Core Image Fun House
Monday, 18 July 2005
Am I just behind, or is Core Image Fun House the coolest thing ever?
With Core Image, Apple has basically built Photoshop into the OS, except that all of the filters are real-time. If you’re on Tiger, install the Developer Tools (on the Tiger install DVD) and go into /Developer/Applications/Graphics Tools/.
My favourite so far is the Glass Lozenge distortion filter; try combining it with Torus Lens Distortion. Wicked cool.
Granted, it’s just a demo, and a number of the filters are frankly toys, but don’t be deceived; there are also serious tools like text overlay (with Apple’s legendary typography control), perspective correction and numerous options for correction of colour and exposure.
I’m just curious as to how long it is before we start seeing CI-based apps; how much effort is it going to take to build an Open-Source Photoshop (or at least ImageReady) killer on top of it?