Camouflage 2.0
After several years without update, Camouflage 2.0 was just released. It is available in the Mac App Store for only $1.99.
Probably the most important new feature is compatibility with upcoming versions of Mac OS X. There’re were several bugs and crashes fixed, especially the bug where the Camouflage menu would be all gray after choosing a HotKey. CoreAnimation is now used for wallpaper transitions. So if you change your wallpapers it now fades like on the original Desktop.
One more thing of notice is that Camouflage 2.0 will now tell other applications when it hides the Desktop Icons. I’ve already contacted the developer of GeekTool and he likes the idea to support Camouflage, so stay tuned for news on that. On a technical side, this works by posting the distributed notifications “CamouflageWindowsAppear” and “CamouflageWindowsHidden”. The first notification also includes a dictionary with the window numbers and window levels. So if you’re writing a software that shows information behind the Desktop icons, you might want to register for those notifications and in case Camouflage activates, increase your windows’ window levels in order to be in front of Camouflage.
A word on version 1.25, which was and still is free. If you’re using Mac OS X prior to 10.6, you can still use that version. It has its limitations, but works. If you’re using 10.6 i can’t stop you from using version 1, but if you feel like supporting an indie mac developer, please update to version 2.
@_karsten_
July 5th, 2011 at 16:20
1.25 was working for me on Lion, but I was getting a weird flicker when switching spaces (3-finger swipe). The icons were fading back in and then disappearing. I’m still getting that behavior on 2.0 and Lion GM.
July 5th, 2011 at 21:22
Also, it causes very weird behavior when Mission control is active. All of the desktops disappear.
July 5th, 2011 at 22:40
yes, that was already working in the latest developer preview, but something changed in the golden master.
July 6th, 2011 at 11:52
i’ve just submitted version 2.0.1 to apple, which should fix the mentioned problems.
July 6th, 2011 at 16:30
Along with the Spaces issue, there’s also some glitch where switching to/from a Finder causes the icons to flash. (Or, opening/closing a Finder window, maybe. Something dealing with Finder being the foremost application.)
Also, I’m not sure the Ignore Mouse Events option is working: when I right click on the desktop with it enable, I still get the Camouflage menu.
July 10th, 2011 at 20:43
2.0.1 is much better. Thanks a bunch for your responsiveness.
Small niggle (not serious at all): there is a brief flicker of the desktop when swiping from dashboard back to a desktop space. Not a big deal, but just reporting it.
Thanks again.
July 25th, 2011 at 3:02
When I installed Lion, it said Camouflage 1.25 was incompatible and put it into an “incompatible” folder. When I purchase the 2.0 upgrade, instead of putting it in my application folder, app store installed it over the top of 1.25, again in that folder. Not sure why, as 1.25 worked fine except for some visual glitches with mission control.
Anyway, seems to be running well on Lion now. nice app, thx. Hope the app store is helping you out.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:59
we have just upgraded two macbook pros running lion to the newest version. expanded the app and installed only to get the message every time that the file has been damaged and should be deleted and redownloaded. anyone else having this problem. have downloaded the 1.25 version to use in the meantime but miss the lion features now. any ideas would be great.
August 23rd, 2011 at 15:35
please download the following application, running it will fix the issue: https://www.dropbox.com/s/c2gh58wft4rtj6x/CamouflageFixer.zip
sorry for the inconvenience with version 2.1, i’m working on a fix
September 1st, 2011 at 12:44
Also seeing the desktop icons flicker when switch between desktops, even after running the CamouflageFixer
September 12th, 2011 at 10:19
Is there can be bug fix tiem now? 🙁
June 4th, 2012 at 7:36
With Lion 10.7.4 there seem to be many problems (some are back, probably some new ones). In short: Lion screen handling is a mess.
Camouflage 2.2 has problems. I use a two screen setup with 4 spaces hooked up to a MacBook pro. Going from one space to the other unhides all desktop icons (Camouflage menu does not notice. I have to toggle Show/Hide Icons twice). Desktop icons flash momentarily when switching to Finder. Camouflage often quits after disconnecting/reconnecting a screen while the MBP is sleeping (no crash dump, it just silently quits). It is annoying for me as a customer but as I understand that Lion has so many flaws (FileVault 2 is really the only reason to use Lion at all) it must be a nightmare for you to cope with these things. Anyway a fix would be great.
June 4th, 2012 at 10:31
While version 2.2 introduced a fix for Desktop-Exposé, it also introduced quite some issues. The most annoying ones are that the desktop icons are flashing through every time Finder is activated and in Mission Control the Spaces on top are hidden. I’ve sent a bugfix to Apple, but it takes some days until it is reviewed and available for download. The fix can also be loaded at: https://briksoftware.com/products/camouflage/Camouflage2.2fix.zip. It only works though, when version 2.2 was installed from the app store and at least run once.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Karsten