Please rescue me from Flash!

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2018-04-11 13:08:44

(Not asking for animation.)
I've been trying to dump Flash for a long time for many obvious reasons, but there is one thing it does that I cannot find anywhere else. Flash has a unique approach to vector tools. It works in a very "pixel art" mindset that makes the way I draw very easy. You can draw a square, draw a line through the square, and then click inside the square with the paint bucket and fill that half of the square with one click! I asked my friend how to do this in illustrator and after 20 minutes he hadn't figured it out! NO ONE ELSE MAKES a program that works this way!

If I tried to draw a human figure with Pixelmator's current line/pen/shape tools, I'd end up with a thousand layers and no way to fill anything. If I paint with pixel lines I can't nudge lines around and re-use elements the way a vector tool can. If this requires the full vectormator program I'll buy it in an instant. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE can you do this?
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2018-04-12 11:31:36

You know, I'm not sure about your exact workflow, but I have a feeling you should be able to do much of this, if not everything, using Pixelmator Pro. For example, to fill an area of a square shape separated by a line, you'd need to follow these steps:

1. Choose the Color Fill tool
2. Add an empty layer to fill (because bitmap tools don't work on vector layers)
3. Select the Sample All Layers option in the Tool Options pane. Turning off Smooth Edges would also be a good idea if you're working on pixel art images
4. Click and drag the area of your image you'd like to fill

Of course, a downside of this is that you're having to combine pixel and vector elements across different layers, but if you're filling a finished pixel art design, you can leave this step for the end.

P.S. If you'd like to try out Pixelmator Pro, you can find a free trial of it here.
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2018-04-12 14:20:03

Thanks!

But the problem with that is that my drawings are never really "finished". I routinely take elements of one image, and use them elsewhere. For example, I'll have the same character in two different comic panels, and will just want to change the facial expression or where the eyes are looking. All I need do is nudge a few existing lines around. But that won't work if the colors don't follow.

In Flash, the paint bucket IS a vector tool. Editing the surrounding lines and shapes will edit the fill, because the fill is simply another shape.