Last week the Pixelmator team released version 3.0FX of my favorite pixel pushing application. When I think of the hundreds and hundreds of dollars I’ve spent over the years on other photo alteration apps, I cringe. Version 3.0 adds a liquify feature, which my kids have already used to melt my face off pictures, and layer styles to quickly apply shadows, inner shadeows, gradients, reflections, an similar alterations on a per-layer basis.

The underlying engine also got an overhaul and is noticeably faster. They also opened a can of Mavericks on this version adding support for several new Mavericks technologies including App Nap and Compressed Memory. This is a free update if you’ve already bought it. You can find Pixelmator in the Mac App Store and on the web.