# Mac App Store Best of 2013
Everyone needs to edit images at some point, but not everyone has the time to learn complicated super pricey image editing programs. This is why we created Acorn. Add text and shapes to your digital pictures. Combine images together to create your own. Work with layers to touch up your favorite photos or make something new from scratch. Do all this and more with Acorn.
Speed: Acorn 4 is a lot faster than its predecessors. And applying filters to large images is a snap.
Layer Styles and Non-Destructive Filters: Acorn has all of the filters you're looking for, and even includes a great interface to chain filters together to create unique effects. You can even save and...
# Mac App Store Best of 2013
Everyone needs to edit images at some point, but not everyone has the time to learn complicated super pricey image editing programs. This is why we created Acorn. Add text and shapes to your digital pictures. Combine images together to create your own. Work with layers to touch up your favorite photos or make something new from scratch. Do all this and more with Acorn.
Speed: Acorn 4 is a lot faster than its predecessors. And applying filters to large images is a snap.
Layer Styles and Non-Destructive Filters: Acorn has all of the filters you're looking for, and even includes a great interface to chain filters together to create unique effects. You can even save and modify your filters after you've closed and re-opened your Acorn image.
Curves and Levels: Use Acorn 4's new curves window and levels sliders to quickly adjust the color balance in your images.
Layers: Use layers and blending modes to make the most of photo editing 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.
Tutorials and Documentation: Acorn comes with online documentation, tutorials, and a forum, so you don't have to learn by yourself.
Text: Acorn's text tools give you control over text while maintaining an easy to use interface. Everything is in the text palette from bold and italic to kern and ligature. There's even spell check. Convert your text into a Bezier Path to take it to the next level. Since Acorn's text tool uses OS X’s native text engine, you get full Unicode support.
Drawing: Acorn features brushes that let you draw, scribble, and sketch right on your image. Use a track pad, mouse, or even a tablet. Create your own brushes using Acorn's built in brush designer.
Erasing: Powerful eraser tools like Instant Alpha and eraser brushes make removing unwanted areas of your image both fast and fun.
Layer Masks: Use layer masks in your image to block out unwanted areas or to expose layers below.
Gradients: Acorn's multi-stop gradients place endless combinations of colors at your fingertips. Add and remove colors simply by dragging and dropping them in and out of the gradient preview window.
Vector Shapes: Acorn makes creating shapes in your image a breeze. Vector shapes let you make squares, circles and lines, and you keep the flexibility to change things later on. Add and subtract points from Bezier paths and rotate your shapes with the flick of a wrist. And if that wasn't enough- Acorn 4 introduces intersect, union, exclusion, and difference operations on selected shapes.
Screenshots: As long as Acorn is open, press the Command-Shift-6 keys while in any application. Acorn will make a screenshot of your entire screen. Your image will be brought into Acorn immediately, ready for work.
Selections: Make selections, invert them, feather, and even add a corner radius. Use Quick Mask mode for intricate selections. Or, if you're looking to quickly select an entire color, try using the Magic Wand.
Web Export: 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 export file size and lets you compare the compressed version to the original.
Photoshop Files: Acorn now offers improved support for loading PSD images, and for exporting your images as layered Photoshop files.
Performance: Acorn goes all the way up to 64. Bits that is. Faster performance means less time spent waiting and more time for creating.
Automate and Script Acorn: Automate Acorn using Automator, AppleScript, and even JavaScript by way of JSTalk. And there are plenty of examples for you to build on. You can even write custom plugins for Acorn using the Python scripting language, JavaScript, as well as Objective-C.
