What happened to unsharp mask?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-12-12 15:26:02

I don't understand what unsharp mask does -- either in Photoshop or Pixelmator -- but what I used to do in those apps is apply it after resizing an image. It seemed to sharpen the edges and make the image look less manipulated.

I can't find unsharp mask in Pixelmator Pro, and Sharpen seems not to do the same thing, and it certainly doesn't do it in the same way.

How do I perform unsharp mask within Pixelmator Pro?
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2019-12-13 11:06:14

Interestingly enough, the Sharpen adjustment in Pixelmator Pro uses the same Core Image CIUnsharpMask filter as the original Pixelmator, it's just that the Radius in the original Pixelmator goes up to 100px, as opposed to the 10px in the Pixelmator Pro. Here's a screenshot of the same image sharpened the same amount in both Pixelmator and Pixelmator Pro:

Image

So they really should be doing the same thing in the same way. The only difference is that the original Pixelmator calculates the adjustment in a linear color space, whereas Pixelmator Pro does it in the document color space, which could theoretically result in some subtle differences, but in this test image, the result was entirely identical (tested by exporting the image from both apps and compared using the Difference blending mode).

On our part, we'll do our best to increase the range of the Radius slider in an upcoming update.
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2019-12-13 13:51:51

OK, but I used to be able to select unsharp mask in Pixelmator and apply it, and the image would be processed. In Pixelmator Pro, apparently I have to "paint" over the whole image first before it will allow me to apply the filter? That's just wrong.
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2019-12-13 16:12:01

Hi Greg.
You do know that there's both a sharpen brush and a sharpen effect don't you? :grin:
The effect is in Add Effects. Just click on Add at the top to add all kinds of things including two different sharpen effects.
(There's also one in Color Adjustments)
You're not the first to find the brush tool and assume that is the only sharpen effect: http://www.pixelmator.com/community/vie ... 12&t=15811
Hope this helps.
- Stef.
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2019-12-13 16:26:44

Wow ... OK. Didn't see the Add Effects. Thanks.

Wish the documentation was better for radical changes such as this.