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Don't let Acorn's size fool you; it's a powerful little guy. Fancy math to keep your pencil strokes from having sharp edges, squeezing all the performance out of your computer's GPU as possible, and simple innovations to make your life easier.
Features
AppleScript
Automate Acorn to open, crop, resave, upload, whatever- using AppleScript.
Hex Color Picker
Web designers rejoice.
Improved Screenshots
You've now got a new preference to have every window on its own layer when making a screenshot.
Rulers
Bring up rulers for your image.
Raw Image Import
Open up your Raw images and adjust exposure, temperature, tint, and more.
64 Bit Support
Acorn is ready for the future.
New Dodge, Burn, Clone, and Smudge tools
Some important photo retouching tools have been added to Acorn.
Layer Groups
Organize your layers into hierarchical groups.
Perspective Transform
A new Perspective Transform tool, along with much improved Transform and Crop tools.
Render Clouds Filter
Render Clouds has long been a staple in the designer's toolbox, a great starting place for textures.
JSTalk Support
Script Acorn using JavaScript, by way of JSTalk.
New UI and Performance Improvements
It's faster, and it looks better to boot.
Straightforward, convenient, and easy
All of the tools condense into one easy to use palette to keep your screen uncluttered and inviting to work with. Easily move the palette around if it gets in your way, or press the tab key to make it hide.
Performance
Acorn goes all the way up to 64. Bits that is. And along with running on your computer's 64 bit Intel chip, Acorn utilizes your graphics processor unit (GPU) for additional graphics power where appropriate. Less waiting equals more time creating.
Layers
Use layers and blending modes make the most of photo editing technics by allowing easy placement of text and other objects, without destroying the picture underneath. Layers allow you to try things out, and change your mind later on.
Text
Acorn's text tools give you control over text, while making it easy to work with. Everything from bold and italic to kern and ligature. There's even spell check, because we need it.
Drawing
Acorn features brushes that let you draw, scribble and sketch right on your image. Use a trackpad, mouse, or even a tablet. Acorn has everything you need for making pretty doodles, and even has nifty math to keep those lines looking smooth.
Filters
Acorn has all of the filters you're looking for, and even includes a great interface to chain filters together to get unique effects. Perform the same filter chain again by choosing "Last Filter" or save your filter as a preset for later use.
Vector Shapes
Vector shapes let you make squares, circles and lines, but keep the flexibility of changing things later on. Don't like the color of the border? Swap it out. Do you want to make that rectangle have rounded corners, after you've made it? Don't worry about it, just click some buttons and it's done.
You can also scale vector shapes easily, and without having to stress about the shape getting pixelated or looking funny. Acorn makes adding shapes to your image a breeze.
Screenshots
Acorn makes it easy to create mock ups and work with screenshots. As long as Acorn is open, press the Command-Shift-6 keys while in any application, and Acorn will make a screenshot of your whole screen.
Your image will be brought into Acorn immediately, ready for work. You can even turn on a preference to make every window in the screenshot its own layer. Use this in combination with the vector and text tools to create amazing mock ups quickly.
Selections
Make different shaped selections, invert them, feather, even add a corner radius. Or, if you're looking to quickly select an entire color, try using the Magic Wand for some quick changes.
Selections can also limit the effects of filters and adjustments. If you have a picture that is a little dim in the corner, try selecting it, feathering the selection, and bumping up the colors using the Levels command under the image menu.
Web Export
Acorn supports many file formats, but when you need to get that image size smaller and still looking good for the web, take a look at Web Export.
Acorn provides an estimate for the size it will be exported at and lets you compare the compressed version to the original.
Plugin Architecture
Write custom plugins for Acorn using the Python scripting language, JavaScript (by way of JSTalk), as well as in Objective-C. We know this isn't for everyone, but if you have a little programming prowess, writing custom plugins is a piece of cake.
New in version 2.3.1:
• Fixed a bug where setting the DPI of a JPEG image wasn't always saved correctly.
• Fixed a bug where creating a guide with the contextual menu wouldn't always put it in the right location.
• Fixed a bug where some really old Acorn documents didn't import lines correctly.
• Fixed a bug where the layers lock icon was drawing incorrectly.
Acorn's new Brush Designer is a great new feature where you can draw with a preset brush, and then modify the settings for the brush and watch your stroke update in realtime. No more hassle trying to get a brush "just right". Draw once, tweak, and save. And if you own a tablet, then Acorn's pressure sensitive brush options make drawing even more fun.
System requirements:
Requires Mac OS X 10.6 or later
System Support:
PPC/Intel
Purchase for $49.95, upgrades from 1.x for $19.95.
Free upgrade to 2.0 for purchases on or after July 2, 2009
You can use Acorn 2 without paying a single cent. How awesome is that?
Here's how it works: when you first download Acorn, it runs in "trial mode" for a couple of weeks. If you decide not to purchase it after 14 days, the trial will end and Acorn will disable some advanced features, but will continue working for your image editing needs. You can still open images and crop, filter, rotate, add layers, add text, touchup and just have fun with your images. All without paying a single cent, and completely guilt free.
For more information, visit:
http://flyingmeat.com/acorn/
For Charles W. Moore's full review of Acorn, click here.
Tags: Software Updates ď Graphics & Design ď Software News ď
