As consumer applications continue to migrate from the desktop to the Webtop, one of the most advanced areas where this trend is taking hold is in photo-editing software. Desktop editing apps like iPhoto, Picassa and even Photoshop are giving way to Web-based apps like FotoFlexer and Picnik (and many more).

And the Webtop photo editors just keep getting better. Today, FotoFlexer released a completely revamped user interface, making it simpler and more intuitive. FotoFlexer also added a bunch of effects, such as the ability to type directly onto a photo, add animations, and choose from more frames. Once you finish tweaking your photos, they can be posted all over the Web (Photobucket, Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug, etc.)

I made the image above in about 30 seconds. (You can play with it here). The tabbed UI is really easy to use, and there seems to be a lot of effects and layers that you can add. I am not so crazy about the animations, but I think those are supposed to appeal more to young girls. All in all, though, the functionality that is available for a Webtop app is pretty impressive and the new features and functionality should make it much more competitive with Picnik. Which one you use now is really just a matter of personal preference. (FotoFlexer is more tightly integrated with Photobucket, Picnik is baked into Flickr). I like Picnik. Mike prefers FotoFlexer. But as the traffic graph below shows, more people agree with me.

The fact is that FotoFlexer is getting trounced by Picnik. According to comScore, FotoFlexer only had 396,000 unique visitors worldwide in February, compared to 966,000 for Picnik. This new UI could help it turn things around. And just in time too, because a big new entrant to the Webtop photo-editing game is debuting tomorrow (more on that later).

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Fotoflexer may be my personal favorite among the many online photo editing tools, but Flickr has chosen Seattle-based Picnik to handle the long requested photo editing feature for Flickr users.

Currently, you can rotate photos on Flickr, but the editing stops there. When the new tools launch, users will be able to edit photos more extensively using the Picnik Flash based tools (see our review here).

The deal has been signed and implementation will occur sometime in the next few months, Flickr told me yesterday. Users will be presented with an edit option on the photo page. Clicking it takes the user to a new Flickr photo edit page, with the Picnik tools integrated via an iframe. After editing, users can add the edited photo to their Flickr account or, if they are a Flickr pro user, overwrite the original.

Business terms around the deal are not being disclosed at this time. Picnik is self funded to date.

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Online photo editors keep getting better and better. For hardcore image manipulation, desktop software like Photoshop or Gimp will always have its place, but online editors are free, easy to use and a lot of fun. We covered most of the online editors back in February (Fauxto, Picnik, Picture2Life, Preloadr, PXN8 and Snipshot). But a relative newcomer on the scene, Berkeley-based FotoFlexer, is worth a look.

The site first launched in July with basic functionality and integration with Facebook. This last week they relaunched a new site with more tools, direct access to your desktop/laptop webcam, and they also now integrate with Flickr, Picasa and MySpace.

Upload a photo, or grab one from a supported service, and edit it by changing colors, adding effects, bulging or pinching areas (to make body parts look larger or smaller), etc. You can also turn any image into a sketch or cartoon. I spent about 10 minutes creating the different versions of the picture to the right (original is top left). The most fun is changing hair color, although the image third down on the left is my personal favorite.

Fotoflexer says they incorporate their own artificial intelligence algorithm to figure out the right way to alter images. And whatever it is they’re doing, it works. You simply point out a few areas of the site you want to remove or alter and it figures out the rest of the pixels pretty quickly. You can do all of this in Photoshop, but it takes a lot longer. And unlike most (but not all) of the online photo editing tools we’ve previously covered, FotoFlexer also supports layering for more complicated image editing.

FotoFlexer also now integrates directly to your webcam and to take a quick snapshot and edit it. Many of the effects are similar to the Photo Booth application that comes installed on all Macs.

The integration with third party services is a great feature as well. Pull down photos from Facebook or another service, alter them and re-upload in a few minutes.

The service runs in Flash and was built on the Flex platform with mostly custom tools. The company has not raised any capital and has 15 employees, all in the Silicon Valley/Bay area. About 50,000 people use their Facebook application and/or the website directly. I expect that number to grow as social networkers discover the joy of turning their pictures into cartoons, or turning their hair color to Fuchsia.

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