LiveQuartz
Simple and Powerful
Only for Mac
$3.99
A simple and powerful photo editor for the Mac.
It is based on non destructive layers and filters. The layers are at the left and the filters are at the right of the window. To edit a photo, just drag it into the window (or layers’ list) and it will be added as a new layer. LiveQuartz supports Multi-Touch Gestures Multi-Touch.
VIDEO : https://www.youtube.com/embed/u7wFC1NU_xE?si=FNm7lweo6Zvq5864
FAQ : http://livequartz.fr.yuku.com/forums/1/FAQ/FAQ
TWITTER : @livequartz
“As a product manager I constantly need to communicate my ideas visually but I lack the time, attention and motivation to learn something like Photoshop. I downloaded LiveQuartz Lite and was manipualting images and creating new content within minutes. I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger on the upgrade to the Unlimited version and more than happy that I did. I’ve since encouraged my non technical friends and my kids to use it and have seen the same results.Highly recommended.” - BobKattt (2.3.2)
“I enjoy Mac style Apps because they make artistic sense to me. I like to have as little math, tangent calculations, and non creative tasks involved when I am creating artwork and graphic design projects. With LiveQuartz, pencils act like pencils, and brushes brush. Actions are smooth and simple as putting a pen to paper. The layers behave magically and the various composites and photo effects are fluid and intuitive. Each time I use this program, I find new tools and combinations that help add to the fun of creating. Great program.” - Phil Seymour (2.0.3)
TOOLS
• "Layer moving tool"
• "Brush"
• "Duplication tool"
• "Drawing tools" (lines, rectangles, rounded corners rectangles, ovals)
• "Gradient tools"
• "Rich Text tool"
• "Eraser tool"
• "Background eraser and Paint Bucket tools"
• "Filter effect tool"
• "Color Picker tool"
• "Rectangle Selection tool"
• "Ellipse Selection tool"
• "Lasso / Polygonal lasso tool"
• "Magnifying glass"
IMAGE FORMATS
• Native non destructive format : rhif (RHapsoft Image Format, sqlite based)
• Read / Export formats : pdf, heif, png, jpeg, jpeg2000, tiff, tga, gif, bmp, OpenEXR
• Read only formats :
raw, photoshop (merged layers), icns, sgi, Windows ico, Windows cursor, FlashPix, MacPaint, QuickTime Import Format, Radiance, XWindow bitmap
FILTERS
Standard Core Image Filters + Shadow filter + "Flip" geometry filter
more I missed the old Image Composer program from Microsoft back in the day. This is a good replacement. It is all about layers; on each layer, you can do all sorts of filters, adjustments, and sizing. You can cut things out and paste them as a new layer. It is perfect for constructing an image from pieces taken from other photographs. It isn’t really about making vignettes from your cat pictures, it is about assembling elements into a new image, for what ever purpose. Try arranging your cats under a picture of a christmas tree - you can do that with this.
I missed the old Image Composer program from Microsoft back in the day. This is a good replacement. It is all about layers; on each layer, you can do all sorts of filters, adjustments, and sizing. You can cut things out and paste them as a new layer. It is perfect for constructing an image from pieces taken from other photographs. It isn’t really about making vignettes from your cat pictures, it is about assembling elements into a new image, for what ever purpose. Try arranging your cats under a picture of a christmas tree - you can do that with this.
I have been using this app since 2009. It receives updates on the regular. It has a ton of basic tools and lets you put together a lot of nice images. The app is lightweight but does punch above its weight compared to most other editors. Everything the app does, it does very well… which is rare but well worth the price tag.
I have been using this app since 2009. It receives updates on the regular. It has a ton of basic tools and lets you put together a lot of nice images. The app is lightweight but does punch above its weight compared to most other editors. Everything the app does, it does very well… which is rare but well worth the price tag.
I've made all kinds of art and social media posts with Live Quartz. It's a simple program, but that's what I appreciate about it. Other Apps like Canva and Photoshop are way too big- like i'm driving a battleship to work each day. Live Q is simple, easy, and so far has been able to do everything I need.
I've made all kinds of art and social media posts with Live Quartz. It's a simple program, but that's what I appreciate about it. Other Apps like Canva and Photoshop are way too big- like i'm driving a battleship to work each day. Live Q is simple, easy, and so far has been able to do everything I need.
My wish list would be a quicker way to select a single item in a layer or image. Something similar to the magnetic lasso tool
My wish list would be a quicker way to select a single item in a layer or image. Something similar to the magnetic lasso tool
- Quick Look previews and thumbnails are back in Sequoia and Tahoe
- LiveQuartz is updated for Tahoe
- Fixing Read-Me video error
2.10.5 12/23/2025
- Quick Look previews and thumbnails are back in Sequoia and Tahoe
- LiveQuartz is updated for Tahoe
2.10.4 09/14/2025
Fixing a severe regression since 2.10 affecting the LiveQuartz file type registering by macOS.
This is now fixed in 2.10.3. Sorry for the impacted users.
Please don't use previous versions of LiveQuartz 2.10, only versions from 2.10.3 and after.
2.10.3 05/27/2025
Bug Fix
2.10.2 05/26/2025
Bug fix
2.10.1 05/25/2025
Bug fixes
2.10 05/17/2025
Bug fixes
2.9.13 01/12/2025
Fixing an Undo / Redo regression that appeared since Ventura.
2.9.12 07/10/2023
Compiled for macOS 13 Ventura, still compatible from macOS 10.13 (High Sierra)
2.9.11 06/28/2023
Fixing a regression on at least macOS 10.13 and probably 10.14 where the 2.9.8 update broke the Shadow filter.
2.9.9 02/12/2022
Fixing a regression with Monterey that was causing text layers size to be reseted when opening the edit popover.
2.9.8 02/05/2022
2.9.7:
Fixing Monterey regressions:
- Shadow filters
- Non rectangle selection "crop" button
2.9.5:
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
2.9.4:
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
2.9.7 01/02/2022
2.9.5:
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
2.9.4:
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
2.9.5 05/18/2021
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
2.9.4 05/15/2021
2.9.3:
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)
2.9.3 04/18/2021
- Compiled for Apple Silicon (does not need Rosetta to run)
- Better Text layer editing on Big Sur
2.9.2 11/22/2020
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 (2.9.1)
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.
2.9.1 11/08/2020
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
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.
2.9 11/07/2020
2.8.6 / 2.8.7:
Features:
* Using the magnifying glass while doing a multi-clic selection with lasso is now possible
* 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:
* Background grid display issues are now fixed.
* Fixing Command-Alt behaviour (move and cut)
* 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.
2.8.3 / 2.8.4 / 2.8.5
Bug fixes and speed increase:
* Disabled optimisations 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
* 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 colour)
* Fixing CISpotLight filter
2.8
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
2.8.7 01/06/2020
2.8.6:
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.
2.8.3 / 2.8.4 / 2.8.5
Bug fixes and speed increase:
- Disabled optimisations 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
- 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 colour)
- Fixing CISpotLight filter
2.8
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
2.8.6 12/07/2019
2.8.3 / 2.8.4 / 2.8.5
Bug fixes and optimisations:
- Disabled optimisations 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
- 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
2.8
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
2.8.5 04/23/2019
2.8.3 / 2.8.4
Bug fixes and optimisations:
- Crash after closing and opening document window is fixed
- 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
2.8
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
2.8.4 02/05/2019
2.8.3
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
2.8
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
2.8.3 01/27/2019
2.8.2
- Fixes a crash when adding a new text layer on macOS 10.13 and higher
2.8.1
- Fixes reduced resolution when dragging images from Apple Photos
- Fixes a layer position issue when copy/pasting a selection having progressive borders
2.8
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
2.8.2 01/06/2019
Bug Fixes
more Version 2.10.6 Feb 14
Data Not Collected The developer does not collect any data from this app.
