Pixelmator keeps getting gooder…

[Craig Seeman]

Got it a few weeks back when it was on sale for $14.99, not that $29.99 isn’t a bargain considering.

It doesn’t do everything Photoshop does but it does most of the common tasks.

[Scott Witthaus]

Hey Charlie –

Not familiar with this software. Looks to be a Photoshop Lite? Certainly can’t beat the price. Easy to use? Thanks in advance.

Scott

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Charlie Austin]

[Craig Seeman] “It doesn’t do everything Photoshop does but it does most of the common tasks.”

True, but it’s getting there…

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[David Mathis]

Just installed the update today. Still a destructive workflow but at least you can now lock layers. Keeping my eye on iDraw, surprised Acorn did not get mentioned either. Both available in the App store.

Read in another post where Motion is a very good alternative to Photoshop, it does make sense. More flexibility and non-destructive workflow is a huge benefit. Trying to figure out how to do a gradient mask in addition to a luminance matte but might be overlooking something. I think adding a gradient into the group you want affected should do the trick and set blend mode to stencil luma?

I think that Apple should develop Motion further and make a competitor to Photoshop though Motion is very much up to the task, even for a still image such as a photograph.

Waiting for Resolve 11 to get released. I must say FCP X and Motion are really starting to look good. No need to guzzle down a 6 pack to see it in that way, either.

[Charlie Austin]

[Scott Witthaus] “Looks to be a Photoshop Lite? Certainly can’t beat the price. Easy to use? Thanks in advance.”

Kind of… As Craig said, it doesn’t have all the features of Photoshop. For instance I don’t think it can do Layer Styles. I’m no PS expert, maybe someone else can go into greater detail regarding what it *can’t* do. There’s a ton of info on their site…

However, it’s very easy to use, pleasant UI to work in, has a Vector mode, and does the majority of things one might need very well. And the price is definitely right.

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[David Mathis]

Very easy to use but be aware once you apply a filter then commit, there is no way of making any changes. Hoping for a non-destructive workflow in the next update. The ability to lock layers is nice.

Photoshop is slow to launch but Pixelmator is very fast and so far, very reliable. Got it for the sale price, nice little addition.

[Scott Witthaus]

I thought I saw that Layer Styles is added in this release…

Scott Witthaus
Senior Editor/Post Production Supervisor
1708 Inc./Editorial
Professor, VCU Brandcenter

[Charlie Austin]

[Scott Witthaus] “I thought I saw that Layer Styles is added in this release…”

It may well be. I have pretty basic needs and don’t use a lot of the features. And as David points out, it does “flatten” the image as you go. You can browse versions and go back, but not the same as real non-destructive editing. Seems like the developers are pretty responsive though, so hopefully it’ll appear at some point…

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~ My FCPX Babbling blog ~
~”It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools.”~
~”The function you just attempted is not yet implemented”~

[Bret Williams]

Flatten? You mean like merge all the layers? No, it doesn’t do that. It works just like PS, and while it doesn’t support all the features of PS, you can save, edit and exchange PS files between it and PS if you like. The layers remain in tact. Both apps have layer styles. But if you open PS in Pixelmator or vice versa, the layer styles will be flattened. Not the whole file. Pixelmator only has Drop Shadow, Inner shadow, stroke, gradient fill, and reflection. The latter being pretty cool.

[Bret Williams]

Before PS had smart filters, there used to be talk of editing images in AE, because every thing in AE is always adjustable.