Pixelmator 2.2 Blueberry hits Mac App Store on Thursday with new tools, effects
Popular OS X photo editing tool Pixelmator is set to receive major update come Thursday, with the latest version bringing an added palette of image tweaking tools and effects.
Screenshot of Pixelmator v2.1 Cherry, which will be updated on Thursday with a bevy of new features.
Building on Pixelmator 2.1 Cherry, the soon to be released version 2.2 offers a variety of new, powerful tools like shapes, smart move, paint selection and more. A new "effect" called Light Leak will also be included in the update, adding to the extensive list of filters already available.
The new Shapes tool allows users to quickly add and adjust a number of shapes by dragging and dropping directly from the toolbar. A Shape Style palette allows for more advnaced customization, while the Convert Text into Shape option lets users convert text layers into shape layers, with the resulting product able to accept gradients, shadows and other enhancements.
Pixelmator's Paint Selection tool offers fast and accurate selections using brush strokes, while the LIght Leak effect creates "retro-artistically illuminated" images from existing photos. The effect mimics aberrations seen in older camera systems, where light would "leak" onto the film plane, causing large swaths of diffuse color to appear over an image. The unique look is associated with vintage photos and has become popular as a "retro" image filter.
The Smart Move tool reportedly "knows when you are working with image or shape layers," giving users targeted editing or adjustment options.
As with all Pixelmator tools and effects, the new offerings look to be extremely polished and user friendly, with deep customization and editing control rivaling some professional software.
According to the software's developers, over 100 new features and improvements are included in version 2.2, which will be available for $14.99 for new users or as a free update for those who already own a previous version purchased through the Mac App Store.
AppleInsider will have a deeper look into Pixelmator 2.2 Blueberry on Thursday.
Screenshot of Pixelmator v2.1 Cherry, which will be updated on Thursday with a bevy of new features.
Building on Pixelmator 2.1 Cherry, the soon to be released version 2.2 offers a variety of new, powerful tools like shapes, smart move, paint selection and more. A new "effect" called Light Leak will also be included in the update, adding to the extensive list of filters already available.
The new Shapes tool allows users to quickly add and adjust a number of shapes by dragging and dropping directly from the toolbar. A Shape Style palette allows for more advnaced customization, while the Convert Text into Shape option lets users convert text layers into shape layers, with the resulting product able to accept gradients, shadows and other enhancements.
Pixelmator's Paint Selection tool offers fast and accurate selections using brush strokes, while the LIght Leak effect creates "retro-artistically illuminated" images from existing photos. The effect mimics aberrations seen in older camera systems, where light would "leak" onto the film plane, causing large swaths of diffuse color to appear over an image. The unique look is associated with vintage photos and has become popular as a "retro" image filter.
The Smart Move tool reportedly "knows when you are working with image or shape layers," giving users targeted editing or adjustment options.
As with all Pixelmator tools and effects, the new offerings look to be extremely polished and user friendly, with deep customization and editing control rivaling some professional software.
According to the software's developers, over 100 new features and improvements are included in version 2.2, which will be available for $14.99 for new users or as a free update for those who already own a previous version purchased through the Mac App Store.
AppleInsider will have a deeper look into Pixelmator 2.2 Blueberry on Thursday.
Comments
Awesome timing with the Pixelmator announcement right when Adobe pisses everyone off with their creative cloud suite of crap pricing announcement. Suck it Adobe! Go Pixelmator!
The floating windows are super annoying and they're always in your way. The context aware toolbar confuses. It's so annoying to have this hipster GUI with zooming mouse over states. They try to polish in all the wrong places. The interaction design is terrible when you look at the details.
Most of the filters are destructive. Why would you do something like that if everything is GPU rendered? Why does Pixelmator want to look like photoshop? Why not having nodes or a stack of filters you can finetune, reorder or disable without toutching the source file?
Anyway, check out Acorn. It does most of the things better than pixelmator.
Nice timing!
Quote:
Originally Posted by dacloo
I love the pixelmator initiative but unfortunately the app isn't very good.
The floating windows are super annoying and they're always in your way. The context aware toolbar confuses. It's so annoying to have this hipster GUI with zooming mouse over states. They try to polish in all the wrong places. The interaction design is terrible when you look at the details.
Most of the filters are destructive. Why would you do something like that if everything is GPU rendered? Why does Pixelmator want to look like photoshop? Why not having nodes or a stack of filters you can finetune, reorder or disable without toutching the source file?
Anyway, check out Acorn. It does most of the things better than pixelmator.
For every Pixelmator UI fault... there are 100 UI crimes in Photoplop.
They aren't all that comparable if you need the flexibility of Photoshop. If you DON'T however, Pixelmator is a great deal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GadgetCanada
Awesome timing with the Pixelmator announcement right when Adobe pisses everyone off with their creative cloud suite of crap pricing announcement. Suck it Adobe! Go Pixelmator!
Photoshop was originally invented by a couple brothers just like Pixelmator. Perhaps in 20 years it will be as good as Photoshop is now. I wish them all the luck. Unfortunately, I don't have time to learn how to use it because I already know it can't do many things that I need from a photo editing application. I have recommended it to a friend who just needs basic web type photo editing and she really likes it. I haven't tried it yet.
Not to be critical but I need CMYK support as well as smart objects and also the ability to import layered psd files into inDesign among other features that are probably also missing.
Huh?
So how can you give an opinion?
no studio I have ever worked at uses it - no point in falling behind the skills on your resume that get you a job over some subscription cost (photoshop) - Last time I checked it had no CMYK support either. If that is in the update, good start.
At $15, I highly doubt it is intended/designed to be a full replacement for Photoshop in a professional environment...
Just took a look at Acorn for the first time and it looks REALLY nice! Thanks for sharing.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dacloo
I love the pixelmator initiative but unfortunately the app isn't very good.
The floating windows are super annoying and they're always in your way. The context aware toolbar confuses. It's so annoying to have this hipster GUI with zooming mouse over states. They try to polish in all the wrong places. The interaction design is terrible when you look at the details.
Most of the filters are destructive. Why would you do something like that if everything is GPU rendered? Why does Pixelmator want to look like photoshop? Why not having nodes or a stack of filters you can finetune, reorder or disable without toutching the source file?
Anyway, check out Acorn. It does most of the things better than pixelmator.
I agree about the destructive filters but not necessarily about the rest. I think the rest of the UI works quite nicely, though I wish they had the option to turn on an application frame like you can in Photoshop. Pixelmator is intentionally aping the PS UI because it is familiar to most graphic designers. Where Adobe went wrong was that they piled features on top without any regard to how they should work and how they should fit in the UI. I think Pixelmator does a much better job.
I need to check out Acorn again, when I last tried it, it couldn't hold a candle to Pixelmator.
hill60
mstone
Unfortunately, I don't have time to learn how to use it because I already know it can't do many things that I need from a photo editing application ...
...I haven't tried it yet.
Huh?
So how can you give an opinion?
Because Pixelmator is not a movie.
If a film review says the acting is weak, that's just the reviewer's opinion. If an app says it doesn't have certain features, people who require those features know to not use the app. A feature list is not subjective (aside from marketing words).
I like Pixelmator. Now they just need some more features, non-destructive editing, and additional apps that can replace Illustrator, InDesign, and Dreamweaver.
CMYK indicates print production, a professional use, Pixelmator goes up against Elements.
A race car driver doesn't go to a dealer and buy a Camry for the track their experience is far removed from an average consumer.
"The lack of a race tuned V8 makes them useless."