Montage 2.0

2.0 is here! It took longer than usual for Apple to approve it, but it is finally available in the App Store. So lets see what's new!

Rearrange your montage
I read the reviews. I always try to implement functionality people wants. This, however, was especially hard to do, but I think the end result is fantastic. You still manipulate only one image at a time - but now you can switch between them! You can bring elements to front, set their transparency, etc.

Add text
Wanna put a big red FAIL on that image you just took? No problem! Montage now supports adding formatted text to your composition.

Auto-save
If you have to exit, your work is saved. Next time, you can continue at the exact same point. Even if the application (heavens forbid!) crashes, there is a good chance your work is unharmed.

E-mail support
You can now upload your image to ImageShack, and have the link sent by e-mail. All in one tap.

Stability
The new version handles memory management much more aggressively. The previous versions were stable enough, but this one should be even more crash-free.

Go ahead and try it!

The trouble with updates

I won't say that Apple's rigorous review and approval process is unnecessary, but one thing is clear: there is still a lot of room to improve. When the current version of Montage was released, I noticed a few small bugs, so I almost immediately submitted a minor update - which hasn't been approved yet. However, by now, a new, major update is ready to be submitted, and I cannot submit it, because the old one is not yet approved. If I cancel the old update, the version numbers won't match - I have read about this on other sites. So I am stuck until they decide it would be nice to approve that about 6 lines of code change I submitted last week. This is annoying!

BTW, I will post more about this new version soon, as it contains fundamental changes.

Get in shape

UPDATE: The new version has been approved by Apple. You can get it here.

It has been quiet around here, at least for the past few days. But rest assured, the new version of Montage has just been submitted. (It's in Apple's hands now. The sooner they approve it, the better.) It was a tough week, but I have managed to pack some amazing features into this release. So let's see what's new!

Shapes
The major new feature this time is the introduction of shapes. When you pick a photo, you are taken to a new screen, where you can cut out a piece of your image and add it to your montage. Basically, you set the shape, and you can manipulate the underlying image the same way you always do: using multi-touch. This is how it looks:

And the best thing about this: frames work with these new shapes (even for freehand ones!)

And this is how freehand mode looks like:

A workaround some may appreciate (and some may find useless)
There has been a lot of complaints about blurry images in all photography applications. This is not an application bug: something goes wrong when the picture is saved. (Actually, only the preview is affected, the full image is fine.) I have tried to include some workarounds, but your mileage may vary. Please don't blame me if it doesn't work!

As you can see, Montage keeps improving, and I still have some ideas for future updates, so stay tuned.