Pixelmator Pro updated with incredible new Photos extension

Discuss the latest Pixelmator news.
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2019-07-23 13:56:29

It’s finally ready! The Pixelmator Pro editing extension for the Photos app is now available in Pixelmator Pro 1.4 Hummingbird, an amazing major update released today. The update also brings a new Zoom Tool, an improved Crop tool, and a wide range of additional new features and improvements. This is no ordinary update and no ordinary Photos extension.



Photos editing extension
Yes, the Pixelmator Pro editing extension is actually the entire, full-featured Pixelmator Pro app inside Photos. Every tool and feature is available, including RAW support, layer-based editing (of course), and even the ability to save layers and adjustments directly to your Photos library. Be sure to check out our quick guide to the editing extension.

Zoom and Crop tools
The brand new Zoom tool is a great addition to the Pixelmator Pro toolbox. It’s got a beautiful navigator to help move around images while zoomed in and some handy commands. And the Crop tool has had a pretty drastic redesign, adding a new Delete mode, redesigned crop presets, and the ability to crop to custom sizes. The new Delete mode lets you permanently crop away unwanted image areas (while the Hide mode lets you nondestructively hide them beyond the canvas). We’ve put up a couple of quick tips about these new features on our Tips & Tricks page and you can find more info about them in our Help manual, too.

You’ll also notice the presets have been moved from the Presets bar into the Tool Options pane. We’ve done this to free up more space for editing — in fact, in this update, the Crop tool isn’t the only to have received a preset makeover, the Slice tool has also been refreshed, as have the Paint and Erase tools. And we’ll be doing the same for the remaining tools in future updates.

Other goodies
We’ve also included a wide range of additional improvements in this major update. For example, you can now insert layered files right into existing Pixelmator Pro documents — even using drag & drop! The template chooser now includes a range of image size templates for iPhone, Mac, and Apple Watch devices. And we’ve even improved performance quite significantly for documents with many layers.

This major update is free for existing Pixelmator Pro users so simply open up the Mac App Store, update, and enjoy these wonderful additions!

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Upgrade discount
For all you users of the original Pixelmator, not too long ago, we created a Mac App Store bundle that can be used to purchase Pixelmator Pro with a discount. So if you’re thinking of finally grabbing a copy of Pixelmator Pro, now’s a great a time as any. You can find the upgrade bundle on the Mac App Store.
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2019-07-23 16:06:42

If I get the same functionality in Photos as with Pixelmator 1.4, why would I edit in Photos? I guess I'm missing something here.
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2019-07-23 16:12:40

Text to path still missing...
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2019-07-24 00:18:52

What happened to FILE, NEW, then selecting the image on the clipboard? It's no longer there. 😕. I used that one all the time. Please put it back.
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2019-07-24 10:44:12

Hi Andy.

That still works for me (Pixelmator Pro 1.4 on macOS 10.14.5). Is there a particular image that will cause the option not to appear? Or is it absent regardless of what is on the clipboard?

- Stef.
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2019-07-24 11:53:24

by Arnie Keller If I get the same functionality in Photos as with Pixelmator 1.4, why would I edit in Photos? I guess I'm missing something here.
It depends on what you're looking for from the app — if you want to edit photos stored in your Photos library and don't want to manage any separate Pixelmator Pro files, the extension makes a great deal of sense because everything happens within Photos and file management is handled for you. If you mostly work on graphic designs that don't need to live inside Photos, the app itself makes more sense. It just gives you more options based on the workflow you'd prefer.
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2019-07-24 11:53:51

by Miroslaw Furman Text to path still missing...
We'll get there. :stuck_out_tongue:
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2019-07-24 19:36:26

Incredible update! Just play around with it for some minutes and the new zoom and crop look great. A thousand kudos for the Photos extension, now I can have beautiful Pixelmator Pro inside a workflow environment ! This feature is really much appreciated. Keep up with the great work guys. This was a fantastic update.
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2019-07-25 17:30:52

It's a lot of hype about the extension - which is a unique and an amazing feature but I particularly love the zoom and crop tool
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2019-07-26 13:02:10

Amazing update!
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2019-07-29 14:33:14

by mau lopez 2019-07-24 19:36:26 Incredible update! Just play around with it for some minutes and the new zoom and crop look great. A thousand kudos for the Photos extension, now I can have beautiful Pixelmator Pro inside a workflow environment ! This feature is really much appreciated. Keep up with the great work guys. This was a fantastic update.
Thanks, we love reading such positive feedback! :raised_hands:
by ResLes 2019-07-25 17:30:52 It's a lot of hype about the extension - which is a unique and an amazing feature but I particularly live the zoom and crop tool
Yeah, the usability improvements are also very important — we have more lined up for future updates as well.
by sandraparker 2019-07-26 13:02:10 Amazing update!
:heart_eyes:
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2019-08-16 08:29:02

hi, I have the original pixelmator. going to the link in app store, the bundle is actually more expensive (50+) than pixelmator pro alone (40). How can I have a reduction? Also do you have link that details the differences between them? I know that pixelmator wasn't doing proper print profile previews for a while so I hope that pixelmator pro doesn't have that problem...
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2019-08-19 16:37:13

by softskilled 2019-08-16 08:29:02 hi, I have the original pixelmator. going to the link in app store, the bundle is actually more expensive (50+) than pixelmator pro alone (40). How can I have a reduction? Also do you have link that details the differences between them? I know that pixelmator wasn't doing proper print profile previews for a while so I hope that pixelmator pro doesn't have that problem...
Did you receive Pixelmator for free, by any chance? The reason I ask is that bundles take the price you paid for one app (or several apps) in the bundle and subtract it from the total bundle price. In this case, it looks like you're getting no discount at all, so that's either an App Store issue or maybe you received the app with a promo code? If it's an App Store issue, your best bet is getting in touch with Apple Support. If you received the app for free, then I'm afraid it won't be possible to get a discount on the bundle.

As for the differences between the two apps, there's a blog post that covers them pretty well and I suggest reading that. But feel free to post any other questions here!
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2019-08-22 16:00:40

by st3f 2019-07-24 10:44:12 Hi Andy.

That still works for me (Pixelmator Pro 1.4 on macOS 10.14.5). Is there a particular image that will cause the option not to appear? Or is it absent regardless of what is on the clipboard?

- Stef.
I'm using MacOS 10.14.6 with Pixelmator Pro 1.4.1. It still DOES NOT work for me with ANY image I have since worked with. The option is absent regardless of what is on the clipboard. It's frustrating because now, when I copy an image to the clipboard and want to edit that on Pixelmator Pro, I have to choose an available size canvas (hopefully larger than the image I copied to the clipboard) and then hide the white background layer and then go to trim canvas and then delete the background image layer to get the same result of the full image with no incorrectly sized background layer present. 😖