Pixelmator banks on Mac App Store for exclusive distribution - Page 2

It does sound like current owners have been well and truly shafted (forced to pay $30 to receive any more updates, even to 1.x). They've forced to pay the same as a non owner to receive exactly the same product and updates.

Correction: it seems 1.x updates may still be available to existing users after all!

However, you can't deny that it's an amazing deal for non owners. $30 for a quality app including updates for most of the year and a major new version when it comes out. I didn't hesitate about handing over $37 AUD whereas I was baulking at the previous price point. Such is the potential of the app store to generate a lot of money for developers by offering a low price/high volume model, the potential of which we've already seen on the iTunes app store!

I'm a heavy Photoshop user, making high resolution images.
Tried Pixelmator a couple of times during its existence. The problem with Pixelmator has been high resolution material. Bit they're improving Alm the time.
Corel Painter is another or to check out. Maybe they've got a new name now..

It certainly wouldn't! Pixelmator is a very fast Cocoa app that was apparently one of (if not) the first image editors to utilize the GPU for the various filters (mostly core image filters). This let's you view and modify their results in real time. The overall speed and performance are fantastic. Also, the tutorials on their website are a lot of fun and show you how to create some pretty cool art and effects. It's lacking any kind of vector tools at present but these have been frequently requested on their forums so some of them may come in 2.0. It is very intuitive and has an attractive UI as well.

Mind you, Aperture can also do a lot of image-wide processing as well as touch ups. You can do round trip editing with Pixelmator and iPhoto/Aperture too.

Ha ha, you are getting ripped off, it is only NZ$39, which converts back to around US/AU$29.50

Pixelmator is a cracking product. I've used both it and Ps (CS4). Whilst it lacks the 3D and design tools a true designer may require it does 90% of the Ps straight image editing for 10% of the cost. Photography enthusiasts and Pros should seriously consider this plus Aperture as a cost effective alternative to Adobe Lr + Ps. It's also quicker, slicker and has a full gamut of Quartz effects.

Definitely worth a look, I'm sure we've all made worse impulse purchases lately.

McD

Some of you miss the fact that it's still very young project and features will be added with every new major release and they have only a handful of devs working on it (mabe less than that).

Unfortunately it compares to Photoshop of around a decade ago. There are things happening in modern Photoshop using built in AI that users are not even aware of.

If you want to try a simply experiment do this. Find a photo of a person taken at high resolution open PS CS5 and zoom in to the mouth.

Do a simply trace around the inner lips so as to select the teeth and desaturate them to make them whiter, adjust the levels too and save. Zoom out and look how smooth the adjustments are and no visible edges.

Repeat on a duplicate photo in Pixelmator. The edge you traced will show up after the adjustments like a sore thumb and you will have to blur edges and fiddle around to hide the correction.

It is hundreds of tiny features that are automatic that make our work flow fast and easy these days compared to a decade ago that make PS what it is today.

BTW I am not saying Pixelmator isn't fabulous for low end users, it may well be but it cannot be compared to PS for serious work where time is money. The time PS saves pays for the extra in a day or so! Also I am no huge Adobe Fan either, I wish Apple had a PS rival and an iWeb Pro ... <sigh>.

I have someone burn me a CD/DVD of the dmg file to install.

When you assume, you make an ass out of Uma Thurman.

To bad you can only look at images, like a video game, instead of being able to experience being in it. TRON is not real.

See my reply to Freerange a little earlier... I don't disagree to a point but it is no rival to PS for professional work obviously. Having said that I'd love to see additional tools added to Aperture but I doubt that will happen. I am holding my breath to see if FCPro is a major upgrade next time. If not I might start believing those that claim Apple is losing interest in the high end. Hopefully not.

Absolutely, it is amazing and follows in a long line of great PS lower end offerings (descendants of Mac paint . I have had every one of them. Remember Color It!? Or Laserpaint? I wish them well or perhaps wish Apple would fold them into Apple and really add some money to the development. Adobe have had a monopoly too long and have not been very pro Mac for a long time (although I bet that will improve with Mac sales).

That's because Russell Crowe really isn't Australian.

Read it again. It says "given the option".

Incidentally, I bought Pixelmator today thanks to its low price point. It replaced Seashore in my workflow. From hat I've used of it so far, I like it much better than either Seashore or Photoshop CS5 (Which I use, just not on my personal MacBook. I use that in our computer suites). Sure, it's not as advanced as Photoshop in some ways, but it's also much easier to use, much more attractive and a damn sight snappier.

not comparable in the high end graphics dept.

TRON does feel real. Saw the 3D?

DED is a tool with his "flies in the face" comment. There are some real reasons that some developers dont like the app store.

Now in the case of this applications the app store is perfect. I have known about this application and its a really good app for what it does, and priced well. However not many Mac users know about it, because the company is small and does not have a ad budget. They dont need one anymore the app store will be great for them.

It is snappier as it isn't doing any of the complex artificial intelligence work behind the scenes. Do some selections and modify the selected area (blur, color whatever) and check the difference. The selection edges are awful in Pixelmator. In PS5 they are automatically blended in. It's all these kind of tiny differences that separate a pro app from a fun, cheap app for home users. BTW I have both apps.

Hey - how did you get on? I'd be interested in knowing if this works or not...

I've been using the demo version of Pixelmator occasionally for about a year now and it seems fine to me. The Photoshop jocks can correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me the real point of comparison is Elements, not the pro version of Photoshop. On that basis, how does it do? My main concern with Pixelmator was committing to a tiny company which could disappear at any time. From what I'm hearing, they are getting the kind of support through the Mac store that suggests that they are going to be around for the long haul.

Right on. PS is complicated for sure, but once you own it and learn the interface and features, there is no reason to waste time fussing around with a program that can't do many of the things you are going to need like CMYK and clipping paths, both of which I use on a daily basis.

I haven't used Pixelmator, but until it becomes a situation like inDesign was to Quark, where it became apparent that the former was supplanting the latter in the professional arena, forcing many to make an abrupt switch, and learn a completely new interface, I'll stick with PS thank you.

There are plenty of reasons why PS is the preferred solution for pros but many of these will never affect casual users. For instance, I suspect that the vast majority of images are created in RGB and never see the printed page so CMYK would be unnecessary for these casual users.

It's apparent that you haven't seen the ants I have to contend with!

Back, back I say! Damned ants...

Vincent Price would be humbled! "Help me! Help!!, Help me!"

He has an Australian passport, that is good enough to make him Australian

Committing? It's $30, for goodness sake! It'll pay for itself in less than a month. Even if they did disappear (based on their popularity, I doubt it), who cares? The app will continue to work, and if you have to switch, it's only $30 that you spent. That's not a lot of money.

First of all, until a few days ago, it was $60. Second, the app's popularity was hardly known until a few days ago. Third, I don't like spending time learning an app and incorporating it into my work only to have it become abandonware. Fourth, if it is abandoned, that means it could very well not continue to work with future OSX revisions. Don't tell me you've never had that problem.

So yes, committing. I almost bought Elements a couple of times because it was (until a few days ago) nearly the same price, and didn't have the other risks. But as I said, I think I will go for Pixelmator now, since my previous concerns have been addressed.

But do we know for a fact that, under the old game, 2.0 would have been free. It is possible that it would have been the same $60 dollars as version 1.

So in fact it isn't a shaft but an advance notice of their intent to go all MAS and allowed heg current users to make the switch now, at the cheaper price, than wait until they have no choice an are thinking "well if I had none I would have bought it back when it was on sale"

Well sure, but it depends what you're doing with it. Plus, you're assuming that everyone has the same value equation. There are, undoubtedly, many people who prefer the snappiness and the more friendly user interface of Pixelmator (Me included), just as you and many others much prefer the smarter results of Photoshop. It's difficult to argue that Pixelmator is being pushed as an absolute alternative to Photoshop, but Photoshop is dramatically overpriced and bloated from the perspective of a lot of users, and for those users Pixelmator is a fine alternative. The article says it compares to Photoshop, it doesn't say it replaces it.

I'm not assuming that at all, I am making the same point you are in fact. I have both applications and have already said it's a great product for most people but as others have said it doesn't and shouldn't be 'compared' with PS5 which is a pro app pure and simple. You may prefer the snappiness but you surely can't be making a living using it. The other factor to remember is on the highest end Macs, i.e. Mac Pros and MacBook Pro i7s with a boat load of RAM and fast drives Photoshop 64 bit is actually (and finally I might add) pretty snappy too.

It is a different discussion altogether when you say PS5 is over priced and bloated. As a professional product for those making a living with it (like other pro apps such as Final Cut Studio 2) the cost is not high when you consider the money it allows professionals to earn using it. Bloated and over priced would certainly be the reaction for the average person I grant you and that is why they shouldn't even bother with it. That's why there is a light version after all. It is as you say a matter of what you are doing. Horses for courses as they say.

I think the term 'Committing' as used by the Doc was more about intellectual commitment, i.e. learning time and familiarity etc. It's always sad when an app fits like a glove then disappears. I'm sure the $30 cost wasn't the point he was really making.

On a related note, I get that sadness when an app I have used for years is drastically changed. I used to use iMovie and FCPro depending on need (pro or fun at home) and when Apple revamped iMovie I simply found it easier to use FCPro for everything than re learn iMovie. I'm sure it's a wonderful app now but I could not be bothered when I already knew FCPro inside out. My dad (my partner in the Mac business back in the late 80's) always used to joke that he missed the days when a skill learned only became better over time, be it Chemical Engineering or Carpentry. Now we live in an age when all you have learned, all the skills you have can be useless in the blink of an eye. A friend of mine had a son who did a four year degree in CA that was focussed tightly around one software system for the video and film business. That company has almost vanished and the software no longer used. I also know many older guys who were Quark experts making their living related to the print industry, none ever leaned anything web related. No need to explain their fate! ... sorry to drone on ... Don't get me wrong, personally I love the advances and have managed to keep up ... but for how long

Within a year, apple is going to lock out all software that doesn't use the app store, mark my words. You will pay apple 30% of your revenue or you won't have your app on the Mac.

Partly, yes, as explained above. But when Pixlemator and Elements were nearly the same price, the choice was tougher. Fortunately I never pulled the trigger on either one. (I confess to discovering that trashing the preference file for Pixelmator reset the trial period, and doing this a couple of times.)

I will buy it now, but I am still interested in a fair side-by-side comparison with Elements.

We did.

Highly doubtful. If only because some company will refer back to Jobs declaration that Apple will never lock down MacOS and make a huge PR nightmare and possibly a lawsuit out of it. Hell it might even kick up some antitrust talk, which would only increase the negative articles cause the blogs love antitrust claims even more than iPhone rumors, gets them huge hits

I could see a low end mac coming with an iOS type operating system in the future for those non tech savvy users who want a very easy to use, super safe computer. If all Macs were to require the App Store as their only source of programs, it would mean the end of Mac as a viable professional platform and probably the end of Macs altogether. So no, it will not happen. It would be suicide.

Did you try the "Transfer Purchases from "iPhone"" in iTunes? If this doesn't work on your Mac, find a different computer (PC or Mac will work), install iTunes, transfer the purchases from your iPhone to that computer, and then copy the missing .ipa back to your Mac (dragging it into iTunes on your Mac should do the trick).

Pixelmator is great at the price (and the developers are as responsive as they come), but it won't replace Elements for many users yet. Lack of any 16 bit support is a deal breaker for me. Elements has many filters greyed out for 16 bit images but at least you can do a lot and keep it 16 bit. I need an undo history. It's the way I work. Same for a Magnetic Lasso. I use it daily. There are several other reasons why I just can't use Pixelmator in my workflow.

Here's another thing: It's a double edged sword that it solely relies on Apple's Core lib. It makes the program faster but it limits what the developers can improve on, not to mention there are other programs that also use the Core lib which makes it harder for Pixelmator to stand out from them, though I think that it's the best of those. It allows them to focus on improving the program in many ways because they don't have to keep writing code relating to the jobs that it is hooking onto the core for, but what it does go there for is not going to change radically until Apple changes it.


Lastly, does anyone else find this irony about the App Store amusing? There are all these apps, like Pixlemator, who proudly proclaim you can run them on 10.5, but can only be downloaded from the App Store. Which requires 10.6.6!

Thanks for the comparison. Does anything stop Pixelmator from adding functions that don't rely on Apple's Core Lib?


Hadn't noticed this myself. Good catch!

There's nothing more "real" or more "american" about living in the country than living in the city. I've lived in both, and I find that there's a lot more to like about the America in a city than the dull and dead lifestyle of the country. People who live in cities are just as American as those who live in the rural parts of the country.