5 Ways Acorn Is A Photoshop Killer At 1/12th The Cost

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KISS Method

Acorn uses the Keep It Simple, Simon method of software development. Palettes can up opened or closed with a tab key. All the tools go into a single palette so the screen is uncluttered.

After all, what do you really want from a Mac image editor? Speed, tools, ease of use, enough capability.

Speedy Layers

On the right Mac, OS X Snow Leopard is speedy. Acorn takes advantage of Snowy’s 64-bit capability and runs in 64-bit mode, where appropriate. That means more speed.

Acorn can also use your Mac’s graphic processor unit (assuming you have a speedy GPU) for enhanced performance. More speed. Less waiting.

Did I fail to mention layers? That’s what makes Photoshop so cool—the ability to layer in effect after effect, filter after filter, layer after layer, blending objects and text and yet never contaminating your beautiful image.

Acorn does layers. And filters. And text.

Filters, Shapes, Text, Oh My!

Putting text into a layer makes it easy to drop into a creative image. Acorn’s text tools do the basics like bold and italics, and a little more, including ligature and kerning. And spell checking.

For me, vector graphics are a must because I build graphics for presentations. Acorn does vector shapes which lets you come back to the layer and make changes to borders, colors, sizes, shapes, without all that messy bitmap destruction issue.

Filters can be chained together for special effects. No, it’s not Photoshops gargantuan list of filters and effects, but, hey, we’re talking 1/12th price tag.

Selection tools also have that Photoshop flair—invert, feather, add a radius to a corner, select an entire color. There’s even a Magic Wand to produce rapid changes here and there, or, use selections to enhance filters and controls.

Suprises!!

What would a little acorn of an image editor be without a few built-in surprises that make the package worth more than 1/12th the Photoshop price?

Can you say Screenshots? Command-Shift-6 and Acorn snaps your Mac’s whole screen. Cool, huh? Oh, wait. That’s already built-in to Mac OS X, right? What are there, twenty eleven different utilities and keystroke combinations to take a screen shot?

Web Export helps to reduce the size of an image before exporting so it downloads faster on a web site. Acorn has a JSTalk scripting capability built-in. Javascript rules. Except when it doesn’t.

One thing I like about Acorn that is different than Photoshop and Pixelmator is the palette arrangement. Tools are mostly on a single palette rather than scattered over seventeen nine palettes hiding here and there.

One More Thing™

You know that 1/12th Photoshop price comparison? Try this instead. Acorn works in full feature mode for the trial period, but has a free mode, too. You lose a few features here and there, but you can still use Acorn’s basic features. Take that, Adobe.

I love bargains. I love Mac apps and utilities that do more for less, that leave you pleasantly surprised, rather than scratching your head and wondering which Dummies book to buy next.

Flying Meat’s Acorn is a nifty little image editor that truly feels like it was made for mere mortals, for humans, for bargain hunters, and for any Mac user not desirous of willing a portion of your belongings to Adobe for the price of Photoshop.