LiveQuartz is a powerful free image editor based on layers and Core Image filters

Originally downloaded 4/25/06. There are now three image editors in my review queue that leverage Apple’s Core Image technology with its extensible plug-in architecture and Quartz Composer chops—ChocoFlop, Image Tricks, and LiveQuartz. All are free—though Image Tricks has a $15 “Pro” version as well—and there may be more that I haven’t tried yet. If you’ve used Apple’s free CoreImage Fun House app that comes with the Developer Tools, you have some idea how these image filters work.

Update 7/10/07. I’ve been testing these various Core Image effects editors for some time now, and actually completed my roundup of the lot in the Spring. I just haven’t had time to publish the results yet… In a quick summary, Mac users are extremely fortunate to have such a wealth of useful, free image processing software. And the reason it’s so plentiful and free is that Apple built Core Image into Mac OS X as a service that can be used by any application.

Of the free tools out there, I’ve settled on using LiveQuartz, thanks to a combination of its feature set and user interface. Both make the process of piling effects on top of one another and moving them around very simple. You also get powerful image layering, which you can use in addition to the effects layers. Finally, LiveQuartz gives you some rudimentary vector drawing tools that’s icing on the cake. These features really set LiveQuartz apart from another leading contender in this space (which is also very good), ImageTricks.

Here’s my brief list of pros and cons for LiveQuartz:

Version as tested: 1.6.4.