InstantCut

Using your computer for photo processing or creating digital works of art sooner or later requires you to install an image editing application. InstantCut is a lightweight utility in which you can import pictures and, as the name suggests, cut out elements you might need for projects.

Launching the application brings up the workspace. Most of it represents the place where imported images undergo the process of being cut. Available options are found in an upper toolbar, which you can choose to hide, for whatever the reason. You are limited to cutting and saving to file.

Even though it is designed to be quick, some helpful functions have been left behind. Unfortunately, the only way to import a picture and start chopping is through the file menu, with no support for drag and drop.

The “Smart Select” option is the only available tool, and can sometimes be difficult to use. No geometrical shapes or custom areas can be used for selection, and the provided option tries to be as helpful as possible, but this attempt make the result flawed.

When you manage to get the desired area from an image, you can preview only the selection, or invert, in case you need both parts in any particular project. Saving it to a file is the only way you can export it, with no possibility to select the desired area and simply copying it to a different image processing utility.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that InstantCut only deserves its name because of the limited options to work with. In spite that it's easy to use, the only provided tool becomes slightly difficult for precise cutting.