Which is not to say Canvas doesn't have its weaknesses. In comparison to other graphics suites that are composed of separate applications, Canvas helps smooth the learning curve by ensuring that the application works almost identically regardless of the focus of one document to another. There are also quite a few new features in Canvas 7.0, fairly evenly spread across the programs graphics and web capabilities. By far the most compelling new feature is SpriteEffects filtering, a way of applying Photoshop like filters to any item or area. The effect will, in this case, be applied to all visible objects under the lens.
Lenses are also able to act as absolute or relative views that can magnify what they cover.
This effect is useful, for example, in creating detailed magnifying glass pop-up views of maps and intricate artwork. Lastly, SpriteEffects can be layered to produce spectacular and unique effects that would otherwise be very tedious when attempting to integrate text, vector, and pixel objects. A feature this complex could become unwieldy and frustrating, but Canvas keeps this from happening by implementing a user-friendly palette to manage the effects. More importantly, the program provides the ability to reorder and edit the parameters of each effect at any point. SpriteLayers is a feature introduced in Canvas 6.0 that is just as innovative as SpriteEffects in the area of transparency.