Compositor 3.4

Compositor lets you process and enhance your pictures with artistic effects. In this respect, apart from basic editing tools, the application comes with an amazing collection of filters.

If you have used similar editors before, you will not find this one difficult to use. Still, there is a well-structured help document should you need to look for answers to any question.

The interface of this graphic editor is not composed of a single window. Instead, there is a series of floating panels. Three different modes are supported. Thus, in Tool Mode, you can have access to all the tools available. This means that, together with the canvas, the Tools Palette, the Brush Controls and the Colors Palette are visible. Likewise, the Frame Mode is used for frequent editing operations while the Mat Mode allows you to crop and see the selected region of a picture at any time.

The Tools Palette lets you use common selection and drawing tools, like Paint Bucket, Lasso, Pencil, Eraser and Magic Wand. Moreover, you can use Brush Controls and the Colors Palette to customize their actions, for instance, by choosing a given stroke and color.

One of my favorite features is the availability of a wide range of effects. This way, giving the original picture an artistic appearance is just a matter of a few clicks. In this regard, it supports a long list of painting styles. But that is not all, you can also apply other more common filters, such as color sharpening, blurring, and distorting.

Luckily, there is a History that allows you to track your action down to a given point. What is more, you can also have the possibility to save snapshots of your project. Regrettably, it does not allow to compare the results obtained so far with the initial picture without needing to undo all your actions. Once you have finished, you can export your work is any of various popular image formats, like JPEG, PNG and TIFF.

All in all, Compositor is a versatile image editor that supports from most common to more sophisticated operations. It is a shame that no new versions have been released since 2016, which means that it has not been optimized to work on the most recent macOS versions. The product can be used for free, donations are encouraged, though.