When Sketch Drawer came out a few days ago, I had no problems downloading or activating it. I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OS. Although I have another sketching program, it wasn't able to do the type of simpler sketches that Sketch Drawer was able to produce. I tried it on two of my pictures and it really made lovely sketch art of them both, one in b & w and the other in color. Unfortuneately, that is when I began having freezing problems. Softorbits sent a very nice email offering a fixed version of the software, and I've tried it and it works very well. It's nice to have a piece of software that you like, but having excellent customer support is very much appreciated. Thank you Softorbits and GOTD.

Revised comment. Impressively, the company took the criticism posted here to heart. I got an email today offering up a fixed version that could be tried for the next two days before the deal expires. True to their word, my installation and registration issues are gone and the software works as expected.

I've used tracing software before, and been underwhelmed with the output pretty much every time. This program ROCKS. I'm impressed by the ease of use and sensitivity options. I used a test picture of my black and white dog, thinking the black areas of her fur were going to throw the software for a loop. Impressively, the detail in the fur was picked up and the strokes were in the right direction.

Guys at SoftOrbits, you have my sincere apologies for any slams I made in my earlier review. Your software is as good as advertised, and whatever registration issues you had are gone. Thanks for making me aware of the software, and I look forward to using it.

@Fubar ... i tried recopying. removing spaces. no effect. still won't register. I have removed it.

This may or may not help those with registration problems. When I first installed 1.1 I also received the invalid license message. I don't know if I made a mistake, I closed the registration window but not the application, then re-opened the registration window, and re-copied the key, being careful not to copy extra spaces, and it worked.

Installed easily, Registered easily (even registered properly in both user accounts, one Administrator, one Limited - first time ever for me in GOTD!!), and works like a treat. You beaudy - the genuine article!

A fine draw! But the major lack of the program, that it still has no preview function nakes it tricky to use. 'Please correct this in the next revision! All in all the results are very satisfying for my needs. Thank you!

Windows 8 x64, Core2Duo 2.1GHz, 4GB RAM. Why do these software publishers assume everyone runs in an Admin account? I run in a User account, have access to the Admin account when UAC requests creds. Installed the software and ran it, noticed it was unregistered so I entered the code and got an error. Aha, I say, quit the program and then right-click and Run As Admin. Entered the registration again and it accepted the code. Quit and re-ran, and it was unregistered again. So, I logged out, logged in to the Admin account, right-clicked and Ran As Admin, and re-registered. Quit and re-ran it, and it stayed registered. Logged out of the Admin account and logged back in to my User account and ran the program.

Unregistered.

Ahs, I say, log back into Admin, promote my User account to Admin, rinse and repeat. After confirming it was registered, I demoted my account back to User, logged out, and back in again, thinking I had the trick.

Unregistered.

Sorry, guys. Admin accounts are for administrating the machine. User accounts are for using it. If you can't write your software to run in a User-level account, I'm not interested in using it, no matter how cool it is.

Thanks for the info Mike but when I come to GOTD I just expect the program to load and run. There is no way I am going to play with Reg Keys or anything else that may need to be done to get this program to work. I assume that this is exactly what the sellers of the program wants. They want to know what difficulties happen on what machines and O/S. GOTD programs do not always work and like this one, it is too bad because it is an excellent program, that I saw work on my friends computer. I never bought a program that had me tweak anything. A program should work on every computer O/S that it states it will work on.

@14 I push sketch and nothing happen either, but found you got select stuff, then push batch and then window opens below and gotta push start! Push this and push that! Few minutes later another box appears asking if wanta open box with pictures! Results are extremely great on some photos and poor on others! Seems mutiple steps to do to get a picture!! Love the program though! Seems not to work to well on faint photos that lack details!! I am using version from day before wiyh no problems, not sure safe download new version becus other dudes lost program!

I've installed and registered sucessfully, and even did a test run on a photo with success. Though in 'read me' when originally downloaded, it says to unzip all compressed files into one folder. My pc, Windows 8, would not allow me to decompress the .GCD file, which seemed to be necessary, saying that the destination folder is not valid (??). So it remains unzipped (it was only compressed to 1% anyway). But the app seems to be working fine, without problems. So is this going to cause some type of problem later, since I didn't decompress or open that .GCD file? Or did it decompress by itself somehow without me manually doing it? hmmm, any suggestions/comments?

mike...tried your idea of deleting the registry key and so on. No effect. I too am using W7 Ult 64. I don't use virtual machines or rollback apps. and i did disable avast temporarily. Did a total uninstall. Manual registry edit. Registry cleanup. Reinstall. Still same error. Haven;t heard from tech support since the original message 10 hours ago. I really want this app and i don't want to be a complainer...but a progress update from tech would be nice once every few hours.

For those having problems registering, in case in some way it helps troubleshooting...

The last time Sketch Drawer was on GOTD I found that it would not register if/when I installed the app to a virtual machine [win7's XP Mode], so looked at today's version in my regular win7 install.

Today's GOTD, Sketch Drawer 1.1, installed & registered fine for me in win7 ult 64 with no versions of Sketch Drawer installed. I removed its 2 registry keys & the program's folder, putting the last GOTD version in place, testing to make sure it worked. Then I monitored the registry as I installed today's version over it -- it added the 2nd, uninstall key that today's version uses, & deleted 2 registry values with the registration/activation info. Using the key in the GOTD readme.txt file, Sketch Drawer 1.1 registered just like it's supposed to.

I used Wondershare Timefreeze, a former GOTD that stores any changes to the system drive on a virtual disk, so after a re-boot the system was exactly as it was before I installed Sketch Drawer 1.1. I put the program's folder back in place, along with the Softorbits registry key, & Sketch Drawer worked fine -- I wanted to see if there was some hidden file added, or if the 2nd registry key was necessary, because either could be something that's going wrong for those people having problems. I also went back to the old version & messed up the registry key by deleting values to see if that could cause any problems updating & then registering the app -- it had no effect.

Long story short my best guess is that those folks who can't get the spp to register might also be running some sort of VM, or maybe a rollback-type app using virtualization [though Time Freeze had no effect], or something like their AV software is preventing the Sketch Drawer registration process from doing its thing.

I got this program installed with no problems at all. It is very basic, but does what it says it will do. The problem that I have, is that after posting a review and the link back to the website...on TWO websites, and sending the results to them by e-mail, they told me that my posts were not eligible for the 'special offer'. "ANYWHERE ON THE WEB" the offer clearly states, but my game forum, nor Photobucket are on the web I guess, as I was refused the special offer. I removed the free advertising, and told them to...have a nice day. I would NEVER buy anything from such a person or company. Boooo on them. Be careful.

Sketch Drawer 1.1 is a nifty little tool that does exactly as it says. The interface is thankfully simple with a good selection of filters. Those familiar with these type of apps on smartphones will enjoy the larger screen image. It is a little slow to render, but the results are highly satisfactory. A keeper, to be sure.

This is still not ready for prime time. It will not register in XPx32. Every time I try to register with the supplied license, I get a popup error message that says PhotoStampRemover Activation error. Invalid license. This could be because I uninstalled the previous version, but the software might not handle previous versions well. I will email the support people to see if they can help.

#1: "I can tell you, however, even if the crashing has been fixed, Fotosketcher is still the better program. Fotosketcher is freeware and more feature-filled."

Not agreeing or disagreeing about which is the better app, they're different, so no down side in having both. :) Creative or artistic types collect all sorts of these apps & plug-ins, because you're never 100% sure which effects will work best on particular project.

That said, many image editing apps [e.g. Paintshop Pro] essentially let you paint or sketch using the clone tool, which while it takes longer, lets you add a bit more of a natural appearance I think, because you're in control of the number & direction etc. of brush [or pencil etc.] strokes, e.g. you can have a rougher background while still having lots of detail on the main subject.

* * *

#7: " the error box says it’s trying to input a key for Photo Stamp Remover. But the program, as we know, is Sketch Drawer."

Some of the registry keys seem to be re-used from the Photo Stamp Remover app. They are however all in the HKCU\ Software\ softorbits\ SketchDrawer key that Avid Gamer kindly pointed out. You said you had a problem registering this newer version, & that you deleted the old version files, but that registry key is where the info's stored, so after backing up [exporting] that key you might want to try deleting it if you haven't already.

* * *

#10: "loaded fine on my friends Win 7 x32 and the program was great. Downloaded on Win8 x64. Installed fine. Put in the password and it then showed it was a registered version. Closed the program and opened it again and it showed it was an UNREGISTERED VERSION. Tried to put the key in again and it crashed the program. I contacted the company who sent me this version directly last time. Did not work then and still not working."

Might check if that registry key Avid Gamer [#10 as I write this] pointed out exists -- if there's something preventing that key from being created, the registration info won't/can't be stored. Usually all it takes is running the app as admin. As far as crashing the 2nd time you try to register the program, you might check Task Mgr. to make sure it's not already running before you start Sketch Drawer the 2nd time -- otherwise you might check your AV software logs, or maybe try disabling it to see if that has an effect?

This is a TERRIFIC program. Easy to use and intuitive even if you are not "arty" and feel you can not draw. Plus there was a problem with the download and I received very friendly and personal attention from Eugene, the creator. Definitely worth the money!

Downloaded it one last time...again. Tried to register without putting in my e-mail address. Same thing happened. Showed that it was registed. Closed the program and opened again and it was unregistered.
Screen shot below of what I got. Hopefully someone can help me. Love this Jetscreenshot, thank GOTD.

http://my.jetscreenshot.com/16452/20130204-x3kl-141kb

Very nice program. The RUN key was hidden at first but I found it when I clicked on the bar for the toolbox and dragged it to a different area on the screen.
Windows7 - Lenovo Core I7 with 8GB memory.
Thank you!

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but the program doesn't seem to work. I've installed and registered it, but when I select an image and click sketch nothing happens. I've tried the help file which wasn't particularly helpful. Is this just a 32 bit program or something?

there seems to be a problem with registering the update/rerun. I tried a number of new installs reinstalls to different locations etc. what worked is this: enter the new key they give now in the old installed program under help/register. just put in the new key of today and you dont need to put in an email as is asked for. seems to work for me, both versions the old and the new are registered now, while before both were shown as unregistered only. hope that helps.loss

I actually like this program. I been using it to make my grand daughters pictures into my wallpaper and my GD thinks I'm an artist. Gave me a chuckle when I heard her tell her mom I was an artist. Showed it to her now she's trying it out. The program install easily no problems registering. I have not tried the batch process yet not exactly sure what I would use that for.

Okay, I have to rant about yet another giveaway that checks for updates EVERY time you start the program. However, I've found that if you're not squeamish about editing the Windows registry, you can change that yourself:
Change the "disableUpdates" value data from 0 to 1 at:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\softorbits\SketchDrawer
(verified on XP SP3, other OS unknown-sorry!)

Still had the same problem as last time. Too bad because it loaded fine on my friends Win 7 x32 and the program was great. Downloaded on Win8 x64. Installed fine. Put in the password and it then showed it was a registered version. Closed the program and opened it again and it showed it was an UNREGISTERED VERSION. Tried to put the key in again and it crashed the program. I contacted the company who sent me this version directly last time. Did not work then and still not working. Company did not respond to me after they sent me the 1.1 version and I told them that it still did not work. Really disappointed because this looks to be a great program. Uninstalled.

I installed the earlier version. then installed this update. did a direct copy/paste from the readme file and it says “invalid license key” :(

At last the bug is fix. For those who didn'nt try it yet, this software is one of the best sketcher. I already try fotosketcher 2years ago but sketch drawer is the best for me. A must have software. Try it make your photo sketch now. You'll gonna love the result.

second followup. the error box says it's trying to input a key for Photo Stamp Remover. But the program, as we know, is Sketch Drawer. I have a tech support guy talking to me .... and when he gets a fix for me, I WILL post it here for everyone else who may be having this same issue.

#1 Did you compare the results of Fotosketcher and Sketch Drawer?
In most cases, Sketch Drawer produces more natural sketches.
Also I can not agree that Fotosketcher has more features.

I found that the program works much much better then what was previously offered. I like that a company acknowledges a problem with a Giveaway and chooses to rerun it to show us they can respond to user feedback.

followup to my comment number 3. I tried uninstalling and restarting the computer. Even tried shredding the folder with a file shredder. Then reinstalled. Still gives "Activation Error: Invalid License" window. I want this program... please someone, help.

I have a problem. I installed the earlier version. then installed this update. did a direct copy/paste from the readme file and it says "invalid license key"

windows 7 x64 running on AMD processor.

This updated version is more well behaved than the version we got the other day!


I was able to work with large images without the program hanging!

I haven't tried v1.1 so I don't know for sure what has been fixed and what hasn't. I can tell you, however, even if the crashing has been fixed, Fotosketcher is still the better program. Fotosketcher is freeware and more feature-filled.