Retrobatch 1.2 is going to be out sometime soon, but I'm having a little public beta first. If you're interested in trying it out, you can grab it from the latest builds page.

There's a handful of new features and nodes, including:

• Making animated GIF and PNG files
• Turning workflows into droplets
• New "Round Corner", "Image Grid", and "Limit" nodes
• New Write node option for writing back to the original image
• And a new JavaScript Plugin API, where you can write your own nodes using JavaScript and Cocoa APIs (Retrobatch Pro only).

I'm calling the new JavaScript Plugin API a beta for now, as I've been refining while developing. It seems like every couple of days someone will write in with a request that's a little odd and very specific, but then I think "can this be done with a plugin?". And those questions are perfect for developing this API. I don't want to create 100 built-in nodes that only one or two customers will ever use, but if I can make a one-off plugin while also making the API a little better… well that's awesome for everyone.

But it's incredibly useful as it is right now, so I'm wanting to put it in customer's hands sooner rather than later. (It's also using the new JavaScript/Cocoa bridge I've been working on, FMJS).

Limited documentation is available online for the new API, but if you're interested in how things are really put together you'll want to check out the samples.

And of course if you have questions or bugs, send us an email: support@flyingmeat.com.