Is there any way to apply an effect, such as Sharpen, Lighten, etc. to the entire photo at once?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2018-06-25 15:35:53

I'm not that great at trying to brush effects on and am so used to being able to apply them to the entire photo in Photoshop, and I need to do this very often. Is there a way to do that?
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2018-06-25 17:27:29

Hi Jo.

There are two tools that I'm sure you'll find useful:
1. The Color Adjustments tool (highlighted in the image below). Good for correcting and enhancing photographic images.
2. The Effects tool. Good for adding bold effects to graphic and photographic images.

There's a bit of overlap between the two (e.g. Sharpen and Grain are in both tools). I believe (although I could be wrong) that the Effect tool uses effects baked into macOS by Apple whereas the Color Adjustments tool (which has much more than just colour adjustments in it) comprises effects created by the Pixelmator team.

Each tool is populated with a customisable set of default effects. More can be added to an image by clicking on 'Add' at the top of the palette.

Hope this helps.

- Stef.
Image
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2018-06-25 19:48:01

Thanks St3f, unfortunately I think you misunderstood the question (my own fault for not being more specific). I am able to find all those great tools, but they have to be "painted" on and I cannot find any way to have them applied to an entire photo all at once instead of having to brush them on. I'm not good with the brushing of them and tend to make more of a mess than a help lol. Hopefully that's more helpful on what I'm looking for. :)
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2018-06-25 20:06:53

but they have to be "painted" on
Nope. Try again. :smiley:

1. Select the layer you want to apply the effect to in the layers panel.
2. Click on the Color Adjustments tool. (The one that looks like three overlapping circles.)
3. Click on Add at the top of the Color Adjustments panel.
4. Click on Sharpen in the menu that pops up.
5. Adjust Radius and Intensity to taste.

The adjustment will apply to the whole layer (unless you have an area selected). There is no way to paint it on.
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2018-06-25 20:12:43

Ohhhhh I get it now! Thank you thank you thank you!!! *bows profusely* :bow:
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2018-06-25 20:14:18

No problem. You're welcome. :smiley:
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2018-07-05 14:51:00

Ok so I have another related question.

Do I have to do the "Add" every time I use it? Is there any way to put that in there and have it be default there?

Also, hopefully I can find the right words for this question. When I change to another photo (I usually have a handful open at a time), the effects that are highlighted are different. I would like the same effects to be highlighted or selected on the right sidebar for all images all the time rather than each one being a totally separate entity. Is there a way to do this? This makes having to do this update for Sharpen or any other full page application for effects a bit tedious to have to constantly click to another effect every time I change to another photo to select it.
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2018-07-05 14:56:19

Never mind on the sharpen effect, I found how to add it to the Color Adjustments as a default setup.

2nd question still remains though lol.

Adding the default setting to the Color Adjustments for adding effects created another question also. How can I put the value as a default as well? The Sharpen always seems to start at 50% and I'd like that to default to 25%, but cannot find anywhere to set this up.
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2018-07-05 17:41:00

I'm not sure of the answer to your second question but there is a feature of Pixelmator Pro might provide a solution. That feature is presets.

1. Start with an image/layer that has the Color Adjustments set the way you want them.
2. With the Color Adjustments tool selected, ensure that Presets are visible (View > Show Presets).
3. Scroll down to the bottom of the presets and click on the [+].
Your Color Adjustments will have been saved as a preset and can be applied to any image/layer with a single click. That will add both your adjustments and set their values.

You can move your Preset's position in the list by dragging it up or down. You can name/rename it by right clicking on it and selecting Rename...

Hope this helps.

- Stef.
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2018-07-05 19:45:59

Thanks again St3f, that helps a lot for the presets, I had forgotten about those. Writing it down on a note to frame my monitor with haha!

Hopefully someone else will know the answer to the second question which is:

- When I change to another photo (I usually have a handful open at a time), the effects that are highlighted are different. I would like the same effects to be highlighted or selected on the right sidebar for all images all the time rather than each one being a totally separate entity. Is there a way to do this? This makes having to do this update for Sharpen or any other full page application for effects a bit tedious to have to constantly click to another effect every time I change to another photo to select it.