Pixelmator Pro coming on November 29 for introductory $59, new Vectormator app teased
The Pixelmator developers have turned to Apple's CoreML machine learning toolset, and are releasing image editing suite Pixelmator Pro on November 29 for an introductory price on macOS of $59, with an iPad version coming soon.
Announced in September, The new Pixelmator Pro has a redesigned interface and look. The older version's floating tool palettes are gone, in favor of expanded sidebar selections, and a new tab feature allows to switch between versions of the active image as work progresses.
A series of new tools allows the user to design layouts, and create vector graphics like Adobe Illustrator as well. Retouching images, and digital painting remain at the core of the app, and have been improved with the new version.
Pixelmator Pro retains nondestructive image editing, like its predecessor. A new Recipes feature allows users to save developed effects, use them in other images, and share them with other users.
Also added are custom key layouts for the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, iCloud sync between iOS and Mac, and split-screen multitasking on the iPad.
Apple's CoreML is utilized for a repair tool to remove and replace aspects of a photo. CoreML also facilitates a new quick selection tool, label layering based on content, and automatic image straightening based on horizon detection.
Pixelmator will still be maintained after Pixelmator Pro's release. Pricing for the Mac version will climb to a one-time $99 after the introductory $59 price ends.
The launch pricing continues until the company ships free updates to the suite that are not yet announced. Coming soon are Pixelmator Pro for the iPad, as well as the as-yet formally announced Vectormator.
Announced in September, The new Pixelmator Pro has a redesigned interface and look. The older version's floating tool palettes are gone, in favor of expanded sidebar selections, and a new tab feature allows to switch between versions of the active image as work progresses.
A series of new tools allows the user to design layouts, and create vector graphics like Adobe Illustrator as well. Retouching images, and digital painting remain at the core of the app, and have been improved with the new version.
Pixelmator Pro retains nondestructive image editing, like its predecessor. A new Recipes feature allows users to save developed effects, use them in other images, and share them with other users.
Also added are custom key layouts for the MacBook Pro's Touch Bar, iCloud sync between iOS and Mac, and split-screen multitasking on the iPad.
Apple's CoreML is utilized for a repair tool to remove and replace aspects of a photo. CoreML also facilitates a new quick selection tool, label layering based on content, and automatic image straightening based on horizon detection.
Pixelmator will still be maintained after Pixelmator Pro's release. Pricing for the Mac version will climb to a one-time $99 after the introductory $59 price ends.
The launch pricing continues until the company ships free updates to the suite that are not yet announced. Coming soon are Pixelmator Pro for the iPad, as well as the as-yet formally announced Vectormator.
Comments
My 2018 resolution is to leave Illustrator behind. This is fantastic news.
Especially since almost every blog post for the first year after Pixelmator was released was filled with comments asking for CMYK.
This does raise a question for me though. It seems just from the few comments here that my impression has been accurate. Adobe for features and compatibility. Competitors for speed, less bloat, newer methods, etc. Compatibility, and sometimes a certain feature are important.... but:
What are the opinions here in terms of Adobe suite vs a piecemeal approach to picking best/favorite apps for each of Adobe's tools?
If you work for someone or too closely with someone (in workflow) who uses Adobe, the answer is kind of set. But, if you're a free-lancer or run your own gig, it's a whole different situation.
Probably because print isn't going anywhere. (Daily newspapers will largely die though, probably within the next 5-8 years.)
Which is where the 'print is dying' meme comes from.
Just about everything you buy - whether from retail or online - comes in a package or has a label, and those things get printed on a press. Usually a CMYK press.
If they are just building imaging software for web and photographic markets, they could have just upgraded Pixelmator.
Using the 'Pro' moniker would generally imply more than casual use in corporate/industrial environments, ad agencies, print shops etc.
Printed material has seen a reduction. But walk into a Walmart or your grocery store and count how many products have printed labels, signs and packaging.
Oh yeah, that's pretty much everything in the place. Much of it designed on Macs, by professionals, for a CMYK press.
I’m pretty pleased to see Pixelmator Pro. I would definitely consider stepping up to it from the regular Pixelmator. Especially if it gave just a few more features that I’d find useful. But I’m certainly not looking at this on a point by point comparison with Photoshop, and thank god. Photoshop just boggles my mind with its professional-grade feature set.
I've used this product since the mid-late '90s and I suppose whether it's easy to use is a big subjective, but it's easier than any other CAD product I've tried (while still being insanely powerful). It was initially Ashlar's 3D solids product, then broke off to a company owned by it's creator called CSI, and now is owned by Punch (but still developed by the same industry leader/innovator).
Keep an eye out for deals and you can get it for less than the normal $300 a year subscription and it runs on a Mac.
I started out with MacDraw, them MacDraft, moved to MiniCAD/VectorCAD, then Vellum, GibbsCAM, Pro E, SolidWorks, SharkCAD and am finally with Autodesk Inventor HSM, since I program machine tools. Vellum and SharkCAD are both great programs, especially for the ease of use of surfaces, but just aren't cost effective for my broader needs. There's another package that I had for awhile, which was actually pretty good, but only runs on PC's, https://www.alibre.com.
Solidworks Premium, and I had Premium Simulation, is by far my favorite MCAD package, but I passed on maintenance for awhile and they changed their renewal policy, i.e., 100% back maintenance. I still use it, but it's stuck at version 2015.
Pixelmator and the others get great press, but it looks to me that it is really Apple that has provided much of the built-in functionality to take down the Adobe behemoth. Core Image, ColorSync etc. are what allow some of these Adobe alternatives to code their way into a feature set comparable to Photoshop.
By comparison, Apple doesn't seem to have pushed out similar frameworks to enable these guys to attack InDesign.
E.g. Affinity Publisher will launch without multi-line composition.
Best practice for almost all workflows is to retouch in the original (almost always) RGB color space, and only convert to CMYK at the end of the process. The reason for this?
In a contemporary workflow, the final destination for this carefully retouched file will, in fact, be multiple destinations, some of them RGB, some of them various flavors of CMYK. For way too long, retouchers would routinely convert their original files to whatever default setting their copy of Photoshop was using for CMYK. Very frequently, this setting was a serious mismatch for the CMYK that was actually going to be used to print, so the color conversion created multiple problems through out the workflow, even when only CMYK was used for output.
A standard response to hearing people say that they work in CMYK is to ask "Which one?", since each combination of press, ink and paper is going to be a different flavor of CMYK.
Then, when the editing/retouching is all finished, the quality of the original image has been preserved, and can be correctly converted for each destination device's best color. Converting to CMYK at the front end of the process is a guaranteed way to settle for lowest-common-denominator color. Why would you want that in 2017 and beyond when it is so easy to do it correctly?
In 2017, anyone who's converting files to CMYK at the front of the workflow is settling for less than they could have, instead of going for maximum quality, and should seriously rethink their approach.
Should you want to use Pixelmator Pro, and it turns out not to convert to CMYK, multiple conversion tools exist to convert your file quickly and easily, some built into your Mac already...