iLoveMacApps.com

When I first came across this application, I thought it might be a bit naff. One that has been thrown together and isn’t that good. But having started to use this application it has a lot of potential and is really useful to anyone who uses screenshots of your Mac and applications. In a nutshell Layers take a screenshot of your programs that are open, as well as all of the icons and other things on the desktop. It will then merge these into a Photoshop (UK Visitors) file. You can then play around with this file. Its really good for dissecting what is on your screen.

Layer It Up

Using this application is simple, but there are a lot of in-depth features if you want to use it more extensively. When you hit take go, it will (in the background) take a picture of pretty much every thing on screen. It does take a little while to go through and screenshot everything. When it is done it will compile a well laid out Photoshop document. Each layer in Photoshop will be a screenshot of and icon or window. You can then use this file to create your masterpieces.

The application also boast an inspector. This is really the only interface to this program other than the Preferences. It is designed to fine tune the settings for the Photoshop file. Its designed so you can change how the image looks. For example removing shadows, how the windows are cropped. It also gives you the ability to select which windows are saved.

Conclusion

This program is good, but there are a couple of faults. For example it takes up loads of CPU when you are not using it. It will max out your CPU cycles if you are not careful. One niggle which I understand why it is implemented is the rendering when it is complied. In the demo mode the image is low quality which makes it unsuitable for use in practically anything. I can see why this is done, but I think it would be more useful if the program had a time limit for use, you can’t really use all of the features when the result is poor quality.

Other than that its really useful. The final file is usually huge, but each layer is in a correct folder grouping and name. You could really make this program work for you and simplfy anything that you are doing. Its isn’t unreasonably priced either.