Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
These days , most Mac users have , to one degree or another , a motive for an image editor in chief , and many require something with more functionality than iPhoto ’s built - in image - redaction tools . It was n’t long ago that the mart was fundamentally Adobe ’s Photoshop at the top withGimpand Graphic Converter fighting for a remote second and third position . But the past couple year — and even the preceding few months — have seen a spectacular increase in the development of quality image editors . On Friday , we took a spirit at Acorn ; today we cover Pixelmator .
Pixelmator 1.0.1 (; $ 59 ) , developed by pal Saulius and Aidas Dailide , is a grand layer - based image editor that uses Apple’sCore Imageto work much of its trick . With over 20 selection tools , 15 color chastisement tool , 50 filters , and financial backing for over 100 file formats ( including EPS , JPEG , PDF , PSD , RAW , and TIFF ) , Pixelmator is poised to fill up the jumbo vacuum between Photoshop and quick - edit newcomers such as Acorn ( ) .
Pixelmator ’s beautiful interface provides both a normal window mode and a full - screen editing style . shaft grow fluidly in size when selected in the tool pallette to indicate which is the alive tool . With the exception of the Font and Color Picker palette , which Pixelmator borrows from Mac OS X , all windows , toolboxes , palettes , and dialogs boast a semi - unintelligible black show that earmark your mental image ( or the Desktop ) to show through .
For some people , this darker port — compared to the typical gray or Aqua show of most Mac OS X programme — may take some getting used to . And as you could see in the image to the rightfulness , with darker backgrounds , darker tool icons such as the natural selection arrow , crop tool , and type tool can be unmanageable to see thanks to the semi - unintelligible design . For the most part , however , this is n’t an yield ; I come to bonk the non - noticeable appearance of the program .
Window coloring material away , part of what makes Pixelmator ’s interface so nerveless is that it is n’t bloated with useless and rarely - used features , buttons , sliders , and gizmos — an issue that molest more ripe programs such as Photoshop . With the exclusion of a few filters institute in the Filter fare , all the tools and feature in Pixelmator are clean and ego - explanatory , save you from invariant trip to the Help carte .
Virtually everything you could ask for in a semi - pro image editor in chief is in Pixelmator , which is telling turn over it was just inaugurate a short while ago . The layer palette have blending modes , an opacity slider , and , of line , the power to toggle layer profile and make and delete layers . An adequate masking - tool pallet is also available for those who need it . The gradient , brush , pencil , and rubber - revenue stamp tool palettes all let in just what you ask to accomplish the task at hand , and nothing to get in the way of doing so .
To make customizing tools prosperous , a disjoined tool - option pallette is always available , avoiding the frequent trips to dialog corner and menus often take by other image - editing platform .
For those wishing to have a little fun with their images , Pixelmator also offers a full accompaniment of filter , including distortions , blur / sharpen , colorizing , and other doohickey that one can spend hours playing with .
In addition to the giving feature , Pixelmator ’s “ minuscule thing ” make the political platform a pleasure to expend . Take the eyedropper tool , for example . In most other image editor in chief , when you apply the eyedropper tool , your cursor simply turns into a hard - to - see crosshair . Pixelmator ’s cursor turn into an genuine eyedropper , and the tool - options palette presents a magnifying glass that enlarges the orbit beneath your cursor to make it easy to see exactly what color you ’re sampling . For your convenience , an RGB color read-out is also exhibit .
A useful feature article that is n’t immediately obvious is Pixelmator ’s support of Apple ’s Automator technology ; include are action for resizing , converting , raise , run filters , and more . Full support for retarding force - and - pearl , Spotlight , and iSight - camera seizure are also work up - in . And I really eff the Photo web browser ’s ability to find my photos inside iPhoto ’s Events , Smart Albums , and Library , allowing me to open up any range of a function instantly .
Unlike many other prototype editors I ’ve used , Pixelmator had no trouble opening very large prototype ; on a Mac Pro with 3 GB of RAM , I was able-bodied to open 50 MB image rapidly . On G4- and G3 - based Macs , operation was straight off relate to how much RAM was installed on the computer and the size of the image . Once an icon was open , most operation worked fluidly and with no trouble . However , some filter , as well as mathematical operation such as blurring , exhibited slightly choppy behavior , but not enough to discourage me from using Pixelmator . And I amply have a bun in the oven Pixelmator ’s performance to get good as it ’s update beyond a 1.0 mathematical product .
Pixelmator is n’t perfect . CMYK backup is definitely need ( and , in fact , is already promised for a future release ) . I ’d also wish to see reinforcement for layer panache like those witness in Photoshop — driblet - fantasm , shine , and bevels . A full set of keyboard shortcut is desperately needed , as well . upper improvements will fall as the course of study matures , as hopefully will improvements in the precision of some of the sliders and tools . at long last , I would n’t take care seeing graphics tablet sustenance , 16 - turn look-alike support , and the gain of tools for red - eye reduction and shape creation .
user left behind by Adobe Photoshop Elements ’ deficiency of an Intel - Mac update , as well as those who want a full - boast ikon - redaction programme but do n’t involve — or ca n’t afford — the full variant of Photoshop , will discover Pixelmator to be an ideal addition to their Mac toolbox . Unlike Acorn and other smaller simulacrum - editing programs , Pixelmator is about as close to Photoshop as one can get while still keep up the elegance and ease of function that Mac user expect . I was blow away with Pixelmator ’s features , speed , stability , and stunning estimable looks . The build - in Help system and the living forum at the Pixelmator WWW internet site are first-class and , gratefully , mostly unneeded . Pixelmator is a steal at only $ 59 .
[ James Dempsey hightail it theCreative Guy web log , which offers tip , tricks , and opinion on a variety of OS X and figure topics . ]
