Acorn is a raster graphic editor for macOS developed by August Mueller of Flying Meat Inc, based out of Mukilteo, Washington, United States. Acorn was first released on September 10, 2007 and was built upon the framework of a previous image editing application of Flying Meat Inc., FlySketch. Acorn makes extensive use of Apple's Core Image framework for its image processing. Although not a restaurant app, Acorns is a great app that you must check out especially if you use your debit card a lot when eating out. Basically how it works is that when you make a purchase, you’ll be able to invest the difference. So if you make a purchase at Chick Fil A for $7.50, Acorns will round up and invest the $0.50 for you. Acorns' fees are nearly identical to those charged by Stash Invest (Free at Apple.com), another mobile investing app. For accounts with at least $1 but less than $5,000, Stash Invest charges $1.
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When we reviewed Pixelmator 1.6.2 eight months ago, many readers were quick to demand a review of their favorite Mac OS X image editor: Acorn. We decided to hold out for the next major release—so here we are with a look at Acorn 3.1.2 for the Mac.
One of the first things you notice about Acorn is its tiny footprint. It's listed as 14.6MB on the Mac App Store, but it's actually 31.9MB on the disk, which is still amazingly small for a program with this robust a feature set. People with smallish laptop SSDs are always looking for ways to save space, so compact apps are a plus.
Acorns is a financial app that helps clients build up their savings via micro-investing. The company aims to look after client’s best interests and feels that micro-investing empowers clients, helping them stay on the right financial track.
The Interface
Acorn's interface is similarly minimal and tastefully executed. It's not brimming with animated transitions and its overall gray look means it's good at staying out of your face to let you focus on your images. Almost all of the application's interface is concentrated in one large palette, which hosts the tools, contextual tool options, and the active document's layers.
https://factsyellow788.weebly.com/blog/note-taker-mac-app. As you can see, it all fits well inside a 1440x900 MacBook Pro screen, with plenty of room for both work and Doc Brown, art critic.
When I first saw the interface a couple years ago, it reminded me of The GIMP—never a good thing—but after using it for a while, it was clear that the interface is far tidier and compact than the open source image editor.
Small things add up to give Acorn a really pleasant workspace. With the exception of the layer style/FX popup, palettes are non-modal, so you have lots of room to customize a workspace and keep clutter to a minimum. You can use option-scrollwheel for zooming and, for those coming from Photoshop, you'll be comfortable with a lot of the Acorn key shortcuts and modifiers:
- control-option mouse click interactively resizes the brush
- holding the command key toggles the Move tool
- shift constrains strokes to 90° angles
- tab hides/shows the palettes
- command -/= zooms out/in
- X to flip foreground and background colors
There are more key shortcut and workflow similarities to Photoshop, like guides being created by dragging off of the rulers and other things, but you get the idea. Acorn doesn't pretend to be as powerful as Photoshop, and developer Gus Mueller hasn't reinvented the wheel where there's no need to do so. The only Photoshop-style shortcut I find missing is command-spacebar-click for zoom, since command-= requires taking your hand off the mouse and a tablet pen doesn't have a scroll wheel and this is a pretty common standard for zooming in image editors.
Best way to remove apps from your mac. Acorn also has an image thumbnail browser, but it's pretty bare bones:
Coming from Adobe Bridge or even from GraphicConverter, this is quite limited. It offers no sorting controls, image info, or contextual options. I don't mind 'minimal,' but I feel like Acorn really needs QuickLook support at the very least, since you have to open images or increase thumbnail size to see a larger shot of the contents.
The Tools
The tools in Acorn are better fleshed out. Most of the basics of a modern image editor are there: 64-bit code, multiple undos, pen tablet pressure support, good gradient controls, layers with masks, quickmask, clone, dodge, burn, smudge, live cropping, color profile support, Boolean selections and feathering, gradients, and text tools. And of course, the staple of all image editors..
Brushes
Audio transcription app mac. Acorn comes pre-loaded with a lot of pen tips and paintable image stamps. In the dropdown menu next to the brush tip preview, presets include textured pencils, felt-tipped angled pens, watercolor, and some cheeky effects like planet stamps. 'Precision mode' slows the cursor down to give sub-pixel precision to some very broad movements; using a mouse can get you very accurate strokes.
The basic brushes feel very nice and the Brush Designer gives you a lot of customization of the brush controls.
Of the tablet support features, only pressure sensitivity is supported, so angle-based brushes are static. Acorn's not really meant to emulate real-world media, like Painter or ArtRage try to do, and the few media brushes are just image stamps with Brush Designer setting tweaks. So you won't be getting watercolor wet-on-wet effects like a proper paint program—the results aren't convincing.
At first, it looked like the Acorn brushes maxed out at 100 pixels, but Acorn can actually go up to any size when using the control-option modifier or command-]. I don't expect a lot of depth from a basic image editor's brushes but one complaint I have about Acorn brushes is that the falloff of the softest edge is still hard at the edge:
Compared to Photoshop's 100 percent soft brush, Acorn drops off the edge too quickly:
I don't hold up Photoshop's brush as the standard but clearly it is harder to make a soft stroke in Acorn.
Other than that, brushes in Acorn will be fine for most needs.
Layer Support
Another staple of modern image editing is layers, and Acorn's layer support is decent enough. Layers can be masked, grouped, and you can command-click to load layer transparency as a selection. You can unlink the mask transformation from the color to do things like move text around while keeping a background mask in place. There are tons of alignment and translation controls.
Acorn Mac App Review App
Acorn's true power is that it supports vector shape layers and has editable Bézier curves, features rarely seen together in budget image editors. You can make rectangles or circles, but the Bézier pen tool lets you work with vector curves. Combined with the live layer styles and presets, you can get some fun effects and make some templates, with effects in the stack being toggled and reordered however you want:
Filters
The Acorn filter set, much like that in Pixelmator, comes from Apple's CoreImage filter set and isn't professional grade, but Acorn has one-upped the Pixelmator implementation by providing customizable presets for many filters via their custom interface:
Acorn does this for many sets that, like Comic Effect, don't have any customizable options, but then I realized the presets store multiple stacked effects, so you can do things like make a slightly-blurred, hue-shifted CMYK halftone for a 'photo of an old magazine cover' effect. For a budget editor, Acorn's vector tools and wealth of preset options really make it a little workhorse capable of doing some serious non-destructive editing.
Acorn Mac App Review Android
Layered Screenshots
One of the cooler features of Acorn is the ability to take screenshots that put all your windows with drop shadows into a layered document, with every active process that draws to the screen clearly marked in the layer names:
I was worried that you'd always have to have Acorn in the screenshot—but hide the app and you can show anything that was behind one of its windows. Some shareware that does, this but it's the first time I've seen this handy tool in an image editor. It's great for authors or bloggers who do tutorials.
Robust Text Controls
One of my main complaints about any app that relies on Apple's type frameworks is that they lack the controls needed to set finished-looking type. Even if you want to make a simple Web banner, you need control over kerning and leading, so it's important that Acorn offers both kerning and leading controls:
It's a professional set of tools, but unfortunately there are some wonky behaviors I couldn't get around when trying to make large multi-line text in a box:
I had to add two hard returns before that to bring it down, but when I exit the text tool, it snaps back up. Also, since the max line height is 100, it's not possible to make large multi-line copy look right. That number needs to at least go up to 1000. Once the kinks are worked out, the Acorn type tools are easily the best for an image editor in this price range.
Acorn Mac App Reviews
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Developer(s) | Flying Meat Inc. |
---|---|
Initial release | September 10, 2007; 13 years ago |
Stable release | 6.5.3 (November 20, 2019; 11 months ago[1]) [±] |
Operating system | macOS |
Type | Raster graphics editor |
License | Proprietary |
Website | flyingmeat.com/acorn/ |
Acorn Mac App
Acorn is a raster graphic editor for macOS developed by August Mueller of Flying Meat Inc, based out of Mukilteo, Washington, United States. Acorn was first released on September 10, 2007[2] and was built upon the framework of a previous image editing application of Flying Meat Inc., FlySketch.[3]
Acorn makes extensive use of Apple's Core Image framework for its image processing,.[4][5] The native file format of Acorn is .acorn. Acorn combines vector drawing with bitmap editing,[6] and has been described as an alternative to Photoshop.[7] Key features of Acorn include image filters, a custom color picker, a brush designer, and image editing tools such as crop, erase, paint, select, pan, zoom, move, clone, smudge, dodge, and burn.[8]
Major Features[edit]
- Layers based editing
- Layer masks and blending modes
- Multi-layer screenshots [9]
- Nondestructive stackable filters[10]
- Curves and levels
- Multi-stop live gradients
- Scriptable [11]
- Automator support [11]
- Built in brush designer to create custom brushes
- Photoshop brush import
- Vector shapes, Bézier pen tool, and text tools
- Shape processor
- Circle text tool
- RAW image import
- Multiple selection tools including quick mask and magic wand
- Smart layer export
- Web export
- Guides, grids, rulers, and snapping
- Native support for Apple’s retina displays
- Color profile management
- Deep color image support
- Documentation online and in ePub format
- Runs on Metal 2[12]
Version history[edit]
Acorn Mac App
Version | Initial Release Date | OS Compatibility | Notable Features |
---|---|---|---|
1.0 - 1.5.5[13][14] | September 10, 2007 | 10.4 - 10.10[15] | Initial release;[16] brush designer,[14] fancy crop, open and save JPEG 2000 images |
2.0 - 2.6.5[13] | September 13, 2009 | 10.6 - 10.10 [15] | Layered screenshots, rulers, RAW image support, 64 bit support, touchup tools, JSTalk scripting support, AppleScript support, layer groups, guides and snapping, layer masks, WebP |
3.0 - 3.5.2[13] | April 12, 2011 | 10.6 - 10.10 [15] | Layer styles,[17] quick mask, instant alpha,[9] live multi-stop gradients, new filters, add/subtract points on Bézier curves, full screen support, autosave and versions, retina canvas support,[18] smart layer export, web export scaling, new blending modes [19] |
4.0 - 4.5.7[13] | May 2, 2013 | 10.8 - 10.12 [15] | Nondestructive stackable filters,[7] curves adjustment,[11] vector line join style, multi-layer selection,[10] save selection with file, CMYK support when saving as JPEG and TIFF, editable image depth, sharing support, soft eraser, live font updates, live blending updates, share extension for Photos |
5.0 - 5.6[13] | August 20, 2015 | 10.10+ [15] | Shape processor, nondestructive curves and levels, improved PDF import, Photoshop brush import, image metadata editing, basic SVG support, deep color image support, circle text tool, new color picker, improved color management[20] |
6.0 - 6.3.3[13] | July 10, 2017 | 10.11+ [15] | Text on a path, clone tool works across layers and images, new Web Export features, smart layer export settings palette, new Bézier tools, color profiles, make shape from selection [21] |
Reviews and awards[edit]
- Houston Chronicle Acorn 4 review[22]
- The 25 Best Alternatives to Photoshop[23]
- Macworld Editor's Choice Award 2009[24]
- Mac App Store Best Apps of 2013[25]
- Mac App Store Best Apps of 2015
- 50 Mac Essentials #46 [6]
- Acorn 5: Tom's Mac Software Pick [26]
- Clash of the Image Editors: Acorn vs Pixelmator[27]
- Acorn 4 Macworld Review [7]
- Acorn 4 The Verge Review [11]
- 16 Essential Photo Editor Apps [28]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Acorn Mac App Review Iphone
- ^'Acorn Release Notes'. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
- ^Kim, Arnold (September 10, 2007). 'New Mac Image Editor Acorn'. MacRumors. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Viticci, Frederico (December 18, 2012). 'Mac Stories Interviews Gus Mueller'. MacStories. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Lee, Mike; Meyers, Scott (2009). Learn Mac OS X Snow Leopard. New York, NY: Apress. p. 572. ISBN978-1-4302-1947-7.
- ^Mueller, August (August 21, 2015). 'Acorn, OS 10.11 El Capitan and You'. FlyingMeatBlog. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- ^ abTurbell, Giles (February 21, 2012). 'Acorn is a Fine Image Editor for Everyone'. CultofMac. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ abcFriedman, Lex (May 1, 2013). 'Review: Acorn 4 adds impressive features and a smart new look'. MacWorld. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^'Best Mac Photo Editing Software'. TopTenReviews. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^ abGirard, David (October 30, 2011). 'The seed of something great: Acorn 3.1 reviewed'. ArsTechnica. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ abSumra, Husain (May 2, 2013). 'Acorn 4 image editor adds improved speed, enhanced user interface, and more'. MacRumors. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ abcdBlagdon, Jeff (May 2, 2013). 'Review: Acorn 4 flies through image editing with new filter UI, improved speed, and curves'. TheVerge. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^'Acorn Feature List'. Flying Meat Inc. Retrieved June 21, 2020.
- ^ abcdef'Acorn Release Notes'. Flying Meat Inc. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^ abBerka, Justin (January 5, 2009). 'Mac-based image editor Acorn bumped to version 1.5'. ArsTechnica. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^ abcdef'Acorn FAQ'. Flying Meat Inc. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
- ^Chartier, David (September 10, 2007). 'Acorn? The OS X image editor we've been waiting for'. ArsTechnica. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^Turnbull, Giles (April 20, 2011). 'Acorn image editor updated with new features, special price'. CultofMac. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^Sorrel, Charlie (June 22, 2012). 'Acorn 3.3 to get awesome 'retina canvas''. CultofMac. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^Smith, Barrie. 'Acorn Version 3.5.1 Image Editing Software'. DigitalPhotographySchool. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^Keller, Joseph (August 20, 2015). 'Acorn 5 for Mac arrives to let you take control of shapes'. iMore. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^'Acorn 6'. July 10, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
- ^'Acorn image editor worth scooping up'. The Houston Chronicle. February 19, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^Gibbs, Samuel (May 6, 2013). 'The 25 Best Alternatives to Photoshop'. The Guardian. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
- ^'25th Annual Editor's Choice'. MacWorld. December 10, 2009. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Viticci, Frederico (December 17, 2013). 'Apple Posts 'Best of 2013' iTunes Lists'. MacStories. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
- ^Nelson, Tom (August 29, 2016). 'Acorn 5: Tom's Mac Software Pick'. LifeWire. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
- ^Lobo, Pedro (July 5, 2013). 'Clash of the Image Editors: Acorn vs Pixelmator'. MacAppstorm. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
- ^Stewart, Craig (August 4, 2016). '16 essential photo editor apps'. CreativeBloq. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acorn_(software)&oldid=963633399'