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..
In addition, it at least appear that the developers of this product claim they are allowing 1.x customers to receive free upgrades without having to buy the App Store version until the release of 2.0 (sources: last paragraph of this article and their website). I don't know how this works if they took down the download link, but that seems reasonable if true.
I'm considering giving this a whirl just because of the price with the free upgrade promise. It certainly can't be the worst $30 I've ever spent on software.
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.
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.
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).
Nonsense - it does compare to photoshop. Read the reviews elsewhere. It does exactly what 90% of PS users use it for. As other pros have said, they don't use many/most of PS features and functions. Do some research before you post such comments. It is time Adobe got some solid competition for their overpriced, overly complicated and bloated products. It is ridiculous the amount of money they charge.
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>.
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
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.
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).
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).
Um, I've been buying CDs for 25 years and not once have I ever had to repurchase my music in the iTunes Store. Who writes this stuff?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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>.
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.
Comments
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..
In addition, it at least appear that the developers of this product claim they are allowing 1.x customers to receive free upgrades without having to buy the App Store version until the release of 2.0 (sources: last paragraph of this article and their website). I don't know how this works if they took down the download link, but that seems reasonable if true.
I'm considering giving this a whirl just because of the price with the free upgrade promise. It certainly can't be the worst $30 I've ever spent on software.
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.
Although in the Australian Mac App store it's closer to $37
Ha ha, you are getting ripped off, it is only NZ$39, which converts back to around US/AU$29.50
Definitely worth a look, I'm sure we've all made worse impulse purchases lately.
McD
Nonsense - it does compare to photoshop. Read the reviews elsewhere. It does exactly what 90% of PS users use it for. As other pros have said, they don't use many/most of PS features and functions. Do some research before you post such comments. It is time Adobe got some solid competition for their overpriced, overly complicated and bloated products. It is ridiculous the amount of money they charge.
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>.
How do you get updates now?
I have someone burn me a CD/DVD of the dmg file to install.
From your reaction I assume you never tried Pixelmator
When you assume, you make an ass out of Uma Thurman.
You can't have both. You have the real america outside your window and I got the App Mac Store on the window that I use to look at the world.
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.
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
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.
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).
Absolutely, it is amazing and follows in a long line of great PS lower end offerings (descendants of Mac paint
Ha ha, you are getting ripped off, it is only NZ$39, which converts back to around US/AU$29.50
That's because Russell Crowe really isn't Australian.
Um, I've been buying CDs for 25 years and not once have I ever had to repurchase my music in the iTunes Store. Who writes this stuff?
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.
Really. It compares to Photoshop CS5? Have you used them side-by-side?
not comparable in the high end graphics dept.
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.
TRON does feel real. Saw the 3D?
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.
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.
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.
I'll try that. Thanks. (What do I have to lose?)
Hey - how did you get on? I'd be interested in knowing if this works or not...
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>.
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.