OS X Odyssey 768 - Image Tricks Core Image Filters Image Editor Mini-Review - NOT
That is if you have hardware that properly supports Core Image, which my 700 MHz G3 iBook and its Radeon 7500 GPU with 16 MB of VRAM do not. Image Tricks looks great, but I wasn't really able to do much with it on this machine. The features work, sort of, at the speed of cold molasses running uphill in a Canadian January.
Belight specifies minimum system requirements of Macintosh G3 or better, and Mac OS X 10.4 or later, but I would say that a minimum video graphics support spec. should also be included.
According to Apple's Core Image information page, the following GPUs support Core Image:
• ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
• ATI Radeon 9550, 9650, 9600, 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT
• nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
• nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
• nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL
You can check it out at:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/
With proper graphics support, tricks you can play with an image include:
• Adjust colors — Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Hue, etc.
• Blur your picture in different ways.
• Distort images using Twirl, Bump, Pinch and more.
• Stylize your art: Make Mosaic, Crystalize, use Halftone effects, etc.
• Tile, Kaleidoscope and Crop images.
Other Key Features:
• Easy to use and friendly Interface.
• Around 35 Core Image Effects and Filters.
• Import over 20 image formats (TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PDF, EPS among them).
• Export to TIFF, JPEG, PNG and GIF formats.
• Resize images.
• iPhoto integration.
oreillynet.com's Derrick Story says that "Image Tricks is a terrific tool for exploring some of the imaging goodies Apple has tucked inside Tiger's coat. Set aside an hour and give it a try. I think you'll have a ball." You can read Derrick's further comments here:
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/7578
I'm looking forward to playing with Image Tricks when I upgrade my system.
Image Tricks is freeware
For more information, visit:
http://belightsoft.com/products/imagetricks/overview.php
Another free Core Image-based image editor that I did not try, assuming similar support issues is LiveQuartz Image Editor 1.0.2
LiveQuartz is based on layers and CoreImage filters. You have the layers at the left and the filters at the right of the window. To edit an image, just drag it into the window and it will be added as a new layer.
Features:
• The brush allows you to paint with the color chosen at window's top right corner and with the tool size chosen beside.
• The duplication tool is here to retouch photos. To use it, you have to click on a reference point with 'alt' key pressed and then you can click where you want to duplicate the pixels. It uses the same tool size as the brush tool.
• The eraser tool erases an image by replacing it by a transparent color. It uses the same tool size as the brush tool.
• The arrow is the layer moving tool.
• The text tool is for adding short texts. It is possible to modify the text by changing the layer name in layers' list at the left of the window. You can also change the font of the newly inserted text with the button "Font" at window's top right corner.
• The hand is for moving the image viewing area (when image does not fit entirely in the window).
• The spiral tool is for modifying "point" parameters of filters. To be able to use it, select the point parameter you want to modify in the filter's parameters list (bottom right of the window).
• The selection tool is used to crop the image (using the "crop" button), to copy a portion of the image and to restrict painting area and erasing area.
• The magnifying glass is here to zoom and unZoom ("alt" key).
New in this version:
• Bug fix on filter insertion
• Regression bug fix in layer handling
System requirements:
Mac OS X 10.4 or later
LiveQuartz Image Editor is freeware
For more information, visit:
http://www.livequartz.com/
Charles W. Moore
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