Return to Pixelmator

[Jirpity3]

I used Pixelmator way back and thought I’d give it another try with the latest update of the desktop app. It’s quite nice, but I was shocked to discover after reading through these forums that the iPadOS app cannot open a PXD file created on desktop without exporting it as a PSD! I’ve seen threads going back about 2 years with users begging for this feature. There are quite a lot of angry comments about it in here.
If I may make a suggestion to drop working on any more updates to Pixelmator Pro for desktop or Pixelmator Photo and concentrate all of your efforts into that Pixelmator for iPadOS app or you’re going to lose a lot of users to Affinity. I actually stopped using Pixelmator all those years ago when Affinity apps came out just because it seemed like their development roadmap was better and they offered some better features. I’m willing to give app developers like Pixelmator another chance every now and then because I like supporting small companies, but if a company says they’re going to do something and nothing happens for 2 years, I would kind of give up hope. That happened to me with MacRabbit and their app, Espresso.
Hoping that they’ll get an iPadOS update out soon for the rest of the users. Until then, I guess I’ll keep using Affinity’s apps.

[simonasd]

Hi there! Admittedly, there was a short period where development for Pixelmator for iOS was on a bit of a hiatus, but that's no longer the case. The latest version of Pixelmator for iOS supports PXD files and features an updated user interface, as well as Pixelmator Pro's Machine Learning-based Select Subject tool, and there are many more improvements on the roadmap!

[Harrry]

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[Jirpity3]

Hi there! Admittedly, there was a short period where development for Pixelmator for iOS was on a bit of a hiatus, but that's no longer the case. The latest version of Pixelmator for iOS supports PXD files and features an updated user interface, as well as Pixelmator Pro's Machine Learning-based Select Subject tool, and there are many more improvements on the roadmap!

Hmm, I just opened a PXD file in Pixelmator for iPad and it turned it into a PXM file and also gave me a dialog saying the file contains unsupported layers. I guess, at least it was still able to open the file, but…

[albinawiza]

I appreciate you sharing your experience with Pixelmator. It's always frustrating when a software update doesn't seem to address the key issues users have been requesting for a long time.

I can understand your frustration with the lack of PXD file support in the Pixelmator iPad app. As a long-time Pixelmator user, I too was disappointed to see that limitation, especially since the desktop version can handle those files natively. It's really inconvenient to have to export to a different format just to work on a project across devices.

That said, I'm glad to hear the latest Pixelmator for iOS update has improved in this area, even if it's not a perfect solution yet. Being able to at least open the PXD files, even if with some layer limitations, is a step in the right direction. Hopefully the Pixelmator team continues to prioritize cross-platform file compatibility and streamlining the workflow between their desktop and mobile apps.

You make a fair point about the risk of losing users to competitors like Affinity if Pixelmator doesn't stay on top of key feature requests. Small dev teams have to be really strategic about where they focus their efforts. It would be a shame to see Pixelmator fall behind when they've built such a loyal (like geometry dash) following over the years.

I'm curious to hear more about your experience with Affinity's apps. How have you found the overall workflow and feature set compared to Pixelmator? It might be worth giving them another look if Pixelmator's roadmap still seems uncertain on the iPad side. At the end of the day, we just want the best tools to get our creative work done efficiently.