Essential Mac apps for Corona development

Getting Started Newbie Questions
#1

I know some of these apps have been covered in the forums before, but I thought I’d put together a list of the apps I heavily rely on while developing iPhone apps/games with Corona. My selection is based on a lot of research and a bias toward high quality, inexpensive apps from independent development companies.

  • TextMate - $55
    TextMate is my favorite text editor! BBEdit is good too, just a little pricey

  • Corona SDK bundle for TextMate - FREE
    This TextMate bundle was just released yesterday and makes development SO much quicker! Thanks Darren!!!

  • Pixelmator - $59
    A great image editing alternative to Photoshop, with lots of filters, layer support, web export, and much more!

  • Sketch - $40
    A vector drawing alternative to Adobe Illustrator. This developer (Pieter Omvlee) is awesome! He released a new version today 1.0.5 which had a few reported bugs. He released 1.0.6 within an hour that fixed them all!!! That’s what I call amazing support! I highly recommend this app to anyone developing graphics, icons, splash screens, etc for apps - especially games. Most, if not all, of these apps have free trials.

  • Zwoptex - $24.95
    Sprite sheet creator. This developer has been working very hard to make the app compatible with Corona Game Edition.

  • filewrangler - $15
    This app is very helpful for renaming batches of files - which you’ll be doing often if you create a Corona app with dynamic image resolution.

  • ImageOptim - FREE
    This is a nice image compressor - works well on PNGs if you disable OptiPNG and AdvPNG. You can also use jonbeebe’s “posterize” trick in Pixelmator or Photoshop.

  • iShowU HD - $29.95
    iShowU HD is a very slick screencast app that can be used for making demo reels for your app or game.

  • ColorSchemer Studio 2 - $49.99
    A nice app to build color combinations with a lot of tools to compare, compliment, and contrast colors. They even have a community driven color scheme gallery to download free color schemes into the app.

  • WireTap Studio - $69
    Not the cheapest or the best audio editor but this one lets you select any input (even specific application audio) on your Mac to record audio. It also has a basic built-in editor.

That is pretty much my main arsenal of iPhone development applications. I will update this if I think of any others.

Does anybody else know any cool and useful apps that compliment Corona development which are high-quality and under $80?

Thanks!

Dave [import]uid: 8194 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 302303[/import]

#2

Nice list!
I didn’t know about ColorSchemer. Very useful indeed!

Thanks! [import]uid: 7356 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 6993[/import]

#3

A very good and freeware alternative for Sketch is Inkscape and on the image side I can recomment GIMP. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 6997[/import]

#4

I had both TextMat and BBEdit, and I have been using BBEdit for my Corona projects (with Lua syntax highlighting), but I’m going to try out the TextMate Corona bundle… and I think it just might win me over. [import]uid: 7849 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7012[/import]

#5

I tried it out and I’m just going to have to stick with BBEdit, and here’s why.

In BBEdit, when I write a function like this:

local myFunction = function()

At the top of the window, it adds that function to a dropdown menu where I can select it and easy find what I’m looking for. To me, this is absolutely essential when navigating medium-large lua files.

I’m pretty sure TextMate does the same thing, but not when I write my functions as I showed above. In order for the function to be added to the dropdown function list in TextMate, I have to write the function like this:

local function myFunction()

Until TextMate can read my functions in the first format I showed, I’m just going to have to stick with BBEdit because it’s already habit to write my functions like that, and I’m not willing to go through ALL of my Lua files and change the way I defined my functions just so it will show up in TextMate.

Another thing I like about BBEdit is that, even if I have untitled notes in my project pane, if I close the program, it saves the state and opens it exactly the way I had it before (with all my files loaded up). I can close BBEdit whenever I want, take a break, shutdown the computer, whatever and when I get back in it I can resume right away. You can do that pretty easy with TextMate projects, but I guess it’s nice having the last project I was working on preloaded when I start the app.

For those that are experienced with TextMate, if there IS a way to have TextMate read functions defined in the first format, PLEASE let me know because I’d like to take advantage of the Corona bundle.

Thanks for the list of apps, it’s really useful! I’m already using a number of them. [import]uid: 7849 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7014[/import]

#6

@jonbeebe: The way you define the function gives you also a speed advantage when the function is called. [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7016[/import]

#7

Great idea dknell, thanks for starting the list.

I’ve been a Windows developer for the past 15 years. Before that I did mostly Mac work. Switching back I find the pickings are understandably a lot slimmer that the range available for Windows.

Text: I’m finding Text Wrangler pretty good. It’s free. I’m happy to pay for apps and if I need more features will probably decide on BBEdit (same people) or TextMate now that it has Corona features from github member osadchuk.

Cheetah 3D is great for the price and it’s easy to export frames that can be converted to spritesheets.

For audio, I can’t recommend Twisted Wave enough. Totally stable and really flexible. I’ve used lots of audio software and this package really impresses.

I opted to purchase Intaglio for 2D vector graphics. I’ve tried lots on the Mac, and on balance this one came out on top. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good, and a lot cheaper than Illustrator.

For bitmap editing I ended up with PSE. Probably a mistake. It more or less does the job, but the interface is clunky and very un-Mac-like. The full Photoshop used to be a very good Mac program. This is not, even allowing for the fact it’s cut down. [import]uid: 3953 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7018[/import]

#8

@jonbeebe,
I originally started with BBEdit at my previous job and I loved it, but when it came time to purchase a text editor for my home Mac, I went with TextMate because it was cheaper and had all of the features that I wanted - also at the time BBEdit only had very simple find and replace (no regex) and the code autocomplete wasn’t as polished as TextMate. Every time BBEdit comes out with a new release I download the free trial and it is keeps getting MUCH better. I would buy it in an instant if the price came down to about $70. Also regarding the local someFunction = function() showing up in the TM function list - I noticed the same thing. That is actually one of the things pushing me toward BBEdit. As far as I know there is no way to do that in TM.

@MikeHart,
Which function definition is faster?

@MarkHenryC,
Thanks for sharing some of the software you use! I am downloading the Twisted Wave right trial now. The description looks very impressive. I have a feeling I’m going to like this app. If you don’t like PSE, you should really give Pixelmator a try. They just released 1.6.1 which fixed a lot of bugs and added some new features. Another bitmap graphics editor that looks promising is Acorn created by Flying Meat. They have been releasing a lot of updates and it only costs $49.95. I tried this a while back and it wasn’t as polished as Pixelmator, but I may give this another shot considering all the attention they have been giving it. [import]uid: 8194 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7079[/import]

#9

@dknell:

local myFunction = function()

is faster than

local function myfunction() [import]uid: 5712 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7091[/import]

#10

I have got a shared folder on my mac and do all the coding on my PC :slight_smile:
I’ll never get used to the mac and the keyboard.
[import]uid: 4589 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7099[/import]

#11

OK. Thanks? [import]uid: 8194 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7104[/import]

#12

@dknell. Thanks for the tip. (Who can resist checking out the product of a company called Flying Meat?)

Acorn is very good. Much nicer to use than PS. Makes for a much smoother workflow in the Corona environment. [import]uid: 3953 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7151[/import]

#13

Regarding speed of x = function() or function x():

I did several tests of 100,000,000 iterations and could see no pattern of difference.

The second syntax also has the benefit of implicitly forward-declaring x, which is necessary if the function is recursive (otherwise you need to write: local x; x = function() … end)
[import]uid: 3953 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7152[/import]

#14

I was using Zwoptex too but, considering it is a paid software and all I need was to use just one feature (the exporting), I created a Photoshop Sprite Sheet Exporter myself. It doesn’t have all the features of Zwoptex, but works fine. Take a look at http://asouza.com/blog/?p=119. It’s free!

Enjoy!
Alex [import]uid: 4883 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7179[/import]

#15

@MarkHenryC, glad you like Acorn! I feel the same way about a good company name. The story behind “Flying Meat” is pretty interesting, it may still be on their site - maybe on the About us page. I really need to check out Acorn again and compare it to Pixelmator. That’s very interesting what you found about the function calls. I remember hearing something similar to what MikeHart said about the speed difference, but maybe that’s not the case anymore. Go figure.

@d3mac123, thanks for sharing your Photoshop Sprite Sheet exporter! I like the price! :slight_smile: [import]uid: 8194 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7180[/import]

#16

I went with Opacity Express over Acorn. About the same power and features but Opacity Express is more intuitive. I tried many pixel-based editors. Seashore is good freeware. But Pixelmator was the only one that that allowed me to easily work with transparency.
[import]uid: 295 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7215[/import]

#17

Not the same sort of thing. Opacity is vector whereas Acorn is bitmap. Often you need both. [import]uid: 3953 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7218[/import]

#18

Well, due to the little function syntax thing, I won’t be able to break away from BBEdit for my Corona development.

But Textmate + Markdown makes an awesome blogging client though. [import]uid: 7849 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7222[/import]

#19

I forgot one of my all time favorites and most important app - 1Password

This is not really related to Corona development, however, I do store all of the serial numbers for the apps mentioned above within 1Password.

The things I cannot do without in 1Password:

  • Storing all of my unique passwords in one (SECURE) place

  • Secure notes

  • Syncing with my dropbox account http://www.dropbox.com

  • Strong password generator

  • The 1Password iPhone app

  • Integration with all web browsers

  • It securely stores all of my software license keys (automatically finds and displays app icon and version in the listing!)

Although I don’t have a pc, I think they also have a windows version

BTW - jonbeebe, I searched 1Password for BBEdit and I found a BBEdit 8.0 license I must’ve purchased a few years ago. I just upgraded it to version 9.5.1 for $30! Based on your strong recommendation I will be giving it another chance to prove itself… [import]uid: 8194 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7244[/import]

#20

Blender is an excellent 3D tool and it’s free! [import]uid: 9977 topic_id: 2303 reply_id: 7846[/import]