3rd party photo services (Unsplash) support in Pixelmator Pro

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2019-06-11 19:21:03

I would love to have an option where 3rd party services like shuterstock, Pixabay, unsplash and pexel are integrated in pixelmator pro. It would be great to search for different pictures and see previews of the images on the websites mentioned before and then to load them straight into the pix pro working area. That would be very cool.
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2019-06-14 13:01:14

That would be pretty cool! Though it would be quite a significant project for a relatively low-importance feature, as nice as it would be. Plus, when it comes to big features like this, our roadmap is pretty packed for the next 12 months, at least. :smile:
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2019-06-14 14:43:10

Sure, I expect you have a roadmap and need to focus on that. I thought about a time frame of 12-24 month. May I ask how you define low-importance? Is it based on researched what features are most users regularly use? Is it fast certain features can be rolled out?

I don't know so many other users but I guess many of them are using copyright free images and vector graphics for their business. To have that kind of variety straight at the users finger tips would be very powerful, I think. Implemented in a cool and sophisticated way - lets say as a button on the tool- or sidebar - and with huge work space in Pix Pro would be give access to previews of so many license free images and graphics. This would free up so much time and creativity to work on them straight away...

It could even attract people how are working with online tools like Picmonkey and Canvas.
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2019-06-14 15:18:01

Low-importance may not have been the best phrase to use there... But, let me try to explain what I meant — we have a general idea for the kind of app we want Pixelmator Pro to be and we choose features mostly based on that. Obviously, user feedback is super important, and a whole bunch of the things we added over the past 18 months or so were because of feedback. For example, in terms of really big things when it comes to development time, that would be clipping masks, the free transform feature, and SVG support. Things that were a little simpler to implement but came due to being highly requested would cover things like Automator support, ABR support, quick opacity and blending controls in the Layers sidebar, and Select Color Range.

Other things we choose because we want to make the most of cutting-edge technologies, so that would apply to ML Enhance and ML Match Colors and the individual ML-powered color adjustments. Then top-importance features cover macOS features, including compatibility updates (when new macOS versions are announced) and new macOS features (such as light appearance, portrait masks, HEIF). Obviously, a lot of the time this is also highly requested.

Low-importance, relatively speaking, covers nice-to-have features like the one you've mentioned. I classify it as "nice-to-have" because it seems (at least to me) like it isn't particularly difficult to get images from various stock sites as it is. Of course, a well-crafted UI and UX could make this even easier and really cool. And if at some point we become really inspired to create a feature like this, low-importance can easily turn on its head and become high-importance. But generally speaking, not having this doesn't necessarily make it impossible to use Pixelmator Pro for these workflows.

For some context, now, we're working on a whole bunch of stuff that has been previously mentioned on the forum, as well as support for macOS Catalina and the new Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR. The awesome Photos extension too, of course! And some UI improvements related to presets that I've also previously commented on. In terms of things further down the line, other options open up like adjustment layers (very important to photographers) or, say, improvements to the vector tools to make Pixelmator Pro better for illustrators. Maybe workspace customization and some sort of palette mode to make it easier to work with dual displays? There's also stuff like soft proofing, and maybe (gasp) typing on a path? Maybe a history feature, too? I'm not saying any of things are definitely coming but I would put those above something like this in terms of importance.

This turned out to be a super long reply but I hope you'll find it interesting.
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2019-06-14 19:14:09

Actually I found the comment very accurate and informative, I prefer it to a wishi washi replay. Not saying you did that but generally speaking.

Great that you clarified what low importance (nice to have) was. I agree to have ML and MacOS features integrated is essential. It feels and is Mac. F.e. the dark and light mode. I prefer the dark mode but my wife the light one. Is a great feature and properly "easy" to integrate?

I agree typing on path, soft proofing (for me I never had an issue with how it looked at the end but ok if you need to get it really right, it makes sense), clarity and noise adjustment are more important and by writing it, it feels like a lot of time is going into it.

The secondary monitor stuff could be useful but I like Pix Pro already. The history feature, yes! Vector stuff, yes!

I felt this feature could bring some sparkle if others feature are realised. Thanks again, for sharing
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2020-02-26 15:37:16

Could have been a great feature though...
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2020-02-27 12:04:12

by LyudmilaKucher Could have been a great feature though...
Maybe it will still be a great feature, one day... :blush:
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2020-02-27 18:25:48

by Andrius 2020-02-27 12:04:12
Maybe it will still be a great feature, one day... :blush:
Andrius: you have the talent to make me nosy... 😀 does that mean in 18 - 24 month we could see this feature?
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2020-02-28 14:03:52

In this case, there are absolutely no concrete plans at all. :smile: But just like any feature, nothing should be written off completely. :wink: