Filed under: Photo, Utilities, Macintosh, Freeware, Beta
Voila for Mac is a full-featured screenshot app
by Lee Mathews Dec 22nd 2008 at 10:00AM
Yes, OSX's Grab tool is a good starting point, but I like to be able to crop, edit, add arrows and callouts, and perform other similar chores without having to launch something like Photoshop or GIMP.
Voila provides all the features I'm after. Apart from full screen, window, region, and menu capturing, it also offers an array of editing and notation functions. Arrows, callouts, shapes, and text are easy to add - and text can be edited after it's placed unlike a lot of similar applications. It also supports one-click exporting to iPhoto and Mail.
One glaring omission is resizing. It's something I use all the time, so its absence is a bit of an inconvenience.
The beta version is currently free, though the FAQ states that Voila will indeed become a commercial app. I'm just getting started on my Mac, so if you've got a better free alternative share it in the comments!
So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do.
Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game.
The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tom said 10:39AM on 12-22-2008
So you missed Skitch and LittleSnapper?
Reply
Lee Mathews said 10:39AM on 12-22-2008
Is Little Snapper actually free? Looks like it's $39 on their website.
Will have to check out Skitch, though...Thanks!
Michael said 10:41AM on 12-22-2008
Skitch is where it's at, my friend. Other screen-snappers need not apply.
Reply
AJ Cann said 10:50AM on 12-22-2008
Skitch.
Reply
Evenio said 10:58AM on 12-22-2008
As nice as the third-party screenshot apps out there are, I find I have trouble liking them any more than the Cmd-Shift-4-then-Spacebar trick that gets you a screenshot of a single window or screen element (i.e. you can also capture the Dock, a menu, even the notification area of the menubar or a single desktop icon), by itself, with a fully transparent background. That last bit gives you an incredible amount of flexibility in what you can do with it. Granted, you'd still need another app to draw arrows on it, but for simple tasks like resizing, Preview does the job handily. For me, at least, the only screen capture apps worth getting separately from OS X are the ones that do video.
Reply
rick said 11:37AM on 12-22-2008
well isn't this a dream come true, just what we needed another screenshot apps that just runs on a mac.
Reply
Max said 11:42AM on 12-22-2008
You Windows guys have SnagIt, and have had it for ages. It's the most full-featured screenshot app on any platform IMO. It's about time we've been getting more on the Mac. For years it was just low-end solutions like the built-in ones or a higher-end SnapzProX.
However, at last all the newcomers offer easy screenshots and annotation, and some offer built-in web sharing. At this point, I give the edge to Skitch, mostly because I can resize screen shots there and it seems to have more integration with the Finder and other apps.
nparik1 said 12:04PM on 12-22-2008
Skitch is defn. comparable however Jing is also pretty good for Video and Image capture.
Voila seems to have some desparately needed edge effects for Mac screen capture tools. I have been looking all over for a "paper tear" effect that is readily available in SnagIt.
Nick
Reply
DeAndrea said 12:38PM on 12-22-2008
There is a great screen capture tool for from techsmith called Jing.. check that out... no resize option, but you can use another photo editing software for resizing if you wish. Jing takes the shot as a png and then places it in a designated folder on either your harddrive, or via ftp to a specified folder on your server.
Reply
Wolfman K 42 said 12:58PM on 12-22-2008
Another vote for Skitch... amazing, free, and includes online storage and sharing.
Reply
Jeff Schiller said 3:50PM on 12-22-2008
One word (repeated many times above): skitch
Reply
Nathan Mylott said 8:01PM on 12-22-2008
Skitch also handles the resizing problem you mentioned and it's free. You don't have to win a license. It hosts the images for you and gives you your own web page to give out with all your public clippings. And it's just a fun interface. I find myself looking for things to clip with it. Everything is done by drag and drop. Drag the window to your email client to send it, drag to an IM, drag to Finder to save the file, etc. You can save in a variety of formats and you resize the image just by resizing the Skitch window. I love Skitch. There's nothing else like it.
ON WINDOWS: Wisdom Screen Hunter is just as good as Snagit and it's free. Snagit is a 30 day trial. You can also use another free app called Windows Media Encoder to take video screen grabs, or broadcast your screen. Go to this URL for a tutorial I made for it, which includes a download link: http://tinyurl.com/videoscreenshots
I have found a Mac app that will let me take video of my screen. Anybody know of one?
Reply
Voila Fan said 11:23PM on 12-22-2008
I definitely vote for Voila over Skitch. Skitch is good no doubt, but Voila offers me options that skitch doesnt provide me yet. Voila is more like SnagIT, and being a switcher from Windows to Mac, I seem to be more comfortable with this one!!!
Reply
Greeneo said 11:39PM on 12-22-2008
Wow!! Thanks for the post Lee!!
Voila seems to be a full featured Screen Capture solution for Mac that I have been waiting for... Its got powerful Capturing options and wonderful set of Annotations.
Hey Lee, I just figured out they do have resize options... Check this out.
1. After Capture click on the image, it gets selected and you can resize it. This resizes the canvas
2. I figured out that the image is locked to the canvas by default. Go to the Layers menu and click on "Unlock Image". The image gets unlocked. Now on clicking the image only the image gets selected and can be resized.
Reply
From the Developers of Voila said 12:44AM on 12-23-2008
Hi Lee
Thanks for the post. We also appreciate all the user comments. As you rightly pointed that Voila is in beta and undergoing a lot of polishing. We have been receiving umpteen feedback and suggestions to improve Voila (both in terms of features and usability). We are sincerely looking into each of them to make sure we don't miss out on user expectations and making Voila exceptional Capture, Annotating and Sharing application on the Mac platform.
For complete features of Voila please visit
http://www.globaldelight.com/voila/voila_features.html
For Getting Started please visit
http://www.globaldelight.com/voila/voila_tutorials.html
Waiting for your suggestions and feedback at voila@globaldelight.com
Thanks
Team Voila
PS: Hi Greeneo, Thanks for posting the details on resizing :)
Reply
MacAddiction said 2:32AM on 12-23-2008
Posting this after using both Voila and Skitch, and trust me, Voila definitely wins the race not only in terms of features but in terms of usability as well!
Me being a graphic designer , Voila has been truly 'The Perfect Christmas Gift' for me.
Reply
UbuntuGuy said 11:33AM on 12-24-2008
Jing is great because of the video capture ability. Unfortunately, it only captures 5 minutes worth. Any chance Voila or any other vendors will support video capture?
Reply