Pixelmator's image-editing app is consistently among the first to embrace new features in OS X, and the company is wasting no time in harnessing all that Mavericks has to offer. Pixelmator 3.0 FX is now available as a free upgrade for customers that purchased version 2.0, and it brings with it some long awaited features. Chief among those is support for layer styles, which allows users to (non-destructively) apply shadows, gradients, and reflections as well as draw outlines and produce other effects on individual layers.

Until now, layer styles had been a significant hole in Pixelmator's feature set, one that led some graphic artists to stick with Photoshop. But the $29.99 image tool is now growing even more robust in functionality. Version 3.0 also introduces new warp, bump, pinch, and twirl liquify tools; these offer a quick way to manipulate portions of an image or wildly distort the whole thing. Pixelmator 3.0 FX was built to take advantage of OS X Mavericks technologies like App Nap and compressed memory, which make the app more power efficient and responsive.