Support for pixel artists: Pixel-precision tools

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2022-02-17 18:06:08

I've recently switched from Pixelmator Classic to Pixelmator Pro and I've noticed that you've specifically tweaked the tools in favour of editing photographs to the detriment of pixel art.

This image consists only of black or white pixels but look at that histogram; Pixelmator Pro is seeing it in shades of gray:
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..and, as has been reported elsewhere, Replace Color is likewise treating being asked to recolor the black pixels as if they were grayscale:
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If I Select Color Range with the range set to 0% and smoothing turned off it does the right thing:
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..but the selection outline makes it look as if it hasn't:
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Would it possible to allow users to set a flag either on a layer or the image as a whole to tell Pixelmator Pro that the user wants pixel-precise functionality like we had in Pixelmator Classic?

I mean, it says Pixel right there in the name... :wink:
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2022-03-01 13:27:31

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2022-03-01 15:52:27

I agree. The selection feature being imperfect with pixel-perfect scenarios is frustrating.
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2022-03-01 16:44:53

If you use "Color Range" selection without "Smooth edges" it works perfectly fine ...
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in conjunction with "Replace Color":
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2022-03-02 11:15:45

Ellen, try it on the black and white image though. Pixelmator Pro treats high contrast edges as if they were gradients.
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2022-03-02 11:27:03

Here you go:
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2022-03-03 11:47:56

Hah. Yeah, I guess I did leave an important detail out. That original black and white image is 32 pixels x 32 pixels. Pixelmator Pro works fine on big images like the screenshot itself; my issues are with working at tiny scales.

Even then Select Colour Range does work but the selection outline looks weird and makes it hard to see what's actually selected.
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2022-03-04 13:16:16

Thanks for the feedback! For now, that's expected behavior with quick and automatic selection algorithms but we are on the lookout for better ways to handle small-scale selections. :pray:
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2022-03-23 08:15:56

I'm working on a pixel art UI atm. The canvas has a "pixel-perfect" feature that snaps the images onto a pixel-perfect grid which is awesome. if I have two images that are 16x16 pixels in resolution, then they don't half-overlap on any of their pixels which is what I want.
The problem is that by default, those 16x16 images are waytoo small for my canvas. so I have to upscale them. if I scale them up or change the pixels per unit of the images, they get bigger, but they completely lose the pixel-perfect relationship that I need. I get that they're still pixel perfect (because the literal pixels on the screen are snapping) but I mostly need the relationship where each upscaled pixel art image doesn't awkwardly overlap...
I've also tried different canvas scaling options and nothing has given me that "snapping" effect that I want
When I search this on google I just get results to make the canvas pixel-perfect which is what I've already done so I'm not sure what to do.

does anyone have any ideas???