LiveQuartz Changelog

What's new in LiveQuartz 2.9.12

Jul 11, 2023
  • Fixing an Undo / Redo regression that appeared since Ventura.

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.11 (Jun 29, 2023)

  • Compiled for macOS 13 Ventura, still compatible from macOS 10.13 (High Sierra)

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.9 (Feb 13, 2022)

  • Fixing a regression on at least macOS 10.13 and probably 10.14 where the 2.9.8 update broke the Shadow filter.

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.8 (Feb 6, 2022)

  • Fixing a regression with Monterey that was causing text layers size to be reseted when opening the edit popover.

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.7 (Jan 3, 2022)

  • Fixing Monterey regressions:
  • Shadow filters
  • Non rectangle selection "crop" button

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.5 (May 18, 2021)

  • Same as 2.9.4 but built with Xcode 12.4 instead of 12.5 to resolve a dynamic library crash on macOS 10.11, 10.12 and 10.13

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.4 (May 16, 2021)

  • New Features:
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur » Text Layer Editor:
  • Text background color setting
  • More precise font size setting
  • Text settings hints (moving the mouse over UI elements gives a small help)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Precise filter parameter popover is back

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.3 (Apr 19, 2021)

  • New Features:
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Back to a Popover for Text Layer Editing with a text style editor written in SwiftUI
  • Now, you can preview the fonts directly in the Menu
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixing Filters rendering of text layers when opening a document
  • Fixing an undo / redo bug after undoing trackpad gestures
  • Fixing minimal vertical height of the Filter picker on older macOS versions (thanks to Tom for the great feedback)
  • Still not fixed:
  • Pixels are not displayed correctly when rendering at more than 100%, at least with some graphic cards, due to an AppKit image Interpolation bug in macOS Big Sur (#FB8570894). Sorry for this but this is out of my control. I hope that a future update of Big Sure will solve this one and will continue to ask Apple some help.

New in LiveQuartz 2.9.2 (Nov 25, 2020)

  • Compiled for Apple Silicon (does not need Rosetta to run)
  • Better Text layer editing on Big Sur

New in LiveQuartz 2.9 (Nov 9, 2020)

  • New Features:
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Minor UI changes for Big Sur compatibility
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Status bar remains visible in Full Screen mode
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: New full window text editor (due to compatibility problems on Big Sur, I had to redo the Text Edit settings without a popover)
  • Bigger previews in Filter picker
  • Bug fixes:
  • File size preview problem in export dialog
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Full screen having a disappearing toolbar
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: App hang when trying to export
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Window’s top right controls impossible to click
  • macOS 11 « Big Sur »: Sharing Extension hang
  • Notes:
  • Pixels are not displayed correctly when rendering at more than 100%, at least with some graphic cards, due to an image Interpolation bug in macOS Big Sur (#FB8570894).
  • LiveQuartz is not yet optimised for Apple Silicon so it will use Rosetta to run on Apple Silicon Macs until a later version ships with native support.

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.7 (Jan 8, 2020)

  • Features:
  • Using the magnifying glass while doing a multi-clic selection with lasso is now possible
  • Bug fixes:
  • Background grid display issues are now fixed.
  • Fixing Command-Alt behaviour (move and cut)

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.6 (Dec 8, 2019)

  • Features:
  • New Affine Tile filter
  • New Inner Shadow parameter available on shadow filter. This could be a great effect on Text layers. (be careful when sharing
  • LiveQuartz documents: a document having a shadow filter from 2.8.6 and beyond will not open on older LiveQuartz’s versions)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Filter tool is now disabled when a disabled layer is selected or if its filter is disabled.
  • Layers having transform and filters generating images of infinite size (example: Tile filters) were not rendered correctly due to cache issues. This is a partial bug fix. The final image is not affected by these bugs.
  • The filter tool (spirale) point position was not refreshed after changing the window zoom.
  • With certain filters needing images as parameters, the composition image was not refreshed after dropping images to the parameter setting.

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.5 (Apr 23, 2019)

  • Bug fixes and optimizations:
  • Disabled optimizations on big layers (more than 100 millions pixels) having filters to avoid using too much memory
  • Fixed a bad layer flattening when using background eraser or paint bucket on a layer having geometry filters
  • Update to Swift 5
  • Crash after closing and opening document window is fixed

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.3 (Jan 28, 2019)

  • New Features:
  • New "LiveQuartz Store" with multiple subscription durations (only one on a macOS before 10.13.2). This gives more choice. Longer the subscription period is, cheaper it will be in the long run!
  • Note: "Unlimited" in-app purchase is still available.
  • Bug fixes and optimisations:
  • Small speed increase when using brush, eraser and duplication tool
  • More speed when using background eraser and paint bucket (gain could be better on macOS 10.13 and 10.14)
  • More speed when using filter tool (gain could be better on macOS 10.13 and 10.14)
  • Background eraser bug fixed (wrong reference color)
  • Fixing CISpotLight filter

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.2 (Jan 7, 2019)

  • Fixes a crash when adding a new text layer on macOS 10.13 and higher

New in LiveQuartz 2.8.1 (Jan 7, 2019)

  • Fixes reduced resolution when dragging images from Apple Photos
  • Fixes a layer position issue when copy/pasting a selection having progressive borders

New in LiveQuartz 2.8 (Dec 4, 2018)

  • New Features:
  • In Edit menu, the latest selection can be restored
  • As it is similar, the brand new “Paint Bucket” is available by choosing the background eraser tool with ‘alt’ key pressed
  • Drag and Drop of text layers is now possible (Previously, it would have converted the layer to a pixel image layer)
  • Default corner input points for certain transform filters now default to the current position of the corners (example: “Perspective Correction” filter)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Drag and drop of layers and filters between two LiveQuartz documents is back on Mojave
  • Fixing an issue on certain configuration with painting tools on Mojave (pencil and duplication tool)
  • Scrolling with input devices like the magic mouse is disabled while using tools to avoid wired behaviour
  • Fixing an english localisation issue in filter picker
  • Fixing a layer size issue with background eraser when using a selection

New in LiveQuartz 2.7.2 (Nov 5, 2018)

  • Version 2.7.2 fixes a crash on macOS 10.14 Mojave when exporting to PDF and another one when taking a photo.

New in LiveQuartz 2.7.1 (Oct 1, 2018)

  • Fixes some Dark Mode and Continuous Camera issues.

New in LiveQuartz 2.7 (Sep 24, 2018)

  • New Features (macOS Mojave):
  • Dark Mode support
  • Linear gradient tool uses a better quality filter to generate the gradient image
  • New native dialog asking for an App Store review that will be displayed sometimes after exporting an image
  • Continuous camera support (‘ctrl’-clic or right clic on the layers’ list)
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixing a sandbox issue preventing to import scanner or camera images on certain configurations
  • Prevent from a possible hang when opening documents (while building layer previews)
  • Fixing a crash preventing QuickLook to work properly
  • On Mojave, fixing a refresh issue when removing filters
  • On Mojave, fixing a bug preventing to change order of layers or filters with drag and drop

New in LiveQuartz 2.6.1 (Jun 19, 2018)

  • Fixes two bugs that were preventing from exporting a PDF or printing a document with version 2.6.

New in LiveQuartz 2.6 (Jun 11, 2018)

  • Features:
  • Better performance when scrolling and window resizing thanks to use of core animation layer backed views (we are still working on some performance enhancements for future updates)
  • Now, at least on Sierra, you can drag and drop one are several photos from Apple Photos app to LiveQuartz
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixing a bug with alpha introduced with filters optimisation in 2.5.21
  • More efficient file size estimation
  • Known issue:
  • A bug in macOS prevents from exporting images of 1 pixel line or 1 pixel row in HEIF

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.23 (Apr 3, 2018)

  • Export in HEIF new file format available on macOS High Sierra 10.13.4
  • Updated tutorial video
  • Images are now clamped before the Blur filters are applied (to avoid problems on the edges)
  • Set of filters has been restricted to only include usable filters
  • With LiveQuartz 2.5.23, macOS 10.10 is not supported anymore

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.22 (Feb 16, 2018)

  • Share extension: Now you can export images to LiveQuartz from any app supporting the "Sharing" popup menu.
  • Just add LiveQuartz to the list of share extensions in macOS preferences.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.21 (Jan 29, 2018)

  • Less performance issues when working with big layers having multiple filters.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.19 (Jan 18, 2018)

  • Right and left mouse clicks are handled correctly with tools.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.18 (Sep 25, 2017)

  • LiveQuartz now supports macOS High Sierra.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.17 (Jun 14, 2017)

  • Limited support to the MacBook Pro Touch Bar (basic tools picker and sharing)
  • Some bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.15 (Feb 1, 2017)

  • New "Crop Layer" button to apply a selection to mask the selected layers (was previously available in the layer contextual menu)
  • New Video tutorial in the help window

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.14 (Jan 12, 2017)

  • Rewritten Camera and Scanner Import panel in Swift 3 only for Sierra (this should fix some bugs)

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.13 (Nov 29, 2016)

  • Sierra: Fixing issues when importing from scanners
  • Sierra: Disabling re-open workaround on Save-As
  • Fixing not visible tool settings on initial tool selection

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.12 (Oct 19, 2016)

  • Bug fixes.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.11 (Oct 3, 2016)

  • Conversion of the swift code to Swift 3
  • Better layout of export panel

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.10 (Sep 21, 2016)

  • Fixed regression: Filter tool visual feedback is back.
  • Ready for macOS Sierra.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.9 (Apr 11, 2016)

  • Bug fixes.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.8 (Mar 22, 2016)

  • 2 crashes fixed

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.7 (Mar 5, 2016)

  • Fixing a crash that could occur when adding a text layer
  • Re-written Filter picker on El Capitan to avoid crashes and bugs

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.6 (Feb 19, 2016)

  • Bug fixes on El Captain
  • Bug fixes for painting tools
  • Fixes a certificate issue

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.5 (Feb 15, 2016)

  • Bug fixes on El Captain
  • Bug fixes for painting tools

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.4 (Nov 13, 2015)

  • Fixes a bug about text tool not opening text popover when selected layer is not visible.

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.3 (Sep 15, 2015)

  • Fixes major bug on El Capitan with the drawing engine due to a regression in Core Image
  • Fixes too low resolution QuickLook Thumbnails
  • HockeyApp Mac crash reporting updated to version 3.1

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.2 (May 5, 2015)

  • Bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.5.1 (Apr 17, 2015)

  • Fixes a regression when drawing the selection
  • Brush live cursor more visible when small
  • The "shift" key can also be used on the polygonal lasso

New in LiveQuartz 2.5 (Apr 10, 2015)

  • New Ellipse Selection tool:
  • Enhanced Lasso Selection tool with two modes : classical behavior by using it as usual (click and drag and release the mouse to close the selection) OR the new polygonal mode where you do some successive clicks to define segments of the polygon. You close the selection path with the “ Close ” button or with the “ return ” key (“ esc ” key is here to cancel the selection)
  • New selections settings to apply a blur effect on the selection borders (no blur effect by default)
  • Layer crop (available in the layer contextual menu by doing a right click on selected layers in the layer’s list) is now possible to any types of selection. This gives new basic masking capabilities to LiveQuartz (rectangle, elliptic, lasso and polygonal masking with progressive borders in option).
  • Redesigned rectangle selections resizing knobs
  • Better feedback about the tool size values and more precise tool size settings for small sizes (the slider uses a logarithmic slider)
  • Painting tools now have dynamic sized cursors to show the tool shape
  • Arrow tool (layer dragging) could be constrained to a line or vertical move with the “ ⇧ ” key
  • Rectangle selections could be constrained to squares with the “ ⇧ ” key
  • Ellipse selections could be constrained to circles with the “ ⇧ ” key
  • Fixes a bug with undo grouping on some drawing tools
  • Fixes a bug with cursors when we have selections
  • Fixes a bug with the background eraser when using it by clicking on a non opaque color

New in LiveQuartz 2.4.4 (Jan 13, 2015)

  • Bug fixes:
  • In certain conditions, layer and filter parameter settings popovers were having no selection.
  • In certain conditions (for example when trying to undo while using a tool), exceptions and crashes could occur with the undo manager.
  • Crash with certain languages when opening help
  • Bug when importing multiple photos from a camera

New in LiveQuartz 2.4.3 (Dec 12, 2014)

  • fixes a layer image key value observing bug
  • fixes a bug when deleting a non selected layer via the layer contextual menu

New in LiveQuartz 2.4.2 (Dec 2, 2014)

  • fixes crashes when image resize textfields are empty
  • fixes number format localization problems
  • fixes key value observing bugs when using layer and filter details popovers
  • fixes quicklook preview bug

New in LiveQuartz 2.4.1 (Nov 13, 2014)

  • New version of crash Reporter HockeyApp 2.1
  • Fixes a crash due to a regression on Core Image when drawing the background grid of big images

New in LiveQuartz 2.4 (Oct 20, 2014)

  • Fully supports OS X 10.10 Yosemite with lot's of bug fixes
  • New iSight camera capture Panel rewritten in Swift language (cmd-shift-O)
  • Now LiveQuartz always opens images as rhif files.
  • Popovers can now be detached.
  • Note : 2.4 and higher will not support anymore versions of OS X prior to Yosemite. If your system is on Lion, Mountain Lion or Mavericks, you can download 2.3.3 from the Mac App Store.

New in LiveQuartz 2.3.3 (Oct 17, 2014)

  • Fix data loss and crashes when doing "Save As" or "Duplicate" and "Rename" on OSX 10.9.

New in LiveQuartz 2.3.2 (Sep 5, 2014)

  • Bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.3.1 (May 10, 2014)

  • To cycle between tools, 'tab' key replaces 'alt-'tab'.
  • Color is fixed when adding a text layer.

New in LiveQuartz 2.3 (Apr 30, 2014)

  • New Color Picker Tool (accessible with 'alt' key)
  • Scrolling Tool removed

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.9 (Mar 11, 2014)

  • Bug Fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.8 (Feb 27, 2014)

  • Undo / Redo bugs on layers and tools fixed

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.5 (Jan 25, 2014)

  • Add compatibility code to be able to open near 100% of LiveQuartz 1.9 compatible "rhif" files (LiveQuartz image format)
  • Opening images creates a "rhif" by default instead of opening the original image file (could be changed in preferences)

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.4 (Jan 22, 2014)

  • Fix two major issues when duplicating documents :
  • wal journal files were created
  • a crash was occurring

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.3 (Dec 21, 2013)

  • HockeyApp added for more precise crash reporting

New in LiveQuartz 2.2.1 (Oct 10, 2013)

  • Bug fixed when exporting an image.

New in LiveQuartz 2.2 (Sep 2, 2013)

  • Some UI Bugs are fixed (window size problem in "versions" is fixed, etc)
  • Major bug when using Magic Eraser with selections is fixed
  • Larger rounded corners are now possible when drawing rectangles
  • Bigger maximum size of tools
  • New background Grid Guide size settings in preferences
  • New image scroll view background with a shadow (easier to see grey and black images)
  • More intuitive behavior of all the application when working on layers having filters. For example when using the eraser. The visible filters are automatically merged into the layer. If you want to keep some filters, disable them before making your changes to the layer.
  • Symmetry filter names fixed
  • New notification the first time we open a non rhif file to explain that saving it is destructive
  • Text Layer crop (layer's contextual menu)

New in LiveQuartz 2.1.3 (Jul 20, 2013)

  • Lion : fixes the crash of LiveQuartz on startup
  • Mountain Lion : avoid a crash when "moving" non RHIF files by proposing a save as rhif option instead

New in LiveQuartz 2.1.2 (Jul 11, 2013)

  • Bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.1.1 (Apr 24, 2013)

  • Fixes Drag & Drop image on layers bug
  • Fix a rare crash when opening native files

New in LiveQuartz 2.1 (Apr 11, 2013)

  • New actions available in layers' contextual menu : 'cut', 'copy' and 'crop'.
  • 'Crop' a layer is new in LiveQuartz. Before, only cropping a selection on all the document was possible. Now, you can crop image layers individually or by group. To be able to crop, you must select a rectangle with the selection tool and right clic or ctrl-click on the layer or the selected layers. Note that, as this action removes pixels that are outside the crop rectangle, this could be a technique to reduce memory usage and 'rhif' file size.
  • Drag and drop of filters to copy them to another layer of the same document or to another layer (or filters) of another document. So now, you can easily reuse your best filters by keeping all there custom parameters.
  • New lighter User Interface when entering "Versions" history on Mountain Lion
  • Limits on Layer name, image size, layer size and layer positions removed to avoid confusing errors with AutoSaving
  • Major Bug fixed when opening LiveQuartz 1 files
  • Cleaner way to handle migrations to version 2 when opening LiveQuartz 1 files. In LiveQuartz 2.0.x, files were moved into the sandbox. Now in LiveQuartz 2.1, a backup of the original file is put into LiveQuartz's sandbox but the migrated file (the one we use) does not move.
  • More robust handling of errors when opening files
  • Refresh bugs fixed when canceling or redoing actions on filters

New in LiveQuartz 2.0.3 (Dec 19, 2012)

  • Bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.0.2 (Nov 6, 2012)

  • New option in preferences to open all images as a native LiveQuartz document
  • Auto-resizable text layer settings popover
  • Status bar potential layout problem fixed
  • Bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 2.0.1 (Oct 20, 2012)

  • Bug fix on Lion when adding a new filter.
  • Retina Display support status : Tools' bugs are fixed. Support of ‘Retina image editing’ is 100% complete.
  • Layer settings' popover opens at the left if possible.
  • 24bit image export corruption fixed.

New in LiveQuartz 2.0 (Aug 28, 2012)

  • Built for Mountain Lion and Lion
  • «Sandbox» support
  • Full Screen support
  • Simplified and more modern UI with more contextual informations
  • New text layer UI (full text editor per text layer with rich text editing and alignment settings, etc)
  • More standard Filters added (110+ filters available)
  • Sharing popover menu support to export to popular social web sites like Twitter, Flickr, Email, AirDrop, Message and very soon : Facebook (only on Mountain Lion)
  • Auto Save support (only on Mountain Lion)
  • Versions support (only on Mountain Lion)
  • Updated file format RHIF
  • New «Export» menu to export a LiveQuartz image to popular image file formats (it replaces "Save As...")
  • Retina Display support status : Critical bugs are fixed but some tools' bugs remain (drawing tools and selections). Graphical User Interface is 90% ready for Retina Display. Support of ‘Retina image editing’ will be enhanced in next releases.
  • After adding a multiple pages PDF as a layer, we can choose the page in layer settings popover.
  • Precise positioning of layers
  • Possible to fill a layer with current color
  • QuickLook plug-in bug fixes
  • More stable Import from Device and Scanner UI (only on Mountain Lion)

New in LiveQuartz 1.9.7 (Feb 22, 2012)

  • "Take a picture" picker is back to its standard size
  • Some bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 1.9.6 (Jul 7, 2011)

  • bug fixes

New in LiveQuartz 1.9 (Jan 26, 2010)

  • A Snow Leopard only release. Older versions remain available on the web site.
  • Various Bug fixes and GrandCentralDispatch optimizations on Snow Leopard
  • Faster quit and better use of multiple CPUs
  • New «Flip» transformations added in geometry filter category (Horizontal and Vertical)
  • New «Shadow» filter added in stylize filter category
  • Better localization of filter parameters (with full explanation in the filter parameter panel)
  • Filters are represented in their order : top to bottom
  • Layer display offset bug resolved on transformed layers that have some filters
  • Pixel accurate image display and pixel accurate drawing when working precisely on pixels (except when using scale and rotation transformations or text)
  • Rewritten and fixed drawing tools
  • Rounded corner rectangle drawing tools
  • «Import from device…» added to import from scanners, digital cameras, iphones, etc...
  • «New from Clipboard…» menu added
  • New option on saving as flat image formats to keep alpha for the background or not
  • Window last position is saved
  • Pasting an image selection now pastes it at the same place as the original

New in LiveQuartz 1.8.4 (Oct 2, 2009)

  • Bug fixes on Snow Leopard : Opening of pdf files.

New in LiveQuartz 1.8.2 (Mar 31, 2009)

  • Intel 64 bit binary added ! Now LiveQuartz will run in 64 bit if you have at least MacOS 10.5.6 on a Core2Duo or better processor. If not, it will run in 32 bit Intel on an Intel processor and in 32 bit PowerPC on a PowerPC processor.
  • Japanese Localization.
  • Preferences for default color and default font.
  • New more simple livequartz-update system.

New in LiveQuartz 1.8.1 (Jun 9, 2008)

  • New behaviour of drawing and gradient tools : By default, LiveQuartz is not creating a new layer each time you use the tool anymore (if you like the old behaviour, you can get it by typing this in the �terminal� application : �defaults write com.rhapsoft.livequartz IMDrawingWithoutMerging YES�).
  • LiveQuartz keeps the current selected tool after drawing.
  • With �shift� key pressed, rectangle and oval tools keep proportions 1:1. And with �shift� key pressed, the line tool steps 45�.
  • When choosing �Save as�� to a standard image file format, you can see a preview of final file size.
  • A file opening bug has been fixed (when there are empty layers)
  • A very old bug with display of �lasso� selection doing some pauses is fixed
  • �RHIF� Spotlight plug-in bug fix
  • 1.8.1 only for MacOS 10.5.3 because LQ has some hanging issues on PowerPC with 10.5.2

New in LiveQuartz 1.8 (Apr 17, 2008)

  • LiveQuartz handles multi-touchs (with compatible trackpads) : swipe (tools choice and selected layer choice), rotation (layer rotation) and magnifying (magnification and layer zoom transformation)
  • New free line drawing tool (click on the line tool sub-menu to choose it)
  • New standard Leopard filter picker with bookmarks ("Collections")
  • Background eraser's action can be restricted by a selection
  • More logical merging of layers : Now, only selected layers are merged
  • Global image resize is finally possible !
  • New tool settings user interface (only tools available for the current tool are displayed)
  • New line width setting for drawing tool
  • PDFs, text and drawing layers are correctly rendered (as long as we do not alter their content or use filters on them)
  • New "Take a picture" menu to use the standard picture taker of Leopard
  • Lots of bug fixes
  • Memory usage optimisations
  • Faster launch times
  • Faster QuickLook plug-in (RHIF format)
  • QuartzGL (Faster display system) is available in preferences but is not enabled by default because there are too many display issues yet