LiveQuartz Image Editor
If you use a Mac you are probably familiar with some of the better known professional image editors like Photoshop, which can be quite expensive. However, was you aware there are free image editors available for the Mac as well? LiveQuartz Image Editor is a simple and powerful free photo editor for MAC OS X Leopard. It is based on nondestructive layers and filters. The layers are on the left and the filters are on the right of the window. To edit a photo, you just drag it into the window (or layers' list) and it will be added as a new layer.
At first glance, LiveQuartz Image Editor looks like a tiny application with simple text, brushes, layers, etc. But, appearances can be deceiving. The program has your basic toolbars such as brush, arrow, eraser, text, hand, magnification, cropping, etc.. Then you also get the "Spiral Tool." Do not think of this tool as a tool that will make spirals, because it certainly is not. Spiral Tool is a tool to control filters in real time, and this is perhaps the most amazing thing about the application.
Filters are what set LiveQuartz Image Editor apart from the crowd. To start with, you have your filter control bar on the right of the application. You have normal layers for the image, and then you have filter layers that you can build multiple filters on top of each other on the same image layer. You can also select a filter. When you select a filter, it will render it on the image and you can change your normal options from below the filter drop down selection. That is definitely nifty, but now you want to grab the Spiral Tool. Have a filter like Kaleidoscope with the Spiral Tool selected. Once you select the filter, you will see it rendered. After this, take the Spiral Tool and click on the image and drag around. It will change the filtering in real time depending on your positioning. Do not take the word "spiral" too literally because that is not the focus of this tool. Try it on other filters if you wish to get the feel. After using this, you can see the power this tool offers. And remember that Livequartz Image Editor is free, not shareware.
Livequartz Image Editor really shows what is possible with the Macintosh's core imaging technology. It just might even make a few more Windows users into "switchers."
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