Flare

General

What are the system requirements to run Flare?

Flare's system requirements are an Intel Core Duo Macintosh running Mac OS X 10.6.6 (Snow Leopard), 2GB RAM (minimum) / 4GB RAM (recommended), and 100MB of disk space (minimum) to store your photos.

Can I purchase Flare from the Mac App Store?

Yes, you most certainly can! Click here to purchase Flare from the Mac App Store.

Does sharing via email work with Sparrow, Outlook or Entourage?

No, Flare currently only works natively with Mail app. Please save the image onto your computer, and then attach the image via your email client of choice.

What kind of image file formats are supported?

Flare can open all of the image formats natively supported by Mac OS X (JPEG, TIFF, PSD, PNG, GIF, etc.). Digital camera RAW files can also be opened. Supported digital camera RAW files are listed here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3825

Flare works with most DNG files generated from cameras that support this format and DNG files generated by the Adobe DNG Converter with the "Convert to Linear Image" option turned off.

Why did my snapshot disappear?

Snapshots can hold up to a maximum of 24 entries. The oldest snapshot will get pushed out when a new snapshot is added to the list.

What are the limitations on the free trial version of Flare?

The trial version of Flare will have the full functionality of the paid version for 15 days. After that time, the size of exported images will be limited to a maximum of 500 pixels by 500 pixels.

How To

Where can I download more Presets for Flare?

Many additional effects presets are available on the Flare Presets page. We invite you to check them out. http://flareapp.com/presets

How do I share my custom Presets with another Flare user? Can I export them?

Yes! Select your Preset and click on the gear icon to save it onto the desktop. You can then share the file online or via email. Please feel free to submit any unique Preset you've created with us. We'll be posting our favorite user submitted Presets from time to time.

How do I install a custom Preset that I have downloaded?

Double-click on the Preset to automatically launch Flare and place your Preset in the Effects Preset tab.

Can I browse images from iPhoto or Aperture inside Flare? Is there an image browser?

Yes. Press Command-O, scroll down the list on the left side and select Media > Photos, you should see options for iPhoto, Aperture or Photo Booth on the right hand side. You can also adjust the window size here to view more images.

Why can't I view my Lightroom library through the image browser?

Adobe Lightroom is not created by Apple and doesn't support OS X's built-in Image Browser.

How can I determine the original size of my image after opening it in Flare?

Click on the image's filename to cycle through all available information including image size.

How should I export my photo?

Click the "Save or Export" icon in the upper left of the interface. From there select the method you'd like to use to export the photo. These include saving to a file (JPEG, TIFF & PNG), uploading the image direct to Flickr, exporting it to your iPhoto library, or attaching it to an email sent with Mail app.

Can Flare be used as an external editor for my photos in iPhoto, Aperture, or Lightroom?

Yes. Version 1.2 of Flare has introduced the ability to use Flare as an external editor in iPhoto, Aperture, and Lightroom. Check out our external editor setup page for more details.

Troubleshooting

I lost a Snapshot because the app only displays the last 24 Snapshots. How can I get it back?

All saved Snapshots are located in ~/Library/Application Support/Flare/History. The filename contains the exact time and title of the Snapshot. To import one of these back into your Presets, just double-click the file.

I don't see any Presets. What’s going on?

Another application, Adobe Flex, also saves a folder named "Flare" inside the ~/Library/Application Support folder. This causes a conflict with Flare and prevents Flare from being installed properly. A fix for this problem will be coming in a future point release for Flare. In the meantime, if you aren't using Flex, you can remove the existing Flare folder from ~/Library/Application Support and relaunch Flare, and that should allow your presets to appear.

I'm trying to reinstall the app from the Mac App Store, but it says it's already installed. What should I do?

If the Mac App Store sees a backup copy of an app anywhere on your system, it may think the app is still installed. Make sure you disconnect any backup drives you have connected to your computer, including any Time Machine backups. Then relaunch the Mac App Store and try again.

When I use Flare as an external editor from iPhoto it ends up increasing the file size of my image. Why? Any way to prevent this?

Flare's default image compression errs on the side of higher quality, which makes for a larger file size than the compression settings on many cameras. Additionally, adding effects and textures to an image can make it more visually complex, which can also result in a larger file size.

To reduce the file size of the JPG that Flare saves back to iPhoto, you need to set the JPG compression to a lower value. This can't be done directly, but you can use this workaround: Open an image directly in Flare (not via iPhoto), then save it as JPG. Set the quality to the desired amount - the lower the quality, the smaller the file size will be. Flare will now remember that quality setting when used as an external editor for iPhoto. Keep in mind that lowering the quality like this is actually degrading your image - you'll need to find the right balance between image quality and file size.