Corel Painter Essentials 4 - Corel

For 15 years, Painter has been the go-to tool for anyone looking to simulate natural drawing and painting media techniques, from oil and watercolors to pencils, chalks, even crayons. But more than a few aspiring digital artists have found themselves somewhat intimidated by the capable (and dense) interface and toolset. Painter Essentials 4 is the latest incarnation of a boiled-down version of Painter X (4 out of 5 stars, May/07, p56) and contains many of the coolest toys of the full version... read more at MacLife

Scribbles - Atebits

Scribbles is a doodling and drawing application that offers a fresh approach to interface design. It cheerfully ignores years of software development and displays just four controls: a brush stroke chooser, a colour picker, a brush size slider and a layers control. These are huge and chunky, as though made for kids... read more at MacUserUK

Maya 2008 - Autodesk

There were some jitters in the Mac 3D community when Autodesk's takeover of Alias was announced - after all, apart from a brief appearance of AutoCad in the early 1990s, Autodesk has acted as though the Mac platform doesn't exist. Luckily, however, any fears appear to have been unfounded, as witnessed by this release of Maya 2008 (Version 9) for Mac OS X... read more at MacUserUK

Microspot Interiors 4 Pro - Microspot

After a well-received version 4 of Interiors - which saw it getting a much-needed interface overhaul to bring it in line with Mac OS X - Kent-based Microspot has upped the ante with a version aimed at users who want a little bit more control and power in their designs... read more at MacUserUK

Create 14 - Stone Design

After 17 years of development, Stone Design's Create has finally hit its stride. A fraction over six months after the release of Create 13, its successor has appeared. And while you could be forgiven for expecting a modest update, Create 14 includes a host of improvements to all areas of the program... read more at MacUserUK

Modo 301 - Luxology

Luxology, creator of Modo, has taken a gradual approach to its product's development. Version one saw the basic modelling tools in place, while its successor added texture painting and beefed-up rendering. Now the latest offering has added animation capabilities - and a bit more beside... read more at MacUserUK

Painter Essentials 4 - Corel

As the name suggests, Painter Essentials is a slimmed-down version of Corel's 'natural media' painting application, Painter X (Reviews, 2 March, p31). More than just a subset of Painter's tools and features, Painter Essentials is designed with novices in mind, though to take full advantage of the program, some basic drawing skills wouldn't go amiss... read more at MacUserUK

VectorWorks 2008 - Nemetschek

VectorWorks has been one of the premiere CAD (computer-aided design) programs for the Macintosh for many years. Combining a powerful 2-D drafting environment with integrated 3-D modeling functionality, VectorWorks can take your project from planning to simple drafting to complex, photorealistic rendering. VectorWorks 2008 improves on and expands this already impressive array of capabilities... read more at Macworld

Product Strata 3D[in] - Strata

The 3D Layers feature in the Extended version of Photoshop CS3 lets you place, rotate and edit the textures of 3D objects... read more at MacUserUK

LightWave 9.3 - NewTek

LightWave 9.0 was one of the major releases in the program's history, making the application slicker and allaying the fears aroused by the departure of the engineers who went on to found Luxology... read more at MacUserUK

Braid Arts Labs GroBoto 2.1 - Braid Arts Labs

While the vast majority of 3D software tends to be complex, intimidating and expensive, GroBoto is a one-of-a-kind offering, a completely original tool for instantly whipping up outrageous and intricate creations that would require serious effort with any other 3D package. It’s inexpensive, fun, and downright addictive... read more at MacLife

TurboSketch Studio - IMSI/Design

TurboSketch Studio is a plug-in for Google SketchUp (4 mice), and includes the free version of the program in the box. It works with both the free and the Pro versions of this powerful 3-D program, which is typically used for architectural renderings that ship with rather minimal lighting and surfacing effects... read more at Macworld

ArtRage 2.5 - ArtRage

Starting with MacPaint, there's been no shortage of Mac applications that emulate real-world painting and drawing materials. Corel Painter is the application that most readily comes to mind when illustration in oil on canvas is required - but ArtRage 2.5, a $25 application that punches well above its weight, may soon change that... read more at MacUserUK

Lineform 1.3 - Freeverse

Lineform 1.3.2 is a refreshingly simple drawing program whose interface is similar enough to Illustrator’s (or CorelDraw’s, or other vector graphics programs) that experienced illustrators will intuitively find its key drawing tools. Lineform’s importing and exporting capabilities allow close collaboration between it and other more advanced illustration programs... read more at Macworld

Adobe Illustrator CS3 - Adobe

Graphic artists who rely on Adobe Illustrator for their daily bread will be pleased with Illustrator CS3 (also known as version 13.0.0), which adds numerous small features throughout the application and a few whiz-bang winners. As with other members of the CS3 family, Illustrator also changes the appearance of palettes, now called "panels," in ways that are sure to be controversial. But overall, it's an excellent update to the last professional vector-based drawing application left standing... read more at MacLife

Cheetah 3D 4 - Cheetah 3D

Cheetah 3D from German developer Martin Wengenmayer just keeps getting better, and version 4 has taken the 3D community by surprise with its new features and overall polish. The first thing you'll see is the slicker new interface, with new icons designed by Cheetah guru Frank Beckmann... read more at MacUserUK

Live Interior 3D - Belight Software

This is the first release of Live Interior from Ukranian software house BeLight. Its premise is simple: to allow you to design the interior spaces of your home or office. To this end, it incorporates a 2D drafting environment, a 3D viewer that uses OpenGL to visualise the scenes, and a Browser where you can select from many bundled items of 3D furniture and building elements... read more at MacUserUK

Lineform 1.2.5 - Freeverse

Lineform is the yin to EazyDraw's yang, replacing the latter's mind-bending complexity with a Zen-like simplicity. But although its tools appear spare at first, Lineform packs a lot of functionality into them... read more at MacLife

Intaglio 2.9.4 - Purgatory Design

Intaglio occupies a happy medium between EazyDraw's obsessive detail and Lineform's übersimplicity. Of the three, Intaglio looks and acts the most like other Mac drawing programs you probably already know... read more at MacLife

EazyDraw 2.1.3 - Dekorra Optics

EazyDraw marches to its own beat, and the drummer is playing modern jazz. Practically everything about it seems created anew: palettes, available tools, help text, ways of selecting and combining objects. On one hand, this inventiveness gives EazyDraw some unexpectedly useful capabilities, such as a large set of tools that automatically show measurements between points... read more at MacLife

Bryce 6.1 - Daz3D

Bryce, the popular fantasy landscape modeller, has finally gone Intel native with the release of version 6.1, which brings a combination of application enhancements and modifications to the user interface ... read more at MacUserUK

Vue 6 Infinite - E-on Software

It used to be Bryce, but now, if you want to create photo-real landscapes, Vue 6 from French developer e-on software is just about the only game in town. Unlike Bryce, which has remained a useful, if limited, tool, Vue Infinite has taken a place in some of Hollywood's top production houses - all the digital landscapes in Pirates of the Caribbean were created with it, for example ... read more at MacUserUK

Punch! Home Design Studio - Punch! software

Home Design Studio is Punch! software's first foray into the Mac market. It enables users with little or no 3D experience to build models of prospective developments - extensions, interior remodelling or even that Beckingham Palace-style pile that you've always lusted after ... read more at MacUserUK

Painter X - Corel

While Photoshop has become synonymous with computer graphics, Painter is the longtime king of the digital painting kingdom. If you own a Wacom drawing tablet or you can differentiate between the odors of oil and acrylic paints, Painter's awesome traditional media chops will blow you away. Some newly added tricks, along with the speed enhancements, help this X mark its spot as a must-have digital artistry tool ... read more at MacUserUK

Google SketchUp Pro 6 - Google + Sketchup

SketchUp users have spent the last year in a state of some trepidation, wondering which way Google would take the application. After the bad blood engendered by releasing most of version 5 as the free Google SketchUp, the company has taken the unusual step of releasing this new whole-number release as a free upgrade for anyone with a version 5 licence. And for good measure, it's thrown in the new LayOut application (albeit still in beta) for free as well... read more at MacUserUK

Maya Complete 8.5 - Autodesk

Maya is a powerful, 3-D modeling, texturing, and rendering application, with all of the tools needed to do nearly every type of animation imaginable, from simulations of real-world physics to character animation with a wide spectrum of emotive expressions... read more at Macworld

Poser 7 - Allume

It may have started life as a 'figure reference tool for artists', but each new release has taken Poser far beyond that basic remit. The latest version brings a wealth of new features, including lip syncing, transferrable poses, multiple undo, multi-threaded rendering and many other tweaks... read more at MacUserUK

Maxon Cinema 4D 10 - Maxon

Maxon's high-end modelling, rendering and animation application, Cinema 4D, has finally made it into double figures with the release of version 10. To celebrate, it's got a new outfit. The first thing you'll notice when you fire it up is that it's gone all grey and sculpted - very modo-like - and looks rather smart... read more at MacUserUK

LightWave 9 - LightWave

LightWave reborn' is how NewTek describes the ninth incarnation of its high-end 3D application. And while the program will look familiar to seasoned users, there are more than enough changes across the board to justify this claim... read more at MacUserUK

Lineform 1.2.2 - Freeverse

Adobe Illustrator is arguably the most powerful vector-editing application on the market but few designers can fail to be frustrated by its performance on current top-end Macs.
Suddenly there's an alternative: Lineform is a lightweight application that offers a good chunk of Illustrator's features without the bulky price tag or poor performance... read more at MacUserUK

Modo 202 - Luxology

When we first reviewed Luxology's Modo in its 102 guise, it was a modelling-only application, albeit a very capable one. Version 202 has greatly increased its toolset and capabilities, adding rendering and, intriguingly, real-time 3D texture painting... read more at