

Aviary: works like online Photoshop and more, plus remix other artists' work - unalone
http://aviary.com

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old-gregg
Jee. Online Photoshop. How about flying Photoshop or an underwater Photoshop?
Every time I edit an image I think those would be so useful...

Seriously, has anyone, just one person in the world, ever had this thought
when launching Photoshop: "ughh... I wish it was online so I could wait a bit
longer..."

~~~
unalone
1) Aviary is a free service.

2) They offer more than just a photoshop clone. They've got four tools out
right now (raster manipulation, procedural generation, palette creator, vector
editor), and there's more on the way.

3) They store all the images online, which means you can see how every image
gets made, which is a pretty useful thing for beginners.

4) They're making all the programs available as AIR applications, so they
function on the desktop.

Jeez. Why not take a look at the thing before you try and rip it all apart.

~~~
old-gregg
_Why not take a look at the thing before you try and rip it all apart._

Because my Photoshop files are 20-50MB (quite typical), and even worse, I
produce about 2GB of RAW files with my Canon SLR per photo shoot, yet my
upstream connection speed is about 45Kb/sec, and that's still probably in top
20% of US population (at most places I worked, connection was even worse).
It's been like that for about 10 years and I see no signs of dramatic
improvements within next 10 years.

Need I say more?

P.S. That example is a very typical Photoshop usage pattern, if you going to
call something "Online Photoshop", you better have some idea what Photoshop is
and what it does. If this was called a "Fun College Programming Project" I
wouldn't be nearly as sarcastic.

 _They offer more than just a photoshop clone_

Oh, yeah, forgot to add. They're not "just a photoshop clone", they're nowhere
near Photoshop 1.0 clone. I am getting quite intolerant to exaggerated claims,
link-bait titles and buzzwordy discussions. Especially because after so many
years of bullshitting there is only _one_ online app I can use: good old
gmail. Just one. Plus time-wasters, of course.

~~~
unalone
You're completely misrepresenting what I said. I'm not telling you "Hey, use
this like you'd use Photoshop." I'm telling you "Click the link before you
start trashing the thing." Aviary's people are pretty forthcoming about their
product. They aim for hobbyists, not professionals. They've repeatedly said
that they're _not_ a Photoshop clone and that they don't expect to ever _be_
as powerful as Photoshop. Rather, they aim to offer some of the most oft-used
Photoshop techniques - including some that no other service online offers -
and they do a damn good job at it.

When I say that something "works like Photoshop online," I expect people will
understand that I mean "works with layers, allows for subtle image
manipulation, churns out fairly high-quality images." Of course it's not
literally Photoshop. But it does a lot of very neat stuff.

 _Oh, yeah, forgot to add. They're not "just a photoshop clone", they're
nowhere near Photoshop 1.0 clone._

Again: way to utterly disregard what I said. They offer a lot of tools, and
all their tools are damn impressive considering they're designed to run
online. Yeah, you can ignore that and say that I'm a fuck-up because I used
the word Photoshop when submitting. _Or,_ you could cut with the ranting,
because on Hacker News people usually respond well to polite, civil discourse,
and look at it for what it is, which is a pretty impressive offering. I think
Peacock, the procedural generator, is actually _more_ impressive than Phoenix,
which is the raster editor.

 _there is only_ one _online app I can use_

No. There's only one you _do_ use. If you need a calendar, there are
impressive online alternatives. If you want a to-do list, the same. RSS
reading: online alternatives that work better in some ways than desktop
clients. Word processors and slide editors: Buzzword and 280Slides. Gmail's
good, yeah, but frankly, Mail.app is better than it in every way that matters
to me, and so your offering Gmail as the "only offline app" is just empty
posturing.

How about we drop this: you can apologize for being a dick when you didn't
have to be, and I'll apologize for using the name "Photoshop" in vain. Because
this is a much better site than this snipefest would let on, and we could both
be wasting our time much more efficiently. Peace?

~~~
old-gregg
Unalone, I apologize for being a dick. Peace.

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Spyckie
Aviary has been around a while and its been mentioned several times, but it
never seems to 'stick' with me. I always see it, remember its potential
usefulness, and forget about it the next day.

~~~
bprater
I'm guessing that's a general recurring theme anytime a new technology
arrives. Weren't Kleenexes originally for taking off make-up?

It'll be interesting to see where they take this service.

