Creativity

Doozla

Doozla makes drawing a snap, but we wish it offered more flexibility. Kids can pick from four art projects: a coloring-book, freehand sketching, and doodling on iSight pictures or built-in backdrops. Each offers a handful of drawing and file tools in a simple, stylish window. It’s not just the app that looks good--pen strokes are smoothed automatically, making even lines drawn with a mouse look natural.

Adults can password-protect printing (a handy feature given the price of ink), but unfortunately, printouts are the easiest way to share drawings with the world. Worse, Doozla saves pictures in its own file format only and won’t simply save over old files, forcing kids to manually type a file’s name to replace past versions. We’d love the option to simply export JPEGs. Despite these limitations, Doozla lets young artists get great-looking results.

Drawing's a blast in Doozla.

Doozla
COMPANY: Plasq
CONTACT: www.plasq.com
PRICE: $24.95
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.4.6 or later

Simple, attractive interface. Smooths pen strokes to pleasing effect. Parental printing controls.

Awkward file-saving system. Can't export JPEGs.

Classroom Video Workshop Jr.

Classroom Video Workshop Jr. drops users into a cramped interface, offers no tutorial on how to use it to start editing videos, and tops things off with QuickTime-compatibility issues. If you have the right MOV file, Video Workshop can import it, trim its length, and add simple music and effects to export or play in the app. But in our testing, only MOV files exported from QuickTime Player or from other applications using QuickTime-specific options worked. Videos made with Photo Booth--the easiest way to make movies on a Mac--had errors that made them unwatchable if any of Video Workshop’s effects were applied.

Even when the app behaves, you’ll have to contend with its pokey performance and cramped, dated design. If you’re introducing youngsters to video editing, consider a supervised lesson in iMovie instead of this program. It looks and feels more than a decade out of date.

This app isn't ready for its close-up.

Classroom Video Workshop Jr.
COMPANY: APTE
CONTACT: www.apte.com
PRICE: $39.95
REQUIREMENTS: G4 or better processor, Mac OS 10.4 or later

Adds titles and simple effects to QuickTime clip.

No tutorial. Accepts only MOV files exported from QuickTime Player or equivalent settings. Cramped, dated interface. Sluggish performance.

Algodoo

Algodoo might sound like a toy, but it’s actually a sophisticated physics simulator that works like a 2D drawing program. A nonstandard interface and skimpy instructions may hinder some users, but those willing to learn Algodoo’s many features will be rewarded with serious fun.

Freehand and polygonal shapes can be animated to illustrate physical properties like mass and velocity. Just drag and draw, then add springs, hinges, gears, and motors to combine them into virtual machines controlled with keyboard commands. Algodoo’s many features, combined with a lack of familiar menus and help files, demand experimentation and too many trips to the Algodoo website for instructions. But turning your screen into a riot of colliding shapes is half the fun, and built-in example scenes help kids get into the swing of things--literally.

Screenshots can't show off Algodoo's realistic physics, but they're a click away.

Algodoo
COMPANY: Algoryx
CONTACT: algodoo.com
PRICE: $39
REQUIREMENTS: 1GHz or faster processor, Mac OS 10.4 or later, 96MB or faster video card

Turns your Mac into a virtual physics lab that works like a drawing program. Plenty of features.

Nonstandard menus and lack of tutorials make for a long learning curve.

Digital Photo Activity Kit

The Digital Photo Activity Kit’s six photocentric games and creative activities range from slideshows to calendars (though the app crashed anytime we tried to change a calendar’s date), and some can be modified with music. Each activity offers a template, but skimpy customization options and inflexible controls get in the way. For instance, newsletters can only be a few paragraphs long. But clear instructions keep things moving, and all activities and controls are available on every screen, making it easy to get around. The Kit needs a 21st-century update--iSight integration would be a good start--but there’s enough here to engage young children for a while. Older kids and adults, though, will grow bored quickly.

This Movie Maker could use a remake.

Digital Photo Activity Kit
COMPANY: APTE
CONTACT: apte.com
PRICE: $19.95 download, $39.95 CD
REQUIREMENTS: G3 or better processor, Mac OS 10.2.1 or later

Six creative activities for slightly older kids. Convenient, if dated, interface.

No iSight integration. Bug makes calendar activity useless.

TuxPaint

TuxPaint isn’t the prettiest app, but its price is right. Its single window is a canvas surrounded by brushes, colors, and drawing and file tools. But because Tux’s plentiful drawing tools are nested, kids have to cycle through them to see everything and don’t have access to all of them at once. It’s also too bad you can’t export pictures as JPEGs, but an optional (and free) collection of clip art broadens young artists’ creative horizons. A separate configuration application lets parents manage printing options and simplify controls. At the end of the day, a drawing app is about making pictures, and TuxPaint delivers, just with a decided lack of Mac-like flair.

TuxPaint's built-in layered backdrops help get the arty started.

TuxPaint
COMPANY: New Breed Software
CONTACT: tuxpaint.org
PRICE: Free download, $6.99 CD
REQUIREMENTS: G3 or better processor, Mac OS 10.3.9 or later

Plenty of tools for drawing. Parental printing controls Can't beat the price.

Navigating all drawing tools takes multiple clicks. Can't export JPEGs.

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