Table of Contents

Pinch a specific area of an image

When you click or drag an area in your image with the Pinch tool, it moves the outer areas towards the center of the brush, pinching that part of your image. You can use Pinch to make certain elements in an image smaller and less prominent.


  1. Do one of the following:
    • Choose Tools > Reshape > Pinch (from the Tools menu at the top of your screen).
    • In the Tools sidebar, click or choose if from the grouped tools.
  2. In the Tool Options pane, customize the Pinch tool:

    Brush Size: Drag the Brush Size slider to adjust the size of the Pinch tool brush. Press and hold the Option ⌥ key to extend the range of the Brush Size slider beyond 100%. You can also manually enter a value from 0% to 200%.


    Strength: Drag the Strength slider to adjust the intensity of the pinching effect.


    Tip: You can use the [ and ] keys on your keyboard to change the size of the Pinch tool brush.

  3. Click and hold or drag an area of your image to pinch it.


Show Original: Click the Show Original button to see what the image looked like before you pinched anything in it.

Show Split Comparison: Option ⌥ – click the Show Original button or press Control ⌃ + C on your keyboard.

Click Reset to discard all the current changes made with the Pinch tool.


Pixelmator Pro User Guide