows the full family of curves to be "ungrouped" for individual management and editing. This is also useful for complex illustrations, the individual paths may behave better for scaling and distortion as a nested grouped component. The individual curve may in some cases draw more quickly as well, in the case where thousands of curves might be in use.

Hex Grid

Hex grid tool on Technical Tool palette is now complete with Graphic Details support. The grid can be rotated and fully adjusted with respect to the origin. The sides can be extended or shortened for different appearance. When fully extended an isosceles triangle grid is attained. Documentation is complete.

Multi-Rep TIFF Export

Added the ability to export multi-representation TIFF files. This format is the new Apple standard for application images and icons. The format is a tiff file but it actually contains two tiff images, one at the requested DPI resolution and a second at 4x the DPI resolution. These will become important as Leopard moves onto higher resolution displays (think HD) in the future. This is of primary interest to software developers drawing buttons and icons for Mac and web applications. There is an example of one of these TIFF files in the examples folder, Preview displays the files and shows the two resolutions. TIFF Export now provides color space control. RGB, RGBA, CMYK, and CMYKA are supported. The DPI for TIFF saved files is now saved with the file so that the file opens with a proper nominal size in Adobe applications.

Improved PDF Ungroup

Improved the speed of PDF ungroup, the improvement can be quite significant (100-1000 fold) for some complex PDF images. Corrected problem opening a drawing that was the result of a PDF ungroup - the first time after the ungroup; opening would take a very long time for large PDF - fixed now, opening time is normal for the size of the file. Improved PDF ungroup in several respects, it now handles PDF files that originated from AutoCad more intelligently, more quickly, and with better results.

Problems Addressed

Corrected a detail point on the export of TIFF graphic files. Now the physical size of the image is properly represented with respect to the Dots Per Inch (DPI) that was specified when saving the file. The correction does not actually change or improve the bitmap image, but other applications such as Photoshop will now show the image at a more representative size.

Corrected entering lengths in the Graphics Details drawer when units and fractions were in use. In some cases the length entered, if it had a fraction, could become about 10 times larger than the value entered . This is fixed now.

Improved the Convert To Lines for complex paths. Now disjoined jumps in a complex path do not confuse the conversion. Previously one could see extra lines added at these jumps.

Corrected problem on Graphic Details drawer, when entering the radius for an Arc and completing with a Tab key, if Tab was hit again the radius would go to zero. Problem is now corrected, two tabs hit in succession now simply advance the entry point to the next then the next text fields on the Graphic Details drawer. All fixed now.

Corrected bug setting text alignment for larger text blocks with multiple font styles and sizes.

Corrected problem with palette layout selection at launch of EazyDraw. The problem was that a user defined palette layout for launch would be respected only on every-other launch. Corrected now, any selection for Palettes At Launch, EazyDraw preferences, is now respected each launch.

Corrected rare problem that was possible on Leopard, not Tiger, that would result in a bad drawing window opened when EazyDraw was launched. The bad window would not display and not respond to key clicks and could not be closed. This is fixed now.

The French PDF manual has been updated, it is still not complete, the work is still in progress. The newest version has updated figures and more pages complete. It is in the International folder.

Improved AppleWorks import, main improvement relates to images that were imported into AppleWorks. . In some cases the size of the image was not correctly reproduced in the EazyDraw drawing, more situations are now handled properly.

EazyDraw Version 2.4.2 ---- November 23, 2007

Layer and Zoom shortcut menus, Smooth-Shape-Round menu command. fixed: Selecting groups and library graphics with drag, paragraph line spacing.

Layer and Zoom popup menus

The main drawing window now has a Layer shortcut menu and Zoom indicator menu. They are found at the lower left corner of the drawing window. The Layer menu only has 2 selections if there is only one layer. You can open the Layers drawer from the menu, or change the Active layer and make changes to the Enabled actions without opening the Layers drawer. The Zoom popup menu shows the zoom value and may be used to change the zoom of the drawing as seen on the screen, if a graphic is selected a "zoom-in" is centered on the selected graphic.

Smooth, Shape and Round

Three new menu commands found on the Transform submenu of the Tools main menu. These apply 3 different degrees of rounding and smoothing of the corners of a polygon or other straight Bezier path graphics. These are useful for creating free hand shapes from straight line graphics. For details refer to EazyDraw help, search phrase "smooth transform".

Problems Addressed

Corrected problem selecting Groups, Interaction restrained graphics, and graphics from a user library. The bug was introduced with version 2.4.1, it would not let these grouped graphic objects select via the simple click and drag of the default rubber-band select tool. All is fixed now.

Corrected problem changing paragraph line spacing. One could change the paragraph line spacing for a complete text box. But the ability to change an individual paragraph by selecting the paragraph in the text edit mode was not working. All is corrected. To change the line spacing of an individual paragraph, select the text box then select the desired paragraph and make the desired change with the line spacing parameter on the Paragraph palette.

Fixed the Zoom Toolbar Button, the zoom percent was showing 100x too large of a number.

DXF users should note that a drawing may import but be drawn at a large scale and thereby show only on blank page. We will address this soon, in the interim use these tips. Add many pages to your drawing (maybe even 100 across and 100 down) using the Page Layout panel, then zoom way out and you may find your content. It also helps to open the Layers drawer and pull it out the extra bit to show the graphic counts, this can help you to find graphics that may not be showing due one reason or the other.

EazyDraw Version 2.4.1 ---- November 1, 2007

AppleWorks and DXF Import, Leopard Version with Cover Flow and Quick Look support, Distribute Along, New Tools-- Axis, Tick Marks, Grid, Hex Grid, and D’slots.

Additions Pack

The full release with documentation and EazyDraw libraries has grown to over 32 MByte. With this release it has become necessary to split the disk image and provide the Libraries, Tutorials, PDF manual, and the more elaborate example drawings as separate download. The full product offering is now two 16 MByte downloads. We have named the additional content download the "EazyDraw Additions Pack", it is available for a nominal charge, the Additions Pack web page has all of the details. This is not an issue with CD or Boxed Version purchases, the product split only applies to the demo and download versions of EazyDraw.

Leopard Version

This version is fully compatible with macOS versions 10.4 (Tiger) and 10.5 (Leopard), more specifically OS X versions 10.4.3 and newer. This version of EazyDraw is a Universal Binary, runs native on both Intel and PowerPC processors. EazyDraw runs best (fastest) on Intel. We have older versions for Jaguar and Panther users, see the support web page for links.

AppleWorks 6 Import

At the request of the AppleWorks and iWork user community EazyDraw has added a full import of AppleWorks 6 drawing files. The AppleWorks Import page describes the import capability in detail. The Dream Work Flow web page has more information concerning using EazyDraw to finish out the iWork '08 suite with full drawing capability.

This release introduces support for native AppleWorks drawing files, AppleWorks version 6.x. This is a full import, all AppleWorks content is converted corresponding EazyDraw shapes and accents. Use the normal Open panel, the Insert menu, or drag and drop a file onto an open EazyDraw drawing window to convert an AppleWorks drawing to its EazyDraw counterpart. Support is provided only for the Drawing and Painting files. Drawing files contain vector information and may be fully edited as a normal EazyDraw drawing. Painting files are imported, and they will look better when displayed with EazyDraw’s true OS X foundation, but they are bitmaps and are not editable as vector content.

The import supports colors, patterns, wallpaper and gradient accents. The Open panel has an option to direct EazyDraw to install these accents as proper OS X colors so that they may be used by EazyDraw and other Cocoa applications on OS X. EazyDraw paired with iWork now provides an excellent migration path from AppleWorks to iWork '08, Leopard and future versions of OS X. More Info: AppleWorks Import .

DXF Import

This release introduces support for AutoCad DXF technical drawing files. DXF import is provided with this release. This is a full AutoCad DXF import that supports a broad range of AutoCad drawing constructs. It includes support for layers, DXF hatches, dimensions, colors, dashed lines, arrow heads, and text. Each of these elements is converted to the corresponding graphic content of a native EazyDraw drawing. Use the normal "Open" panel to import the DXF drawings. The DXF filter is selected from the popup menu at the bottom of the Open panel. The drawing needs to have the ".dxf" extension.

The import is compliant with the specifications for DXF versions 2004, 2000/LT2000, RT12/LT2 as defined on the Auto Desk web site. Autocad 2004 running on

We are asking that users provide us with feedback to any issues noted with the import. If a drawing does not convert we would like to receive the dxf original drawing by email - all content of supplied drawings will be kept in confidence and the drawing will be deleted from our systems after the conversion problem is isolated. If a conversion should cause EazyDraw to unexpectedly quit, we would like to receive the system log file that reports the failure. Thanks in advance for all assistance. EazyDraw is intended to comply with the 2-d portions of the Autodesk standard definitions for the DXF format, we will use AutoCad running on Windows as the "gold standard" for evaluating import and export of these files.

Leopard

This version is Leopard ready. This version has had extensive testing on Leopard (OS X version 10.5) and is fully compatible with OS X versions 10.4 (10.4.3 and newer) and 10.5. The Snow Leopard finder has new viewing features called Quick Look and Cover Flow. Using Quick Look you can view a drawing without even opening it up. You can actually see your drawings, not just an icon that represents the file. Browsing a drawing in Cover Flow is like flipping through the music labels in iTunes. There are changes to the EazyDraw native file format that are required by Quick Look and Cover Flow. Your existing EazyDraw files will need to be opened, touched (at least one minor change) and re-saved so that the new information is added to the drawing file. This needs to be done to engage the more advance previewing technology that Leopard uses to provide the real time images.

The file format change, as always, is fully backwards compatible. There is no problem viewing newer or older files with a newer or older version of EazyDraw. Files in their original, 2.3.x and older state, display and open properly on Leopard - the only limitation is the lack of support of Quick Look and Cover Flow, the old file icon is shown instead of the content image. Bottom-Line, you will likely want to open and re-save your EazyDraw files because these new features quickly become an expected must have on Leopard. The upgraded file format is saved when running on Tiger (10.4), it is not necessary to be on Leopard (10.5) to begin saving EazyDraw files with the improved Leopard Finder support. This means if you a user still running Tiger (with this version or newer of EazyDraw) and send a file to associates running Leopard, they will be able to preview the drawing with Quick Look and Cover Flow.

Distribute Along

New "Distribute Along" menu commands are now available; at the request of many Canvas users that have migrated to EazyDraw. The feature is accessed via menu commands. "Distribute Along" is found on the Format main menu, Align and Size submenu. This action will distribute any number of graphics along the path of a master graphic. The master graphic is the first one selected, it is marked in the standard way with a center mark that is not shown for the other graphics of a multiple selection. An example would be to distribute several rectangles along a line. To do this select the line first then the rectangles, then select the desired Distribute Along action from the menu. There are individual menu commands for positioning various defining points of the distributed graphics, for example Top Left, or Center. The Grid reference point may be used, see the documentation on "Align To Grid" to understand the use of this user defined reference point.

The process requires a determination of the Order of arrangement for the distributed graphics, this is managed by menu item selection; nearest, or top-to-bottom for example. It is also possible to orient the distributed graphics, these selections are found at the bottom of the new submenu. The orientation is relative to the tangent of the master graphic’s path - at the point of distribution. Documentation is not complete for this new feature.

New Tools

Expanded support for drawing graphs and charts is found on the Technical Tools palette, near the bottom. We have added 4 new axis and grid tools to be used as integral components of a graph or chart. They are found on the bottom row of the palette. They consist of an integrated tick-mark, label graphic, rectangular grid, and hexagon grid. They can be used to build axes and labels for chart graphics. They are fully operational in the drawing and interactive editing mode. Documentation is not complete at this time, experiment with the interactive handles to become familiar with the use and capabilities of these components. They have been highly optimized to display quickly. It is better to use one of these compound graphics, especially for text-label sequence, compared to a conventional group array of text or tick marks. They are not yet supported on the Graphic Details drawer and documentation is not complete.

Added new D-Slot tools to the Technical Tool palette. These are shapes made by combining a circle and one or two straight sides. They are a rather common shape that is often constructed with a circle and two rectangles or other drawing tricks. The shapes provided make it much easier to construct and manage these shapes when needed. They are fully operational in the drawing and interactive editing mode. They are not yet supported on the Graphic Details drawer and documentation is not complete.

Bug Fixes

Corrected minor issues with the French Localization. The ability to add standard tools to a library palette was not working in the last French language release, this now works.

Fixed a bug that could happen when dragging a library element from one library to another. The problem would happen only in the Name mode. This is now corrected. The problem was still present in version 2.4.0, but corrected with version 2.4.1.

EazyDraw Version 2.3.3 ---- October 2, 2007

Of primary interest to French speaking users. The French user interface has had more testing and provides a full localization of the menus, parameter palettes and user messages. The translation of the PDF manual (over 350 pages) is in progress. The distribution disk image has the first 60 pages of the manual. The translation should be complete by January of 2008.

This is an important release for French speaking users. All menus and user interface palettes are provided in French. The French user interface has been tested extensively, it was released at the Apple Expo in Paris. Additionally the first 5 chapters of the PDF manual are available in French. The full French version of the PDF documentation should be available in a few months.

Expanded capabilities of LinkBack editing. The editing now handles closing the active LinkBack edit window when the drawing was edited but not saved or published.

Updated the Services interface. EazyDraw now responds more intelligently to a wider variety of items that one might find on the Services menu. In particular the services provided by LaTexIt are now fully supported. You may enter LaTex code in an EazyDraw text box and call LaTexIt from the services menu. The LaTex code is then sent to LaTexIt and the returned fully typeset result is pasted into your drawing, replacing the original text. This replacement is provided with full LinkBack support, that means that you may edit the original source text by simply double clicking the LaTexIt result in the EazyDraw drawing. To learn more, study the LinkBack documentation in the EazyDraw Help system or the PDF manual.

Added a selection submenu to the View main menu. These menu commands correspond to the buttons on the Selection Tools palette, enclose, touch enclose, back, .... . This was requested to allow the assignment of shortcut keys to the different selection modes and tools. Unfortunate that we did not think to do this sooner, but it in place at this time. These were tested with the Menu Keys preferences dialog, everything works as expected. It is now possible to short-cut assign these functions.

Corrected problem opening a drawing that had independent layer scales. This bug crept into one of the recent releases. The independent scales for the layers reverted to the scale of the Paper layer. In some cases this change would not be noticeable, unless one explicitly revisited a layer with a different scale. All works correctly now.

Made several corrections to grouping of attached dimensions, that are included in the group. Previously these had a tendency to become detached from the target graphic. This would mean that if the group was ungrouped, the the dimensions would need to be manually re-attached. This debugging sessions lead to other subtle corrections of grouped dimensions and connectors. All should work much better now. One behavior change: when moving a dimension the attache ends of the dimension are no longer "active", they will not attach to target graphics. One needs to move an end explicitly to have it seek and attach to objects. This means that if a dimension is attached at one end, a move will leave that end attached and only move the free end. Again: to attach, or detach a dimension end, the end needs to be move as a single point explicitly.

Fixed problem with the default setting for the Snap To Grid position. This was always going to top-left, even if you had changed your default setting. Corrected now, behavior is the same as the default management for other panels.

Added the ability to remove the title prefix to a text stamp, time stamps and page stamps. If un-checked there will be no descriptive prefix to the time stamp (or page stamp). The time shown will be just the raw time as applies to the stamp, last save or last change ... . This would mean that the user prefix should be used to avoid confusion. So this is now fully under user control. The default is still to include the hard wired label prefix.

Made minor improvements to the ClarisDraw and MacDraw imports. The corrections related to rotated arcs, the rotation was using the EazyDraw conventions and the results were incorrect. These stay at their intended locations now.

EazyDraw Version 2.3.1 ---- April 18, 2007

Corrections and improvements with version 2.3.1:

Updated the Spotlight plugin for EazyDraw. It now supports indexing and searching of the EazyDraw library files as well as all EazyDraw file types. If EazyDraw is installed in your Applications folder, OS X will find the updated plugin automatically, no need reboot or perform any specific installation actions. Note for advanced users: if you wish to run EazyDraw from another location you may need to move the Spotlight importer from the EazyDraw Bundle’s Contents folder to the system library.

The default drawing toolbar tools have been updated. We now include the Text Color smart color menu button in the default tool set. The Text Color tool has proven to be very valuable as the other methods of setting text color (via Font panel and Color Picker, or Graphic Details and color picker) are time consuming and not easy to find for the more occasional user. The Text Color toolbar tool is a simple convenient solution to this issue. Users that are upgrading will not automatically see the change, you will need to perform a "Customize Toolbar" and re-install the default set to pick up this improvement.

Corrected problem with Cycle Palettes and Reverse Cycle palettes. This action would fail to work properly in some cases. Both cases now work as they should.

Corrected problems with setting the line width for Dimensions. There are two line width setting for a dimension, one found on the Dimensions palette controls the bounding box that may be shown around the dimensions measurement numbers. The other is the line width of the attach lines that extend from the dimensions target graphic, this line width is managed using the "Color and Style" palette. The problem was that the latter setting would not always copy with a dimension and would not be held in the Dimension default settings. This is now fixed and dimensions with thin setback lines will work smoothly. We also changed the default for this line width to one-half of a point, a thinner line.

Corrected problem Tape Measure tool. If the Graphic Details drawer had not been opened for a drawing the tape cursor would not report positions and lengths as it should. This was introduced with version 2.3.0 (not present in the previous major release). All corrected now. Note that you now have control over the formatting of the tape cursor read-out (decimal precision or use fractions). The settings for Graphic Details now control the format of the tape cursor. Deselect all graphics and you will see the format controls in the Graphic Details drawer.

Improved ability to position dimension text for narrow dimensions. Before, the text could not move outside the limits of the measurement lines which was a problem if the measurement was very small and did not provide room for the numeric text. Now the "Shift" and "Slide" parameters are enabled and may be used to position the numeric text without limitation.

Corrected problems using German comma decimal character settings for OS X international preferences. The comma-decimal character was not properly recognized on the Dimensions palette, this is now corrected. There were problems on the Graphic Details drawer with Undo, when using commas as decimal points. The value would enter correctly with the comma rather than decimal point, but the undo action would not restore the original value -- all is correct now.

Corrected problem displaying Text on the the Graphic Details drawer. The height was not displayed properly, it was showing the same value as the width. This is now fixed.

Corrected problem with highly elliptical arcs. Previously these could jump when trying to interactively adjust the major axis direction for the arc (or pie shape). Now these adjust smoothly in all cases. We also decreased the minimum minor axis percentage from 15% to 4% so one may now create thinner arcs without using both the major and minor axis adjusters.

Fixed Opaque Copy, the check mark in the Edit menu was not setting correctly in all cases. The function was working properly but the check mark indicator was not reliable. The function now works and displays properly.

Corrected problem with toolbar (the one on a drawing window) not executing palette commands (draw a rectangle for example) unless the associated tool palette was open. This was introduced with version 2.3.0, it is now corrected and the tools work properly again.

User created Libraries are now available. Direct import of Claris Draw libraries is now operational - use the normal "Open Library" command found on the File main menu. EazyDraw help documentation is complete use the search phrase "user library" to access the online help for this topic. You may create your own libraries with the "New Library" option found on the File main menu. You may open directly Claris Draw libraries, they then may be saved as EazyDraw libraries. Any graphic may be inserted in a library with drag and drop from an EazyDraw drawing or with the Add button ( a + key ) found near the bottom of the Library palette. There are 3 modes for a library, Name, Element, and Icon. The first two are largely self explanatory, the Icon mode converts the library palette into a normal EazyDraw tool palette, just like Charting the Stellate palette. In the Icon mode, apply your tools in the normal "select tool, click on drawing, and drag" fashion. Library elements work closely with the new Transfer palette - see next paragraph.

EazyDraw Version 2.3.0 ---- March 26, 2007

New with version 2.3.0 EazyDraw

User created Libraries are now available. Direct import of Claris Draw libraries is now operational - use the normal "Open Library" command found on the File main menu. EazyDraw help documentation is complete use the search phrase "user library" to access the online help for this topic. You may create your own libraries with the "New Library" option found on the File main menu. You may open directly Claris Draw libraries, they then may be saved as EazyDraw libraries. Any graphic may be inserted in a library with drag and drop from an EazyDraw drawing or with the Add button ( a + key ) found near the bottom of the Library palette. There are 3 modes for a library, Name, Element, and Icon. The first two are largely self explanatory, the Icon mode converts the library palette into a normal EazyDraw tool palette, just like Charting the Stellate palette. In the Icon mode, apply your tools in the normal "select tool, click on drawing, and drag" fashion. Library elements work closely with the new Transfer palette - see next paragraph.

Custom Tool Palettes

User libraries now accept tools dragged from EazyDraw create tool palettes and the new Arrange (align) tool palette. This allows one to create a fully custom tool palette by populating a library with the desired tools. Switch the library to the Icon mode and then the palette may be re-sized to a desired form vertical or horizontal. These tool palettes now accept parameter sets, there is a new small gray icon found on the top right of parameter palettes drag that icon to a library tool palette and the new tool will apply the parameter set when clicked. Custom library/tool palettes will accept user drawn icons, use the Name library display form to drag and drop any graphic on the icon-button found lower right of the graphic display at the top of the library palette in when in the name form.

Transfer Attributes

A new Transfer palette is added to the EazyDraw user interface. It controls the behavior of a graphic when it is dragged and dropped (or copy->pasted) to another drawing. This palette is designed primarily to be used with Library graphic elements, but is also works on any graphic in a normal drawing. The concept of transfer provided to control how and which attributes of a graphic are carried with the graphic when it is added to a new drawing. For example a shape may be added to a drawing from a library, but an associated gradient fill may not be desired and hence turned off for the Transfer. A major application of this capability is to apply a graphic’s attributes rather than the graphic. For the previous example, the converse is possible - the Gradient Fill of the library element may be applied to target graphics, independent of the actual graphic or its shape. Documentation is complete for this new palette, use the search phrase "Transfer" to access the EazyDraw help pages on this subject.

New PDF Manual

New PDF manual now available. Printed bound 350 page user manual for the EazyDraw application. This manual is written in a read-along style and provides an easy to follow introduction to computer drawing with OS X. The manual is a detailed reference for more advanced techniques such as creating scaled drawings and configuring the user interface. Requires an easy-chair and lamp. The price is $29.10 and includes shipping by Priority Mail in the U.S., air post to other countries. It is available as an electronic download, this sells for $10. Both are available from the EazyDraw online store . The manual is included with the Boxed version of EazyDraw.

Improved Tape Measure

Improved the live cursor that is shown when the Tape Measure Tool is used. The decimal precision and display format of the cursor values are now configurable. Before they were fixed to a standard precision, usually 3 decimal points. Now you may select decimal or fraction display, include units, and use feet-inches if desired. The format use is now the same as you specify for the Graphic Details drawer. To set them, open the Graphic Details drawer and deselect all graphics. Help documentation is provided use search phrase "Tape Measure" to learn more.

Runs on Leopard

EazyDraw is now operational on macOS version 10.5, Leopard. Previous versions of EazyDraw would not launch on Leopard, this problem is now corrected. Caution is advised when using EazyDraw on Leopard as we have only minimally tested EazyDraw with the preview beta of Leopard. If issues are noted by beta testers, our tech staff would appreciate notification.

Problems Solved

It is now possible to see on screen the length and angle of a line as you draw it. The Tape Measure Tool is improved to now show more meaningful values as you draw or edit lines, rectangles, and paths. Before the cursor normally displayed the location on the drawing.

Further work on selecting graphics and clicking and selecting text. Added an explicit menu command for entering the Edit mode for text. This will aid more inexperienced users in consideration of the more traditional click and select behavior. Corrected a few more bugs reported on libraries, improved importing of Claris Draw libraries. Double click a library file now works, entering a duplicate name for a library element caused a crash - corrected. Documentation complete on the new Transfer palette. Corrected problems importing PDF content from TexShop and other components of the MacTeX distribution. The problem manifested itself as ghosts of extended PDF images. TexShop exports a full PDF document with each image clip, the export information specifies a small clipping box to limit the visible portion of the document to the specified clip area. EazyDraw was not respecting the clipping information in all cases. All is correct now, inserted PDF content displays only the intended visible portion and exports present the proper visible area. A note: if your master TexShop PDF typeset original is large, each clip is a copy of the full master original, so if several clips are inserted the EazyDraw drawing can become a rather large file - it will compress though due to the repetition.

Added two fail-safe checks to assure that EazyDraw is operating correctly. Two situations have been encountered where 3rd party software has damaged OS X and subsequently caused unstable behavior in EazyDraw. One issue is with SpellCatcherX, it may damage the OS X spell checking technology and subsequently cause EazyDraw to fail to successfully save a drawing. Second issue is a possible damaged system Font panel caused by the application Sketchup; Sketchup erroneously supplies a private color swatch (Class: SketchupColor ) to the public Font panel, this in turn causes other applications that use the OS X system Font panel to fail without warning, this manifests itself as an unsuccessful launch of EazyDraw which causes erratic behavior of EazyDraw. Both problems cause similar erratic behavior for Safari, Mail, TextEdit and other OS X Cocoa applications. EazyDraw can not recover from these problems, but it now posts a "serious error" warning message.

Corrected some problems and improved the setting of Grid line widths. Now the Grid Line Width parameter found on the Grids and Guides palette controls the grid for both display and printing. The minimum display line width is now computed in a smarter way so the users who desire faint thin grid lines may achieve that look. Bottom-line, the fat grid lines seen under high zoom should be corrected. If they do not look as you would like, make adjustments to the Grid Line Width parameter. Settings are independent for Major and Minor grids.

Improved the Keynote export capability. Reversed the order of slides when exporting layers as slides, this makes the workflow from ClarisDraw to EazyDraw to Keynote consistent with respect to slide ordering. The Keynote export fixes involved insulating EazyDraw against corrupt zero size graphics. This could happen when importing from ClarisDraw. Now EazyDraw replaces these in the KeyNote export file as a red rectangle or red crossed lines.

Added ability to control the scaling of dash patterns and arrows to the Morph panel. Now these may be checked and applied just as Line Width is provided as a control for a general scaling.

Corrected problem using the "Close" menu command on the convert menu, or double clicking an "open" end point to close graphic. Previously this command would always generate a simple polygon graphic, even if the input graphic was curved. This caused problems with subsequent actions applied to the mis-defined "curved polygon". Now close properly generates either a simple polygon or a closed-curved Bezier path.

Changed the behavior for selecting graphics in some situations. You now may need to be closer to path of graphic with an outline. This helps prevent large looping graphics from selecting and moving when trying to select interior graphics with a click and drag motion.

Improved and changed the behavior for converting some graphics to images. Groups and Free Transforms had several potential problems that were corrected, now all of these convert properly to an image. Now convert to image depends on the degree of zoom at the time of the convert. If you are zoomed in, the image will be higher quality (and of course larger so be careful with larger graphics). If zoomed out the image will be lower quality or more of a thumbnail. This helps a lot with Text and larger groups. This means that you may convert a large text box to a simple image and improve speed with a level of quality that is now under your control. Larger groups will convert to image in the same fashion, this can be used to improve responsiveness for very large drawings. The technique of converting to an image should be more useful now.

Corrected problem entering dash lengths in mm or inches. The problem did not happen when the palette was set to use Points as the unit of measurement.

Corrected problem with the creation of orthogonal paths and connectors. The problem happened when finishing with a double click, and the path was ending on a vertical leg. The last leg was dropped when finishing with a double click.

Removed the Gray Scale option for EPS export. This does not seem to be supported by Preview or other applications. To create a gray scale EPS, use Color Modification or the color space selection on the Layers drawer to convert the drawing to gray monochrome color, then export as RGB from the EPS export panel. In order to avoid problems with the Export, one must now select either RGB (safest) or CMYK for color space upon export. We can no longer accept the "as drawn" option for color space because there may be one gray scale color in the export and the original problem is then present. We will revisit this issue with the upcoming Leopard release.

Corrected bug applying Free Transform to graphics with inserted Text. The Free Transform worked correctly but the Apply step which removes the transform and permanently transforms the underlying graphics had trouble in these cases. Corrected problems with EPS export. In some cases export content was shifted and possibly clipped. These are now corrected.

Corrected problem with the Revert To Saved command. This became broken on more recent versions of Tiger. It is now working correctly again.

Corrected problem rotating Text counter clockwise. Text flipping, on the Transform submenu, was rotating clockwise for both the clockwise and counter clockwise menu command. Now all works as it should.

Corrected problems rotating, from the Transform Flip submenu, group graphics with text and PDF content. Results were not as complete as were obtained from the rotate tool or the full Morph panel. Now all forms of rotate behave as expected with embedded grouped text and PDF content.

Added ability to apply and Interactive Scale, Uniform Scale and Freeze to text graphics. Interactive state is found on the Interactive submenu of the Format main menu. These were not allowed before. Users found a work-around to first apply Free Transform interactive level then apply Freeze or other interactive states. This extra step is no longer needed. A potential problem with Free Transform Text when the Align-To-Grid palette was open was also fixed. Freeze, removes all resize and scaling ability from a graphic.

Added conversion capability to convert normal text to annotation text and the reverse, convert annotations to normal text.

Area is now reported on the Graphic Details drawer. This is found near the bottom of the Graphic Details drawer. It reports area when a single graphic is selected that has a defined area.

Added ability for Select All to focus on graphics of a particular type. If a creation tool is selected, then Select All will select all graphics of the active Tool’s type. For example, to select all text, click the "T" for Text tool button then execute a Select All.

Corrected problem specifying the location of dimensions for Walls. The "Inside", "Center", or "Outside" selection on the Walls palette was not working. The only way to set this parameter was via the Graphics Details Drawer. This is now fixed and both methods of setting this parameter now work.

Corrected problem exporting EPS. It was possible that the export would drop graphics near the top or left of a drawing when rulers enabled. This is now corrected, no missing graphics on EPS export.

A double click on a vacant area of a drawing now automatically adds a Text Box and enables the new Text Box for text input. In short: double click to add text.

Corrected problems relating to the new bitmap shadows when applied to an image or photo, such as a JPG or PDF. This would also show up if the image was encapsulated with an Interaction level. In many cases the bug would cause the drawing to lock up and become unusable. It is now corrected and all forms of shadows can now be applied to image graphics.

Further improvements on handling double click on a file to launch EazyDraw. If the file was complex or contained dimensions, EazyDraw the drawing window could be corrupted. The display of the window was incomplete . It is now corrected and all files should open properly upon double click, with EazyDraw running or launched on double click.

Corrected possible problem with Gradient Fill palette and the recently added Named Gradients popup menu. In rare situations this popup menu would be de-activated. Now works properly.

EazyDraw Version 2.1.3 ---- November 2, 2006

New with version 2.1.3 EazyDraw

Free Transform capability to apply shear, skew, stretch and rotate distortions to images and other graphics. Soft bitmap shadows, an added shadow method for very high quality drop shadows. Expanded Arrows support for user defined arrows; plus the ability to apply shapes as "brushes" along the path of any graphic, including a progressive sequential distortion transform applied to successive shapes along a path. The new custom Arrow menu is provided with over 20 new Factory arrow shapes. Revamped Dash palette that allows the user unlimited capability to define any sequence of line-space dash patterns. Added the ability to save named, Arrows, Dashes, Gradients, Shadows and Transforms. Significant performance improvement for large drawings and working with groups of thousands of graphics. Smart Zoom toolbar button that displays the zoom percentage in the user customizable toolbar. All new features are fully documented in the online help and explained in more detail here on this website.

Universal Binary

EazyDraw was provided as a Universal Binary early in 2006, the notation is repeated for clarity. This is a Universal Binary version for use on new Intel based macs or PowerPC processors. Intel users should NOT- open using Rosette, Rosette is a "compatible" mode to be used with applications that have not been compiled for native use on Intel. Running EazyDraw Intel-Native is 5-10 times faster than running under the Rosette emulator, launch times are also significantly slower in the emulator mode. Universal binaries require macOS version 10.4.3 or newer, this version of EazyDraw will not run on Panther or Jaguar. Jaguar and Panther users should refer to the release note "Jaguar and Panther" found on this disk image.

Increased Performance

Significant performance improvements were implemented, relating to documents and groups with large (5,000 or more) graphic elements. The optimizations improve actions such as: ungroup, group, duplicate, rotate, resize, morph, and other actions. The speed improvements are quite significant, in some cases these actions previously may have taken several minutes, they are now are instantaneous. The improvements apply to both Intel and PowerPC processor systems.

Free Transform

There is new Free Transform capabilities which provide the ability to shear or distort any graphic. This capability is accessed from the Interactive submenu on the Format main menu, or the Distort submenu on the Tools main menu. The new "Interactive" level provides on-screen handles to rotate, shear and skew any graphic. The new Distort submenu provides access to a Free Transform parameter palette that can be used to numerically enter a Free transform matrix. The Free Transform palette may be used to scale, rotate, and shear images (photos and imported bitmap graphics). Documentation is complete; enter the search phrase "shear" to quickly locate the new documentation.

Custom Arrows

The Arrows capability has been significantly expanded. It is now possible to create custom user defined arrow shapes. Arrows may now be applied as a flexible sequence along any Bezier path. The new features are found on a new Custom tab view on the Arrows palette. All arrows created by previous versions of EazyDraw are unchanged and will read and edit with no need for translation or other special actions. Documentation is complete; use the help search phrase "custom arrows" to learn more. Note that the new in-place editing view on the Custom Arrow tab has full drag and drop exchange capability between a drawing and the view. It also has a contextual menu that is very useful.

Soft Bitmap Shadows

The Shadows palette is expanded and now provides 3 distinct methods for creating drop shadows. The new Bitmap method provides a very high quality drop shadow that is drawn with the same core technology that Apple uses to for drop shadows in the Finder. You can also now save a shadow and all settings as a named shadow for convenient use. The Shadow palette now has a "mini" form.

Expanded Dash Patterns

The Dash Palette and dashed line capability has been significantly upgraded with this version. It is now possible to have an unlimited number of independent dash-space sequences. The Dash palette now has a close-up interactive inspection view. This view shows the current dash pattern and provides adjuster handles for interactively changing the relative lengths of dash and space sequences. Double click an adjuster to insert another dash-space sequence or Shift-Double Click to remove one. Documentation is complete for the expanded capability, use the Help button on the new palette to learn more about using the expanded capability. The saved property list format for dash patterns has changed, but the new version of EazyDraw automatically upgrades the format and a shadow of the old format is written in saved files, this means that older versions of EazyDraw may interpret and properly apply dash patterns from a newer version. It is now possible to save and apply named dash patterns, these are saved in a Property List file found at: ~/Library/Application Support/EazyDraw/Dashes.plist.

Zoom Button With Zoom Value

There is an upgrade to the zoom toolbar button, the more specifically the Zoom Menu custom toolbar button. This button now displays the zoom percentage. It is updated with any change to zoom, even when this toolbar button is not the source of the change in zoom. We've had several request to include visual feedback of the degree of zoom to the drawing window. This accomplishes that need without additional visual clutter of the reduction of usable window real estate. NOTE: Existing users, if the Zoom Menu button is not included on your toolbar, you will need to use Customize Toolbar and place it on the toolbar to be able to use this new capability. For the benefit of new users we have changed the default toolbar buttons so that the new feature is more discoverable.

Save Named Gradients

Added the ability to save gradients with names for easy reuse. There is a new popup menu on the Gradient Fill palette. A set of default named gradients are provided. The menu has access to save new gradients and remove named gradients. The named gradients are saved as a pList in the Applications support folder. Documentation is complete and provided on the Help page for the gradient fill palette.

Comment Only Dimension

Added the ability to have a dimension that is only a user comment, with no metric value displayed. We have had numerous requests for a dimension form that is fully under the control of the user, but still attached to a graphic. This feature is accessed from the Dimension Palette (Tools main menu), Dimension Form popup menu. Now there is a selection for "Nothing". When selected, the user defined text is entered in the Dimension palette’s text inspection field, in the same fashion as a user defined prefix and suffix -just click and type. The "Nothing" form is actually one "space" character, and the user comments are entered as prefix or suffix to this space. The place holder space character cannot be removed.

Problems Solved

Improved MacDrawII, MacDrawPro, and ClarisDraw imports of text using Symbol font. Now Symbol, Zapf Dingbat, and other MacOS encoded fonts are mapped properly to OS X unicode encoding.

Fixed very rare hang-up that was caused by copying a graphic with a dash line to the clipboard, with Classic PICT format included in the copy formats. This situation would arise then only with a specific dash length and dash phase. Corrected.

Fixed problem with double - click to open, for imported files such as MacDraw or ClarisDraw. In some cases the file would not open properly and no window or a blank window was displayed. Now double click to open works for all file types, native EazyDraw, zipped native EazyDraw, and any other file format for which EazyDraw is registered as an editor, such as TIFF and PDF.

Fixed potential crash, this could occur when using "show all" for the Open file type selection, and then opening a file type that EazyDraw does not recognize. The unrecognized data would cause a blank window to open, which if closed as a blank window could cause an "unexpectedly quit". Now EazyDraw is more strict with file types and extensions. If the file is not recognized, you will get a error message and no attempt is made to read the data.

Corrected problem with rulers not updating. This would happen when the drawing is zoomed out to the extent that scroll bars were not needed. In this situation some changes in zoom were not reflected on the rulers. Corrected.

Corrected problem using the "Close" menu command on the convert menu, or double clicking an "open" end point to close graphic. Previously this command would always generate a simple polygon graphic, even if the input graphic was curved. This caused problems with subsequent actions applied to the mis-defined "curved polygon". Now close properly generates either a simple polygon or a closed-curved Bezier path.

Corrected problem for French localization group submenu. Added Ungroup PDF to the Grouping submenu which is found on the Format main menu.

Corrected duplicating and copying of Blends. Some of the parameters such as number of blend steps were not being duplicated, now all works as it should. The problem was introduced with EazyDraw version 2.0.

Corrected problem with dimensions that are part of a group of graphics. When saving and opening the file, or sometimes when forming the group, the dimension reported value would show "0.0". This could also happen when moving the whole group with the dimension to another drawing or layer. Now the reported dimension value is maintained.

Corrected saving of drawings containing windows and doors of non-default configuration. Some of the parameter settings such as "left/right hinge" were not maintained upon re-open of the drawing. Now all properties of doors, windows, and bay windows save and re-open correctly.

Corrected problem creating a group that contained a dimension or another type of connector. The front/back order of the group would reverse in some cases. Now the front/back ordering is preserved properly.

Refined the support for "Reverse Path". This menu command now applies to all graphics, previously it was reliable only for Bezier paths, not graphics such as rectangles and ovals. Previously the reverse path did not always hold after a save and re-open of a file, now the path direction is properly conserved. Note that this menu action will likely not result in a visible change to the drawing. Elements such as Arrows are swapped to maintain their drawing location upon a reverse path, i.e. no change. The main effect is the Filling of Joined or Welded graphics, for example reversing the path of the inner rectangle of nested rectangles will result in a "hole" in the fill when they are joined. This is an alternative to "Even/Odd" winding rule method to create the picture frame effect.

Corrected problem with dimensions attaching to other dimensions and jumping to the drawing origin when edited. Now EazyDraw does not allow a dimension to attach to another dimension. When drawings with dimensions are opened, they are checked for this situation and any dimensions attached to other dimensions are cleared and left unconnected.

Corrected two cursors that would disappear over a black background. These now have the required white outline so they remain visible over any background color.

Corrected French language content for ClarisDraw import.

Corrected user default formats for numeric values. EazyDraw now respects the International User Preferences settings for format for decimal numbers, comma is used as the decimal separator if that is the setting for Formats on the International System preferences panel. If the user preferences are changed, you will need to quit and re-launch EazyDraw for the change to have effect.

Corrected problem with MacDrawPro import. Another set of possible color definition conventions have been discovered and added to the color determination logic of the import conversion for Mac draw graphic files.

Corrected problem with Ungroup PICT, this option would not enable on Version 2.0.0 of EazyDraw. The problem was not found in earlier versions of EazyDraw, it was only an issue with the new Universal Binary version. Corrected.

Corrected a problem with two creation cursors, for line and paths and rotated rectangles. These would disappear over black backgrounds. This problem was not noticed on earlier versions before Tiger. New cursor graphics have corrected the issue.

Corrected problem when working with multi-layer drawings. The interactive graphic editing handles would be hidden by layers in front of the working layer. Now the handles are drawn to the front of all graphics regardless of the graphic’s layer. So, the handles are never hidden by graphics on layer above the working layer.

Corrected problem with French and Japanese localized versions on the Pattern Palette. The Access popup menu would not enable "image files" selection. Problem Corrected.

April 11, 2006

Ribbons and Free Walls, Ungroup PDF, LinkBack editing, Spotlight support and background indexing, and French locations.

Edit (i.e. ungroup) PDF

This version provides a new capability to Ungroup PDF content. Access for this feature is found on the Format main menu, Grouping submenu - near the bottom. The PDF content is imported to the drawing in the normal fashion - insert, drag and drop, copy and paste, etc. Use the Graphic Details Drawer inspector to check that the inserted image is actually PDF information. The PDF content is converted to editable text, Bezier graphics, and embedded images with the "Ungroup PDF" command. Select the PDF image and execute the menu command. The PDF image is converted to EazyDraw graphics and left in the drawing as a normal EazyDraw group graphic. The new group graphic may be ungrouped to access and edit individual components of the PDF content. Learn more with EazyDraw Help, search phrase "Ungroup PDF". This is a new feature primarily intended for access to line art. It is likely that conversion of typeset text will not format exactly as in the original. Please submit problem files to our support staff for bug fixes in future versions.

Walls - or Ribbons - or Roads

There are several new Wall and Ribbon tools, they are found on the lower portion of the Technical Tools palette. You can now draw walls at any angle. The walls at angles will support snapping together to form proper corners and joints. There are also tools for drawing curved walls which could be termed Ribbons. These are 2-dimensional ribbons, they hold a constant width even when curved or twisted. All walls and ribbons now support solid color, pattern, and gradient fills. The gradients are applied either along the length of the ribbon or across the ribbon, control for the wall’s gradients is found on the normal Gradient Fill panel. There is a new Wall inspector palette, found on the Tools main menu. It provides access to several wall characteristics including manual specification of the shape of ends, corners and joints. Documentation is complete; access with search phrase "walls" or "ribbons".

French Language Support

This version now provides French language support. Menu, parameter palettes, and user interface elements are now localized for French language support. EazyDraw help is not localized and is available only in English.

Japanese Language Support

Support is available for a Japanese localization of EazyDraw. This is provided by Hideki Imanishi. It is available at: Imanishi.com. We join the Japanese EazyDraw user community in thanking Hideki for his excellent work.

Universal Type Identifiers

This version supports the latest "Tiger" standards for the info.plist for the EazyDraw application bundle. These additions cooperate with extended capabilities of Tiger to provide better association by the Finder of the different file types that EazyDraw can import or export. Power users will note that Universal Type Identifiers have been implemented and defined for the two EazyDraw file types. UTI Importer information is provided for MacDrawII, MacDrawPro, and ClarisDraw file types. This importer information will allow OS X and the Finder to properly identify these files (provide the correct file icon) even if these Classic applications are not installed on the system.

LinkBack - in-place editing

LinkBack support is provided with this version. Both LinkBack Server and Client capability is provided by EazyDraw. LinkBack is an open technology shared by several applications on OS X. It is an extension of Copy and Paste. The extended capability allows copied content to be revisited and edited at a later date, using the full capability of the originating application. The Copy/Paste Order section of the EazyDraw preferences panel has checkboxes to enable or disable Client and/or Server LinkBack capability, default condition enables both. LinkBack is a modern version of Publish and Subscribe or Embedded Graphic Objects in the Classic Mac OS environment. Documentation is complete; enter EazyDraw Help search phrase "LinkBack" to learn more.

Performance Improvement

The low level drawing routines for the graphic rulers have been significantly optimized. Previously the rulers could cause perceptible performance degradation especially for more complex drawings, full screen windows, or dense numeric label situations with slower processors. The current optimization reduced CPU load by 1000 fold or more in most situations. Now there should be no noticeable performance penalty for use of the rulers. The optimization applies to all drawing situations with additional optimization for live window resize and scrolling with the scroll bars or the drawing positioning ( "hand" ) tool.

EPS improvement - Embedded Preview

This version adds the ability to save an embedded preview with EPS exported graphic content. The preview is the DOS TIFF bitmap form. This preview form is the most universally supported. The form does not seem to be accepted by all MS-Word versions. We have tested successfully with Apple Works and Illustrator. More information is available on the Help page for EPS Export.

Toolbar button enhancement

This version adds a master palette button to the fill color, stroke color, gradient fill, pattern, and texture toolbar expanded selection views. These toolbar buttons provide a convenient shortcut to a selection of standard fills and colors. If none of these predefined elements provides the desired selection, clicking the new "Other" button will open the master palette for corresponding fill or color.

Persistence of Toolbar Tools

Several toolbar items for creating graphics, such as Rounded Rectangles, were not responsive to double-clicks. This applied to the buttons when placed on the customizable toolbar at the top of the drawing. When used from this toolbar, double clicking the button would not provide the "sticky" form of the tool which allows creation of multiple instances of the graphic without the need to click the button again. Now these buttons work just as they do on their normal tool palette. A double click with cause the button’s creating action to remain in effect until the main Arrow tool is clicked..

Reverted Hand Tool to Previous Behavior

The action of the Hand Tool was returned to the design used up to EazyDraw version 1.8. Traditionally a "hand tool" is used for "pan" actions. Many users were confused by EazyDraw’s use of this tool for restricted movement of graphics. For this reason the action of this tool was changed to the traditional pan action with version 1.9. This change back to the traditional definition was found to be unacceptable by most EazyDraw users. Pan actions are often handled by advanced mouse functions and always may be performed with the scroll tools. As pointed out by our users, the restricted move action proves to be a valuable productivity tool. For this reason the standard action of the Hand Tool has been returned to the restricted move actions as defined here. The Option key can be used as a modifier to the Hand Tool, holding down this key will provide the Panning action for the Hand Tool.

Problems Corrected

Corrected problem with the Door graphic. When drawn with a fill color, the fill was erratic and did not properly fill the door core and wall center. This has been corrected.

Corrected problem of duplicate overlapping points at the beginning of Bezier Paths. If Paths were drawn with single clicks at each vertex, rather than a click and drag motion; then an extra vertex was left at the first point of the line. The extra point coincided exactly with the first point and was therefore not noticeable until one tries to move that first point. Now only one point is placed at the start of the path, with both drawing styles.

Corrected problem with paragraph menu actions. In some cases the paragraph menu selections for centering, align right, align left, and justify would be disabled even when text was selected or being edited. This happened when editing text and immediately after an editing session. This is now corrected, paragraph options are enabled when appropriate and paragraph alignment actions are applied accordingly.

Corrected problem duplicating very small circles and ovals. Previously the new circles would, in some cases, have a smaller radius than the master.

Corrected problem with drag and drop from one drawing canvas to another, both EazyDraw, for scaled drawings. In some cases, such as use of Option-Drag the drop on another drawing window, the graphic placed on the new drawing would disappear or radically change size upon save and reopen. The graphic would behave properly when working on the destination drawing but after save, close, then re-open the dropped graphic’s problems would appear. In the case of Option-Drag then drop on another window, there would be a duplicate of the graphic(s) left on the originating drawing. This is all corrected now.

Corrected problem exporting PDF and other file formats, from an EazyDraw file with GZip compression in effect. Previously the files would save with GZip compression but without the ".gz" extension. This would cause the file to not open properly in other applications. Now the exported files are saved without compression.

Corrected problem with line widths changing when morphing graphics. This would happen if a scaling factor with a value other than unity was supplied and Scale line widths was checked, but both scaling selections were not checked - as in the case of performing a rotation. In this situation the line width would unexpectedly scale. Now this does not happen.

Corrected problem with the Undo of the "Flip 90 CW" and "Flip 90 CCW" of graphics. The problem was only associated with the undo of a Flip of some graphic forms, the Flip itself was performed correctly.

Corrected Reverse Path action for an Arc or Pie (sector) graphic. Previously this would cause the graphic to disappear to the origin with zero size. No the reversal performs as expected, interchanging the start angle and end angle and complimenting the Clockwise parameter.

Corrected problems duplicating a Crop (group) graphic. In some cases the new copy of the Crop graphic would be of zero size at the origin, and the original graphic could become "ungrouped". All works properly now.

Corrected problem using "Export" panel to save in the EazyDraw or EazyDraw binary format. This now save data in the same manner as "Save As".

Corrected problem when typing text, in the case where a text area used a font that was not the default font and the entire text was selected for typing and replacing the entire string. In this case the new text typed would revert to the default font. This is normally not desirable as it is likely that the user would want the font to be the same as that of the text being replaced. Behavior now uses the font and all other typing attributes of the original text.

Corrected problems opening Claris Draw files that originated from the Japanese version of Claris Draw. These files would not open and import properly, often causing a crash of EazyDraw. Now drawing files from the Japanese version of Claris Draw open and import correctly.

Corrected problems opening MacDraw and Claris Draw files with Japanese file names using Japanese fonts. These file names are now fully supported with EazyDraw.

Corrected problem with the toolbar button for "no fill". The problem was that this button would turn off color fills, but not pattern or gradient fills. Now its action is to remove any fill.

Corrected occasional problems with PSFrag option for EPS export. This option could fail to work if a narrow graphic was exported, the option would fail and a small faint red square would appear in the exported EPS. All should work properly now.

Corrected problems with MacDraw and Claris Draw imports related to possible "missing" graphics. These were problems with graphics drawn with color interpretation using white rather than black. It is still a good practice to check imported drawings with a colored background to cause possible hidden graphics to be visible. Also corrected situations drawn with MacDrawPro using zero line width to indicate a graphic without stroke, previously these were drawn as hair-lines which was not correct. These now convert correctly as graphics with fill and no stroke.

Added new capability to save a human readable form of the text content of a file saved in the EazyDraw graphics format. To access this feature use the Export panel to save the drawing, select EazyDraw Graphics format. This file format is human readable and organized in the XML like pList format. However text is saved will all associated attributes such as font, font size, and font face in a native OS X binary archive format. If the "Mirror Text Copy" feature is enabled (on the Export panel) then a copy of the text contents (string) and basic font information is provided in a literal form. The popup menu provides a means to select the string encoding desired. "String" or "ASCII" would be the normal choice for the Encoding parameter. The additional text information saved with the file is for use by other applications accessing the file data. EazyDraw does not use any of the "mirror" information when opening and interpreting the file -- EazyDraw uses OS X archiving and unarchiving technology to save and re-constitute the text for the drawing. This works with both Text Boxes and Annotation Text.

Corrected serious problem for Ungrouping PICT images. The bug was introduced with version 1.9.0, in the late stages of public beta review. Ungroup of PICT images would fail and the PICT image would simply disappear. Undo would restore the image but Ungroup PICT was not possible. The problem has been corrected, performance is as it was with version 1.8.1.

Updated the support for Arrows on dimensions. Previously, setting a default dimension style with one or both arrows set to OFF, would not properly record the arrow conditions for the default - new dimensions would still have both arrows set to ON. Now this works properly with all default support, both the "Current" button on the Dimensions Palette or default control via the main Preferences window. We also added a convenience popup on the Dimension palette for selecting different Arrow styles. You may still use the Arrow palette for expanded control over the appearance of the Dimensions arrows, and now all settings will be managed properly by the default controls - on the Dimension palette. The default controls on the Arrow Palette are now independent of, and have no control over, the design of arrows on dimensions.

Corrected printing with "Hide Dimensions" set on the Layers Drawer. This capability was working properly for the screen display, but printing failed to hide the dimensions for a layer. Now the check box on the Layers Drawer will hide dimensions both on screen and for the printed drawing.

Corrected occasional problem when dragging a graphic off a drawing, for a drag and drop operation. Sometimes the drag image would be far away from the cursor or even disappear because it was positioned off the screen completely. This was more likely to occur when zoomed in to a large degree. If the drawing scrolled, by positioning the graphic near the edge of the drawing, before moving the graphic fully off the window for the first step of drag and drop, the drag image of the graphic was erroneously positioned away from the cursor by the scrolled distance. Now the drag image is positioned precisely in relation to mouse at the initial position.

November 21, 2005

New Measuring Tape Tool, Guidelines, and Interactive Cursor; improved multi-scale / multi-layer drawing capabilities and further optimization for Tiger.

Interactive Cursor

New Interactive Cursor provides readout of canvas position or precise graphic metrics such as intersections or point and tangent of a curve. The new Measuring Tape Tool measures drawing distances in free form or snaps to graphic positions to provide exact relative distances. Intelligent guidelines will position columns, rows, seek intersections or vertices and orient to extended lines, parallels or perpendiculars; great for geometric and technical drawing. New scaling options provide improved support of imported MacDraw and ClarisDraw scaled drawings.

Live Cursor

The new Live Cursor is provided with the "Tape Cursor" tool that was added to the top of to the primary tool palette it is represented by a measuring tape icon. This tool combines a live numeric readout with the normal Arrow select tool. The X and Y (over and down) coordinates are shown in a small floating window attached to the cursor. Selecting a graphic and placing the cursor on or near the graphic will provide various measurements of the graphic -- interactively, on screen. Position over a handle to obtain a precise readout of the graphic position. For many graphics the relative position of the cursor (i.e. right or left side of a line) will provide different measurements (ie length/slope or X,Y value). This mode remains active until the Arrow tool is explicitly clicked . For documentation enter search phrase "Tape Cursor".

Guidelines

The new Guideline selection is found on the Grid and Guides submenu of the Format main menu or on the Grid Palette. When Guidelines are checked, moves and edits of graphics are aided by automatic soft snap to provide alignment with other graphics on the drawings. Guidelines are sought from the graphics that are visible on the drawing screen. If there are too many guidelines interfering, or if the desired graphic’s guideline is repressed by others - zoom in closer to the region of interest. A new Cloaking submenu provides methods for managing which graphics provide guidelines. The snap vertices capability has been expanded and optimized as well. The default state has this guidelines and vertex snapping unchecked. Full documentation is available: search phrase "guidelines".

On Screen Measuring Tape

Option Clicking with the Measuring Tape Tool provides an on-screen tape measure. This is a free form measuring tape for measuring distances on the the drawing. To measure distances between graphics, select both graphics and click near a point of interest, the Measuring Tape will "snap" precisely to the graphic and measure distances from the point of interest. When the cursor is placed near a second point of interest another "snap" provides the desired precise measurement. For documentation enter search phrase "Tape Measure"

Cloak Graphics from Guidelines

A new submenu is provided on the Format main menu for Cloaking the guideline aspects of a graphic or layer. When snapping to guidelines (or vertices) it is common that too many guidelines are present and they interfere with establishing relationships to the desired master graphics. This submenu provides a method for excluding a graphic(s) or layer(s) from presenting guidelines and vertices. This can eliminate guideline clutter. Alternatively a few select graphics could be used as master guidelines by performing a "Select All" - Cloak, then select the desired master graphics and "Uncloak". Documentation is complete: search phrase "cloak".

Full Layers may be cloaked. The layer must be visible to be enabled on the submenus found on the Cloaking submenu (Format main menu). There is a separate menu for guidelines and vertices. A guideline layer may be established by cloaking all other layers: not the guideline layer. Then explicit guidelines may be drawn on the Guideline layer.

Pan Drawing With Hand Tool

The "Hand" tool has been changed to perform a Panning action for the entire drawing. Now if the hand tool is selected, a click and drag on a drawing window will move the focused visible viewing rectangle, in the same fashion as the scroll bars action. Previously this tool was a dedicated graphic moving tool. SInce the Arrow tool is normally used for this action, it was decided to change the Hand tool to the more conventional Pan function.

Assign Grid Reference Point for Graphics

A new "Align To Grid" palette is added to the Tools main menu. This palette provides fine control of the exact snapping position for a graphic, or group. This is useful for group graphics (ie a symbol) positioned and aligned with grid snapping, and necessary for electronic schematic drawings. Documentation is available: search phrase "align to grid".

Change Scale - ONLY SCALE

Two methods are now provided for changing the scale of a drawing or layer. If a scale change is performed, on the scale palette, a user panel is shown on the drawing which asks which form of scale change is desired. Previous versions of EazyDraw scaled all graphics when performing a scale change. The new panel provides for this form of scale change, or a change of scale with no corresponding "re-draw" of the graphics. This new form is especially useful when importing MacDraw or Claris Draw scaled drawings as this method provides a means to simply set the correct scale for the drawing or layer.

Several New Layer "Views"

Several new "Enabled Actions" for layers are now found on the popup menu on the Layers drawer. It is now possible to Show or Show/Select graphics on layers "above" or "below" the active layer. This can improve efficiency when working with multiple layer drawings. This convention was used with MacDraw and ClarisDraw and is a familiar practice for users of these applications that have switched to EazyDraw.

Repress Auto-Mate for Walls

A new parameter is provided for walls (doors, windows, etc). The parameter will enable or prevent the automatic matching of wall ends and wall thickness when two of these objects are snapped together. This is important, for example, when connecting a 6 inch exterior wall with a 4 inch interior wall of a building plan. The new check box is found on the Graphic Details drawer, it is called "Auto Mate". When snapping, both wall segments must have their respective Auto Mate states checked for automatic mating of corners and wall thickness. Another method for preventing "mating" of two segments is for one segment to have its end fully closed. If either end is fully closed wall thickness matching is not performed, even if Auto Mate is checked for both segments.

Duplicate on Non-Active Layer

Improved capabilities for multi-layer drawings, when selecting objects on the non active layer. Now actions such as duplicate will insert the new graphics on the same layer as the original, rather than all duplicated graphics going to the current active layer. Several undo actions were incorrect if the originating graphic was on the non-active layer, these situations now work properly. Also several grouping and ungrouping actions, of graphics on the layers other than the active layer, would introduce undesirable alterations of the painting order. Now these situations are properly performed and undo of these actions completely returns all graphics to the proper state and layer.

Press and Hold Mouse for Contextual Menu

Extended the contextual menu concept to provide the menu when the mouse is held down, without movement, for about 1 second. This will provide the same menu that pops up when a control click is performed on a drawing. Contextual menu access with simple hold down of the mouse.

Bit-Map Export, Improved Edges

A minor change for Exporting bit map graphics that have anti-aliasing capability, TIFF and JPG. When exporting just graphics, not the full drawing, a 2 point (1 /32 of an inch) margin is now added to the exported image. This margin is needed to provide shading pixels that are used for anti-aliasing curves that are near the edge of the image. Previously smooth curves like an arc could have a "flattened" clipped appearance in the exported bit map. This artifact was caused by the lack of "border" pixels to apply the anti-aliasing effects. This change will add a very minor extra border (white or transparent) around the exported image.

Hide Extensions Preference

Added default persistence for the "Hide Extensions" and "Thumbnail Preview" selections on the "Save As" panel. In the past these needed to be set with each new drawing, as they reverted to an invariable default state for each new drawing. Now EazyDraw remembers the settings properly for the individual drawing and user selections are automatically remembered when changes are made to the selection. The preference for the state of each check box is the last value overtly selected by the user. To establish your personal preferences, simply make the selection(s) and the changes are automatically saved with the primary preferences for EazyDraw.

Improved Arc and Pie Creation Behavior

Changed the way Arcs and Pie shapes are created. Now a minimum size arc of 10 degrees is initially applied to the shape during the first click and drag step of the creation process. It is still possible to create smaller sweep angles during the second step of the creation process or as an editing step after creation. However, small zero degree sweep Arcs and Pies will not be so likely to happen by accident. This inadvertent zero degree sweep angle situation was confusing new and occasionally experienced users who would then see only the blue angle control handles and assume they were the Arc rather than controls for the Arc’s elliptical major and minor axis parameters.

PICT Ungroup, Better PICT Editing

Further improvements to "Ungroup PICT", related to PICT’s containing bitmaps. Additional bitmap formats are now understood and converted to TIFF properly.

Other Corrections

Corrected a few minor problems with some of the lesser used parameters on the Dimension palette. All contextual help elements for this panel were improve

Corrected a confusing behavior when adding layers to a drawing. Previously the new layer would initialize at the current default scale which is not expected in many cases. Now the new layer is added to the drawing with the scale and units of the current active layer for the drawing, fully independent of the current scale preferences settings.

Corrected problem when forming groups of graphics that contain text. The text would move to the center of the group, if multiple graphics contained text all text would overlap at the center of the new group. This is corrected now, inserted text remains with the proper graphic elements of the newly formed group.

Corrected problem selecting and editing Bezier curves, when zoomed in by a large amount. In some cases the graphic would not select, and if selected clicking on a handle would deselect the graphic rather than allowing interactive editing with the handle. This is now corrected.

Correct problems with the rotate tool, related to horizontal and/or vertical lines also sometimes when rotating groups that contain groups. In some cases when using the rotate tool large black rectangles would fill the area of the rotating graphic and these would not be redrawn correctly, leaving black artifacts on the drawing screen. The problem has been corrected with this release.

Corrected problem moving multiple graphics to a new layer, via the Graphic Details drawer. Previously only the first graphic of a multiple selection was moved, the others remained unchanged. Now all graphics move and undo works correctly, even if the various graphics are derived from different layers.

Improved the dimension report for length of Arcs. The length of an Arc or Pie graphic is now reported precisely. Lengths reported for other curved Bezier graphics has been improved to provide accuracy of about 1 in 10,000 or 100,000.

Corrected some problems encountered when printing without selecting a paper size. In some cases this would cause Landscape printing to not format properly on the printed page. Now, when this happens, a warning message is provided. The message urges the proper selection of a supported and available paper size using the Page Setup palette.

Version 1.8.1

August 11, 2005

Corrects possible problem saving ClarisDraw files. New Measuring Tape Cursor. Corrections for PICT ungroup. Mirror printing, for reverses and transfers. See New Features for Version 1.8.0 Below. Optimized for Tiger.

Save File for Converted Claris-Draw Drawings

This version contains an important bug fix that fixes a uncommon but possible problem with saving data. The problem could arise from Claris Draw imported files. This update is strongly recommended for all users importing Claris Draw data. If you would like more information on this issue email: support@eazydraw.com. This version has a correction to the problem and an automatic fix of root cause of the problem. Opening and saving a file that originated from a Claris Draw import will correct all problems associated with this issue.

Measuring Tape Tool

New "Tape Cursor" tool has been added to the primary tool palette. It is found at the top right of the palette. This tool behaves exactly like the normal Arrow select (default) tool, except that a live numeric readout is added to the cursor. The X and Y (over and down) coordinates of the cursor are shown in a small floating window attached to the cursor. This mode remains active until the Arrow tool is explicitly clicked. This is a preliminary release of this new capability, the functionality of the Tape Tool will be significantly expanded in future releases of EazyDraw.

Print Mirror and Flipped Images

Added the ability to mirror (left-to-right) and/or (top-to-bottom) when printing. This is important for creating transfer sheets such as those used for printing t-shirts. This is accessed from the main options popup menu on the Print panel. The exact location will depend on the print driver in use. There will be a selection "EazyDraw" found on the printer’s capabilities submenu. When the EazyDraw options selection is chosen, the new Mirror check boxes are shown on the print panel. Note that checking both selections (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) is the same as putting the paper in up-side-down, and will not cause a noticeable change on the final printed drawing.

Version 1.8.0

July 27, 2005

Over 50 new customizable toolbar buttons. Multiple drawing scales - important for Architectural drawing. Keynote export to Apple XML Keynote file format. Integrated GZIP support for compressed files. Improved EPS export with LaTeX - PSFRAG support. Improved performance for large complex drawings. Optimized for Tiger.

Print Mirror and Flipped Images

Added the ability to mirror (left-to-right) and/or (top-to-bottom) when printing. This is important for creating transfer sheets such as those used for printing t-shirts. This is accessed from the main options popup menu on the Print panel. The exact location will depend on the print driver in use. There will be a selection "EazyDraw" found on the printer’s capabilities submenu. When the EazyDraw options selection is chosen, the new Mirror check boxes are shown on the print panel. Note that checking both selections (left-to-right and top-to-bottom) is the same as putting the paper in up-side-down, and will not cause a noticeable change on the final printed drawing.

This version has been built for Tiger and tested on Panther, there should be no problems running on either of these versions of OS X. This version does not run on Jaguar. Jaguar users may continue using version 1.7.1.

Many New Smart Toolbar Tools

Major additions to the customizable document toolbar. Over 50 new buttons are available for addition to the toolbar. Upgrading users should be sure to visit the Customize Toolbar option, because the user’s current toolbar selections will not be changed when EazyDraw is upgraded. Many of the new toolbar buttons are "smart" menus. They are smart in the sense that they will adapt to the last used pop-down menu selection. To repeat the last used menu selection, simply click the tool - no need to fully open the pop-down menu and scroll down to the desired selection. Tiger users may add more than one copy of several of these smart buttons to the toolbar, ie duplicate buttons are allowed (Tiger only). This can be useful for elements such as the Fill Color menu button, since the button is smart the duplicate buttons will evolve with the work flow to represent different colors, thereby providing toolbar buttons for more than one color. If this explanation is hard to follow- it is easy to learn by trial, experiment by adding two Fill Color buttons to the toolbar. There are new pop-down toolbar menus for all the drawing tool palettes. This means it is now possible to add any drawing tool (rectangle, star, parabola, etc) to the toolbar. The smart buttons are fully functional, double clicks will make the tool "stick" as they do on their normal tool palette. Documentation is not complete at this time for the new buttons and the smart tools capability.

Multiple Scales For a Single Drawing

Added the ability to have more than one scale for a drawing. It is now possible to define fully independent scales (or rulers) for different layers. Each layer will have one scale for all graphics on the layer. This capability is enabled using the new check box for Independent Layers on the Scale Palette. This new feature is fully documented in the EazyDraw Help, use the key phrase "Independent Layers" for a full explanation of using multiple scales.

EPS Improvements and PSFRAG - LaTeX Support

Corrected several issues with EPS export. In some cases the bounds of the exported eps drawing would not be correct, or clip too close to the graphic. Two problems with the bounds setting were corrected, it is no longer necessary to return to document zoom of 100% to properly export eps. In some cases the EPS file would not open with other applications, there is an issue related to multiple color spaces (rgb, cmyk, grayscale, etc) in a single PDF or eps document. A new popup menu on the EPS export panel allows specification of a single color space for the export - this can avoid errors of "unable to open" when trying to read the exported eps file in other applications. A check box for support of LaTeX psfrag with EazyDraw generated EPS documents was added to the export panel. When checked, an invisible ASCII string, containing all printable ASCII characters is inserted in the exported EPS document. The inclusion of this string forces the creation of a one-to-one character lookup table which enables psfrag to properly translate the tag symbols inserted in the EazyDraw drawing. This is of interest only to users of LaTeX and PSFRAG.

Keynote Graphic File Format

Added export format for Keynote. The new selection is available on the export types menu. There is a menu selection to determine how slide(s) are created. You may convert layers to corresponding slides, or use page layout to draw individual slides on successive pages. A third selection allows one slide to be created from the current visible content of the drawing window. If a new file name is entered, a full new Keynote presentation file is created with the slide(s) defined. If an existing Keynote file is identified for the export, the EazyDraw slide(s) are appended to the end of the presentation. To access the APXL content, use the normal technique of opening the keynote file bundle’s presentation.apxl file with a text editor. Page Setup has a new virtual electronic publishing printer name for Presentations and two predefined page sizes (800x600 and 1024x768) for common visual projecting equipment.

GZip Compression

Integrated support for compression of both EazyDraw file formats is added with this version of EazyDraw. The compression format used is the standard GZip format with the file extension ".gz" . This is a standard open format supported by OS X, Unix, Windows, and other operating systems. A new "Compress" popup menu is found on the "Save As" panel, lower right. Select "GZip Compression" to zip the EazyDraw drawing file as it is written to the hard drive. These files will be typically compress to 10% of their natural size. This is useful for emailing EazyDraw files. The EazyDraw binary format, with GZip compression will provide the smallest file size. The EazyDraw binary format is used for large drawings (> 1000 graphics) that may require significant time to save to the hard drive in the normal EazyDraw graphic format. Please note that contrary to intuition, the zipped or binary format should not be used for archiving data: the full uncompressed EazyDraw Graphic Format is a human readable XML like Property List and should be used for long term archival, see the help documentation for a full explanation.

Improved Performance for Move

Optimized the action of moving a graphic(s). For large complex drawings the moving action was slow and "jumpy". This has been optimized 100-fold or better. The moving motion should now be responsive and smooth even for complex drawings and graphics on slower CPU’s.

Graphic Details - Live Inspector

Expanded the utility of the Graphic Details drawer to monitor position and size of a graphic as it is created, the first drawing step. Previously the geometric information was updated in a live fashion only when editing a graphic. Now the information displayed on the Graphic Details drawer has live real time updating when creating a graphic, editing a graphic and during a move of a graphic

Snap Vertices

Improved snapping to vertices (Grid and Snap Palette) to include intersections of curves as well as vertices, end points and centers. The scope of graphics for snapping to objects on other layers has been expanded to include graphics on all visible layers, previously on graphics on selectable layers were used as candidates for snapping. A visual clue is now provided when snapping occurs, the handle of the graphic being moved will now flash green when snapped to a vertex or intersection. The snapping remains a simple positioning aid, the snapped graphic is not attached or appended to the other graphic or intersection.

Uniform Resize

Expanded the use of the "Interactive" menu, found near the bottom of the Format menu. You may now apply scale, uniform scale, and the other interactive restraints to Images (pictures) and groups. The Uniform Scale - functionality is especially useful when it is necessary to hold the aspect ratio of an image or composite group graphic while changing the size. The Graphic Details information for Interactive Constrained graphics has been improved and specialized for all cases.

Inside or Outside Wall Dimensions

Added the ability to dimension from the "inside" or "outside" of Walls (walls, doors, windows, and bay-windows). The control is found on the Graphic details drawer, when the wall is selected. The choices are Center, Inside, or Outside. The convention for "inside" or "outside" is defined for a room drawn in the clock-wise direction.

Other Corrections

It is now possible to change the Font family of all text in a group. Previously, it was necessary to ungroup and make the font change individually.

Corrected several refresh and drawing update aspects related to the Tiger release. Version 1.7.1 would occasionally leave drawing trailings when moving graphics or scrolling the drawing window. Everything is now responding properly on Tiger and Panther.

Corrected direction of arrows at the end of an Orthogonal Radius path. The arrow was drawn on a 45 degree angle rather than along the direction of the path. It now draws correctly.

Corrected the Horizontal and Vertical flip command for Doors. The flip was not taking into account the Hinge side for the door. All works as expected now.

Corrected problem duplicating graphic(s) across layers, or more specifically: selecting graphic(s) on a layer other than the active layer and executing a duplicate to produce new graphic(s) on the active layer. This would create the graphics but then problems could arise when working with the duplicated graphic(s). In particular the new graphics would not delete. The duplication now works properly and the new graphic(s) may be deleted without a problem.

Added an improved contextual menu (right, or CTRL mouse click) for Text graphics. The contextual menu for a selected text graphic now provides for changing font face (favorites only), font size, and several text and paragraph style actions.

Corrected problem with Top - External dimension tool. This was drawn as an internal dimension rather than an external dimension - now draws correctly.

Corrected direction of Rotate 90 degrees CW and CCW on the Tools transform menu. This was rotating in the wrong direction for Text and several graphics found on the Charting tools palette. The bug would also cause incorrect behavior for Undo after the rotate.

Corrected possible problem for moving very thin horizontal or vertical lines when "zoomed out" and with preferences set for using a Faint Image for the Move Image (see EazyDraw Preferences). This could result in the moving line disappearing during the move. Now in this instance, if the line could disappear, a dashed line is used for the move image.

Corrected problem with drag and drop of PDF content. When dropping PDF information on an EazyDraw drawing window the image would have low quality and be upside down. This has been corrected, PDF is "dropped" with full vector quality. This problem only happened with drag and drop of PDF snippets, dropping PDF files worked properly and Copy->Paste of PDF also worked properly.

Corrected problem with EPS export, fringes of the exported eps image were sometimes clipped by the export. Now the borders are properly established. macOS version 10.4.1 or newer may be required to correct this situation in all instances.

Added a new form of Text Stamp. You may now insert a File Path text stamp into a drawing. This will insert a text defining the full file - folder path of the drawing. This is a "live" stamp, if the file is moved the stamp will change to reflect the new location.

It is now possible to scale images and pictures uniformly. This may now be accomplished through use of the Interactive menu (Format main menu) to include Images. Selecting Uniform Scale will hold the aspect ratio of the image constant while changing the size with the on screen handles.

Corrected problem with the copy then paste of very small circles or ovals. This process, when total oval size was less than 1 pt, would result in pasting of a smaller oval. Repeating the process would result in ever decreasing sizes for the pasted ovals. This is now corrected, the pasted oval is exactly the same size as the original in all cases.

Corrected problem snapping Ellipses to the grid. They would not align properly with the grid. This was also a problem with many of the shapes on the Charting palette, but much less noticeable. All of these shapes now snap and align properly.

Corrected a problem with entering width and height of objects in the Graphic Details drawer. Certain sequences of entries could result in invalid numbers for the values.

Corrected problem converting Stroked Text to Bezier Paths. The stroke setting for the converted Bezier paths was lost in the conversion.

Corrected problems that would occur if a 0.0 or very small value was entered for either Scale term on the Scale Palette. An entry of 0.0 was not checked properly and would cause infinities in scaling the drawing’s graphics. This action would corrupt the file and initiate unpredictable behavior for drawing actions for the file. This situation is now checked and prevented. Both scale values are limited to the range of 0.001 to 10,000,000.

A minor change to the behavior of selecting or deselecting graphic(s). Now, just selecting or deselecting the graphic will not mark the drawing as "changed". This means the "Save" menu action will remain disabled - until a more significant real change is made to the drawing.

Corrected a problem with the Spell Check tool bar button. When the Spell Check button was added to the toolbar (using Customize), the button would not enable, it always remained disabled. Now it enables in synchronization with text in the document, or text objects selected.

Corrected possible problem with spell check of Annotation text. The red highlight markers for misspelled words was not being shown in all cases. Problem corrected, spell check works properly on Normal and Annotated text.

Corrected interface problem with the stepper button on the Stellate tool palette. The problem caused the number of stellate points to increase (rather than decrease) with the up-click of the stepper, when a stellate shape was selected. The action now decreases or increases the number of points correctly.

Corrected problem with dimensions of Feet/Inches in Fraction form. There was an extra "inches" or "feet" appended to the dimension string. The dimension would read: "1 foot 2 5/8 inches inches". This has been corrected.

March 21, 2005

Improved Knife -- Trimming Full Vector Edit PICT Content BMP and ICO -- Support for Favicon Files Independent Fine Scale Measuring Units Carbon Style Font Menu & PopChar Support.

Jaguar Version

This is the last version of EazyDraw to support macOS version 10.2.x, known as Jaguar. EazyDraw users that have not upgraded OS X need to use this version until the operating system is upgraded to a version newer than Jaguar

Fine Scale for Inspector Palettes

Added a support for defining different units for fine scale parameters such as line width or arrow length. Previously these were entered in the units of the drawing, now these Fine Scale parameters may be specified independently. For example a drawing in Feet my use mm for line widths. Each parameter palette (except the Pattern palette, whose units are always pixels) has a new button found near the upper right corner of the palette. This button indicates the current Fine Scale units (inches, points, or millimeters) for the palette. Control Click the button to access a contextual menu that provides a full user interface to all fine scale settings for the palette. A Fine Scale palette is provided on the Format main menu, this palette is used to manage the Fine Scale settings for all parameter palettes including angle units and decimal points of display precision. For full documentation on the topic enter the search phrase: "Fine Scale" or "Units Button" in the EazyDraw help system.

Knife Tool for Cutting Graphics

Improved the Knife tool. It now will perform more than one cut at a time and it senses intersections, allowing for precise trimming of graphics. This provides a convenient method to perform several cuts on a straight line defined by the interactive knife line. Now one may, for example, cut a rectangle into two pieces - with one action. The improved knife tool now senses intersections, this ability has several uses including trimming and combining simple shapes to create more complex shapes. When two knife cut points move close (within the neighborhood of a handle width, ie dynamic distance depending on zoom) the two markers are shown overlapped on the intersection with a cross mark. If the cut is made at this point, both paths are cut at exactly the same point. A precise intersection cut will allow unwanted portions to be deleted, also the remaining curve segments may be "Welded" (Main Menu->Tools->Convert->Weld Bezier) together to form a new complex shape. See the new tutorial on "Trimming and Cutouts" for more information.

Better Graphic Morphing

Enhanced the Morph or Transform panel’s capability. You may now specify to include or exclude Text or Annotated Text in scaling transforms. Two new check boxes control the inclusion of text in a scaling action. Scaling of text may be accomplished with a font point size adjustment or use of the text stretch parameters. Popup menus are provided to specify the method and extent of the text scaling.

Edit PICT Graphic Content

Full vector editing of PICT graphics and files is now provided. This new menu command will convert PICT images to native EazyDraw editable graphics. Documentation is complete for this new feature. Access is found on the Format->Grouping sub menu and the Tools->Convert menu. To convert a PICT: a) import the PICT if it is not already part of a drawing (Open, Insert, Paste, or Drop): b) select the PICT graphic on the EazyDraw drawing: c) Select "Ungroup PICT" or "Convert To Vector Graphics" from Grouping, or Convert Menu. The PICT is then converted to a normal EazyDraw Group graphic that may be edited in place or ungrouped for editing of individual components. Upon Export as Classic PICT: the ability to include a 512 byte null header to exported PICT files, this provides better compatibility with many other Carbon applications. Fixed problem drag and drop of PICT image data. Inverted text and low quality images were possible. If PICT information is dropped on an EazyDraw drawing, the result is a full quality vector PICT graphic

BMP, ICO and FAVICON Export Graphic Formats

Added import and export support for Windows BMP and ICO file formats. The BMP format is the old standard bitmap format for DOS and Windows. These are bitmap formats. ICO is the common format for "favicon" files, these are icon family files supported by most internet browsers. If a file name favicon.ico is placed in the root directory of a web site, the browser will use an image(s) from the file as an icon to depict the web site. Originally intended to as an icon for the Favorites menu, hence the name, these are now usually displayed in the title block next the the full link address to the web site. They are now in wide usage and sites without a favicon may be viewed as unprofessional. Documentation is complete for the support of the new file types and may be found in the EazyDraw help - search phrase "favicon".

Classic Font Menu

Added a traditional Font menu, built with the Classic OS 9 (or Carbon Apps) font names. This is accessed from the Font submenu on the Text Main menu. The names used will not be exactly the same as those shown on the Font Palette or the Graphic details drawer. These are the display names as shown on Mac OS 7, 8 or 9 and used in OS X Carbon applications. These name variants are provided for better continuity with users still using Carbon Applications on OS X. The menu also improves compatibility with PopChar and other independent font utilities designed to operate with macOS Carbon applications. This menu does not necessarily show all fonts available for a particular installation, so a font or font face may be selected with the Font Palette that does not have a representation on this menu.

MacDrawII, MacDrawPro and ClarisDraw Import

Many improvements to the MacDrawII, MacDrawPro and Claris Draw import. Added support for Bitmap images to the MacDrawPro import. Embedded JPG, TIFF, PICT, etc MacDrawPro content is now converted to TIFF or PICT EazyDraw images. Further improvements for MacDrawII import - of text. Line spacing settings from the MacDraw II drawing are now properly read and translated to EazyDraw’s paragraph line spacing parameter in (Text->Paragraph->Form palette). Small changes were made to the text layout metrics, the full layout of a text graphic now more closely matches the original.. Corrected problems with color shades for HSV specified colors; added support for paragraph specification; corrected problems with 3 and 4 color component gradients and several other minor corrections. Upgrading to this version is highly recommended for anyone using the MacDrawPro import capability.

PICT Content in ClarisDraw Drawings

Corrected problems opening ClarisDraw files with multiple grouped embedded PICT images. Only the first PICT would display and the problem would cause the converted file to be corrupted and not display correctly. Fixed problem with the conversion of Claris Draw drawings that have layers with zero graphics. This was causing a premature end to the conversion process - stopping at the first layer without content. Now the conversion completes. Layers with no graphics are not added to the converted drawing. Added support for ClarisDraw import of additional bitmap and color formats. These enable proper importation of additional bitmap formats not included in the initial ClarisDraw import release.

Master Graphic Marker

A new reference marker is now provided when multiple graphics are selected. This marker distinguishes the first graphic selected. This is the master graphic used for alignment and orientation actions. The first selected graphic (rather than the top or bottom position in the painting order) has always been used as the master for these actions. This convention makes it easy to select and perform relative alignments in a convenient fashion. The marker provides a clear visual aid and user feedback to predict the aligned result. The maker is a small square and cross drawn at the natural center of the graphic. This is documented on the align and orient EazyDraw help pages.

Find Hidden Inspector Palette

Added a "Palette To Front" submenu on the Windows main menu. This submenu lists all open parameter and tool palettes, in their desktop order (top/front to bottom/back). Selecting a palette from this menu will bring it to the front and fully visible. This is helpful when several palettes are overlapping on the desk top. Without this menu it was common practice to close the palette from its menu and then open it again to bring the palette to the fore for use. This required two annoying trips to the menu, now this can be accomplished with one menu selection.

Miter Limit

Added a parameter for controlling the Miter Limit of Bezier paths drawn with Join Style - Miter. The parameter is found on the Color and Style palette. Setting the miter limit avoids spikes produced by line segments that join at sharp angles. If the ration of the miter length -- the diagonal length of the miter -- to the line width exceeds the miter limit parameter, the corner is treated as a bevel join instead of a miter join. A bug that sometimes cut off the tips of sharp angle miters was corrected, the tips now always draw to the full limit and are not clipped. A new tutorial on the use of Miter joins has been added to the Tutorials folder.

Text Styles - Favorites

A new Font styles panel is provided, it is accessed from the Font submenu of the main Text Menu. This is available only on 10.3 or newer versions of OS X. The panel provides a method to investigate font an style attributes of a Text object. It does not work with Annotation text. The Font and style attributes, such as point size, bold, and italic, are shown for each "run" of an attributed text graphic. The panel will allow saving Favorite styles for future use.

Paragraph Style

Added full default support for the new paragraph palette. This palette now has a button icon for use in the toolbar (via customize). This button appears on the preferences panel with full EazyDraw preferences and default support. These settings are honored when creating new text objects. The paragraph palette’s interface does not apply fully to annotation text at this time.

Double Click to Close

Added the ability to "Close" a path or curve by double clicking on an open end control handle. There is also a new menu command on the convert menu that will perform the same action.

Joined Path

Added a Convert To capability for "Joined Path". The new path is similar to a Welded Path except the independent source paths remain visually separate. Move-To rather than Line-To’s are used to connect the individual source paths. This is useful, when combined with the Even-Odd winding rule, for creating graphics with void (holes) areas. Documentation is complete and found on the Convert Menu documentation page.

New Drawing Preference

New user preference added for specification of the initial view presentation of New Drawings. The selection is a submenu on the New Drawings popup on the Preferences palette. You can now specify "Top Left" to have the scroll bars positioned at the top left corner of a new drawing, this was the default. Center or Bottom Left are the other possible values for this selection. This new parameter is documented in the Help system - search phrase "New Drawings".

Cheetah3D Pasteboard

Added a pasteboard format for export and import of Bezier paths to Cheetah3D. Upcoming versions of Cheetah3D will be able to exchange Bezier curves with EazyDraw.

Other Corrections

Corrected several issues related to changing font family when the new font may not contain character codes for the text or a portion of the text. Now if a portion of the text cannot be mapped to the new font, a warning is posted and the characters that do not map remain with the previous font. If an automatic encoding mapping is applied, this is now noted in a warning message. The warning message in the later case announces that further changes of font may produce unexpected results.

Corrected problems with changing a drawings scale. In many cases dimension lines would loose their affinity with their associated graphics. This now is preserved properly with a full drawing scale change.

Corrected problem adjusting the central angle of an arc or pie shape, when using the on-screen interactive handle. The problem only occurred when the major and minor axis were rotated and drawn elliptically. The problem was corrected and the handle now tracks precisely the movement of the mouse. The problem was more pronounced when used with the command key to interactively change the major radius of the elliptical arc, this now action now tracks precisely as well.

Corrected problems converting paths and connectors to orthogonal connectors. After conversion the new orthogonal connector would not draw properly. The Connector palette was not always updating to reflect the proper radius of the connector. This has been corrected too.

Corrected problem on the Dimension palette, the "Feet and Inches" options were sometimes grayed out unless a particular dimension graphic was selected. This was not the correct behavior. Now these options are enabled for any drawing with an inches, feet, or yards scale and a graphic does not need to be selected to choose these options.

Corrected occasional problem with resize of groups containing one or more rotated ovals, or math function curves. Certain conditions could result in one of the groups elements jumping to top left of the drawing. This has been corrected.

Corrected problem when creating a "cross star" with an even number of sides. The geometry used to draw this shape does not work for an even number of points. It was possible to set the Stellate panel’s number of sides to an even number, with no graphic selected, the draw an even numbered cross star, which would generate an ill defined graphic - sort of a cross between and arrow and a star. This situation is now checked and the requested number of points increased by 1 to insure a proper cross star is drawn.

Corrected problem with newly opened drawings not showing the correct area of the drawing. Now a drawing will open, showing exactly the same position, and viewed drawing region. In other words the zoom percent and viewed portion of the drawing is restored to the same position and zoom that was in effect when the drawing was closed.

Corrected issue related to copying an EazyDraw graphic with pattern color to MS-Word, PowerPoint and other classic style applications prefer the Classic PICT format. This would be a problem with graphics imported or pasted with the PICT format to EazyDraw, these would appear to have normal solid coloring, but the color was actually a solid pattern. These solid patterns are now sensed on import and converted to normal colors so their export quality is improved,for best results PICTs should now be un-grouped if that is feasible

Fixed problem entering Grid Spacings with fixed grids for scaled drawings. The units conversion was incorrect, the entry now is read in the scaled units as defined for the drawing on the Scale palette.

Fixed problem with rulers not displaying properly on opening of a drawing with rulers showing. Before the window would need to be resized before they would show and display correctly

Version 1.7.0

December 2004

Claris Draw Import, configurable menu keys, paragraph palette, improved PDF and EPS display and print quality, and other minor corrections and bug fixes.

ClarisDraw Import

The Claris Draw import has been enabled with this release. To import a Claris Draw file, use the normal "Open" panel, select "Claris Draw" for the file type (popup near bottom of the panel). Then select the file in the normal fashion, a new window with the imported contents is shown. Page Setup and Page Layout should be performed manually, select your printer, paper size, and page layout. Select the orientation - even if it shows the desired value, as this will "sync" up the information from your printer driver and the file contents. Next, save the file using "Save As" and close the window. Finally re-open the EazyDraw version of the file, this performs a full consistency check and automatic corrections if necessary. Then the drawing is ready for manual "touch up" and full use on OS X. Please report all issues encountered. Known issues: Multiple embedded PICT graphics may not all be imported properly - this happens when more than one PICT occurs in a Group, layer, or on a single layered drawing. You may work around this by adding each PICT graphic to a different simple group (they may be un - grouped after reading into the EazyDraw file).

User Defined Short Cut Keys

A Menu Keys palette has been added for user definition of short cut command keys. The palette is found on the EazyDraw main menu. Its use is rather straight forward: expand the outline view to find the menu entry of interest, click the Modify button, and use the resulting panel to define a short cut key or change the display name of the menu entry. Command key sets may be saved to a disk file for future use or backup purposes. Detailed documentation has been added to the help system, use search phrase "Menu Keys" to access the documentation. Since this is an infrequently used feature, undo is not supported, so it is advised to save important key sets to a disk file. Changes made to the menu keys will persist automatically when updating to newer versions of EazyDraw.

Paragraph Palette

A new Paragraph palette has been added. You may now use this interface to specify the detail formatting of paragraphs of text. This doesn't work with Annotations at this time, only the Text Area graphics. You can specify left margins for indenting, line spacing, right indent, and first line indent. Documentation is complete for this feature, enter the search phrase "paragraph form" with EazyDraw help to learn more on this topic.

Option Click Handle-For Symmetric Resize

Added symmetric resizing for lines, rectangles, and other bounds defined graphics. Hold down the Option key, before clicking a handle, to invoke symmetric resizing. This mode holds the center of the graphic constant and increases the size of the opposite vertex of the graphic.

Mini Palettes

A new configurable "mini" palette format is now available for some of the more frequently used parameter palettes. Palettes with the new feature have a small "disclosure" icon at the top of the blue window shade control (top right of the palette). Click this icon to switch the palette to the mini format. Control click on the window shade control to access a configuration menu for the mini palette. You may chose which parameters to include/exclude on a mini palette. This contextual menu allows user configuration of the 3 window shade points. The included parameters may be re-ordered by drag and drop (of the title text box-on the left) or via the contextual menu. The mini/normal form and user reconfiguration are saved with palette layouts and restored on quit -- restart. This is only available on Panther (10.3 or newer), not available with Jaguar (10.2.x). For more information enter the search phrase "mini palette" in the help window.