fauxto

Fauxto changes name to Splashup, adds new toys

Fauxto, the Webware for photo editing that looks a lot like a desktop application, has a new look and feel. It's relaunched as Splashup and has added several new features that in many ways bring it closer to Fotoflexer, one of its main competitors. This was an interesting product for me to come back to, mainly since it was one of the first Web-based photo-editing apps I got to look at after starting at Webware, and since then the genre has seen tremendous growth.

The real draw to the app has always been its use of layers, which give you a very powerful way to manipulate and create new images using bits and pieces from one or more original photos. Up until a few months ago, other Web-based photo-editing apps didn't have this functionality.

The biggest change since I looked at the service late last year is the addition of undo controls that let you go back a step in case you make a mistake. It's also gotten much better at linking up with places where your photos might reside, such as Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa. Similar to how other Web photo-editing services have handled this, you simply need to authenticate Fauxto to each service by logging in, then you can freely browse all your albums. Originally you were limited to whatever was on your hard drive, or a URL. Likewise, saving is now far better, and you can save locally (in multiple formats) or export the shots back to the site or origin, or whatever supported sites you've given login credentials.

There are also some new tools that are aimed at the higher-end user such as a lasso and cropping tool, along with a tool that lets you take any selected imagery and copy it into a new layer. For grabbing quick shots of your face, there's now a built-in Web cam tool that will take a quick snapshot, although it's nowhere near as advanced as Fotoflexer's iteration that does on-the-fly filter and liquefy effects. … Read more

Wiredness: Quick and familiar Web-based photo editing

Wiredness is a new Web-based photo-editing tool. There are a ton of these out there now, and they just keep getting closer in functionality to their desktop counterparts. What makes Wiredness easy to use is its interface, which has file, edit, and tool menus you'd find on a desktop app like Picasa or Photoshop Elements.

For casual photo work flow, you can either upload a photo from your hard drive or pull it in from a URL. The max size for files is 5MB. The service handled my 7.2-megapixel test photo without a problem. There are tools for … Read more

Phixr: another Web-based photo editing app

Phixr is a free, Web-based photo editing tool that celebrates its one-year anniversary tomorrow. If you're interested in tweaking a few of your photos (local or hosted), Phixr connects with nearly every popular Web service out there, and has some powerful tools to make your photos look better without your having to spend a dime on editing software.

Phixr gives users photo editing foundations like cropping, brightness, rotation controls, and red-eye removal. There are also some more advanced tools like pixel-noise removal and 14 Photoshop-like filters for adding artistic alterations to your shots. The pixel-noise remover takes a while to work its magic, but I got excellent results on some particularly grainy indoor photos.

Anytime you upload a photo either from your hard drive or popular Web services like Flickr, Photobucket, or Picasa, Phixr will store your shot on its servers for three hours. You can log out, come back a few hours later, and continue editing. When you're done, you can re-upload your photo to a dozen different services like Costco Photos, ImageShack, and LiveJournal. There are also options to export it as JPEG, PNG, GIF, or PDF.

One big downside of Phixr is its speed. Every time you make an edit, the page needs to refresh. It's aggravating, actually. If you intend on working with more than one photo it's just not worth your time. While there are before and after previews for any edit, it's all done in small thumbnails, which doesn't show enough detail to do the job. By comparison, Picnik, a Web-based photo service we checked out recently, shows edits in real time, and has a much more user-friendly interface for beginners. More screens after the jump.

Fauxto is a little Flashy

A few weeks ago we played with CanvasPaint, a version of Microsoft Paint that runs in your Web browser. Along similar lines is Fauxto, a browser-based design program reminiscent of early versions of Adobe Photoshop. Fauxto has the usual drawing tools: a pencil, a pen, a paintbrush, and an eraser. Users can create their own drawings or perform rudimentary photo enhancements, but essentially it's a doodling tool that proves these kinds of programs can work in Flash.

What sets Fauxto apart from CanvasPaint is its use of layers and brushes. For those unfamiliar with working with layers, each layer … Read more