I like many parts of this app but I really hate that oversized toolbox. I'm constantly fiddling with this damn toolbox. Moving it to the other side, opening it, closing it, half hiding it on the side etc. I think on the small screens of MacBooks this is quite a serious flaw.

I'm a Pixelmator guy, but I like Acorn very much. People who write it isn't as powerful as Pixelmator just haven't played around with it enough. There are some things Pixelmator does better, and some where Acorn has the edge.

I think it depends how you use the app. For me, Pixelmator is great because I usually work on a 13" screen, so I don't have much screen estate. With Acorn, I am less flexible because of the big main tool palette, and every time I want to use a filter, another Window pops up showing me a preview of the effect, so I can't see the picture behind it (which changes in real time too). However, I have tried Acorn on an iMac, and wow, that is so cool.

The other special thing about Acorn is the very clean, tidy interface where all the tools are like in one toolbox, everything on its place. Some like that, some don't. I'm more of a chaotic guy when it comes to creativity, so I prefer the sometimes messy, cluttered but fluid interface of Pixelmator, but I have friends who like Acorns interface better.

Same with the effects. Unlike Pixelmator, Acorn has layer effects, so you can tweak the effects during your work, and adjust them at any time, non-destructive. There is also the nice (above mentioned) filter window, where you can combine as many filters as you like until you decide how you want it. You can also save that as layer styles. Cool stuff, but depends what kind of guy you are; for me, that ends in a never ending series of tweaking so I never settle on a solution – for me, the limited functionality in Pixelmator is better suited, where I have to decide for a filter and boom! it's there and I can't really change it later. I also like to merge layers and forget about it. This way I put more effort in working precisely, taking decisions.

Well, everyone is different, and there is lots of great functionality in Acorn. Don't believe those "Pixelmator is much better"-comments, that is non-sense. Before you decide for one or the other app, give both a fair chance, do some work with those, so you can find what app covers your workflow the best, what features you really need.

Sorry, it's a long review, but one more thing I have to mention: the developer is very, very responsive, and really nice and understanding, it's like a dream. If you have a good feature request, it will be heard and implemented as soon as possible. You won't see that with Pixelmator (which has albeit the larger community, more tutorials and stuff).

Anyway, have fun testing those apps!

I hope that this update works.

• Fixed a problem with certain blend modes and shape layers.
• Layer styles are now scaled when you resize your image.
Thank you! :-)

I'm still finding the layer styles a little difficult to work with. I think if there was an easier way to enable/disable the layer style (maybe add more buttons to the bottom of the palette) and to delete an effect from the styles window (say, with the delete key or maybe cmd+delete) then it would be a great improvement.

Acorn 3 doesn't look different compared to Acorn 2, but it has a lot more under the hood. My favorite new feature is the layered screen capture; I see lots of use for that in the future. Great work Flying Meat, keep up the awesome work!

Only suggestion I wish for would be the option to resize a selection, but I'm sure that can come in an update.

Version 2.3 runs super sloooooooow on my computer. So slow, in fact, that is unusable (eg. it takes several seconds for a brush stroke to draw itself on the screen, then several seconds for the cursor to change to an arrow when over the tools palette, etc.).

Could be that v. 2.3 requires a better graphics card than my laptop possesses (Late 2007 13" MacBook 2.2 Ghz. core 2 duo), but down-grading to v. 2.2.1 brings the program back to normal operation.

Before placing a bad review I thought I'd describe my problem.

I registered this application as a possible "lighter" alternative to photoshop elements for simple editing and layer work. The problem is that the program on my Dual Core 2.3GHz G5 is incapable of pasting a photo on to a layer and then resize it to fill the work area. Photoshop Elements has the Place function, which this lacks, and can do this task in under a minute of work. Acorn goes in to spinning beach ball mode and never comes out.

I really like the looks of this application and registered it based on a few simple tasks, but if it cannot handle a few layers I will need to post another review.