Pixelmator | Weblog

Next Step

Saulius — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:46:27 +0000

After the remarkable Pixelmator updates of late, including Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle and Pixelmator 1.4.1, the new Learn website, and the new manual, I am very happy to inform you that we are working very hard to build the next major Pixelmator update: Pixelmator 1.5 Spider.

I am not able to provide any details yet due to competition and our desire to surprise you, but I can say that Spider is the largest and, based on your feedback, requests, and comments on our website and our neighbor websites as well as Twitter comments, probably the most welcome Pixelmator update since 1.0.

Pixelmator 1.5 Spider is coming in a few weeks and will be available as a free update to existing Pixelmator users.

Pixelmator a great, inexpensive image editor

Saulius — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:29:15 +0000

Pixelmator is what I imagine Apple would make if it were going to create an image editor. It has an elegant interface, it’s easy to use, it’s powerful, and it’s reasonably priced. At $59, it’s a steal for what you get.

Jim Dalrymple

Pixelmator Team Releases Pixelmator 1.4.1

Saulius — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:00:08 +0000

Adds Noise Filter and Introduces a Learning Website and a New User Manual

The Pixelmator Team released Pixelmator 1.4.1 today, an update to the revolutionary GPU-powered image editing tool that provides everything needed to create, edit, and enhance still images. Available as a free software update, Pixelmator 1.4.1 features a noise filter, improvements, and bug fixes. The Pixelmator Team is also introducing a new learning website and a new user manual for Pixelmator users.

“Tens of thousands of Mac users have fallen in love with Pixelmator,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “With the new learning website and manual, the Pixelmator Team continues to demonstrate its commitment to Pixelmator quality and attentiveness to the needs of its users.”

Pixelmator 1.4.1 introduces a noise filter, which allows the artist to quickly apply random pixels to an image. This allows users to create realistic textures and special effects and provides advanced retouching capabilities. The current update also offers minor user interface and performance improvements as well as bug fixes to the application.

The Pixelmator Team is also launching a new learning website for Pixelmator users. This new website (www.pixelmator.com/learn/) is all about learning how to use Pixelmator. It features helpful text, video, and third-party tutorials, tips, and tricks, as well as practical resources to make the most of the powerful Pixelmator features and tools.

Further, the Pixelmator Team released a new user manual. Fully updated with information about the most recent version of Pixelmator, this manual introduces users to the Pixelmator interface and its powerful features, providing detailed instructions about using Pixelmator tools. The 300-page manual, full of useful information for intermediate as well as for beginning users, is available as a free download at the Pixelmator website (www.pixelmator.com/support/documentation/).

Pixelmator 1.4.1 is a free update for current Pixelmator users.

Review: Pixelmator - Is it a $59 Photoshop? In many ways it is

Saulius — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 09:22:48 +0000

Pixelmator is a relatively new image editor that delivers many of the core features of Photoshop in an easy to use application that is a virtual steal at $59. It also includes some thoughtful touches that even the mighty Photoshop doesn’t offer. It’s an impressive application that both beginners and professionals can use and enjoy.

Pixelmator Review

Saulius — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:52:05 +0000

First things first : Let’s talk interface. Pixelmator is absolutely fabulous in terms of Mac integration. It mimicks iMovie’s look with its black translucid theme — like Quicklook in fact — and it’s always cool to see the global design of an application was taken care of. Not only does Pixelmator looks like Mac, but it also tastes like Mac. Integration is brilliant : the photo browser palette offers quick access to iPhoto’s content, iSight is supported, Quick Look plug-in lets you view any of the 100 file formats supported by Pixelmator and you can even edit your images in full screen. That is definitely the way to do Mac Software.

Jay Pan

Pixelmator Sprinkle in Action

Saulius — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:44:54 +0000

Check out the way our buddy Kyle Lambert took advantage of Pixelmator’s latest painting engine.
Impressive, huh?!

Pixelmator: Blazingly Fast Image Editing

Saulius — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:49:05 +0000

I was intruiged to hear about Pixelmator, an OS X only image editing tool designed with speed, simplicity and a great user interface in mind. It lacks the raw power of Photoshop, but provides a great, flexible tool for graphics editing and photo manipulation. It’s a fairly recently launched app, but has already undergone several updates, adding widely requested functionality.

David Appleyards

Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle Goodies

Saulius — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:15:35 +0000

First of all, I must tell you how happy we at the Pixelmator Team factory are to finally ship Sprinkle. We worked diligently for several months and I hope you like the results. There was much discussion during the development stage about a 1.4 release, and we came to the conclusion that Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle is what version 1.0 should have been: a beautiful, stable, and useful image editor for the rest of us.

And then since we are celebrating Sprinkle’s birth, let’s talk about the new features in detail:

Feature #1: New Painting Engine

Much of the work we did for Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle was for the new painting engine. In fact, we did a complete rewrite of painting foundation in Pixelmator to improve on what we had before and create more power and features for the Brush, Pencil, Eraser, Clone Stamp, Blur, and Sharpen tools.

The result is a new painting engine that delivers smoothness, excellent performance, and new brush settings for painting tools in Pixelmator. This new painting engine creates a very good foundation for not only current, but also future tools in Pixelmator that relate to painting.

Feature #2: New Brush Settings

The creation of the new painting engine introduces several new brush settings to Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle. New advanced brush settings include scatter, flow, follow direction, size jitter, stroke jitter, angle jitter, opacity jitter, and color jitter. In order to maintain Pixelmator’s ease of use, we decided to include just the most essential brush settings and remove the less useful ones.

Feel free to experiment with these and give us your feedback. Also, accessing Pixelmator Help for more information about what each setting does might help you create the next great brush.

Feature #3: New Brush Presets

Sprinkle features a nice collection of brush presets for you to start with. Here is a preview of some of them:

Feature #4: Brush Sharing

From now on you can share your brushes with other Pixelmator users. It is as simple as dragging and dropping brushes from the Pixelmator Brushes palette onto your desktop, and vice versa.

Feature #5: Big Brother Brushes Support

In addition to the ability to load and save brush presets, Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle also gained the ability to import Adobe Photoshop brushes. Again, it is as simple as dragging and dropping .abr files (Photoshop brush presets) into the Pixelmator Brushes palette or window.

Feature #6: Graphics Tablet Support

Clearly if there is a better painting engine there should also be a better graphics tablet support. Well, our graphics table support is not just better …it is much broader in terms of painting experience. Pixelmator gained the ability to control brush diameter, flow, and scatter—not only by graphics tablet pressure, but also by tracking speed (of your mouse or the same graphics tablet). Try it: I think you will love it.

Feature #7: Document Presets

One of the most requested features since version 1.0 has been document presets. We have removed the image name field that was unusual in OSX and somewhat useless and added a document presets pop-up instead in the New Image panel. We have included a list of most popular presets for you, but of course you can easily create your own. You can also share your presets simply by dragging and dropping a preset onto desktop from the Manage New Document Presets sheet. This will save it as a document you can send to your friends.

We have even included iTunes Artwork and iPhone Desktop picture presets for you. We want your feedback, so tell us if you create something cool for you iPhone desktop!

Feature #8: Clouds Filter

Again, one of the most requested features by those of you who do a lot of work with special effects was a cloud filter which allows the artist to easily generate realistic clouds that can be used in either photos, special effects, or for creating natural textures.

Feature #9: Details

The proof is in the details! It is not about the features as much as it is about the details that make the application better and more fun. For example, the Clone Stamp is a bit more user-friendly; the painting tools cursor shows you the selected brush shape; the Welcome Screen has been updated; and perhaps most noticeable is that the package in which Pixelmator comes was reduced from 62 MB to 25 MB.

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Again, I really hope you love what we did with version 1.4. Obviously I want to thank you very much for using Pixelmator, providing us feedback, and letting your friends know about this great Mac application that we feel is definitely worth trying.

Have fun!

Fiery Fireballs in Pixelmator 1.4

Saulius — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 01:02:54 +0000

Last year I created some images using fireballs, explosion, fire and smoke. Basically I only used brushes to create that in Photoshop. Now with the release of the new Pixelmator 1.4 and its brand new Brush Engine I decided to try it and create the same image in Pixelmator.

Fábio Sasso, Abduzeedo

Pixelmator Team Releases Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle

Saulius — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:06:44 +0000

Version 1.4 Features New Painting Engine, Support for Adobe Photoshop Brushes, Clouds Filter, Document Presets, and More

The Pixelmator Team released Pixelmator 1.4 today, the fourth major update to the revolutionary GPU-powered image editing tool that provides everything needed to create, edit, and enhance still images. Available as a free software update, Pixelmator 1.4, codenamed Sprinkle, features a new painting engine, Adobe Photoshop brushes support, a clouds filter, document presets, and more.

“By leveraging the power of Mac OS X, Pixelmator brings image editing to life,” said Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team. “With Pixelmator 1.4 features, the application is a superior image editor and an excellent painting tool that is as fun as it is powerful.”

Pixelmator’s new painting engine delivers smoothness, performance improvements, and new brush settings for painting tools in Pixelmator. New advanced brush settings in Pixelmator include scatter, flow, follow direction, size jitter, stroke jitter, angle jitter, opacity jitter, and color jitter. In addition to the ability to load and save brush presets, the application also allows users to import Adobe Photoshop brushes.

New document presets in Pixelmator can be used to quickly choose image dimensions and resolution for display, web, photo, or print projects. Users can also create their own document presets.

Pixelmator’s powerful new clouds filter allows the artist to easily generate realistic clouds that can be used in either photos, special effects, or for creating natural textures.

Other new features in Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle include improved graphics tablet support, new brush presets, minor user interface, compatibility and performance improvements, and several bug fixes.

Pixelmator 1.4 Sprinkle is a free update for current Pixelmator users.