July 1, 2014

Bye Aperture, Hello Photos

OS X Yosemite

Apple has announced that it is discontinuing Aperture and iPhoto development in favor of the Photos app with integrated iCloud Photo Library. We know that many of you are using those apps in combination with Pixelmator. While we might not be able to offer you a replacement app (at least right away), we want to do everything we can to help smooth the transition.

First, we are going to fully embrace the new Photos app. In fact, we can’t wait to see it. When I first saw Apple announce Photos during the Keynote, I thought, finally there’s a secure place to store photos and easily access them on all devices. iCloud Photo Library sounds super great. On top of that, Photos offers extensions, which means that developers like us can integrate some cool editing features and filters right into it. We already have some ideas for it.

Next, if you have any suggestions for tools or features that you’re going to miss since Aperture and iPhotos are gone, write them down in the comments, or shoot us an email at info@pixelmator.com. We’ll be very happy to hear your thoughts.

June 3, 2014

Pixelmator and OS X Yosemite

OS X Yosemite

All of you must have heard by now about the new OS X called Yosemite. It’s coming this fall along with other incredible things Apple announced during the keynote. We are absolutely thrilled to see new features as Apple fans, but we’re even more excited as developers.

That’s right, we are going to work on a new Pixelmator version for OS X Yosemite right away. So I suspect that you’re going to see some user interface changes. And, of course, we’re absolutely itching to dig in and have a look at what we can do with the new Swift language and Xcode 6. Boy, this is going to be sooo exciting!

May 22, 2014

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone Is Now Available on the Mac App Store

Powerful Image Editing App Adds All-new Repair Tool, 16-bits per channel Support, and Lock Layers Feature

Today, the Pixelmator Team announced Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone, an amazing update to its fast, innovative, and powerful image editing app, featuring an all-new Repair Tool, 16-bits per channel support, and Lock Layers feature. Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone is available today as a free update on the Mac App Store.

“Packed with incredible features, Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone delivers the most empowering image editing experience Pixelmator fans have ever had,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “Redeveloped from the ground up Repair Tool, 16-bits per channel support and Lock Layers feature make Pixelmator an excellent image editor that is just as fun and easy-to-use as it is powerful.”

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone features an all-new Repair Tool. Redeveloped from the inside-out, the new Repair Tool is built on breakthrough technologies that enable removing unwanted objects or image imperfections with an unsurpassed level of quality and precision. It now has three options: Quick, Standard, and Advanced repairs. These options are the combinations of sophisticated repairing algorithms aimed at achieving the best results when removing small or large objects from smooth and complicated backgrounds—all while using four times less memory than its predecessor.

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone brings 16-bits per channel support to the Mac. With 16-bits per channel support, you have more color data to work with and greatly reduce the risk of color banding. This means that you can make advanced color adjustments to an image while keeping its color rich and vibrant.

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone makes it even easier to work with large and complex compositions by bringing the new and long-anticipated Lock Layers feature. Now you can simply lock certain layers to protect their content from any further changes so that you can freely edit the rest of your composition.

Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone also includes a new Convert Selection into Shape option that lets you quickly and easily create all kinds of shapes from any selection, a number of improvements, user interface enhancements, and fixes related to stability and reliability.

April 17, 2014

Sneak Peek at Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone

Good news! A major Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone update is on its way. Some awesomely delicious goodies are coming with this update, but the sweetest of them all is the all-new Repair Tool. 

In developing an entirely new Repair Tool, we’ve used the latest breakthrough technologies that enable you to remove dust, blemishes and entire objects from your images with an unsurpassed level of precision and quality. 

The new Repair Tool and more are coming in a soon-to-be-released and free Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone major update. 

Even more, we want as many of you as possible to have fun while editing pictures. So, starting today we cut the price in half for entire week until Pixelmator 3.2 Sandstone release. If you don’t have Pixelmator yet, it’s a good time to download it for just $14.99 and get Pixelmator 3.2 for free.

January 23, 2014

Pixelmator 3.1 Marble Fully Optimized for New Mac Pro

Update brings support for 16-bit color images on the new Mac Pro and adds new print options

The Pixelmator Team today announced Pixelmator 3.1 Marble, an incredible update to its innovative, fast, and full-featured image editing app that adds support for 16-bit per channel images on the new Mac Pro and a new option for ordering prints. Pixelmator 3.1 Marble is available today as a free update from the Mac App Store.

Pixelmator 3.1 Marble

“We are extremely excited for professionals to experience the power and speed of Pixelmator 3.1 Marble on their new Mac Pros,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “Harnessing the power of the Mac Pro’s dual-GPU architecture, we’re now able to support 16-bit per channel images for the first time and push the limits of Pixelmator performance like never before.”

Fully optimized for the new Mac Pro, Pixelmator 3.1 Marble leverages the full power of the dual workstation-class GPUs built into it. Both graphics cards are used simultaneously to accelerate composition rendering and compute demanding tasks. This means that image editing is now completely seamless, and even with large and complex compositions you will experience profoundly faster and more responsive performance.

The enhancements for Pixelmator 3.1 Marble paired with the incredible power of the new Mac Pro allow us to bring support for 16-bit per channel color images, a feature professionals rely on, giving the flexibility to make adjustments to extreme lengths while keeping the image quality intact. Now all pros can take advantage of faster and more powerful editing of high-quality, rich, and vibrant pictures with Pixelmator 3.1 Marble on the new Mac Pro.

The Pixelmator Team also partnered with MILK Print on Demand to offer a new Order Prints feature. You can now quickly and easily turn your gorgeous images into stunning, fine-quality prints. With just a few clicks, you can order Pixelmator images as postcards, notecards, gallery frames, or posters and have them delivered right to your door.

Pixelmator 3.1 Marble also includes a number of improvements for Layer Styles, Type Tool, selections and others. 

December 19, 2013

Our New Office

In 2013, something more exciting happened that is closely related to Pixelmator development. We moved into our new office. I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m very happy that after a long search, careful set up, and vigilant testing we now have the best office to develop the world’s best image editing app for Macs.


December 17, 2013

2013 Roundup

2014 is just around the corner, so I think it’s time for the annual development update on what we’ve done so far and what we are up to. And, believe me, we have lots of stuff going on here.

But let me start with 2013. It was truly one of the most exciting and best years in Pixelmator history.

We had three awesomely successful releases. First, it was Pixelmator 2.2 Blueberry with easy and fun to play with Shape tools, a Paint Selection Tool, and a gorgeous Light Leak effect. Then, the Pixelmator 2.2.1 update with a new Pixelmator file format that can open and save Pixelmator documents two times faster than before. And, our most recent release, the Pixelmator 3.0 FX major upgrade with Layer Styles, Liquify Tools, and a new image editing engine.

Each release was more successful than the other. The number of downloads increased with every update. We even reached one million for the latest Pixelmator 3.0 FX update. We are
very happy about this astonishing milestone.

What excites us even more is that your feedback is always incredibly great. Pixelmator has an average rating of 4.5 stars on the Mac App Store. I even checked how others are doing, thinking maybe it’s nothing unusual to have 4.5 stars. It turns out that Pixelmator is one of those (extremely) few apps.

In the meantime, we’ve redesigned the entire Pixelmator web site, updated our tutorials page, and introduced the Get Started with Pixelmator guide. All of this, while working on Pixelmator updates.

What’s next

We receive tons of feature requests from you, including a single window mode, SVG, EPS file formats support, CMYK support, Multi-touch support, a white balance feature, adjustment layers, a scrollable shapes palette, 16-bit support, and many more (keep them coming!).


Some of the requests we receive might require another huge update, some I doubt fit the nature of Pixelmator, and some of them, I’m delighted to announce, are already in the works, like 16-bit support. Yup, it’s coming next year.

We have some more incredible stuff going on here that I can’t tell you about yet, though I’m absolutely itching to do so. I hope we’ll be ready to show you some sneaky peeks early next year.

So, to sum up everything, the year of 2013 has been absolutely incredible. We’ve finally released long-anticipated features and improved the Pixelmator performance. We even dared to call Pixelmator “a full-featured image editing app for the Macs,” because we think it can now stand up to this statement. And I know the year of 2014 is going to be just as exciting to all of us Pixelmator fans, starting with the new and awesome Pixelmator 3.1 update, codenamed Marble.

October 22, 2013

Pixelmator Team Unveils Pixelmator 3.0 FX

Adds OS X Mavericks support, new Layer Styles, Liquify Tools, and the new Pixelmator Image Editing Engine

The Pixelmator Team today announced Pixelmator 3.0 FX, the most advanced version of Pixelmator to date, featuring Layer Styles, Liquify Tools, and support for new features in OS X Mavericks, delivering blazing fast performance with its new, state-of-the-art image editing engine. Pixelmator 3.0 FX is available today as a free upgrade from the Mac App Store.

“This is the day we’ve been working for since the initial Pixelmator launch and we are absolutely thrilled to bring this massive upgrade to Pixelmator fans,” said Saulius Dailide, of the Pixelmator Team. “Now with Layer Styles, Liquify Tools, and an incredibly faster performance delivered by the new Pixelmator’s state-of-the-art image editing engine, Pixelmator becomes a top-quality, full-featured image editing app for the Mac.”

Pixelmator 3.0 FX introduces Layer Styles. Now creating advanced and polished compositions is so much simpler, faster, and more enjoyable. Quickly apply shadows and inner shadows, beautiful gradients, create outlines, or reflections. Or apply a combination of effects with any of the great-looking Layer Styles presets. The best part is that all of this is done non-destructively.

The new Liquify Tools bring even more ways to shape up and play with your images. Slightly twist an element, add an artistic detail, or even completely distort the entire image. The new Warp, Bump, Pinch, and Twirl Liquify Tools are incredibly fun to play with, whether you want to subtly improve your photos or artistically distort them.

Pixelmator 3.0 FX became dramatically faster and more powerful. Pixelmator’s development team took an extra step to build a truly modern and innovative image editing engine that takes advantage of the full power of OS X, by combining technologies like Core Image, OpenCL, OpenGL, 64-bit architecture, and Grand Central Dispatch, giving you the speed you need to keep pace with your creativity.

With new features in OS X Mavericks, like App Nap and Compressed Memory, Pixelmator is even more responsive and power efficient. Tags in OS X Mavericks helps you organize and find Pixelmator documents quickly, and with enhanced multi-display support, you’ll have more flexibility than ever to open Pixelmator windows the way you want and on the display you want.

October 18, 2013

3.0 Coming Soon


October 14, 2013

Pixelmator 2.2.2 Quick Update

We have put together a small update squashing some minor flaws in current version of Pixelmator. The update is now available to download, and comes with improved Pixelmator file format compression when saving to iCloud, as well as other tiny improvements and bug fixes (you can check the full list here). The update is so small that I think it should be called a supplemental update, although the number 2.2.2 is nice too.

Enjoy, and stay tuned for bigger news to come!