Is there 'smart object' features similar in Pixelmator?

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator?
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2018-06-03 17:24:09

Dear All,
I am just installing Pixelmator and this apps very impressive in term of performance and price.

I am packaging designer, what i did in photoshop most likely using smart object to place my design into it. My question, doest Pixelmator has this similar features?

Thanks in advance for reply.

Rgds,
Supian
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2018-06-07 13:44:54

Hi Supian,

Pixelmator doesn't have a 'smart object' feature at the moment, although the phrase itself covers quite a few different features. One major part is linked documents, and I think that's what you're looking for. That's definitely an interesting feature and I think it'd be awesome if we could add something similar at some point in the future. Another use of smart objects is nondestructive resizing and nondestructive effects — that's actually something we've added to Pixelmator Pro, so if you're looking for that, you may want to try out the app.
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2020-04-07 13:22:46

I’d really like to be able to drop an app screenshot onto a device mock-up and have it automatically adjust the angle, horizontal and vertical skew, and apply whatever filters have been applied to the device. Im sure that is a really common use case. Of course it applies to packaging design like the OP and anything product related really. I do have both Pixelmator and Pro, although this seems like something that would only be in Pro.
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2020-04-08 10:31:53

Yeah, embedded documents would be a useful thing to have and it's something we could potentially add to Pixelmator Pro, though I would say it's a little further down our list of priorities so, if it does get added, it would be further down the line.
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2020-05-24 22:29:23

Feature from 2018, will it soon make it to the top of your priorities list?
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2020-05-25 08:51:51

by Alex Faustino 2020-05-24 22:29:23 Feature from 2018, will it soon make it to the top of your priorities list?
To be honest, the date of a request doesn't usually affect our priorities — the feature has to fit with our overall vision for the app and, in this particular case, there are certain things that we still feel are more important in the near term. However, we recently added a Replace Image feature (Format > Image > Replace Image), which lets you replace any image in a design with another while keeping all its formatting. So, if you've applied any nondestructive perspective transformations, color adjustments, effects, styles, etc, and you replace the image layer with another, all that will be preserved. It's not quite the same as embedding an entire document, but it adds quite a lot of the same functionality.

As for whether a fully-fledged embedded documents feature is likely to be added to Pixelmator Pro soon — probably not in the near-term but it's possible we might add it one day. For a little bit of context, a few things that we feel might potentially be more important at this time: text on a path, interface customization, a clarity color adjustment (and associated color adjustment engine work), hair selection, displaying effect/adjustment info in the Layers sidebar, adjustment layers, Pixelmator Photo file support, in-app guides/tutorials, scripting/actions (AppleScript support, maybe?), mesh warping, editing history, and more.

I'm not saying we're working on any (or all) of those things but embedded documents would basically be competing with features like that (and others that I haven't mentioned).
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2022-06-16 16:16:38

by Andrius Hi Supian,

Another use of smart objects is nondestructive resizing and nondestructive effects — that's actually something we've added to Pixelmator Pro, so if you're looking for that, you may want to try out the app.
I take it that if you use transform the nondestructive resizing doesn't work?
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2022-06-30 14:43:08

Yes, the Transform tool itself is destructive in Pixelmator Pro (for now).
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2022-08-16 07:03:04

+ 1

This really needs to happen. I love the ease of use with this program, but I essential am forced to buy and learn Adobe software because you all won’t help us with this feature. Think of the millions of brand designers and package designers who could either switch to this program or stick with this program if this one problem is solved. Please help us design better: shape warp and document linking is needed.