aviaryNew Feature Alert: One-click Enhance!

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Erin

It may be a new year, and we may all have a laundry list of things we’d like to do differently (resolutions: to keep or not to keep, that is the question!), but simplicity and ease of use is something that Aviary is steadfastly sticking to.

One of the features we’re most excited about is our collection of Enhance tools, which are one-click fixes to the most common problems ailing photographers. Our algorithms detect a range of elements that cause your images to be visually awry. We have four tools in total, and while they can’t retroactively create perfect conditions, the improvements are pretty darn significant.

AUTO: Our auto feature is a simple but incredibly effective edit that works with all photos — think of it as a “one-tool-fixes-all” approach to editing. Depending upon the quality of the photo, the results can range from subtle to drastic, but there’s a clear difference between the “before” and “after”.


NIGHT: Darkness is no match for our night enhance tool. We know some of your favorite memories come from evening get-togethers, concerts, and the like; while the dark threatens to hide features and detail, we also know how annoying it is when flash overexposes them into obscurity. Take a gander at how we can help!


BACKLIT: One of the most common (and most commonly neglected) rules in photography is to seek proper lighting. Backlighting is when the lighting of your photograph is behind your subject, rather than in front. While it’s great for silhouettes (and when done properly, can result in awesome effects), it’s not exactly ideal — backlighting casts an inconvenient shadow that falls over facial features. That’s where our backlight feature makes itself useful. Observe:


BALANCE: Our balance tool works wonders for color correction. For those of you who shoot indoors and are forced to deal with awful indoor lighting (too fluorescent? too yellow?), this will quickly become your favorite. I’ve corrected many a dinner table photo with it, and it’s probably my most-used of the bunch.


We hope you find Aviary’s suite of enhance tools equally useful. Don’t forget, these features are only available in Version 2.0 of our new, improved editor!

We would love to see how you improve your photos — send us an email with your “before” and “after” images to contact [at] aviary [dot] com, and we’ll pick a few to feature on our blog.

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aviaryHow Team Aviary uses our editor

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Erin

Dear readers and friends,

First off: a much overdue Happy New Year to all of you!

In the spirit of starting anew, we’re unrolling some changes at Aviary (and based upon our new editor, they’re pretty darn nice); our approach to content and community is no different.

Over the course of the new few weeks, we’ll start introducing you to the members of the team and giving you glimpses of the process behind the product. Plenty of users are familiar with Aviary’s editor (in fact, you guys edited over ten million photos this past month), but we have a sneaky suspicion that you may not know much about the awesome people who built it. This year, we’d like to get to know you — and we’d like you to get to know us.

It goes without saying that having a team enamored with the product they build is generally a good sign. A significant portion of the work that we do requires us to know our tool inside and out; naturally, we spend a lot of time using it.

I’ve asked Maya and Nam, two awesome members of our equally awesome team and the infamous duo behind Aviary’s own Namaya Party Plannin‘, to explain the process behind their recent edits (unsurprisingly, their iPhones are essentially a fifth appendage). Both of them have pets that we feature regularly on Aviary; Maya’s cat, Ethan, has graced the pages of FastCompany, and Nam’s dog, Pubby, was a YouTube sensation.

Maya’s photos

“I really think Ethan looks like a handsome little cat model. I used our blemish tool to blur out the area around him and hide the shoe box on top of him. I also slapped his name on there – he’s named after a character in one of my all-time favorite movies, Slackers – and added the Ventura effect so you can see his cute little ears.

Nam’s (obviously) a photogenic guy, so I didn’t need to do much. I added one of my favorite Aviary effects, Aqua, to give him a nice vintage feel and make the door look a little scarier. That door leads to the terrifying rusty chain that holds up our elevator, and since the ‘Danger’ sign on the door got blown out by the sun I added it back in so Nam remembers to be careful next time he’s up there.”

 

Nam’s photos

“Pubby, an angel-like creature, is one of my most treasured investments. With a perfect coat, impeccable paws, and a delightful jaw, it’s almost impossible to enhance any photo of him.

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I DID. Using auto-enhance, I was able to level out the colors (my bedroom has poor lighting!) and brighten up his little face (OMG CUTE RIGHT?). Step 2. Effects! I chose our Strato effect because I love the subtle retro feel it gives, not to mention it pearls up Pubby’s googly eyes! Also, the timestamp on the corner means I’ll never forget this moment!

OH I DID THE SAME THING TO MAYA TOO, but with the Singe effect! Is she from the 70′s now?? I don’t know! I think so!”

 

We always welcome suggestions for topics you’d like to read about, so feel free to share your ideas. You can also ask us anything! (Some questions that have floated our way: What nail polish is Maya wearing? What does your office look like? Can we see more pictures of Pubby?)

Here’s a common one: Where can I edit my own photos?

Answer: Aviary’s brand spankin’ new Facebook app!

‘Til next time, stay awesome.

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aviaryIntroducing Aviary for Facebook

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Nam

Today, we’re launching Aviary for Facebook - an app which lets you use our popular simple photo editor without having to leave the page. You can edit your existing Facebook photos with just a few clicks, or you can upload a new photo from your desktop and save it to Facebook in seconds.

Our editor includes 10 gorgeous photo effects, 20 infinitely reusable stickers, and 10 single-click image editing tools that will let you fix your photos quickly and effectively. Oh, and did we mention that it’s free?

Try Aviary for Facebook now!

 

A note for Picnik users

If you’ve ever edited a photo online with Google’s Picnik service, you may have received a message this weekend with the news that Picnik is closing this April. We’re sad to see them go because they were doing some great things, and we know that a lot of people have relied on Picnik for a long time for their online editing. We also couldn’t help noticing the mood across twitter:

 

We’re here to tell you that we hear you, we understand your pain, and we promise that you won’t have to give up the convenience of editing your photos online. In fact, we hope that our integration with Facebook will make Aviary an even more convenient solution for you!

We know that your very first question is going to be how this experience will compare to Picnik. The short answer is that we already offer most of the features you know and love. The slightly longer answer is that we’re releasing updates all the time – with performance improvements, fancy new tools, and tons of effects and stickers – and that we’d love to hear from you what else we can do to help.

Feel free to comment here, email us at support@aviary.com, or submit your ideas through our feedback page.

  • What did you like best about Picnik that you’d love to see us implement?
  • What did you always wish you could have but that Picnik never built?

If you’re one of Picnik’s more advanced users – that is, you relied on Picnik for more detailed or complex editing – you may also want to check out our advanced image editor (Phoenix). It’s totally free, it’s completely browser-based so there’s nothing to download or install, and it includes a ton of advanced functionality if you’re looking to do more than just quick edits on your photos.

Ready to get started? Try Aviary for Facebook now!

Picnik Partners and Developers

If you’re a developer who’s been using Picnik for photo editing on your site, we’ve got you covered too! You can embed our editor on your site with just a few lines of code, and your users can get all their editing done without going anywhere! You can find everything you need at aviary.com.

Posted in Aviary, Feather (Simple Editor) | 23 Comments

aviaryIntroducing Version 2 of the Aviary Editor

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Nam

It’s only been 4 months since we first introduced the Aviary Mobile SDK, and a lot (of awesome stuff) has happened since then. We’ve partnered with some of the top apps in the market, and are now editing over 10 million photos a month on mobile alone!

We were as eager as you to release an update to the editor (for both web and mobile), which not only showcases a beautiful new design but also improves every single one of the tools! You heard right. Introducing: Version 2 of the embeddable Aviary photo editor.

 

What’s new:

Functionality has been improved across all tools. The speed of each tool has been noticeably increased, and the UI has been improved based on the feedback we’ve received from our partners and users.

One-touch auto enhance tools: Need to touch up a photo, but out of time? No problem. With our range of magical enhancing tools for everything from nighttime to backlit photos, you can fix any photo in a matter of seconds.

 

New, improved effects. Our dedicated imagineer perfected a set of 10 beautiful effects which will add some extra flavor to any image. As a bonus, our new effects are fast as lightning and come with some gorgeous new borders.

 

Brand-new, unique dials (mobile) for adjusting brightness, contrast, saturation, and more. Drawing and text sliders (both web and mobile) have been updated as well. So much more fun than a standard slider! Plus, we’ve thrown in some thrilling tactile feedback to the dials in our Android SDK that we’re sure will make you smile.

 

New Stickers! A whimsical set of various accessories that will dress up any picture. Just to make sure they’re of the highest quality, we did some extensive testing on photos of Ryan Gosling – and he looked great.

 

A completely new, stylish design. Since we’re out to power third party apps, we needed a design that would blend seamlessly with any website or app – but still pop as a beautiful editor. Our base colors are subtle silver and black, with a customizable accent color to tie the editor in with your own application.

 

Minimal Branding. We know you want to slap the Aviary logo on every part of your app… but in the interest of not confusing your users, we’ve removed the branding from the top and moved a much smaller version of our logo at the bottom of the editor. If your users are curious about the editor, they can swipe to the last page for a quick explanation and then get back to the important stuff: editing their photo.

In addition, we’ve made a ton of other improvements based on feedback from our partners and users, including a complete overhaul of the crop tool (grid lines and the presets you asked for), zoom functionality for fine-tuning, and much more.

High-Resolution Output 

Version 2 of our platform supports high-resolution photo editing across all platforms. This feature is currently being rolled out to select partners on mobile, but if you’d like early access, shoot us an email at partners@aviary.com.

High -Resolution for web is currently available and ready. To see documentation, please visit www.aviary.com/web-documentation

Compatibility

  • Android: Starting from Android 2.2  (version 8 and above)
  • iOS: iOS 4+ (3GS and newer) and iPad 1 & 2
  • Web: all major browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer 7+) and all devices (computers, tablets, smartphones) that support JavaScript and either HTML5 or Flash.

 

Where can I play with the new editor?!

Mobile:

Our partners will be rolling out Version 2 over the coming weeks as they update their apps. Big Blue Clip has already added version 2 of the iOS SDk to their app Pic Stitch, and is currently in the process of being approved to the app store. It should be available in the next minute/hour/day (depending on how fast the approval process is)

Download PicStitch now for iOS (and update when it’s available).

 Web

Visit Aviary.com and click “Try the web demo.”

Monetization 

We’ll be looking to monetize by offering premium content on top of photos, and allowing our partners to turn on/off that option within the Mobile SDK. For instance, if a partner decides they want to enable in-app purchasing via our SDK, they can start selling content without managing, supplying, or supporting anything. We take care of all the work, and do a standard rev share with the participating partner.

The idea here is to help our partners generate an additional revenue stream without lifting a finger. We see it as a win-win for both parties.

We’ve been piloting custom SDK’s with built in monetization on iOS and Android for the past 2 months. Working with select partners, we’ve seen promising data, and are excited to announce that a public build will be available for anyone to implement in 2-3 weeks.

What is/will be purchasable through the SDK?

  • Premium effects packs
  • Original sticker packs (Holiday, Seasonal, Themed)
  • Branded sticker packs (We’ll be working with specific brands to distribute their content through our SDK)

Please send all inquiries to partners@aviary.com

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests, please visit aviary.com/contact-us, or visit aviary.com/api for documentation on how to get started.

Posted in Aviary, Feather (Simple Editor), Mobile, Press | 14 Comments

aviaryFriendCaster for Facebook integrates on Android

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Erin

Aviary provides a simple editor for web and mobile that developers can embed in their apps with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what FriendCaster for Facebook did with our tools, or check out some of our featured partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

FriendCaster consolidates the Facebook experience into a simple, easy-to-use application. Android users, we know you’ve been forced to be patient when it comes to mobile applications, but this one is certainly worth the wait.

Download FriendCaster for Facebook and the Aviary plugin now!

Aviary is now available on FriendCaster as a plugin, which means that users have the option to decide if they want our editing tools to be a part of their mobile experience. For those who are so inclined, or are curious about having in-line editing functionality, you can find the plugin by searching for it in the Android Marketplace; alternatively, you can click on a pop-up within the app itself.

Once you’re in the application, access FriendCaster’s photo uploader by either taking a picture (camera icon in the middle of the toolbar on the bottom of the screen) or uploading an existing image (photograph icon, fourth button on the toolbar). Once you have your photo of choice in the uploader, tap the “Edit Image” button to enter the editor. FriendCaster features our full range of tools, ranging from basic (crop, rotate) to more fun (effects, memes) and advanced (colors, saturation, blur).

After you’ve edited the photo to your liking, continue through FriendCaster’s workflow to share it with your friends and family on Facebook, right from your Android phone.

To learn more, check out FriendCaster for Facebook in the Android Marketplace today!

Posted in Aviary, Mobile, Partners | Leave a comment

aviaryNew URL for the Aviary suite: advanced.aviary.com

Posted on December 27, 2011 by Avi

Hi Aviators!

Over the last few months Aviary has moved in a very different direction from its advanced suite of flash tools. As we continuously make modifications to the site (and especially the homepage) to support the new developer-focused direction, we struggled to still make it super clear to our existing users about how to access the current suite of tools, without diluting our message to our developer audience.

We realized that in trying to support two very different products on the homepage, we aren’t actually doing a particularly good job at helping either one out. So rather than try to continue to cater to two different audiences on one page, we’re going to split them into their own individual websites.

1) http://www.Aviary.com will be exclusively targeted for developers considering our embeddable photo-editing apps. We are going to deprecate developers.aviary.com (since all of the content from that site will be incorporated into www.aviary.com).

2) http://Advanced.Aviary.com will now be the new URL for our advanced suite of tools.

This will help make everything easy to find and mean that each product can have its own completely separate website (including look, feel and marketing copy). We feel this is the right approach, especially considering it has worked for us with AviaryEducation.com.

You can go update your bookmarks now. As a heads up, there’s a new Aviary.com homepage coming out in early January that will take this change into account, so at that point you will probably want to start using Advanced.Aviary.com as your Aviary homepage if you only use our advanced suite.

As always, cheerio and Happy Holidays!

Avi

Posted in Aviary | 4 Comments

aviaryRockMelt, the All-In-One Browser, Integrates Aviary

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Erin

Aviary provides a simple editor for web and mobile that developers can embed in their apps with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what RockMelt did with our tools, or check out some of our featured partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

 

RockMelt is consolidating all your social media into a single browser. With a new social toolbar that features one click sharing, instant messaging, and apps that update their feeds regularly, the need refresh your page — let alone hop between Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and the like — is eliminated.

Download the iPhone app now!

That same social browsing experience is now available on mobile, where all of your favorite feeds, bookmarks, and pages that you’ve marked to view later can be accessed in the palm of your hand. Aviary’s editor has joined the ranks of useful awesomeness, which means that any photos you upload via RockMelt to post on Facebook will have the option of being edited with our tools. For the many individuals who have found iOS 5′s editor to be insufficient, worry not — Aviary’s additional functionality more than compensates for your editing needs.

 

Our friends at RockMelt are bringing the social experience of the internet to you like never before, and we’re proud to be a part of something as groundbreaking and innovative as their browser. To learn more, visit their website and download the iPhone app in the App Store!

Posted in Aviary, Mobile, Partners | 6 Comments

aviaryKAPOW! Halftone implements Aviary for iOS

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Nam

We recently launched our photo-editing SDK, a mobile version of our popular web-based simple photo editor. Developers of mobile applications can now add our photo editor’s powerful functionality into any iPhone or Android app with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what Halftone did with our tools, or check out the rest of our partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

Kids of the smartphone era are a full generation removed from the days when comic books were abundant and only a trip to the drugstore away. The trademarks of comic book art — speech balloons, color gradients, and halftone dots — have become vehicles of nostalgia. A little sad, right?

Halftone, an app for iOS created by Juicy Bits (great story by Mike Swanson, on why he left his job at Microsoft to start Juicy Bits), doesn’t see why that has to be the case.

Download the iPhone app now!

The app certainly pays homage to the visual effects of yesteryear but is firmly grounded in the realm of comics. While photos are core to the product, it is Halftone’s wide range of effects, stickers, and text that make this app absolutely unparalleled in quality and depth.

Naturally, the Aviary team is thrilled to announce that Halftone has integrated our editor, which places our tool among its repertoire of awesomeness! We’ve been incredibly excited about this partnership for quite some time, and are happy that we can finally tell you guys about it.

To see Aviary and Halftone combine powers like Cyclops and Phoenix (yes, we have Marvel fans in the office), simply open Halftone, take or upload a photo you want to use in your comic strip, and you’ll be taken immediately to our editor. Fix your photo as you please with cropping, brightness, color functionality, and more, and then use Halftone to layer on the BLAM! NOOOO! POW! — and then some.

We’re constantly excited by how much innovation we see around us, and always welcome the chance to work with creative, energetic people. Halftone is the incredible product of a one-man show, and we’re more happy to put the Aviary spotlight on a fantastic app.

Check out Halftone for iOS now!

Posted in Aviary, Mobile, Partners | 7 Comments

aviaryEditing with Aviary on Minus for Mobile

Posted on November 23, 2011 by Nam

A few months ago, Minus integrated our web API to add instant editing functionality to their product. (If you’re not familiar with Minus, they’re a simple, drag-and-drop file uploader that enables users to publish, share, and manage their files in the cloud. Visit Minus.com to check it out!)

Today, you can reach our editor on both of their mobile apps!

Download the iPhone app now!

Download the Android app now!

Now you can upload files and photos to Minus directly from your mobile device. You can also access and download your existing files from your Minus account and publish to your Minus profile and more.

 

 

Posted in Aviary, Mobile, Partners | 4 Comments

aviaryMobile Spotlight: Capture the Flag

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Erin

We recently launched our photo-editing SDK, a mobile version of our popular web-based simple photo editor. Developers of mobile applications can now add our photo editor’s powerful functionality into any iPhone or Android app with just a few lines of code! Read on to see what Capture the Flag did with our tools, or check out the rest of our partners to see how they’re putting our editor to use.

At Aviary, we’re a big fan of photos (naturally), but what you might not know is that we’re equally fond of games. When it comes to intra-office competition, the pool table, Quake tournaments, and FIFA offer ample opportunities for our team to duke it out — but what if there was a game that began to blur the lines between competing on a console and in real life?

We’ve written about Snapr before, but this time we want to share another one of their projects with you: Capture the Flag. The ubiquitous childhood pastime has been transformed from a recess game to a mobile one, but remains true to the idea of battling for the blacktop. The tried and true adage says the world is your oyster. On the other hand, Snapr says the real world is your map — and you better conquer it.

Download the iPhone app now!

Download the Android app now! 

To play, join a tribe, check-in at various locations, and take pictures of the places you want to take over. Every photo scores points for your team, and sharing awards you with bonuses; when you have the most points at a particular place, it becomes your territory. (Victory!) To add to the blurred lines between your mobile device and reality, claiming a location entitles you to deals and additional bonuses.

Aviary’s editor is one of the features of playing Capture the Flag! To see our tools at work, upload a photo of your current whereabouts, tap the edit button at the top of the screen, and watch as you’re whisked away into our editor. Capture the Flag has our full array of tools, so perfection is possible! Once your pictures are ready to go, geotag them, submit them, and watch the points roll in.

We’re proud to partner with new, creative companies like Snapr who continue to add layers of new experiences to the way we combine photos and our phones.

To learn more, check out Capture the Flag’s website!

 

 

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