#Image compression software for mac reviews manual#
However, just before we published, Realmac fortuitously posted a brand-new online manual that includes a mix of menu explanations, feature walkthroughs, and instructional videos. When preparing this review, Squash 3's documentation was thin and some parts were out date, despite the app shipping in August 2021. The powerful (but hidden) presets feature lets you examine a subset of changes across a gallery of imported images. You can even add multiple watermarks: you could tag it with a tiled tiny pattern or ID while also putting your copyright notice in a corner. You can tile an image or text across an image that you want to post or send but not allow someone to use it without your permission. Squash builds in an array of possibilities for nature (image or text), background, color, opacity, padding, and position.
The watermark feature deserves a special callout, appropriate for its name. The Renaming pane is simpler than that found in most higher-end image processors but still lets you squash the name: you can renumber images and simplify the name for online use: set it all to lowercase and remove whitespace. You can override this to allow either or both GPS Location (geotagging) or Camera Model in the Metadata pane. Squash strips metadata that identifies you by default. Previews also include a small lozenge that shows the original and target file format, resolution in pixels, and file size. (The company sells effects packs beyond a few included filters.) You can opt to use a split-screen slider to see the original and modified versions side by side or click and hold on an eye icon or press the space bar to preview changes. The preview window lets you select an image and view corrections, effects, compression, watermarks, borders, and other changes. If you use Squash's core features, you may use the Resize option to pick a maximum width or height, or use a fixed percentage reduction perform some minimal adjustment to punch up the images and then pick a file format in Compress (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, WebP, or AVIF) and compression algorithm or quality settings and drop them in a directory specified in Export.īut there's a lot more you can do along the way. There's also a seemingly out-of-nowhere Zen menu that lets you choose to play pleasant repetitive background sounds and chants.Īpply adjustments, effects, compression, watermarks, and more, then preview them in the app before exporting. Some people online have found Squash's sound effects too invasive I did not but you can disable them in Squash Settings. There was hardly time to know it had started when a sprightly sound indicated its completion. I had applied resizing, effects, adjustments, compression, and a watermark. That's it.Įxporting happened almost instantly with my testing on an M1 Mac mini. Squash's processing sidebar lists Resize, Adjustments, Effects, Borders, Watermark, Compress, Metadata, Rename, Retain Dates, and Export.
The power of many utilities is in reducing choice instead of multiplying it. (Squash references the images on import it doesn't copy them.) You can import a large number of images and process them all the same way, or select sets of as few as one to apply separate corrections. Squash works with drag-and-drop, switches, and sliders, and offers a built-in preview. They require and reward extensive study of their options, but perhaps you didn't set out to get a master's degree in Photoshop batch operations. I've used batch-processing tools in other image editors, like Photoshop, Lightroom, and Graphic Converter. Version 3, released in August 2021, is a dramatically more full-featured app than Squash 2, which solely compressed images quickly. If you work with lots of images regularly, it could hit the spot with the combination of simplicity, power, and price. Realmac Software's Squash is a single-minded batch-processing imaging app that offers configurable compression along with automatic application of image correction, color and monochrome grading effects, and stripping out metadata. It's a constant theme in modern software, particularly when dealing with a group of like things, such as images in one file format and with the same starting parameters you need to convert. The first batch implementation arguably dates back to 1890, with the first punch-card-based processing of the U.S. Batch processing is a powerful process for applying the same operations to a set of inputs-raw text, images, and more-as a set that's cycled through instead of manually, one at a time.