News

After many years of ideas and planning, and a little more than a year of active development Paragraphic is now available in Early Access.

This means you can download and try the application for free in a Trial mode with some limitations to exports. If you like it you can then buy a license that will enable you to remove the trial mode limitations, and of course support continued development towards the full 1.0 release.

Click below to find out more and try it out for yourself at paragraphic.design!

Development of the new cross-platform parametric 2d design app Paragraphic is has taken another big step towards release. While it's not feature complete yet the core features are now in place and a second testing phase with a larger group of testers has started.

You can follow the continued development of the app at the Paragraphic development blog. There you can also sign up if you're interested in being a tester, or just to get a notification when the app is eventually released.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released, with a new dynamic arc point shape and dynamic point offset transformation, along with a number of fixes and smaller improvements.

Changes and improvements

• New Arc point shape, for drawing dynamic arc shapes and lines with variable arc angle.
• New Point offset transform, a new variable X,Y offset available in Point transform that visually moves the points without changing the measuring location like the raster pattern distortions, allowing for more control of point alignment and making complex patterns.
• Improved license check redundancy for situations when the main license server is not working properly.

• Fixed disabling Point aspect scaling while set to vary dynamically would still apply aspect scale.
• Fixed Fill opacity parameter being shown even when it had no effect due to fill being turned off.
• Fixed colors loading incorrectly from some older format Vectoraster files.

You can download and update from free from within Vectoraster, or download the new version via the product page linked below. If you've bought the app via the Apple App Store the update should be rolling out there as well today.

A new maintenance update of Patternodes 3 has been released.

Fixes and improvements:

• Fixed Apply Function node and Apply Element node not working as expected in selected apply to modes.
• Improved license check redundancy for situations when the main license server is not working properly.

Following a server migration of lostminds.com we had some temporary issues making the website and license system unavailable for about an hour on August 22. The issues have now been resolved, but we're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.

There is a backup system in place for the license system if lostminds.com is unreachable, but it seems that for the specific issue that happened this time this redirect didn't work as lostminds.com was still reachable and responding even though the databases were down. Hopefully we can use this experience to make the system more robust in case something like this happens again in the future.

Development of our new cross-platform parametric 2d design app Paragraphic is progressing more or less according to plan, and it's now getting close to a finished product. While it's not feature complete or stable enough for release all the major systems are now in place and a first testing phase with external testers is under way. Hopefully this will yield a lot of good feedback on what works and what doesn't.

You can follow the continued development of the app at the Paragraphic development blog. There you can also sign up if you're interested in being a tester, or just to get a notification when the app is eventually released.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This time it's a feature update with some new features for repeating and replacing elements in designs.

The inspiration to some of these new features comes from our new parametric design project Paragraphic, check it out at paragraphic.design and follow it's development if you're interested.

New features and improvements:

• New Repeat Function node, allowing you to repeat elements with a transformation similar to the Apply Function node. This makes it a lot more convenient to make some gradual scale or offset transforms and adds greater control.
• New Select from group option in the Replace node, allowing you to select the replacement element from an input group instead of using the entire group. This makes it much easier to make patterns with mixed elements without needing Element lists. Just connect all your elements to the replace node and set how to select the replacement from the group.
• Pack and Element info nodes now have an Ignore stroke option to get size and pack elements disregarding and stroke width.

• Fixed function period offsets still being applied even if the change periods option was unchecked.
• Change node apply to Single selection now works with negative offsets as well as positive.
• Fixed some macOS 14 UI layout issues.
• Improved export file writing error handling.
• Fixed some incorrect warnings in disabled nodes.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released, fixing some UI issues and restoring the use to dynamic values for some optional parameters.

Fixes and improvements:

• Fixes not being able to dynamically vary optional parameters like additional point scaling and additional point rotation.
• Fixes tabbing between min/max value fields for newly enabled dynamic varied parameters.

You can download and update from free from within Vectoraster, or download the new version via the product page linked below. If you've bought the app via the Apple App Store the update should be rolling out there as well today.

With the 8.5.10 update released today Vectoraster is now also available to purchase on the macOS App Store:

The application will still be available to purchase outside of the App Store as well and this change should not affect the functionality of the application. Future updates will continue to be released both the App Store and non-App Store version, so you'll get the same functionality regardless of version. It will however not be possible to convert an App Store purchase to a license for the non-App Store version or the other way around.

A small update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This update fixes some minor compatibility issues with macOS 14 and addresses some sanbox file-access related issues some users have been experiencing.

You can download and update from free from withing Vectoraster or download the new version via the product page linked below.

A pair of small updates have now been released for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha, this update mainly fixes some issues where the game would run too fast on some new macs with high or variable refresh rate displays.

• Fix for the game running too fast on high refresh rate monitors on M1/M2 macs
• Minimum OS requirement is now macOS 10.13. Users with older macOS versions can just keep using 1.2.6 this is just related to fixing the issue above on newer macs.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This update modernizes some underlying file reading and writing code that should improve future (and current) compatibility and might get around some tricky permission issues. Along with this there are a couple of other little fixes and improvements.

Changes and improvements

• Fix generation of innermost spiral raster points when generating line rasters.
• New setting to automatically convert background color colorspace to match point color (for CMYK exports for example).
• Add clipping rect to exported SVGs.
• Changes to export file writing and saving APIs.
• Changes to file reading handling when importing source files APIs.

I've been working for a while on a new parametric graphic design project that I'm calling Paragraphic. It will aim to combine some of the key ideas and strengths of Vectoraster and Patternodes, but wrapped in a slightly more traditional UI, and crucially available cross-platfrom for both Windows, macOS and linux.

It's still very early in the development, but as a sort of experiment I've decided to start a development blog of sorts for the project. Inspired in part by some indie-game developers it'll feature progress reports on the development and some discussions about the thinking behind the structure of the app.

If you want to learn more about this project or and follow the development going forward, click below. You can also sign up already if you're interested in helping out as a tester during development, or just getting a notification when the app is eventually released.

A new update to the puzzle game Vlobs, has now been released just in time for the holidays. While the previous updates only targeted the mobil version, this one now brings all platforms up to date on both mobile and desktop, Apple App store and Steam.

Changes and improvements:

• Improved bomb and block clearing special effects.
• Added leaderboard row for the player ranked one step above your score, so you know what to beat to advance.
• Added billions score number format separator and adjusted leaderboard layout to fit higher scores (Wow Player#503!).
• Fixed issue with global leaderboard ranking not being shown correctly unless you were in the top 20.
• Separated fancy graphics setting into individual antialiasing, shadow quality, post-processing and particle settings.
• Continuing a game with the current best score will no longer show the new best score effect each time.
• Fix combo tiles sometimes being incorrectly rotated when continuing a game on a rotated level.
• Game now defaults to windowed mode instead of full screen on first launch.

You can the game on all kinds of platforms using the buttons below, or click read more to get more information.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS)
Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)

A new small update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This is another small update that fixes some UI issues in recent versions and macOS updates.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This is a smaller update that primarily fixes some issues on macOS 14.

Changes and improvements

• Fix issue with collapsed bottom UI panels still showing on macOS 14.
• Improved load times for files with large source images.
• Removed deprecated EPS export format on macOS 14 and later (still available on earlier macOS versions).

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update is a maintenance release fixing some issues and making smaller adjustments.

Changes and fixes:

• Some improvements to connection socket snapping and highlighting of suitable sockets.
• Fix a rare issue where it would be impossible to add connections to specific valid node sockets.
• You can now no longer connect node graphics connections to inputs/outputs in the same node, avoiding the infinite recursion error you'd get before when trying to do this.
• Fixed nodes created with drag and drop files would not align properly to grid snap.
• Removed deprecated EPS export format option that is no longer supported on macOS 14 and later (still available on older versions).

It appears that Apple has removed system support for the EPS format in macOS 14 Sonoma, which means that sadly importing or exporting EPS files in Vectoraster and Patternodes will no longer work on macOS 14.

This was unexpected, so unfortunately current versions of Vectoraster and Patternodes will not give you any warning about this and may behave erratically trying to load/save EPS data as they relied on these system features. It's unlikely EPS format support will come back at this time, so if you're still working with EPS files, now is a good time to switch over to SVG or PDF.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This adds some initial CMYK color support and interface optimizations along with a couple of bug fixes.

Changes and improvements

• Added support for CMYK and other non-rgb color models in static colors (varying dynamic point colors will still convert to RGB in rendering and exports). CMYK colors are only supported in PDF exports.
• Improved interface performance.
• Improved support and handling of pasting graphics as source image layers.

• Fixed bug where exporting to CSV or SVG would result in the preview going blank.
• Fix issue with new source images pasted in getting the wrong initial size.
• Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update is a maintenance release fixing some issues and making smaller adjustments.

Changes and fixes:

• Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.
• Fix Group Arrange node not arranging elements with change mode set to a selection instead of all elements.
• Fix incorrect text size in Element Text nodes imported from Patternodes 2 files.
• Improved handling of file access errors on import.
• Added Lost Minds Mastodon link to Help menu.

Sadly, due to wide ranging compatibility issues on Android we're removing the Android version of Vlobs from sale in the Google Play store for now. It's been a lot of work from launch to get the game running on all different Android devices and OS versions, and still we've just enountered more new issues. So until we're sure we can offer a quality version on Android we're removing the game from sale on Google play. It might come back in the future, it might not.

This will not affect any other platforms, and people who have already bought the game on Android will still be able to play it and get future updates.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This adds some new functionality with support for complex unicode characters in text rasters (like SF symbols and ligatures) and some new point index options where you can chose to vary raster parameters based on the row or columns in the raster pattern for some new interesting effects.

• Added new point Row, Column or Row+Column index source options, letting you base parameters on the row or column of the point.
• Added support for complex multi-byte unicode characters like SF symbols and ligatures in text rasters.
• Added Lost Minds Mastodon link to Help menu.
• Added some more helpful information to error messages when failing to load files.

• Fix issue with importing vector graphics with very large sizes causing memory issues.

Another smaller update to the puzzle game Vlobs, this time just an update to the mobile versions as it primarily fixes some device compatibility and orientation bugs.

Changes and improvements:

• Mobile version compatibility changes.
• Fix risk of getting stuck in wrong board rotation when saving/loading game in different device orientations.
• Improved bomb special effect with new screen shake.
• Performance improvements.

You can the game on all kinds of platforms using the buttons below, or click read more to get more information.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS)
Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)
Get Vlobs on Google Play (android)

We now have a Mastodon account, so if you're using that platform please follow for news and updates on our software.

After the big 1.1 update of Vlobs here's a follow up with some smaller fixes and improvements.

Changes and improvements:

• Improved antialiasing to make the game less blurry on low resolutions.
• Improved adaptive camera zoom on smaller phone screens.
• Show a hint message about placing vlobs if you tap the Next panel.
• Fixes a bug some tile graphics could get out of sync with board rotation.
• Fixes a possible bug with locks count getting out of sync.
• Fixes vsync framerate issues on some platforms.

Also, after the introduction of the global leaderboards in v 1.1 I'm completely blown away by the scores some of you have been getting in the game. It's far beyond what I expected, and I guess goes to show some of you really have enjoyed the game (maybe a little too much). Play in moderation kids!

You can get it all kinds of platforms using the buttons below, or click read more to get more information.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS)
Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)
Get Vlobs on Google Play (android)

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This update adds a number of smaller improvements and fixes across a number of areas.

Changes and improvements:

• The Group Arrange node can now sort elements based on size.
• Improved precision hovering and clicking connections in the node editor.
• Dropped/imported graphics are now get their physical size set automatically in the new node.
• Improved error messages on file access permission issues when importing files.

• Correctly handle complex unicode-pair characters (like SF symbols) in the Value Substring node.
• Fix incorrect size issue on scaled animated svg exports.
• Fix incorrect physical size shown for imported vector graphics.
• Fix animated artboard background being static in animated svg exports.
• Fix Edit menu Copy artboard bitmap copying vector graphics.
• Remove incorrect file permission dialogue when exporting animated svg file.

Another smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released with some fixes and smaller changes, this time relating to file imports.

Fixes and improvements

• Fixes issue with incorrect physical sizes when importing image source layers.
• Better error messages on file access permission issues when importing files.

A big 1.1 update of the casual puzzle game Vlobs has now been released!

• New combo multiplier tiles for risk/reward balancing.
• New upcoming vlob display for more strategic gameplay.
• Improved score display showing current group score and combo for more arcade feel.
• New global highscores leaderboard where you can see how you compare with other players.
• New lock block mechanic for later level locking and unlocking action.
• Automatic board rotation on mobile to fit non-square levels to landscape/portrait mode.
• New level up score bonuses (try to combine with combo multiplier!).
• Improved special power visual effects.
• Track and show some gameplay stats in the main menu.
• Engine update for improved performance, stability and compatibility.
• Adjusted vlobs dot spawning chances over the levels for more even difficulty curve.
• Best score level is now saved along with the score.

• Correctly update the connection selection vignett when game board rotates or resizes.
• Restores previous vlob to place after a special power has been used.
• Fix issue with changing device orientation while Game UI is transitioning in.
• Fix cursor location after selecting special power.
• Fix fullscreen state not being saved on macOS 10.15 after using window fullscreen toggle.

You can get it all kinds of platforms using the buttons below, or click read more to get more information.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS)
Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)
Get Vlobs on Google Play (android)

Another smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released with some bugfixes and smaller changes.

Fixes and improvements

• Point size is now renamed Line length for simple line points.
• Properly deactivate color well and close the color picker when hiding an active color parameter.
• Fixes the preview sometimes not reverting correctly back to the current time after exporting an animation.
• Fixes an issue where the source layers list would not display correctly after reordering sources.
• Fixes some precision issues in applied Multiscale when using the slider instead of the scale field.
• Sparkle version checking framework updated.

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This new version adds new string connections and some new associated nodes, letting you connect and work with strings and text in a lot of new ways.

Changes and improvements:

• String value connections allow you to now connect text string values between nodes and parameters just like values.
• New Value String node to define and combine linked strings.
• New Value Substring node to extract parts of strings.
• The Data Table node can now also output strings for table cells.
• New editor context menu item to center the nodes in the view, and an option in the settings to always do this on file load.
• Element Text node can now use both size modes and tracking adjustment for any length text for better consistency with dynamic text input.
• Updates some components for future compatibility, raising minimum required macOS version to 10.15.

• Fixes a bug in the Table data editor panel when toggling the first row headers option while editing a table cell.
• Stroke width is now included in path bounds calculations when set, even if stroke opacity is 0.

A smaller patch of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This updates some legacy components for future compatibility and fixes some issues introduced in the 8.5.0 update.

Changes and improvements

• Updates components for future compatibility, raising minimum required macOS version to 10.15.
• Fixes a bug where animation exports would not correctly apply a scaled export size.
• Fixes using the animation export panel size slider while the height or width field is active.

A new bigger update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. The new version brings support for multiple custom point shapes, something that has been requested for a long time. So now you can use a set of different imported shapes or images for the points, and use them in sequence, at random or based on your sources. Along with this the backend has also been rebuilt a little to make rendering and generation more responsive along with a bunch of other improvements and fixes.

Vectoraster 8.5.0 Changes and improvements

• Multiple custom shape support use different imported point shapes based on sources, index or at random.
• Improved generation/rendering with better performance, responsiveness and stability.
• Source opacity point removal with a new alpha threshold parameter. Makes it easy to remove points regardless of size where the source image is transparent.
• Animated GIF import support for Video source layers.
• Point fill opacity can now be applied to bitmap custom shapes as well.

• Fixed a bug with Multi-scale where clicking Apply button while typing in a value would not apply the scale.
• Fixed an issue with quicktime video exports dropping frames if the encoder was busy.
• Fixed a bug where animation export panel size fields would show the wrong values.
• Fixed a bug where some settings would reset when re-opening the settings panel.

Another update of Patternodes 3. This new version adds a new node that helps making periodic alternating value animations much easier to set up along with some other fixes and improvements.

Changes and improvements:

• New Time Period value node making it easier to set up periodic alternating value animations.
• Group Apply Function node now has an index offset parameter when unsing index input.
• Increased the max number of supported variables in the Math node to 10.
• Added a warning to GIF animation exports explaining some format framerate limitations.

• Fixed an issue with quicktime video exports dropping frames if the encoder was busy.
• Fixed a crash when adding a new node index node directly connected to a group apply function node.

Another small update of Vectoraster 8 has been released today. This update fixes a couple of issues with bitmap based format exports and makes the animation timeline a little easier to work with.

• Fixes a bug with jpg export pixel aspect.
• Fixes an export dialogue bug whith bitmap format height/width would not be displayed correctly.
• Clicking in the animation timeline now deselects any selected value field, so you can use spacebar to play/pause.

Another couple of small updates have now been released for Vlobs, on the App store for iOS and macOS and the steam Windows and Linux versions.

Changes and improvements:
Version 1.0.4

• Progress is now saved if you quit during a game so you can continue later.
• Save game window size if it's been resized and restore next time game is launched.
• Properly center window mode game window when using multiple displays.
• Fix some shadows on mobile at later level far camera distances.

• Better connection select spotlight size based on game zoom level.
• Better game window size based on monitor resolution when switching to windowed mode.
• Added little name labels to the special power icons to help remember what they do.
• Added a dialogue asking once if you want to turn off fancy graphics if the game is running very slowly.
• Fixes a graphical glitch with moving blocks on some devices.
• Fixes a bug with the game over screen highscore display after restart.
• Fixes a bug with the time bar max value after restart.

We're also working on an Android release, and a version is currently in testing. There are however some issues we've yet to resolve, so it's uncertain if/when when it will be released. If you're interested in testing the Android version you can contact us and you'll be invited to test the current version.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS) or Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)

Since the original release of Vlobs we've now sent out two smaller patches, the first 1.0.1 just for iOS and now the second 1.0.2 for iOS and desktop platforms. The first brought a big improvement for mobile players in the form of portrait mode support, and the second now fixes some other small issues.

Changes and improvements:

• Portrait support on mobile!
• Prevent board clicks while the board is animating to avoid misclicks.
• Removed gray vlob color as it was a little too similar to the black.
• Better Settings and Credits menu scaling on narrow screen mobile devices.
• Fix bug that could sometimes cause incorrect game over on the last vlob placed, even if it should have saved you.

For those of you who've wondered we're also working on an Android release, and a version is currently in testing. There are however some issues we've yet to resolve, so no promises on when it will be released.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS) or Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux)

A small update of Vectoraster 8 has been released today. This update is just a bug fix to a bundle validation issue that caused an error message when trying to start v8.4.9 on some systems.

The full 1.0 version of the casual puzzle game Vlobs has now been released!

You can get it all kinds of platforms using the buttons below, or click read more to get more information.

Get Vlobs on the App Store (iOS, macOS) or Get Vlobs on Steam (windows and linux) or Get Vlobs on Itch.io (windows, macOS and linux)

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This update updates SVG support, fixes some bugs and adds a nice new convenience feature to re-center source layers when updating the document size.

8.4.9 Changes and improvements

• Improved SVG image mode imports/rendering (Upgrade to IJSVG 3.0 framework).
• Added an option to re-center centered source layers on document size change, making it easier to resize a document to a new source image.
• Added link to user Discord channel in Help menu.

• Fixed being able to select the source measurement channel parent item in the parameter sources menu and not just the items.
• Removed a tooltip in the sources menu that was interfering with selecting items in submenus.

Another smaller update of Patternodes 3. The new version fixes a couple of issues in the new expression variable parsing introduced in 3.1.2 along with a couple of other smaller fixes and improvements.

Fixes and improvements:

• Added an option to Pivot point node to ignore stoke when automatically aligning the pivot, useful for stroked elements that will later be scaled.
• Fixed an offset issue with pivot-offset elements reprated with the Radial repeater node.
• Fixes the Math node variable detection picking up decimal separators in expressions as variable names.
• Updated and corrected the Math node reference documentation.
• Fixed dark mode selection type icons.

Another update of Patternodes 3 has been released. The this new version adds some imrpovements to SVG imports and rendering and adds some long awaited flexibility to the Math node variable parameters. These now adapt automatically to the variable count and names you use in the expression.

New features and improvements:

• Math Node now has support for up to 8 variable parameters that are automatically named and shown based on the expression.
• Improved SVG image mode imports/rendering (Upgrade to IJSVG 3.0 framework).

• Fixed bug where typing in new values into an animated value field would revert the value displayed in the field.
• Fixed bug with undo/redo in expression parameter fields.
• Fixed a bug with some rare SVG path commands parsing.

Another early access build with is now available on itch.io for playtesting. Try it out for free if you're into casual puzzle games and let us know what you think!

The game is available for windows, macOS and linux.

• Added a new Fancy effects toggle in the settings to turn off post processing and reduce shadow quality on low-end machines.
• Added post processing glow and anti-aliasing (when Fancy effects is on).
• Tweaked pop/glow animations and effects with more particles and glow (when Fancy effects is on).
• New menu game start transition.
• More performance improvements.

• Fix taskbar and window app icon on Windows.
• Fixed offset Game Over Highscore animation on wide screen resolutions.
• Fix shadows disappearing on later levels where the camera is further away.
• Fix to accidental buttons clicks in the game over menu trying to place a last vlob on time up.

Try the test version on Itch.io or Wishlist on Steam

A new testing build with is now available on itch.io for playtesting. Try it out for free if you're into casual puzzle games and let us know what you think!

The game is available for windows, macOS and linux.

Try the test version on Itch.io or Wishlist on Steam

Today another update of Patternodes 3 has been released. This new version makes some changes to the way colors are handled, with better support for non-rgb colors (like CMYK and Grayscale), but mainly it fixes a lot of big and small bugs.

New features and improvements:

• Better color model support. Color parameters can now be set and stored in different colorspaces/models (like Grayscale and CMYK) instead of always being converted to RGB and losing precision. This will also mean some exported colors will look different compared to older versions, so there is an option added in the settings to keep the old conversion to get the same output.
• Made it easier to find the Value Time function node by also placing it in a new Animation category in the add node menu.
• You can now use middle-mouse button for panning in the preview just like in the node editor view.
• Updated manual.
• Added link to user Discord channel in the Help menu.

• Some fixes and improvements to the Color node numeric color mode based on the new color model features.
• Fixed dragging a selection box outside of the node editor not scrolling it correctly.
• Fixed the cursor not resetting properly after middle-mouse button panning of the node editor view.
• Fixed issue where right-clicking a second time after dragging out a new connection would leave a broken connection with a loose end.
• Fixed issue where it was possible to duplicate the Artboart node, causing issues since there should only be one and it can't be deleted.
• Stability improvement and better error messages if something goes wrong during file exports.
• Stability improvement and better error messages when trying to save files that have invalid connections or nodes.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This update makes a number of small improvements and fixes a lot of issues related to converting/importing more complex projects from Vectoraster 7.

8.4.8 Changes and improvements

• Optimized Randomization distortion.
• Improved generation and rendering progress updates for long processes.
• Updated manual and bundled sample files.
• Improved conversion of legacy source measurement exponent parameters when importing Vectoraster 7 files.

• Fixes a bug with dynamic distortion strength parameters in rasters with raster offset.
• Fixes initial loading preview image incorrect aspect for zoomed in rasters.
• Fixes source color/light filterers not being applied when the document legacy blur setting was enabled.
• Fixes an issue with converting some dynamic distrortion strength settings from legacy Vectoraster 7 files.
• Fixes an issue with importing legacy Vectoraster 7 files with invalid incremental step parameters.
• Fixes an issue with importing use source color mix parameters from legacy Vectoraster 7 files.
• Fixes an issue with converting separate Y spacing in alternating grid legacy Vectoraster 7 files.

A new testing build with a some new mechanics and fixes is now available on itch.io for playtesting. Try it out if you're into casual puzzle games and let us know what you think!

The game is available for windows, macOS and linux and will hopefully be ready for a full 1.0 release at som point in 2023. But you can try it out for free right now via itch.io and let us know what you think!

Some users have started a Discord channel for users of Vectoraster and Patternodes.

So if you're interested in discussing the apps, looking for help or want to connect with other users with check it out: Vectoraster and Patternodes discord

You can now try out an early access version of our latest little side project, Vlobs, a casual puzzle game based on our (very) old game Blobs. This new re-imagining started out as a project to try out the game engine Godot and while it's far from finished it's now enought to show all of you.

The game is available for windows, macOS and linux and will hopefully be ready for a full 1.0 release at som point in 2023. But you can try it out for free right now via itch.io and let us know what you think!

Today a new substancial update of Patternodes 3 has been released. The new release adds a lot of improvements and new features to enable making data-driven illustrations and animations with the addition of CSV vale table imports, conditional group selection and conditional value nodes amongst other things. With the release new sample files have been added to the application bundle to show off these new features, as well as two new videos on the youtube channel.

New features and improvements:

• New Value Table node lets you import and edit value tables and use in you node graph, enabling a lot of new data visualization usecases.
• New Value Condition node lets you set up new complex logic rules for linked values.
• New Condition mode in the Group Select node lets you select elements based on size or position rules.
• New Value Function node replaces the Value Remap node and lets you remap value ranges with a lot more control using many different functions.
• New data visualization and tutorial sample files added.
• The Group Apply function node can now use element size as an input parameter.
• Improved SVG import path parsing.
• Updated Sparkle version checking and updates library.
• Improved Import Node aspect correction when switching import mode or loading new graphics, and a restore original aspect context menu item as been added.

• Fixed Group Select node not working properly when input was a single element.
• Fixed a bug where it would be impossible to delete nodes with Node index parameters if there were no change or repeater nodes.
• Fixed Group Select node not displaying selection preview correctly if no elements were selected.
• Fixed value function previews not updating as noise function parameters were changed.
• Fixed drag highlight outline being shown on file areas even if the dragged file was not in a supported format.
• Adjustments and corrections to some parameter tool tips and node help texts.
• You can no longer (incorrectly) add animation tracks to math expression parameters.

A new smaller update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This fixes some smaller issues after the recent macOS sandbox security update.

• Fixed missing Print permission in sandbox entitlements.
• Fixed drag highlight outline being shown on file areas even if the dragged file was not in a supported format.
• Fixed incorrect disk write protection warning in the technical log.

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. The primary change in this update is making Vectoraster a sandboxed application, a security measure that puts strict limitations on access to system features like file access. Everything should still work as before, but you might see a couple of extra confirmation dialogues at first about granting access if you export multiple files for example. In addition to just being better from a security perspective this change is also a step to ensure future macOS compatibility for when Apple decides to make this type of security mandatory for all applications.

• Improved SVG custom point shape path mode imports.
• Application Sandbox for improved security and future macOS compatibility.
• Updated Sparkle version checking and updates library.

Another new update of Patternodes 3 has been released with a couple of smaller improvements and fixes:

Changes and improvements:

• The Change Color node can now be used to set fill or stroke color on elements with no fill or stroke opacity.
• Added new preferences setting for default in/out easing type of new added keyframes.
• Added some new warnings messages explaining some situations where Change Color and Change Opacity nodes will not show any visible change.
• Fixes timeline animation track selection not updating correctly when deleting tracks.
• Undoing deleting selected nodes now properly selects them again after restoring the nodes.

An update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This new version brings adds new dithering raster patterns, GIF animation export support and a couple of other fixes and improvements.

• Added three new dithering raster patterns: Burkes, Atkinson and Bayer 4x4.
• Added support for exporting animations as animated GIFs.
• Added new preferences setting for default in/out easing type of new added keyframes.
• Fixed using trackpad pinch gestures to zoom in the preview.
• Fixed some issues with the export progress bar during repeated animation exports.
• Character point shape baseline pivot option is no longer turned on by default.

Another small update of Patternodes 3 has been released with some additional little fixes and improvements:

Changes and improvements:

• Nodes with a min-max value range (like the Apply Function node) now have a node menu option to quickly reverse the range.
• Value parameter pairs with aspect locked no longer break the aspect ratio if you change the values to zero and back.
• Fixes a bug in Change Pivot Node when calculating element group pivot points.
• Fixes a bug when calculating element group pivot when changing element offsets in an already offset group.
• Added warning and explanation if the Value Cap node is set to an invalid range of values.

An update to the password app DotPass (iOS and macOS) has now been released on the app store.

It's been a while since the last update, and this update contains some general maintenance along with a requested feature to allow using the generated DotPass password without special characters (like *&%! etc). You generate the password just like you usually do, but there's now a way to copy it with any special characters replaced with letters. This will usually not be needed, but if you run into a site that for some reason doesn't allow a special character that is in the password generated by DotPass this will give you a secondary way to still use DotPass for the password without needing to change your seed word or pattern.

If you're looks for a way to ensure all your accounts have good unique passwords, while still not having to remember them all, check it out!

A new update of Patternodes 3 has been released with some fixes and a couple of improvements to the Element Text node:

Changes and improvements:

• Added option to use Size as Font size instead of height for single characters in the Text Element node, and clarified how this works in text box mode and multi-charater texts.
• Fixes custom blend modes not being applied correctly to path element strokes.
• Fixes a Element Text node bug causing some characters (like *) not to be centered correctly in single character non-textbox mode.

A new version of Patternodes 3 have been released with the following fixes and improvements:

• Added an Import Image menu item as an alternative method of adding import nodes via selecting a file.
• Fixes a crash when trying to apply a group pack node on a single element.
• Fixes a bug where deleting a node with connections between parameters in the node would leave loose connections behind.
• Fixes an issue where the locked aspect of recently imported image sizes would not be correct if the parameter was changed.
• Added node warning messages explaining Group Distribute and Group Pack nodes have no effect with a single element input.
• Fixes some formatting in the node reference and a bug showing parameter options in the help text that should be hidden.

A new small update of Vectoraster 8 has been released. This update fixes some issues when exporting complex rasters with a lot of points to SVG or CSV data.

A new updates of Patternodes 3 have been released, with some additional fixes and improvements:

• When a node has a warning related to missing input or output connections the socket now gets a visual mark to help show where the problem is.
• Changed preferences interface so changes are applied immediately.
• Fixes an error message about incorrectly triggering on exports.
• Added some improved error messages for export issues.

A new small update of Vectoraster 8 has now been released. This update fixes an issue with exporting animations to numbered files and makes some improvements to the interface.

• Changed preferences interface so changes are applied immediately.
• Fixed an issue with exporting animations to numbered PNG or JPEG files.
• Interface performance improvements.
• Changed the default video export codec to H264.
• Added some improved error messages for export issues.

Two small updates of Patternodes 3 have been released, with some additional fixes and improvements:

• Fixes issues with Change Clip node not correctly being able to invert some clipping paths.
• Fixes value parameters sometimes staying disabled after input connections are removed.
• The Change Clip node now doesn't show the Apply To mode control since it's not relevant.
• Smoother handling of remotely deployed license unlocking, not showing the trial mode notice while the license is verified.
• Prevents a flicker of node warning messages as new nodes are added on connections.
• Fixes a Random Value node issue where the min value would be left disabled after off turning +/- range.

Thanks to everyone sending feedback, reporting bugs and issues so we can get them fixed!

A new update of Vectoraster 8 has been released. The new 8.4 version brings support for using video sources, just like images. This means you can now make animations with moving images and use Vectoraster to generate complex video halftone filters/effects. Along with this the existing animation timeline means you can also dynamically animate all raster parameters to change along with the video, bringing a lot of possibilities.

• Video source layers allowing you to apply raster effect to video and export the animated result.
• Greatly improved video export rendering performance.
• The YouTube videos links now correctly lead to the Vectoraster 8 videos playlist.
• Fixes the display raster / source slider opacity not updating the preview.
• Fixes an issue with the export progress panel hiding when the application was inactive.
• Smoother handling of remotely deployed license unlocking, not showing the trial mode notice while the license is verified.

Today another small update of the new Patternodes 3 has been released, with some additional fixes:

• Fixes incorrect size of exported SVG elements when exporting with a scaled export size.
• Fixed a crash using apply to Single mode in Change Replace node.
• Fixes an issue where exported GIF animations would sometimes get incorrect color palettes on macOS 11 and earlier.
• Optimization of value function graph UI updates.

After the release of the new Patternodes 3, a smaller update of Vectoraster 8 has now also bee released. This update fixes a couple of bugs and brings improvements to SVG imports along with a new app macOS 11-12 style icon to match the new Patternodes icon.

• New macOS 11-style application icon.
• Improvements to SVG custom point shape parsing.
• Fixes some issues with UI panel animations.
• Fixes to some dark mode UI issues.
• Fixes holes still appearing in exports if exporting immediately after unlocking the full version.
• Updated to Sparkle 2.0 version checking and updating library.

After the release of Patternodes 3 and the influx of new and upgrading users there's now a first little update fixing some issues with the new version. There's also a new update of Patternodes 2 now available, backporting a couple of bugfixes found during the development of Patternodes 3, to ensure that Patternodes 2 is a stable as possible for the users who want to keep using that.

3.0.1 Fixes:

• Fixes macOS App Sandbox blocking file system access to export animations as numbered files in some cases.
• Fixes Repeat Grid node spacing aspect in Hex pattern mode while allowing still input.
• Fixes clicking disabled parameter fields still selecting them for preview edit.
• Fixed Change Pivot node not correctly finding automatic pivot locations for some asymmetrical shapes.

The third generation of the macOS parametric design application Patternodes has now been released. Click below for more information, or download and try it out for free now!

Patternodes is a tool for creating graphical patterns, animations or illustrations. This is done using a node-based interface where you define a sequence of connected nodes that describe the design, each representing graphical elements, changes or repetitions.

Main changes and new features of Patternodes 3

• Improved animation features. New keyframe-based Animation timeline and new Time Function node for animated noise and repeating functions.
• Improved drag editing. Improved support for selecting and editing node parameters by clicking and dragging in the preview.
• Redesigned interface. Cleaned up modern interface style with support for dark/light mode and animations.
• Improved performance. Rebuilt core components for faster generation and a more responsive interface.
• Redesigned dynamic index features. Clarified system for generating dynamic input to nodes.

For a full change list see the Version history

Another small update to Patternodes 2 has been released, with a couple of fixes to bugs found and fixed during Patternodes 3 development

• Fixes undo and redo not working when the separate preview window was active.
• Fixes an issue with the Change Pivot node failing to correctly calculate pivot of groups that already have a modified pivot.
• Fixes an issue where offsetting some elements in an already rotated group of elements could offset the entire group.

Patternodes 3 is now in beta testing, find out more at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Another update has now been released for Vectoraster 8. This update adds a new Unsharp mask sharpening filter you can use on all source layers and fixes a couple of bugs.

• New Unsharp mask sharpening filter available for all source layers.
• Fixes an issue where the Export dialogue could become unresponsive on macOS 12.1 when opening it a second time.
• Handle loading or setting invalid animation duration or framerate better.

Another update to Patternodes has been released.

• Fixes an issue where the export save dialogue could become unresponsive when exporting a second time on macOS 12.1.
• Math expressions and all value fields now correctly evaluate asin() and acos() functions.
• Fixes an inconsistency in Group Apply Function node when using multiple periods of a non-continous function.
• Fixes a UI issue with the node reference table view columns on macOS 11 and later.

Patternodes 3 is now in beta testing, find out more at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Patternodes 3, the next generation of the node based procedural 2D-graphics app Patternodes is now in beta testing.

Main changes and new features

• Improved animation features. New keyframe-based Animation timeline and new Time Function node for animated noise and repeating functions.
• Improved drag editing. Improved support for selecting and editing node parameters by clicking and dragging in the preview.
• Redesigned interface. Cleaned up modern interface style with support for dark/light mode and animations.
• Improved performance. Rebuilt core components for faster generation and a more responsive interface.
• Redesigned dynamic index features. Clarified system for generating dynamic input to nodes.

You can find out more and sign up to be a tester or get notified on release at lostminds.com/patternodes3.

Another update has now been released for Vectoraster 8. This update brings an asortment of bugfixes and improvements to various parts of the application. Thanks to everyone who has reported bugs and submitted feedback! And if you haven't checked out the sample files in a while, this could be a good time. Maybe you'll find inspiration for something new added in recent updates.

• Added support for drag and drop importing new source image layers.
• Fixed preview drag editing of position for distortions in rotated and offset rasters.
• Fixed the animation keyframe value field not updating the raster after changes.
• Fixed undo/redo of editing animation duration, framerate and loop settings.
• Fixed animation framerate setting not loading correctly from saved files.
• Fixed bug where raster would stop drawing after turning both point fill and storke off, even if they were turned on again.
• Updated sample files.

Today a new update for Vectoraster 8 has been released. This update adds new features that bring new possibilities working with text and font characters for point rasters, now allowing sets of multi-character words for the point shapes and more importantly a way to pick character or word based on a source.

This means you can define a set of characters or words and vary which one is used for each point actross the raster. Combined with all the different raster and point shape parameters already in place this gives you a lot of new possibilities!

• New source-based text modes. Pick point text characters dynamically based on source layers. Paint by numbers or ASCII-art!
• New word text modes. Use a set of words instead of just characters as point shapes. Make word clouds or generate data-driven labels!
• Some changes for more consistent handling of fonts for text raster points and text source layers.
• Fix a bug where changing the document random seed wouldn't update the seed for all random properties.
• Fix a bug where the document random seed wouldn't be properly loaded from saved files.
• Performance improvements.

Another update has now been released for Vectoraster 8. This update brings a couple of improvements to working with animations and keyframes in the animation timeline, fixes some issues in recent version with using source layer color for points and a couple of other little fixes and improvements.

• You can now edit animation keyframes while the animation is running.
• You can now quickly revert values being edited by pressing Esc.
• Disabling a parameter that has an active animation track now also disables the animation track and adds a warning icon to it.
• Removing a source layer or pattern distortion that has animated parameters now also properly removes these animation tracks.
• Fixed a bug where removing the last source layer could leave an orphaned source settings panel.
• Fixed couple of issues in v8.2.3 and 8.2.4 with using source layer color for point stroke or fill.
• Changes to visibility toggle buttons for source layers and animation tracks to reduce interface clutter.

Now there's a new update to Patternodes, this update is a hotfix of the 2.4.9 update that had some problems with the new group pivot point calculations and was therefore rolled back.

• Fixes a bug fram 2.4.8 that prevented adding new nodes by dragging and dropping a new connection.
• Fixed inner diameter parameter in Element Shape node arc pie wedge shapes.
• Fixed issues with loading older version files with pie wedge shapes.
• Some performance improvements.

Another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a couple of fixes and improvements.

• Fixes a bug in 2.4.8 that prevented adding new nodes by dragging and dropping a new connection.
• Fixes an issue where offsetting selected elements in a group with the Change Transform node might cause the entire group to also move unexpectedly.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Today a small update to the password app DotPass (iOS and macOS) has been released on the app store.

It's been a while since the last update, and this update is just a maintenance update to ensure compatibility with future iOS and macOS versions by cleaning up a few older components under the hood. If you're looks for a way to ensure all your accounts have good unique passwords, while still not having to remember them all, check it out!

Today as a result another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a couple of fixes and improvements.

• Preview view scroll position is now saved in pnds documents.
• Some fixes related to saving/loading files with broken connections.
• Fix the Element Shape node Arc pie wedge toggle being inverted.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

As development of the next major update Patternodes 3 continues, Patternodes 2 has also gotten some attention this week. And today as a result another small update of Patternodes 2 has been released with a number of bug fixes.

• Fixes Change Pivot alignment presets not aligning the pivot point correctly.
• Fixes a crash related to selection rendering while drag editing some offset parameters.
• Fixes bug in the Group Arrange node that prevented arranging just selected elements in some cases.
• Fixes an issue with incorrect value function graph axis scales in the Apply Function node.
• Fixes a node UI bug where the apply to mode would appear to change when disabling a node.
• Fixes an issue where exported SVGs with imported svg elements could get problems with double id for some svg tags.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Today another little update to Vectoraster 8 has been released, this time a bit of a hot fix of a bug that prevented opening legacy files with raster pattern distortions in v 8.2.3.

• Fixes an issue with opening files with raster distortions in v 8.2.3.
• Fixes some interface button alignments on macOS 11.

After a bit of a summer break another smaller update to Vectoraster 8 has been released today. Version 8.2.3 contains mostyl interface-related improvements, many relating to importing source images and dealing with resizing sources and the artboard.

• Adding a new source image layer now opens a browse dialogue right away.
• Added a new Import source image menu item to quickly create a new source image layer.
• Improvemed handling of imported source image sizes when replacing a layer image.
• Added a new separate scale source layers option when changing the document artboard size.
• Improvements to tabbing between value fields and opening/closing interface panels.
• Document window size and position is now saved in VRaster files.
• Improved labels and tooltips to help make isometric raster patterns using the same spacing toggle.
• Improved interface panel animation performace.

Today another smaller update to Vectoraster 8 has been released, 8.2.2 contains some improvements around exporting animations to video, with better preview feedback stability and improvement.

• Improved performance and stability during animation exports.
• Better previews of the animation during the animation export process.
• Better raster pattern panel previews when using large artboard sizes.
• Source layer actions button now show on hover as well as selection of the layer.
• Fix missing VRaster document icons on older versions of macOS (again).

A small update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This updates mainly improves the Element Import node, with better support for importing EPS and SVG files generated by Affinity software and improved handling of various problems.

• Improved support for imported SVG and EPS of custom point shapes exported from Affinity software.
• Added support for even-odd fill mode in imported of custom point shapes.
• Better handling of problems when importing vector graphics from EPS/PDF/SVG files.
• Changes to make Color, Value and Element list nodes more consistent in appearance and function.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Today another smaller update to Vectoraster 8 has been released, 8.2.1 contains some smaller fixes and tweaks after the 8.2.0 update. Thanks again to all the users who've reported issues and sent us suggestions and ifeature requests. It really helps making our software better and more useful for everyone!

• Fixed source invert filter not working after the 8.2.0 update.
• Fix preview not updating correctly when a source layer is removed.
• Better raster pattern preview for varied density rasters.
• Fix text source layers not updating on the first click when changing font in the font panel.
• Fix missing VRaster document icons on older versions of macOS.
• Adjustment of some dark mode text label colors.

There's now a new feature video showing off the new stippling/dithering raster patterns introduced in Vectoraster 8.2. If you're interested in Vectoraster the rest of the Vectoraster playlist will give you a quick overview of new features and possibilities in Vectoraster 8.

The Vectoraster 8.2.0 update released today brings four new dithering raster patterns, primarily useful to make stippling style designs with constant point size but varying density of the points. There are also a number of improvements to custom point shape importing, with better support especially for EPS and SVG files generated by Affinity software.

• New dithering raster patterns. Dynamic source based Floyd-Steinberg, Stucki and Sierra error diffusion dithering patterns and new Bayer 8x8 ordered dithering pattern.
• Improved support for imported SVG and EPS of custom point shapes exported from Affinity software.
• Added support for even-odd fill mode in imported of custom point shapes.
• Fixes an issue with document icons for some macOS 11 users.
• Fixed live raster updates while dragging sliders for some source parameters.
• Better handling of problems when importing custom vector point shapes from EPS/PDF/SVG files.
• Removed some redundant screen printing export settings.
• Some interface optimization.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This time with the usual batch of fixes, but also some small additions and improvements to the Group Apply Function node, Value nodes and a refresh of the Sample files library included in the application. If you haven't checked them out in a while it might be worth a look!

• Improved Group Apply Function graph to be more responsive during animations and better show period offsets.
• Improved Group Apply Function node, making it easier to apply exact multi-period functions.
• Added an input socket to the basic Value node.
• Repeater nodes now correctly show the Dynamic input settings when connected directly to Element list nodes.
• Fixed an issue with Group Randomize nodes sometimes not loading correctly when opening older files.
• Updated Sparkle version checking library.
• Updated Sample files library available from Help menu.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

The Vectoraster 8.1.3 update, released today, is another smaller update with fixes to a couple of bugs and smaller improvements.

• Added button to re-center offset source layers.
• The artboard size dialogue now has added presets for current image source sizes as well as original sizes.
• Performance improvements for raster distortions and gradient source layers.
• Clarified and corrected a number of tooltips and help messages.
• Updates to the manual.
• Some small macOS 11 interface adjustments.
• Updated Sparkle version checking library.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A new maintenance update of Patternodes 2 has been released. This fixes a couple of different issues, and will hopefully resolve some long standing issues that prevented the software from running on macOS 10.11. There aren't that many users who are still on macOS 10.11, but it's been a shame that they haven't been able to update since 2.3.0 and hopefully this will mean they get access to the latest imprevements and fixes as well.

• Fixed some stability issues drag-moving complex font character elements.
• Restored support for legacy macOS 10.11 (a bit experimental).
• Fixed incorrectly offset node preview of elements with offset pivot points.
• Fixed Repeat Random node not hiding/showing some parameter fields correctly when using artboard size and no minimum spacing.
• Apply Graphics node now has a random seed field when applyin to removal chance.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

Another update of the parametric 2d vector design app Patternodes, with a mixed bag of improvements, fixes and some new features.

• Improved preview updating frequency when rendering complex output and animation previews.
• Node value fields and formula fields now support the % modulus operator (ex: 10 % 4 will output 2).
• Node value fields and formula fields now support the round() function (ex: round(1.9) will output 2).
• Change nodes Selected Single apply to mode now loops around to restart at the first element if the offset is greater than the number or elements, consistent with other counted selections.
• Fixed Change Replace node not allowing Each or Selected apply modes even though the input is a group.
• More small interface adjustments on macOS 11.
• Updated a number of outdated tooltips and help texts.

Download the new version and try it out today, or update in the app.

A small update has now been released for SketchFighter 4000 Alpha, fixing a couple of little issues and adding native apple silicone processor support.

Update changes:

• Universal native Intel / Apple silicone support.
• Added links to new future development voting and feedback page.
• Improved super beam hit detection precision.
• Some menu optimizations.