You know the answer they won't, they don't give a damn about the mac users and apps.

Lineform is dead!

It crashes.

Undo is broken.

Definitely a no buy.

Thanks you for the post.
__________________

I just purchased Lineform and then realized a bit too late that I probably should have checked the user forums to see what kind of activity there was on this application. Gotta say my nuts are in my stomach over this right now.

Nice to see how dedicated Freeverse is to their mac applications; the only form of support has now become a sounding board for 'Joint Pain Pain' spam.

Glad I popped in. I was about to invest in Lineform but after reading this and a couple of other posts I don't think I'll bother.

What happened to the old forum?

I was about to purchase LineForm and then discovered Undo was totally broken and like a good citizen came here to report it. I guess I won't buy it now. Too bad, FreeVerse used to be one of my favorite software vendors but if they can't support something then they should retract it from the market so that we won't waste our money on dead end deals.

I've had a problem with my Lineform which I reported in December. The support has been hopeless. I was detailed and clear in my explanation of the problem but they just gave me obvious and useless advice, ignored my response explaining the problem again and closed the support call. It's a big shame because I really enjoyed using Lineform. Looks like I'll have to switch to VectorDesigner or similar.

Yeah, I went so far as to contact them about maybe helping to rectify their engineering deficiencies on this application as I think I read somewhere that the original developer was moving on. The conversation started but never went anywhere so I don't know. Probably a waste of time to try and get a refund. It is a shame..

What a sad story! Lineform was a promising little program. But then no more support nor development. The bugs were reported but never fixed. The forums were deleted. The discussions trashed. Is the program going to be terminated? May be. My hope is that a sound company buys it. It could become a great app with really little effort. Actually Apple should get it and turn it into the nice little tool so many of us dream of...

I bought Lineform using PayPal six days ago. Still haven't received my licence registration code...

No licence sent yet? This surprises me. OK, Freeverse is not good in support and even worse in development, but it is a company that wants to make money. So, selling you a product should work. Check and contact them (if you can, since even this seems difficult, according to another Freeverse forum).

Another disappointing point - but it fit in the general picture - there is no Freeverse staff representative in this forum....

I have yet to receive my money. Freeverse explanation the 13th of April "You've been refunded for your Freeverse purchase - please check with your financial institution". Untrue!

I bought a licence for Lineform using PayPal the 26th of March. I never got a licence code for that transaction. The 21th of April I'm still awaiting my money in return. I'm filling a report to PayPal.

Buyers beware! 

Some resources:

http://will.thimbleby.net/applepr/

http://replay.web.archive.org/20090217231128/http://forum.freeverse...

http://will.thimbleby.net/

email: 

Here are two vector drawing programs that Lineform's developer Will Thimbleby used as models:

Sketch  http://www.bohemiancoding.com/sketch

Creature House Expression  http://www.microsoft.com/expression/expression-design/Default.aspx

According to Lineform's developer, Will Thimbleby, as stated in his PhD thesis (dated September 2010) on pg. 167:

"Lineform is now published by Freeverse Ltd both in retail and online; and separately the rights have been bought by Apple."

And on pg. 240:

"Apple bought the rights to Lineform in 2008 and elements of Lineform are now a part of iWork which is Apple’s suite of office applications."

Will Thimbleby is presently employed by Apple Inc. in Cupertino, CA.

Thanks to Peter for these so interesting news and links!
I understand now  better why Freeverse is reluctant to invest in Lineform, since Apple is playing it's own partition on the same piano.

That Will Timbleby is working for Apple is something that rejoices me. It would be so good to have his program enhanced and offered by Apple. (But also, why would they do that? How many of us are interested in a vector drawing app?)

Concerning the info about Sketch and Bohemiancoding, I'll try this app immediately. Surprisingly, I didn't know this program... 

The Sketch program Will was referring to isn't Bohemian Coding's program, but rather Apple's scriptable graphics application that can be downloaded into Xcode, their suite of developer tools:

"Xcode and Interface Builder are pretty much the only tools I used. I spent a good bit of time with Sketch, just to get a feel for how it’s designed and how Apple’s own programmers did the interaction.”

The reference to Creature House Expression is correct though:

“I saw a couple of neat things that people were doing with vector graphics, in particular a Mac program called Creature House Expression."

I apologize for the confusion.

Just last week, after working fine for several years, it started prompting me for a registration code, which it does not accept.  What on earth???  I can't use it, and it was the vector drawing app that I've been relying on for the past several years.  Will an admin please respond?  Sheesh.  I wish this was still in Will Thimbleby's hands.  Before the buyout, it was getting along quite well.

Jennifer, try registration code lookup if you haven't already:

https://store.freeverse.com/code/

I tried entering the registration code that came with the install disk.  No good.  It just keeps prompting me, and doesn't let me use the program at all.  The lookup tool doesn't find my email address that I entered at time of purchase.  And I know for certain which email address I used to register it.

I don't know how often, if at all, Freeverse checks these forums, but if you have already sent in a support request then try calling them.

Freeverse: 

(212)929-3549

@Jennifer Had this experience several days ago (also no answer from Freeverse)

The following steps did solve the problem:

- Delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.freeverse.Lineform.plist

- Renew license

@Daniel.  Hmm.  I tried this, but it gave the same response -- acted as if my trial was over, and prompted for a registration code which it did not accept.  :(

@Peter: thanks for the number, I'll have to try calling them

I heard back from FreeVerse support, and they said to enter the following command in Terminal:

rm ~/library/colorpickers/.com.freeverselib.06020

...and then try re-registering.  It worked!

I am using a downloaded promo version of LineForm, but should have the one I ordered either today or tomorrow. Perhaps I should have read this thread before ordering! I am quite happy with the program, so far, but I can't find a way to turn the blank page into the landscape position. Sure, there must be an easy way to do that.

My reason for purchasing this program is OS X Lion, which does not incorporate Rosetta and, therefore, won't run FreeHand, a program that I have been using since it belonged to Aldus. FreeHand has many users who were torpedoed when Adobe bought the program for the sole purpose of killing it. They did not manage to do that, but now it has become a victim of Lion. I would imagine that many FreeHand users are now looking for an alternative and hate Adobe enough to bypass Illustrator. Looking around, it seems that LineForm is about as close to FreeHand as one can get. Any suggestions? 

Chris A.

Chris, you can do this over page setup control shift p.

But you aren't seriously telling me that you want to switch from an unsupported platform to another one? The exact same thing that has happened to you with Freehand will happen to you with Lineform.

See it as an opportunity to get to learn a new tool and don't cling to it that bad that you choose another barely working app.

Try to get your money back from Freeverse and then move along.

Jan

Chris, the simple solution to continue using FreeHand is don't 'upgrade' to Lion. Alternately, you can partition your hard drive and run Lion on one partition and Leopard/Snow Leopard on the other.

As far as Lineform goes, Freeverse is the publisher not the developer and the developer, Will Thimbleby, ceased development and support years ago after selling the rights to Freeverse and Apple.

Unfortunately, the Lineform thread with many useful comments from the old forums wasn't imported into these new forums. Most the links don't work, but for a nostalgic look back: old Lineform forum.

For other vector design programs try Sketch, VectorDesigner, Intaglio, or Inkscape.

Other suggestions:

If Adobe Illustrator or Fireworks isn't for you, and you are willing to use a PC or run Windows on a Mac in Bootcamp or in a virtualization program like VirtualBox, VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop, try Xara Designer, Serif DrawPlus, or CorelDraw Graphics Suite X5.

For a simple Mac vector design program try DrawBerry.

For a web browser based vector editor try Aviary Raven.

This is horrible. I purchased the app awhile back, went Mac-less for awhile, and now cannot register on a new Mac. I didn't know Freeverse support was so lacking, so this week I've been using in demo mode to create some diagrams for some important presentations next week. I didn't know I would get a big watermark on every export, which is leaving me screwed unless I can register. I tried deleting the tricks above- 'rm ~/library/colorpickers/.com.freeverselib.06020' and deleting '~/Library/Preferences/com.freeverse.Lineform.plist', neither works. I think I purchased when 1.3 was the current version, but I cannot register with 1.3 or the current 1.5.3. HELP!!!

Thank you, Peter, for your helpful response. I do have Parallels 6 running (very smoothly) on my iMac, but only because a job I'm doing requires me to use Microsoft Works. I try to stay out of the Windows mode as much as possible, but I might just try CorelDraw or one of the other apps you named. In the meantime, I have an early Intel Mac that is still running Snow Leopard, so I do at least have a way of bringing up the hundreds of FreeHand files I have created over the years.  I received my official copy  of LineForm yesterday and will use it until I find something that does the trick and is still supported. What an inconvenience this is—I use Adobe Photoshop Elements, but hate the company for killing FreeHand. Thanks again, everybody, the quick response floored me!

Just an update- Yesterday I did receive a new registration code from Freeverse support, so I was able to register the program. Fortunately for the presentations I was creating, a lower-res screenshot taken of the Lineform app window with my diagrams sufficed. It's too bad the app appears to have lingering bugs, as I do like it a lot- I'm a non-pro who every few months needs to create something, and Lineform generally gets me to where I want pretty quickly.

At last, the positive answer everybody was expecting! Thank you, Paul. Let's hope now that Freeverse has the resources to carry out the announced policy.

Looking forward to seeing results!

I am having the same problem all of a sudden I need to register the app again, sent for code it does not work, put a ticket in hope I get an answer.

I tried to put rm ~/library/colorpickers/.com.freeverselib.06020 in terminal and it said no such file or directory, also there is no com.freeverse.lineform.plist to delete on my computer.  I am getting very frustrated can use lineform since it won't accept my registration......

You should get a response, but it may take a few days like my ticket did. I tried the other tricks and none worked, they sent me a new registration code which worked fine. Hopefully you aren't under some sort of deadline.

Thanks Stevelang,  I tried again using terminal this time I quit the app and then tried lineform registration.....it worked, I am so relieved.

Rajohn not sure what you are saying, none of your links work with safari

Hi everyone. I just upgraded from Lion OS X 10.7.1 to 10.7.2 and now Lineform is ignoring my registration # as it did for other people who posted earlier in this discussion. I'd never had the problem before.

I tried Jennifer's suggestion of typing: rm ~/library/colorpickers/.com.freeverselib.06020  in the Terminal, but I got the message "No such file or directory". I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong and I'd love some guidance. Thanks.

I spoke too soon. Even though I got the error in the Terminal, it fixed the problem and now I can use Lineform again. What a relief.

As for Lineform versus other drawing apps, the one reason I keep using Lineform, for certain projects at least, is the artistic strokes. I find they make my drawings significantly better than when I use solid strokes.

Lineform drives me crazy in a lot of other ways, though, so when I don't need the artistic strokes then I use Intaglio. 

http://marrylessey1694.tripod.com/home.html

In case someone stumbles upon this posting.

I've used Lineform as a Illustrator replacement for personal use as I just couldn't justify purchasing Adobe products out of pocket. Then Lineform development ceased to I started the long journey of looking for another replacement. Last, I tried Sketch, but long story short, there isn't anything so I came back.

Another reason I left Lineform early on was because when I reinstalled my Mac, I couldn't register the app anymore. Well, I tried some of the tricks mentioned here but it didn't work. I case you have the same issue, don't give up and contact support, as they seem to be responding better recently. And guess what, my registration key somehow "expired" and they re-issued a new one. Now I can use Lineform again and saved my life. And 1.5.3 works fine in Lion.

Now, I really hope someone picks up Lineform and continues development. And worse case, Freeverse, may be it can go open source. Just don't let it die. There's just nothing for the Mac market other than Illustrator and Lineform; it's honestly shocking for a Mac universe, but it's true. (Please don't mention Inkscape. Macs are not Linux. No offense, I love and use Linux, but it's just not on my MacBook that I use for creative work.)

I thought I should add a comment here to help people with problems with Lineform. First off, you can get Lineform working but it's certainly true it has problems. Here's my summary of them and how to get around them:

If you buy Lineform v1.5.3 (the latest version) and you run it in Mac OS Lion, undo won’t work. This is a showstopper of a problem, you may as well bin the app but if you run Lineform v1.5, you get undo back. I’m running that version now in Lion. There is a catch though. Lineform v1.5 may crash if you attempt to close individual windows you have open in the application. You must save your files and then quit the program, rather than close individual windows. This is a pain but I got used to it after a while and just put up with it. I haven't had any files corrupted this way so far so it isn't destructive. Version 1.5.3 of Lineform should fix this problem but only while you still use Leopard.

So, in a nutshell, if you’re running lion, run Lineform v1.5 and put up with the windows close error if it occurs. If you’re running Leopard, get hold of Lineform v1.5.3. (if it’ll let you) and you should be window crashing free (fingers crossed).

As Kameji pointed out, freeverse support has become more helpful recently with Lineform users. They gave me a new serial number to help get the new version of Lineform working. I also had to go in and remove the existing hidden binary licence files to get the app to accept the licence number but that's another story. 

Kameji was also right to say that Lineform is the best Vector drawing app made for the mac. Illustrator is obviously very good but it's not made for the mac, it's a platform agnostic app and suffer accordingly.

Hope that helps!

I thought I should add a comment here to help people with problems with Lineform. First off, you can get Lineform working but it's certainly true it has problems. Here's my summary of them and how to get around them:

If you buy Lineform v1.5.3 (the latest version) and you run it in Mac OS Lion, undo won’t work. This is a showstopper of a problem, you may as well bin the app but if you run Lineform v1.5, you get undo back. I’m running that version now in Lion. There is a catch though. Lineform v1.5 may crash if you attempt to close individual windows you have open in the application. You must save your files and then quit the program, rather than close individual windows. This is a pain but I got used to it after a while and just put up with it. I haven't had any files corrupted this way so far so it isn't destructive. Version 1.5.3 of Lineform should fix this problem but only while you still use Leopard.

So, in a nutshell, if you’re running lion, run Lineform v1.5 and put up with the windows close error if it occurs. If you’re running Leopard, get hold of Lineform v1.5.3. (if it’ll let you) and you should be window crashing free (fingers crossed).

As Kameji pointed out, freeverse support has become more helpful recently with Lineform users. They gave me a new serial number to help get the new version of Lineform working. I also had to go in and remove the existing hidden binary licence files to get the app to accept the licence number but that's another story. 

Kameji was also right to say that Lineform is the best Vector drawing app made for the mac. Illustrator is obviously very good but it's not made for the mac, it's a platform agnostic app and suffer accordingly.

For a full post about Lineform, read my blog entry: <http://www.adrianellis.co.uk/files/lineform-help.html>

Hope that helps!

I've been using Lineform 1.5.3 on Lion for months and undo works fine and I'm not experiencing many crashes.

I just bought Sketch from Bohemian Coding. Version 2.0 is very new. If you use Lineform, or other vector programs, mostly for web design (versus print projects), then I recommend checking out Sketch. Some of the features are brilliant. It's  buggy,  but the developer seems active in fixing the bugs. 

It's not good for print projects, as I said, but you can export as PDF which retains the vector data of the image (versus pixels).

Also, when you are exporting as a bitmap, you are limited to what resolutions you can export to -- I believe it's just 72dpi and twice that.

As I've mentioned previously, the only reasons I'm sticking with Lineform are: the artistic strokes, and it lets you export your images at any resolution.

Thanks for that post, Mirsky. I've just been trying version 2.0 and it seems a lot better than what I remember of version 1. I think version Sketch v1 had problems with correct resolution of intersect/union etc actions on shapes, but I might be confusing it with another app I tried out. I'll test out Sketch when I get a chance.

I'm envious that you can use Lineform 1.5.3. on Lion without undo problems. Does it make a difference whether you're working on new documents created in 1.5.3 or is it fine with older documents made in Leopard too?

It seems to work fine with both.

Do you have a program that helps with uninstalling applications? I have App Zapper and Clean My Mac. You could try a program like that to delete all of Lineform's files and then redownload Lineform and see if that fixes it.  Maybe something in the Application Support Folder is causing the errors.  You might be able to download App Zapper and use it for a trial period. Clean My Mac works better, I think, but it costs a lot more.

Thanks for the suggestions, Mirsky. I did install Lineform after rebuilding my mac from scratch (I was moving to Lion so I thought it was a good time for a clean-out), so uninstall tools weren't really relevant. I could use them to uninstall one version and install the other but, to be honest, I'm so used to the 'don't close single Lineform windows' workaround on v1.5 that it's become almost automatic and I just can't face doing any more hacking. Apart from that oddity, v1.5 still does everything faultlessly in Lion. I think I'll just carry on as normal for now and hope for a new, greater, app-store ready version from Freeverse in the future (but without actually holding my breath. :).