How To Make Dropshadows?

Felasco · Apr 15, 2014

Hi all,

Could you please offer your advice on what inexpensive (under $100) or free Mac image editing apps can do dropshadows?

I used Photoshop on OS 9 for years, but this eventually required firing up an old iMac just to do a dropshadow, so I gave that up.

Many thanks for any suggestions!

simsaladimbamba · Apr 15, 2014

Gimp (free) and Pixelmator (can be found in the Mac App Store (MAS)) can do that.

Felasco · Apr 15, 2014

Thanks much for your reply, appreciate it.

I've been googling too, and found this:

http://www.delsolsoftware.com/dropshadow/index.html

Looks perfect, a simple app dedicated to making dropshadows. Four bucks from Map App Store.

Sadly for me, it requires a higher OS than I have, so will keep looking.

MattSepeta · Apr 15, 2014

just make sure you make them really long

Jess13 · Apr 15, 2014

I use Pixelmator, with Mavericks. You could try Acorn; $15. Free trial. Decent.

http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/

ezekielrage_99 · Apr 15, 2014

Jess13 said:
I use Pixelmator, with Mavericks. You could try Acorn; $15. Free trial. Decent.

http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/

I would have suggested Pixelmator and just use the 30-day trial

firedept · Apr 16, 2014

Spend the money on Pixelmator if you need it for more than once or twice over the next few days. Pretty good program for $30.

CrickettGrrrl · Apr 17, 2014

Pixelmator just announced a big update to be released soon and half price for the week: $15

Acorn has been on sale (not sure when the sale ends) for $15 --which is $35 off.

Getting both is a great deal right now.

Felasco · Apr 17, 2014

Hi guys,

Many thanks for your suggestions, appreciate it.

Oops, my bad, I should have specified that I need something that will work on SnowLeopard. I was going to jump on Pixelmator, but it requires Mavericks according to the site, and um, I ain't a gonna be goin there...

CrickettGrrrl · Apr 17, 2014

Felasco said:
Hi guys,

Many thanks for your suggestions, appreciate it.

Oops, my bad, I should have specified that I need something that will work on SnowLeopard. I was going to jump on Pixelmator, but it requires Mavericks according to the site, and um, I ain't a gonna be goin there...

Yep, Pixelmator is always moving forward -which was the reason I updated to Mountain Lion & then Mavericks. But anyway, you're in luck. There ARE earlier Acorn versions available for previous OS X's. Scroll all the way toward the bottom of the page: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/

Felasco · Apr 17, 2014

CrickettGrrrl said:
But anyway, you're in luck. There ARE earlier Acorn versions available for previous OS X's. Scroll all the way toward the bottom of the page: http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/

Aha! Thanks much CrickettGrrrl for sticking with me and my primitive self. Downloading now, will check it out. Appreciate it.

Felasco · Apr 17, 2014

Ok, I've got Acorn. It does look like a pretty useful program, most likely worth the modest price. I'm pretty sure I'll wind up buying it.

I'm sorry to report that making drop shadows is about 10 times more work in Acorn than using Photoshop in System 9 (pre-OSX), a twenty year old program. Hmm, maybe I don't really need drop shadows so much...

CrickettGrrrl · Apr 17, 2014

Felasco said:
Ok, I've got Acorn. It does look like a pretty useful program, most likely worth the modest price. I'm pretty sure I'll wind up buying it.

I'm sorry to report that making drop shadows is about 10 times more work in Acorn than using Photoshop in System 9 (pre-OSX), a twenty year old program. Hmm, maybe I don't really need drop shadows so much...

There's a box in which you check Layer Shadows, and then you tweak the offset and size & opacity. I used an older version of Adobe Creative Suite, but Acorn doesn't seem any more time consuming ---just different interface. Perhaps it's unfamiliarity with the GUI?

Felasco · Apr 17, 2014

CrickettGrrrl said:
Perhaps it's unfamiliarity with the GUI?

Yea, I think that's it. Thanks to your post I dug deeper in to the manual (which looks pretty great) and discovered some other ways to drop shadow that should be pretty easy once I've done them a few more times.

Thanks again for solving my question. On top of being able to drop shadow, Acorn looks like it will be a useful addition to my image toolbox in other areas as well.

Once Mavericks gets to version 9.34

I'll give your other suggestions a try.

CrickettGrrrl · Apr 17, 2014

Felasco said:
Yea, I think that's it. Thanks to your post I dug deeper in to the manual (which looks pretty great) and discovered some other ways to drop shadow that should be pretty easy once I've done them a few more times.

Thanks again for solving my question. On top of being able to drop shadow, Acorn looks like it will be a useful addition to my image toolbox in other areas as well.

Once Mavericks gets to version 9.34 I'll give your other suggestions a try.

I'm glad it's working out for you. I bought Acorn a week ago after having read a lot of good stuff about it on these forums for a few years, so i can't say I'm very proficient with it yet, myself. I was happy to see that the Dev's website has a lot of helpful tutorials and a community forum too. All good stuff and encouraging for future development.

firedept · Apr 17, 2014

Felasco said:
Hi all,

Could you please offer your advice on what inexpensive (under $100) or free Mac image editing apps can do dropshadows?

I used Photoshop on OS 9 for years, but this eventually required firing up an old iMac just to do a dropshadow, so I gave that up.

Many thanks for any suggestions!

Pixelmator on sale for $15 over the next week. Good chance to grab it for cheap.

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