DM Adieu Vector — Support
DM Adieu Vector is a vector illustration app for the Mac. Pen and Bézier paths, shapes, gradients, type, artboards and layers, in a native app that runs entirely on your Mac. It is built on VectorCraft, the open-source editor by the ArtCraft team, which Dependent Media packages, sandboxes and supports for the Mac App Store.
Opening and saving files
Use File › Open, drag a file onto the window or the Dock icon, or double-click a file in the Finder. The app opens its own .vectorcraft documents and .vctemplate templates, SVG and SVGZ, PDF, EPS, DXF, EMF and WMF files, and PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, TIFF and BMP images. File › Save keeps everything editable in a .vectorcraft document; Save As can also write PDF or SVG. File › Export › Export As writes PNG, JPEG, WebP, GIF, TIFF, SVG, PDF, EPS, DXF and more.
Because the app is sandboxed, it can only read and write files you choose yourself: through the Open and Save dialogs, by dragging them onto the window, or from the Finder. Files you have opened or saved stay available under File › Open Recent after a restart. If macOS ever asks for a file again, the app says so and opens the Open dialog: choose the file there once.
An export that writes several files (one per artboard, or an SVG with linked images) first writes the file you named, then asks you to choose the folder for the others: choose the same folder to keep them together. Export for Screens asks for a folder from the start.
Drawing with paths
The Pen tool (P) places anchors: click for corners, drag for curves. The Direct Selection tool (A) moves single anchors and handles; the Curvature tool draws smooth curves from clicks alone. Combine shapes with the Pathfinder panel or the Shape Merge tool, and change any object’s look in the Properties panel, which shows the fills, strokes and effects of what is selected.
Linked images and fonts
Images you place with File › Place stay linked and keep working after a restart. A document from elsewhere may show its linked images as missing, because the sandbox has not been given their folder yet: use Relink to Folder in the Links panel and choose the folder once. Fonts installed on your Mac are available as usual. The App Store version does not offer the additional fonts, plug-ins, templates and recovery folder settings, because the sandbox cannot reach a folder typed as a path; recovery copies are kept in the app’s own folder.
Keyboard shortcuts
Edit › Keyboard Shortcuts lists every shortcut and lets you change it. Two sets are built in: DM Adieu Vector Defaults and Classic Defaults, which follows the shortcuts long-time vector artists already know.
Printing
File › Print shows the app’s print dialog with the printers set up on your Mac, the paper size, scaling and marks. The job goes to the macOS printing system like any other app’s.
What is still rough
The editor it is built on is young and under heavy development. Some tools and dialogs are missing or behave differently from what you may be used to: about half of the raster effects are still to come, and there is no scripting. Updates arrive often. If something breaks, save your work, then tell us which file, what was selected, and what you were doing.
Contact
Email [email protected] or use the contact form. Include your macOS version and the app version from DM Adieu Vector › About DM Adieu Vector.