Biff 2.0
Exciting features in Biff. Still falls short of worth buying
Back in November, the Escapers announced a new updated to their graphic application called Biff. Since I reviewed version one of Biff in March of 2017, I thought it would be good to check out the changes
New Features
Three big changes in Biff: Scenes, SVG Import and Code Generation. This is text from an email that announced the new features
Scenes allow you to add perspective to your work, ideal for publicity shots. SVG import allows Biff to take advantage of great resources like The Noun Project, quite simply, you can now use thousands of free SVG resources in Biff. Finally, we've got code generation for both Mac and iOS. This means you can draw out anything you like in Biff, then export the Swift code to draw the elements in your Mac or iPhone app.
Scenes
This is a pretty cool feature. One of the neat things is the ability to easily create isometric images. Simply create a design, a couple of clicks later you can have an isometric layout.
There are six different perspectives: Reset, Left Tilt, Right Tilt, Left Angled, Flying and lie Flat.
Anything can be made a Scenes, including text. (Think logo design?)
SVG Import
This didn't work at all. Epic failure is one way to describe it.
I dragged and drop several SVG files and they didn't render correctly. One file, a "happy face," rendered upside down and other SVG files didn't render correctly at all.
Looks like there's some work needed with the import. (In fairness, they do say that Biff doesn't rasterize SVGs, it imports and converts them into regular Biff shapes.)
Files I tested were downloaded from the internet, no special compression or features.
Not sure what happened to the image when I dragged/dropped into the workspace.
Code Generation
This is pretty cool, there's support for UIKit and Cocoa. I don't do any coding that requires this functionality but it's neat to see an application that has this feature.
Worth the Upgrade?
Biff 2 cost $24.99 and I still don't think it's worth getting - especially since SVG Import didn't work for me. Many of the features can be found in other products, such as Affinity Designer, for a bit more money but they do offer additional functionality.
Having said that, the repeater/tile functionality is pretty cool. It's really easy to use and I have seen it available any place else.
Getting Biff 2
Try Biff 2 and see if it meets your needs. You can download a 30-day trial from The Escaper's Website.