Sneak peek at Pixelmator Pro 1.4

Discuss the latest Pixelmator news.
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2019-05-30 14:16:03

Today, we want to share an early look at the next major Pixelmator Pro update. We’ve been working on it over the past 6 months and it’s one of the craziest, most awesome things we’ve ever done. Here goes.



So, what is it? It’s a Pixelmator Pro editing extension for the Photos app. But this extension is unlike any other. We’ve put all of Pixelmator Pro — everything — inside Photos. Do you want to nondestructively edit your photos using our incredible photo editing tools? You can do that. Would you like to combine several different images and save your changes, layers and all, to your Photos library? Go for it. If you use iCloud, your changes will sync across your Mac devices. Heck, you can even create designs and slice them up using the Slice tool, exporting optimized images directly from Photos.

Crazy. Powerful. And just plain cool. That’s not the only thing we’ll be adding in Pixelmator Pro 1.4 but this was simply too awesome not to share. The release date is penciled in for the end of next month. We hope you’re as excited as we are!

In other news, we’ve also just launched a Pixelmator Pro upgrade bundle on the Mac App Store. Bundles are a relatively new addition to the App Store on macOS and we’re taking advantage of them to give a discount to existing Pixelmator users wishing to upgrade to Pixelmator Pro. Visit the Mac App Store to check out the new bundle.

P.S. If you’d like to stay up to do date with Pixelmator Pro news and happenings, now’s a great time to sign up for our newsletter.
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2019-05-30 14:32:00

That's awesome. Really greatly done. :smiley:
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2019-05-30 15:26:07

Looks awesome. One point on the upgrade bundle though, the cost to complete the bundle is actually more than the cost of Pixelmator Pro on it's own - I already have Pixelmator via Mac Appstore. It doesn't look like a viable upgrade path and really only of benefit to those who own neither and wish to purchase both now.
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2019-05-30 19:32:53

Came here to point out the same as Donka above. Pixelmator Pro on the App Store is $40, but the bundle, which should drop the price to $30, is actually $45?

More than happy to upgrade, and would love to get the 25% discount, but this math seems really wonky!
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2019-05-30 19:54:06

As I understand it, any parts of a bundle you already own should be deducted from the price of the bundle (which, by the sounds of it is the same way you understand it). So the price of the $60 Pixelmator Pro Upgrade Bundle should drop to $30 if you have an App Store copy of Pixelmator installed. Try visiting the Pixelmator page on the Mac App store and see if it is registering your purchase of Pixelmator at all.
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2019-05-30 20:01:13

I do have an App Store copy of Pixelmator installed (in fact, I just updated it via the App Store when I went to look at the bundle and saw that it had an update available). But, the price is listed as $45.00. . . marked down from $69.98, not $60.

The $60 price was showing before I logged in to the App Store (somehow I had been logged out), so there are three prices for this, none of which are the $30 that should reflect a 25% discount for having previously purchased Pixelmator.

Or, since the 25% discount doesn't apply if Pixelmator was originally purchased at a discount, perhaps I did purchase it at a discount. Just found my receipt from purchase in 2015, and I paid $14.99. Was that a discounted price?
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2019-05-30 20:32:31

Yup, bundle price is definitely screwed up in App Store. I can see Pixelmator in the App Store on my Mac with the Open option but if I scroll down and click the link to Pixelmator Pro, it shows the option to complete the bundle which is a higher price than if I just clicked the buy link for Pro instead.
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2019-05-30 20:53:13

Yeah. I think the bundle is discounting what you paid for Pixelmator rather than the current price of Pixelmator. This seems a little strange to me since, in the early days of Pixelmator Pro, it cost as much, if not more, than the bundle does now. I wonder what happens if someone who paid peak price for Pixelmator Pro tries to buy the bundle. Does it offer them App Store credit and a free copy of Pixelmator? :smile:
(I can't check as the bundle just shows 'purchased' if you have both).
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2019-05-31 13:58:19

Im sure it's cool but for someone who never used photos and just think it's an inconvenience every time It happens to open this isn't super exciting news, hoping for more 🙏
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2019-05-31 17:47:23

by mazerfaka 2019-05-31 13:58:19 Im sure it's cool but for someone who never used photos and just think it's an inconvenience every time It happens to open this isn't super exciting news, hoping for more 🙏
I haven't used photos either but that can change. I looked into photos again and actually I find that I have a better overview over pics in it then in the finder. To have the ability to use pix pro right on my finger tips it's really powerful. That update will change my workflow I guess
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2019-05-31 17:49:30

by st3f Yeah. I think the bundle is discounting what you paid for Pixelmator rather than the current price of Pixelmator. This seems a little strange to me since, in the early days of Pixelmator Pro, it cost as much, if not more, than the bundle does now. I wonder what happens if someone who paid peak price for Pixelmator Pro tries to buy the bundle. Does it offer them App Store credit and a free copy of Pixelmator? :smile:
(I can't check as the bundle just shows 'purchased' if you have both).
you have predicted that a week earlier. I haven't used photos for a long time. What would be for you a game changer I'm this update?
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2019-05-31 21:36:52

Hi ResLes.
The Apple Photos integration could be a big thing for me and here's why. I use Pixelmator Pro for a lot of things but I can probably group them into three categories. All comments below make assumptions of how I think it's going to work, so it could all be wrong. :grinning:
1. Small jobs: adding text to an image, cropping, rotating etc. Typically, I won't save the .pxd afterwards as it'll just clutter up my filing system. The end result will usually end up in Apple Photos as my main image filing system, though. With the Photos integration, I've got the option of working in Photos and keeping hold of the working file right by the image.
2. Projects: complex drawings that take me hours or days to complete. These won't gain a lot from the change. They're easy to find in my current filing system (because there aren't many of them) and I'll have to choose whether I want to change that.
3. Photo editing. I don't use Pixelmator Pro much for photo editing and it's almost completely down to workflow. Since the camera's files go straight to Apple Photos and the editing tools there aren't bad I tend to use that. If I want to use Pixelmator Pro to edit an photograph, I've got to make that decision up-front. I've then got to decide how to open it. Drag and drop is convenient but won't get me the RAW file. So, if I want the RAW I have to find the image again in Pixelmator Pro. Even though I have the image open in Photos, I have to open it from inside Pixelmator Pro to get the RAW. Once I've done my edits I then need to push the file back to Photos, then find somewhere to save the Pixelmator Pro file so that I can find it again if I want to tweak the settings of the photo. It's a pain, so I don't do it often. My assumption of this torturous workflow post integration is just: finf the image in Photos, edit with Pixelmator Pro, done.

Long story short, I think the thing I'm looking forward to is using Pixelmator Pro for almost all of my photo editing and spending more time making complex layered edits to photographs. I'm looking forward to seeing how well that works.

- Stef.
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2019-05-31 22:00:51

by st3f 2019-05-31 00:00:00 Hi ResLes.
The Apple Photos integration could be a big thing for me and here's why. I use Pixelmator Pro for a lot of things but I can probably group them into three categories. All comments below make assumptions of how I think it's going to work, so it could all be wrong. :grinning:
1. Small jobs: adding text to an image, cropping, rotating etc. Typically, I won't save the .pxd afterwards as it'll just clutter up my filing system. The end result will usually end up in Apple Photos as my main image filing system, though. With the Photos integration, I've got the option of working in Photos and keeping hold of the working file right by the image.
2. Projects: complex drawings that take me hours or days to complete. These won't gain a lot from the change. They're easy to find in my current filing system (because there aren't many of them) and I'll have to choose whether I want to change that.
3. Photo editing. I don't use Pixelmator Pro much for photo editing and it's almost completely down to workflow. Since the camera's files go straight to Apple Photos and the editing tools there aren't bad I tend to use that. If I want to use Pixelmator Pro to edit an photograph, I've got to make that decision up-front. I've then got to decide how to open it. Drag and drop is convenient but won't get me the RAW file. So, if I want the RAW I have to find the image again in Pixelmator Pro. Even though I have the image open in Photos, I have to open it from inside Pixelmator Pro to get the RAW. Once I've done my edits I then need to push the file back to Photos, then find somewhere to save the Pixelmator Pro file so that I can find it again if I want to tweak the settings of the photo. It's a pain, so I don't do it often.

Long story short, I think the thing I'm looking forward to is using Pixelmator Pro for almost all of my photo editing and spending more time making complex layered edits to photographs. I'm looking forward to seeing how well that works.

- Stef.
that makes sense to me. I used photos today after a year or so. And I got more used to projects and the subfolders. I like the faces and geo feature. Also I loved to import raw pictures through photos I can put them straight from there on the photos folders I like much easier then in finder or let's say faster and it's more convenient. I also recognised there is an affinity photo extension (which I only recognised today and haven't looked into it) that would mean I have the power of two professional apps inside one and both are developed independently. Although I prefer to work on pix pro. Thanks for explaining your thoughts. Looking forward to the update and now I hope that Apple is improving the photos app further.
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2019-06-01 19:03:36

by Donka 2019-05-30 15:26:07 Looks awesome. One point on the upgrade bundle though, the cost to complete the bundle is actually more than the cost of Pixelmator Pro on it's own - I already have Pixelmator via Mac Appstore. It doesn't look like a viable upgrade path and really only of benefit to those who own neither and wish to purchase both now.
by Andrew Flannery 2019-05-30 20:01:13 I do have an App Store copy of Pixelmator installed (in fact, I just updated it via the App Store when I went to look at the bundle and saw that it had an update available). But, the price is listed as $45.00. . . marked down from $69.98, not $60.

The $60 price was showing before I logged in to the App Store (somehow I had been logged out), so there are three prices for this, none of which are the $30 that should reflect a 25% discount for having previously purchased Pixelmator.

Or, since the 25% discount doesn't apply if Pixelmator was originally purchased at a discount, perhaps I did purchase it at a discount. Just found my receipt from purchase in 2015, and I paid $14.99. Was that a discounted price?
The bundle system isn't quite created specifically for upgrade discounts and I think the issue you're having is related to the fact that you purchased Pixelmator with a discount. The regular price is $29.99 and there have been quite a few sales over the years when it was 50% off so, in that case, the bundle wouldn't get a discount (this is also mentioned in the bundle description). I wouldn't have thought it would be more expensive, but I guess situations like this aren't taken into account. There's not all that much we can control here, though, since there's just one price we can set.
by mazerfaka Im sure it's cool but for someone who never used photos and just think it's an inconvenience every time It happens to open this isn't super exciting news, hoping for more 🙏
Well, other than this, we're also working on a whole bunch of other stuff. Not necessarily for 1.4, but Pixelmator Pro updates have been pretty darn regular recently. :wink:
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2019-06-02 15:39:18

by Andrius


The bundle system isn't quite created specifically for upgrade discounts and I think the issue you're having is related to the fact that you purchased Pixelmator with a discount. The regular price is $29.99 and there have been quite a few sales over the years when it was 50% off so, in that case, the bundle wouldn't get a discount (this is also mentioned in the bundle description). I wouldn't have thought it would be more expensive, but I guess situations like this aren't taken into account. There's not all that much we can control here, though, since there's just one price we can set.



Well, other than this, we're also working on a whole bunch of other stuff. Not necessarily for 1.4, but Pixelmator Pro updates have been pretty darn regular recently. :wink:
How would it be if we get teased a bit more for the 1.4 update? Let's say in around two weeks?