Image editing for the rest of us
Need help using Pixelmator? Have a question? Here is what you can do:
Pixelmator is a fun, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X. The application has everything you need to create, edit, and enhance images.
It’s very different from other image editing applications because it’s the first application of its kind to take full advantage of your graphics card (GPU), it supports the latest and greatest Mac OS X technologies, and it features a transparent user interface designed for work with images.
In other words, Pixelmator is an innovative, very easy-to-use, next-generation, real-Mac OS X image editing application.
Oh, yes. Pixelmator uses your Mac’s video card for image processing, freeing the CPU for other tasks. So if you have a high-performance card with a bunch of VRAM, you’ll find real-time responsiveness across a wide variety of Pixelmator operations. The technology that helps Pixelmator do that is called Core Image.
Pixelmator is blistering fast on the latest PowerPC and all Intel-based Macs. What’s more, Pixelmator’s future looks very bright because of the impressive rise in GPU performance.
Pixelmator supports and uses many Mac OS X technologies, such as Core Image, Open GL, Automator, ColorSync, Dashboard, Spotlight, QuickTime, and many others. Pixelmator is built with a modern Mac OS X-only programming language called Cocoa.
Pixelmator uses a very sophisticated foundation called ImageMagick to provide the most powerful image editing tools available. You can check the ImageMagick.org website for more information about what goes into Pixelmator.
Pixelmator requires any Mac with Mac OS X 10.4.9 Tiger or later. A graphics card supported by Core Image is highly recommended.
We don’t have any plans to offer a Windows version. Pixelmator is very dependent on Mac OS X technlogies. Also, some modern technologies and features are missing in Windows. So it would be near-impossible to create something like Pixelmator for Windows. Switch to Mac?
Yes. By using Pixelmator actions in Automator, you can quickly enhance, resize, transform, add special effects, and even convert your images to more than 100 different file formats.
Yes. Pixelmator’s Dashboard widget allows you to convert images to more than 100 different file formats by simply dragging and dropping your images onto Pixelmator’s widget.
Will there be a .Mac support?
Yes. You will be able to sync your brushes, swatches, and gradients collections and your Pixelmator preferences with other Macs you have. However, .Mac support is not available in Pixelmator v1.0.
Yes. You can use the Photo Browser palette in Pixelmator to quickly access your iPhoto Library, events, albums, Smart Albums, and even pictures in your Pictures folder. Just locate your picture in Photo Browser and drag-and-drop it to your Pixelmator composition. It’s that easy.
Aperture support is in the works.
Pixelmator has many powerful tools for creating, editing, and enhancing images, including selection, painting, retouching, navigation, transform, and color correction tools. What’s more, Pixelmator has more than 50 filters and special effects based on Core Image.
Pixelmator has Rectangular Marquee, Elliptical Marquee, Lasso, and Magic Wand. You can also use Refine Selection and Masks to edit your selections.
It has Brush, Pencil, Gradient, Paint Bucket, Clone Stamp, Eraser, Blur, and Sharpen tools.
You can use Eyedropper, Hand, and Zoom for that.
No, not yet.
Pixelmator has more than 15 Core Image-based color correction tools such as Levels, Auto Levels, Auto Contrast, Auto Color, Brightness and Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Desaturate, Colorize, Replace Color, RGB Channel Mixer, Exposure, Invert, Equalize, Threshold, and Posterize.
There are Tools, Tool Options, Layers, Brushes, Gradients, Swatches, Scratch, Masks, Photo Browser, Apple Color Picker, and Apple Fonts palettes available.
Pixelmator is a Layers-based image editor. You do not need to work with layers if you are doing simple adjustments or adding filters to your photo, but layers can help you create much more advanced compositions.
You can use blending modes to blend layers and paintings. Many blending modes are available in Pixelmator, including Normal, Dissolve, Multiply, Darken, Color Burn, Linear Burn, Lighten, Screen, Color Dodge, Linear Dodge, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Vivid Light, Linear Light, Pin Light, Hard Mix, Difference, Exclusion, Hue, Saturation, Color, Luminosity, Lighter Color, and Darker Color.
You can even use Behind blending mode when working with your painting tools to paint behind the layer.
Yes. Pixelmator can open Photoshop images with layers. However, Photoshop layer styles, shapes, adjustment layers, and masks are not supported at this time.
No, not yet. We do have plans to support RAW, but don’t expect to see it before November.
Pixelmator supports PSD, JPEG, TIFF, PNG, GIF, PICT, ART, AVI, AVS, BMP, CGM, CIN, CUR, CUT, DCM, DCX, DIB, DJVU, DNG, DOT, DPX, EMF, EPDF, EPI, EPS, EPS2, EPSF, EPSI, EPT, EXR, FAX, FIG, FITS, FPX, GPLT, GRAY, HPLG, HTML, ICO, JBIG, JNG, JP2, JPC, MAN, MAT, MIFF, MONO, MNG, MPEG, M2V, MPC, MSL, MTV, MVG, OTB, P7, PALM, PAM, PBM, PCD, PCDS, PCL, PCX, PDB, PDF, PFA, PFB, PGM, PICON, PIX, PNM, PPM, PS, PS2, PS3, PTIF, PWP, RAD, RLA, RLE, SCT, SFW, SGI, SUN, SVG, TGA, TIM, TTF, UIL, UYVY, VICAR, VIFF, WBMP, WMF, WPG, X, XBM, XCF, XPM, XWD, YUV.
Pixelmator’s native file format is PXM. It is the best way to save and store Pixelmator compositions.
Yes, we will be constantly updating Pixelmator.
You can expect Pixelmator bugs to be fixed (if any), perfomance issues addressed, and new features added. We aren’t talking much about new features that will be available in Pixelmator, because of competition and because we want to surprise you.
No. Pixelmator updates marked as version 1.X are free.
It’s a bit too early to talk about upgrades.
It’s a code name for the current version of Pixelmator. Every 1.X update will be given a name. For example, the first version of Pixelmator, codenamed Firestarter, is called Pixelmator 1.0 Firestarter. Pixelmator’s next version will be named Pixelmator 1.1 Code_name, and so on. The Code_name will give a hint about features built into Pixelmator and will be fun. Major Pixelmator 1.X updates are free for registered Pixelmator users.
The number one priority is fixing any issues (bugs, glitches, etc); number two: improving performance, and number three: new features.
Yes—in fact, Pixelmator was first developed for Leopard. So we already have some useful and fun stuff for Leopard.
No. If you purchase Pixelmator for Tiger you won’t have to pay for the Leopard version of Pixelmator. The same version of the application will run on both operating systems. However, some features available in Leopard will not be available in Tiger.
Go to the Feedback page and let us know about any bugs you find, improvements we could make, or features you would like to see in future versions of Pixelmator.
1. Use Pixelmator Help by choosing Help > Pixelmator Help when in Pixelmator application. 2. Join Pixelmator Forums to discuss any tips and tricks with other Pixelmator users. 3. Download Pixelmator manuals. 4. Visit the Pixelmator Team weblog; from time to time we will post articles about getting the most out of the app.
The Pixelmator Team offers a wide range of support options for new and registered users. Please visit our Support page to find manuals, participate in Pixelmator forums, report bugs, or even contact the Pixelmator Team.
Of course! We would love to see it. Just send us it to info at pixelmator.com.
Pixelmator costs $59
No, unless you need more than 200 copies of Pixelmator. We think Pixelmator is already priced fairly for everyone.
