September 21, 2017
While we all wait until Pixelmator Pro is released, we thought we’d feature something special on our website. This time, it’s the beautiful and mystical art of cave painting. In the coming weeks, we’ll continue to explore many other artistic styles and artists that have shaped art throughout history. And you’re very welcome to join us in this exploration, whether by visiting our website or subscribing to our awesome newsletter.
September 20, 2017
Apple has been doing a series of super fun videos on iPad + iOS 11. And Pixelmator for iOS, together with its magical Repair Tool, made a fabulous appearance in one of the latest vids! Here it is just in case you missed it:
Being featured by Apple is always a really big deal and this really brightened up our week as we get closer to the Pixelmator Pro release.
For more info on Pixelmator for iOS click here.
September 5, 2017
The Pixelmator Team today unveiled Pixelmator Pro, a brand new Mac app that redefines image editing on the Mac, providing professional-grade editing tools in an incredibly intuitive and accessible design. Pixelmator Pro 1.0, codenamed Whirlwind, includes a modern single-window interface, nondestructive, GPU-powered image editing tools, machine learning-enhanced editing features, and more.
“Pixelmator Pro offers every tool you could ever need to create, edit, and enhance images on a Mac in a beautiful, user-centered interface,” said Saulius Dailide, one of the founders of the Pixelmator Team. “And with its GPU-powered, machine learning-enhanced tools, it’s truly one of the most advanced and innovative image editing apps on the planet.”
The modern, dark single-window interface of Pixelmator Pro has been created exclusively for working with images. Its streamlined, macOS-inspired design provides a completely native Mac app experience and is fully consistent with the look and feel of macOS. And a reimagined, user-centered workflow design makes the professional editing tools in Pixelmator Pro incredibly accessible, even to first-time users.
Completely nondestructive color adjustments, effects, styles, and layouting tools in Pixelmator Pro give users the freedom and flexibility to go back and modify or delete individual changes at any point in the editing workflow. Thanks to the new presets feature, you can create endless combinations of multiple adjustments, effects, or styles, save them to your favorites and reuse them in any of your images. Drag-and-drop sharing also makes it a breeze to share presets with others.
Pixelmator Pro pushes the boundaries of image editing, using breakthrough machine learning to deliver more intelligent editing tools and features. Integrated via the new, blazing fast Core ML framework, machine learning lets Pixelmator Pro detect and understand various features within images, bringing a number of groundbreaking advancements, such as jaw-droppingly accurate automatic layer naming, automatic horizon detection, stunningly realistic object removal, and intelligent quick selections.
Designed exclusively for the Mac, Pixelmator Pro uses the Mac graphics processor in tandem with the latest Mac graphics technologies, such as Metal 2, Core Image, and OpenGL, to deliver blistering fast, GPU-powered image editing. Built with Swift 4, Pixelmator Pro is a next-generation app that takes full advantage of the latest technological innovations in hardware and software.
The Pixelmator Team has also packed a wide range of other features and innovations into Pixelmator Pro, such as HEIF file format compatibility; full RAW support, including support for multiple RAW layers; superior support for Adobe Photoshop images; complete macOS integration via full support for iCloud, Versions, Tabs, Full Screen, Split View, Sharing, Permanent Undo, Touch Bar, Wide Color, and others; Metal 2-powered painting tools and dual texture brushes; powerful retouching, reshaping, selecting, type, shape and vector tools; and a lot more.
Pixelmator Pro is coming exclusively to the Mac App Store this fall.
June 6, 2017
It’s like this year’s WWDC Keynote was made exclusively for us at the Pixelmator Team and very much for me, personally. I loved every single bit of it. I think it was the best WWDC Keynote yet.
I use Apple Watch — I got the Apple Watch Activity app update where you can now basically do a triathlon. I’ll do a triathlon one day (sprint distance, of course. Probably after a couple of our secret massive releases). I know that VR is the future and there you go — now we all (most importantly Apple) officially and loudly agree about it. iPad Pro and iOS — brilliant updates, what’s not to like.
Very excited about iMac Pro. Even more excited about the unannounced, but somehow mentioned between the lines modular Mac Pro. Can’t wait to run our apps on those two — it’s like they are made for what we do.
But I am most excited about macOS High Sierra — OMG, OMG, OMG — Metal 2, Core ML, Swift 4, external GPU Support, and so much more. Our awesome Pixelmator Team engineers are already squeezing every single bit out of it, and pouring it right into our spectacular upcoming new app. In addition, and it’s pretty much granted, those cool new technologies are always a great boost for the whole team to get things going with extra energy.
May 30, 2017
This is the biggest thing that we’ve ever done. The most innovative, beautiful and powerful thing that we’ve ever done. And it’s also the most Mac thing that we’ve ever done! This is what the legendary Pixelmator Team has been secretly and incredibly passionately working on for 5 whole years.
It turned out to be the coolest thing that we or anyone else has done in years, and, oh boy, I wish I could unveil everything just now, but I can’t. Well, I could, but I don’t wan’t to. Just yet. I am very excited about it and I really want every single thing to come out perfectly. So no details for now. But be sure that the entire team is currently working hard to bring you a lot more about what we’re doing — ASAP.
Great times ahead (again).
And because of all this, I highly recommend you subscribe to our Notify Me list or follow us on Twitter to be the first to know as soon as we have something more to reveal.
November 15, 2016
Pixelmator 3.6 Cordillera is out now and brings a ton of cool stuff. First of all, there’s support for macOS Sierra and the Touch Bar on the all-new MacBook Pro. Then, there’s Tabs and a content-aware way to refine selections with Smart Refine. We’ve also added support for P3 color and Wide Color displays, and a few other really neat features. Honestly, this update is a big one!
Pixelmator 3.6 Cordillera also adds an awesome live preview for the Quick Selection Tool, a faster and more accurate algorithm for the Repair Tool, and other improvements and bug fixes. As always, the full release notes have all the little details if you’d like to learn more.
October 27, 2016
Did you catch it? Just in case you didn’t, Pixelmator for Mac will have full support for the all-new Touch Bar. And here’s a little proof right from the Apple Event!
October 11, 2016
Hey everyone, this is just a quick note to say that we’re working on an awesome update to Pixelmator for Mac. It will add full support for macOS Sierra and it’ll be called Pixelmator 3.6 Cordillera. In the meantime, we’d love to share with you just one of the new features you’ll be seeing in this update – Tabs.
Of course, there’s a lot more in store, but we wouldn’t want to give everything away just yet. And yes, this one’s going to be a free update for all users who purchased Pixelmator from the Mac App Store. Stay tuned!
July 20, 2016
Pretty much the first tweets and emails we got after shipping the last Pixelmator for Mac update had you guys asking us if the Quick Selection and Magnetic Selection tools were coming to iOS. Which was pretty cool, because that was actually our plan all along—to bring those two tools to macOS and then add them to Pixelmator for iOS. And that’s just what we did in Pixelmator 2.3 for iOS.
One of the great things about working with macOS and iOS is that we can often reuse code from one app in the other, because the two platforms are so well integrated. In this case, that made it much easier for us to add two truly desktop-class selection tools to Pixelmator for iOS. I guess that makes it sound like it was just a case of copying and pasting a bunch of code, but it wasn’t quite as simple like that.
The design of the marching ants was one of the biggest changes we had to make in this update. The marching ants we used to have were good enough for the Paint Selection Tool, but since Quick Selection is a lot more powerful, we had to completely rewrite the whole thing—from the ground up. Now, the ants look much nicer, work way faster, and you get to see a live preview of your selection as you’re making it. That’s all down to the awesome new design.
The technology behind the Quick Selection and Magnetic Selection tools is amazing. In our last blog post, we go into detail about them, so I won’t go over what we mentioned there. But, if you’re curious about what exactly lies beneath the tools, be sure to check out our previous blog post. We’ve also got two great video tutorials about both tools, which explain how they work. You can click here to watch the Quick Selection Tool tutorial. And here if you’d like to watch the Magnetic Selection Tool tutorial.
Along with the new selection tools and new marching ants design, we’ve also added loads of little improvements to the entire selection experience. Little things like an Invert Selection feature (yes, it did take a little too long for this one to make it into the app…), improved edge-smoothing with the Color Selection Tool, and a two finger double-tap to zoom gesture. And that’s not even close to being it. In fact, there were so many changes, that we had to cut the release notes in half just to fit them in the App Store description. But if you want to know all the little details, the full, unabridged release notes can be found right here.
This update is free for everyone who has previously bought Pixelmator for iOS, so you can just open up the App Store, get the latest version, and get selecting!
May 26, 2016
Pixelmator 3.5 Canyon is now available from the Mac App Store! This is a major update with two brand new and really smart selection tools, a powerful Retouch Extension for the Photos app, and a bunch of other great improvements.
The biggest new features inside the app are the Quick Selection Tool and the Magnetic Selection Tool.
First, let me tell you about the Quick Selection tool. This is something we spent 6 months perfecting and, honestly, it’s so fun, so precise and so easy to use.
Let’s face it, making selections can sometimes be tricky, especially if you don’t have a bunch of experience with different selection tools and selection modes. So, we wanted to create a selection tool that is intuitive and easy to use but also incredibly powerful.
To work its magic, the Quick Selection Tool uses some amazing features and technologies and an innovative and sophisticated algorithm, which makes it possible to select areas really precisely with just a few simple brushstrokes.
To perfect the algorithm, we used machine learning techniques to analyze over 200 images. More than half of these had a person as the main object, because that’s what you’ll want to select most often, right? Plus, people can be quite challenging objects to select.
The algorithm tried out thousands of ways to select the objects in every one of those images. Then, we took that information and used it to adjust over 100 different parameters in the Quick Selection Tool algorithm to make it as accurate as possible. And then we tweaked them. Over and over again.
In short, the Quick Selection Tool really is the most advanced selection tool we’ve ever made. And it’s incredibly fun and easy to use.
Another great addition to the Pixelmator Tools palette is the Magnetic Selection Tool. The way this tool works is it finds the object edges you’re trying to trace and automatically snaps a selection around them, which lets you make very accurate selections really quickly.
There’s a whole bunch of great features and technologies behind the tool, and one of the most powerful is the so called A* pathfinding method, which is mainly used to develop navigation algorithms in video games. Put simply, it’s an incredibly smart way to perfect (or optimise) the selection outline.
And now, here’s something many of you have been waiting for since we released Pixelmator 3.4 Twist, which included the Pixelmator Distort Extension for Photos. Back then, you told us you’d also love to have Pixelmator Retouch Tools inside your Photos app. So, in this update, we’ve done just that – Pixelmator 3.5 Canyon features the Pixelmator Retouch Extension, which brings a full set of Pixelmator retouching tools to your Photos app, including the magical Pixelmator Repair Tool.
By the way, the Pixelmator Retouch Extension is powered by Metal, Apple’s powerful graphics-processing technology. This allows Pixelmator to make the most of the graphics card in your Mac and means that the tools are both lightning fast and incredibly powerful.
Make sure to visit the Pixelmator Retouch Extension page to learn all about the tools, under the hood features, powerful technologies and more.
Speaking of awesome content on our website, today we’re also releasing a new Pixelmator Tutorials page!
It’s really easy to navigate, has a great search bar, a whole lot of short and useful tips, and more neat details. Also, we’ve added some new tutorials and we’re planning to bring more videos soon, so take time to explore the new page and come back occasionally.
Whew! Congratulations if you managed to get through all that.
And those were just the main new features in Pixelmator 3.5 Canyon. Check out the Release Notes to find out more about other great improvements and bug fixes, such as a much faster Stroke effect and improved smoothing with the Color Selection, Paint Bucket and Magic Eraser tools.
By the way, just like always, this update is free for existing Pixelmator users, so visit the Mac App Store, download the latest version and enjoy!
Smart Edge Detection lets you select an object incredibly precisely even if there is a very similar one right besides it.
Shadow Recognition lets you magically select an object while leaving its shadow unselected.
Awareness of the direction in which you’re selecting an object lets the Tool predict what you will want to select next.
Smart Borders makes sure you select only the area you want even if you move the selection brush over that area.
A separate algorithm perfects the outline of your selection, so you can copy the object into another image naturally.
The brush size auto-adjusts as you zoom in or out of your image, so it always stays the right size.
Core Animation is used to create the most beautiful selection marker line that has ever existed. Because every detail counts.
Magnetic Selection Tool takes full advantage of the powerful Core Image technology for amazing quality and speed.
The selection outline is perfected with the advanced optimal path finding method, called A*, mainly used in video games.
The selection magically snaps around the edges of the object you trace, thanks to advanced calculations underneath.
The position of all the anchor points you clip is gently refined to perfectly match the edge of the object you trace.
Smart keyboard shortcuts let you quickly switch between tools, adjust the brush size, remove anchor points, and do more.
Twitter
Facebook