Charting Companion software - has anyone tried it?

[kam]

I haven't kept up very well with the genealogy software program "Charting Companion," by Progeny Genealogy, but recently became aware that they introduced a Mac version in late 2020.

Has anyone tried it? I'm actually not sure it could even be used with Reunion currently, as Reunion is not listed as one of the programs with which Charting Companion works: Family Tree Maker:
FTM 2019: Plugin
RootsMagic
GEDCOM (all programs)
For Apple macOS 10.12 (Sierra) through 12. (Monterey).
(sorry, I can't get the above list to show up correctly, despite using bullets and indentation)

But, the System Requirements page has a table showing that Charting Companion will work with "Any genealogy program that can export to GEDCOM," which is what I suppose the third bullet above means. That seems to indicate it could work with Reunion. The Windows version works with seven genealogy software programs.

I'm also not sure how Charting Companion displays when used on a Mac, but suspect it doesn't have a Mac "feel" (see the images in the Apr. 24, 2020 post in the Progeny Genealogy blog). I tried the trial version of Charting Companion using CrossOver Mac in 2018, and don't recall being impressed with the way it looked or worked using that method.

The charts for DNA Matrix, DNA Simulation, and DNA Matches, as well as for X-chromosome, mtDNA, and Y-DNA are interesting, though. I think that Reunion's charts look much better in general, and the charts produced by Charting Companion are not as nice as Reunion's. But I'm really just interested in the charts that Charting Companion can create that Reunion can't produce.

The Progeny Genealogy FAQ says that their other programs, Genelines (timeline charts), Map My Family Tree, and 3D Family Tree don’t run directly on a Mac. You have to use Parallels Desktop, Apple Boot Camp, VMware Fusion, Wine, or CrossOver Mac to run those programs on a Mac (as you had to do with Charting Companion before it was available for Mac). But I don’t see the need for these other three programs, personally. Reunion has timelines, the 3D thing isn't appealing to me, and I'm not sure the Map program would be worth it.

Any thoughts?

[SGilbert]

There is a free trial under 'Downloads'. Why don't you give if a whirl & let us know?

[kam]

I have downloaded the free trial just today, will try to check it out tomorrow and report back.

[RWells]

Kam How did your trial of Charting work out using Reunion?

[kam]

RWells, thanks for reminding me! I haven't visited the Reunion Talk forum for a while, and just saw your post. Last year I wasn't able to give the version 6 trial version the time I needed to really try it out. But I now have Charting Companion for Mac, version 8, working. I've been able to try it out over the last few days, preview a few charts and save to .pdf, so far. In trying CC out, my primary goal is to concentrate specifically on charts for DNA , since Reunion still doesn't offer such charts (none highlighting X-DNA,mitochondrial and Y-DNA paths). Some Charting Companion chart types also allow coloring by lineage, generation, and gender as well, and they have a few unique chart types that may be of interest to some.

I'm going out of town next week, but if I can get the rest of my test charts done before I go (the DNA Matrix chart* has been a challenge for me), I will post my impressions/review this weekend. My trial period will be over while I'm gone. If I don't have time to write up a review before I go, I will post the first week in October. First overall impression is that Reunion has more extensive and intuitive editing controls for it's charts, but Charting Companion does have some good features, even if the chart controls are not as refined as Reunion's. The question for me is, specifically: are the DNA type charts (and maybe a few others) worth buying the program to use them?

* The DNA Matrix chart is basically the "McGuire Method," if you've heard of that; that method is described in a guest post at Blaine Bettinger's blog: https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/20...a-comparisons/ With Charting Companion, it is a variation of a descendant chart, using match lists of relatives who have done an autosomal test. DNA Matrix ideally will automate the process, if I can get it to work.