Best Mac app for 2D graphics and special fonts?

[wastedyuthe]

I am using Pixelmator (a "lite" version of Photoshop, if you will) atm for my 2D graphics-based game, and find it works very well for the in-game graphics. It certainly suits my needs anyway.
The only thing I am wanting on any of my Mac apps is a good one for special fonts. I often see these iPhone games with all this fancy text on their title screen or main menu, like text that has special outlines as well as the word curving round instead of just written in a straight line. How are these created? What app do I use? I am assuming you can use that same app for the 2D graphics in the rest of the app too.

I was even hoping Pages '09 would do it, being a publisher app, but I can't even find an option for the text in that either.

Thanks.

[spellcaster]

Google suggested:
http://www.belightsoft.com/products/arttext/overview.php
which seems exactly what you want.

You might also want to look at inkscape: http://www.inkscape.org/

[BrettArchibald]

I am using Pixelmator (a "lite" version of Photoshop, if you will) atm for my 2D graphics-based game, and find it works very well for the in-game graphics. It certainly suits my needs anyway.
The only thing I am wanting on any of my Mac apps is a good one for special fonts. I often see these iPhone games with all this fancy text on their title screen or main menu, like text that has special outlines as well as the word curving round instead of just written in a straight line. How are these created? What app do I use? I am assuming you can use that same app for the 2D graphics in the rest of the app too.

I was even hoping Pages '09 would do it, being a publisher app, but I can't even find an option for the text in that either.

Thanks.

Can you show us a few examples of some of these fonts / logos, etc. that you're referring to?

If you're serious about it, and you've got the cash to splash, Adobe Illustrator (http://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/) is THEE app for vector graphics creation / editing — just as Photoshop (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshopextended/) would be for bitmap creation / editing.

And of course it does help to have a great font to start off with, before you start to manipulate it.
I'll PM you a list of URLs where you can get some...

[jaemcsd]

Adobe Illustrator is good stuff for about $600. But try inkscape for free, its is basically the same idea but less features. Pretty good tutorials on the site.

http://www.inkscape.org/

[wastedyuthe]

Can you show us a few examples of some of these fonts / logos, etc. that you're referring to?


I'll PM you a list of URLs where you can get some...

I have attached some of the hundreds of examples I could give.
Thanks for the URL's- appreciated!

Adobe Illustrator is good stuff for about $600. But try inkscape for free, its is basically the same idea but less features. Pretty good tutorials on the site.

http://www.inkscape.org/

I don't want to shell out $600, so I'll take a look at Inkscape. Thanks very much, and welcome to the forums btw!

[ChaoticBox]

Well I can tell you the Pinch 'n Pop! (first) example was done entirely in Photoshop - the whole word is a texture (well, part of a texture atlas) with alpha transparency.

The small type (scores etc) in Pinch 'n Pop! is a more typical example of a "game font". The texture just contains all the characters in order, and each in-game character is composed of two triangles with the UV coordinates shifted to match the requested string. Strings are packed into vertex arrays and rendered on demand. Here again the original texture was created in photoshop, and is part of the same atlas as that "hurry" message.

Although I used Photoshop for those textures, the Pinch 'n Pop! logo was created in Illustrator, then tweaked in photoshop. Most of the in-game characters and effects were also created in Illustrator then tweaked and finalized Photoshop.

[wastedyuthe]

Thanks Frank.

[spellcaster]

*sniff*
Just ignore me, that's totally ok...

Photoshop allows you to add nice layer effects to your text layer, you can also warp the text later on.
Illustrator allows you to extrude the text into 3d and rotate it.

But, even risking that I sound like a broken record: Art Text (http://www.belightsoft.com/products/arttext/overview.php) seems to be exactly what you're looking for and is pretty affordable.

If you are looking more into a 3d kind of text, blender (http://www.blender.org/) is a free 3d app that works on the mac. There are lot's of tutorials available for blender, so you might be able to use it w/o having to battle it's unique UI.

Oh, another option would be to PM me what you want, and I'll simply fire up PS/Illustrator and do my best :)

[wastedyuthe]

*sniff*
Just ignore me, that's totally ok...

lol!! Sorry- wasn't expecting this much response! You have all been very helpful. I must admit, I forgot to check your link out on your first post, and have done so now. It looks great, and I will certainly look into it some more. I might also look into Photoshop as I haven't got that, thinking Pixelmator (the cheaper alternative) would have been sufficient for my needs- obviously not, now.

Btw, welcome to the forums to you too ;)

[wastedyuthe]

Wow! Just downloaded a trial of this Art Text- pretty amazing stuff- thanks for the tip Spellcaster! Really easy to use too. I've attached the results of my first play...

[EDIT] Now attached the latest experiment. Not bad for 10 minutes work. I think I'm going to get this app. Pretty bloomin' good!

[HandheldGames]

Go to dafont.com to load up on typefaces to use in those typeface applications .

Thx!
HHG

[City41]

And just for the record, you don't have to pay $600 for Illustrator. If you want Illustrator, get an old version, used. I got Illustrator 10 for $100. It's just fine, Illustrator has been a complete, fully implemented vector art app for years now, the new versions just add extra fluff you don't really need.

[wastedyuthe]

Go to dafont.com to load up on typefaces to use in those typeface applications .

Thx!
HHG

Thanks! This will help greatly!

And just for the record, you don't have to pay $600 for Illustrator. If you want Illustrator, get an old version, used. I got Illustrator 10 for $100. It's just fine, Illustrator has been a complete, fully implemented vector art app for years now, the new versions just add extra fluff you don't really need.

Actually, I managed to have a go of Illustrator on someone elses Mac, and I found it far too complicated for my tastes. Art Text is as complex as I'd like. Thanks for the advice anyway.