The Pixelmator Team today released Pixelmator 1.3.1, an update to the “GPU-powered image-editing tool that provides everything needed to create, edit, and enhance still images.” Available today as a free software update, Pixelmator 1.3.1 features a new Color Management sheet, a new Refine Selection tool, and more.
Pixelmator’s Color Management sheet is a single, easy-to-use place for managing color profiles in images and still keeps all the functionality of previous Assign to Profile and Match to Profile tools.
Pixelmator’s new Refine Selection tool allows the artist to dramatically improve selections made with selection tools. Refine Selection now features Smooth, Feather and Size settings and works in real-time showing the results instantly. Other new and improved features in Pixelmator 1.3.1 include improved Type tool stability, minor user interface and compatibility improvements, and some bug fixes.
Pixelmator 1.3.1 is available to order for US$59. Pixelmator 1.3.1 is a free update to current Pixelmator customers.
System requirements, as well as a 30-day Pixelmator trial and more information on Pixelmator, can be found here.
MacDailyNews Take: MacDailyNews has been using Pixelmator exclusively in place of Adobe Photoshop since December 2007 for online graphics. Obviously, we can recommend Pixelmator. It is “demoware,” so you can try it before you buy.
“The Mac OS X GPU-powered image-editing tool that provides everything needed to create, edit, and enhance still images.”
Not quite…..
“Not quite…..” Perhaps not, but it sure meets my requirements.
Can we PLEASE get a Smudge tool, already???
@CS: Have you asked the developer? Nearly all the features I’ve requested in this app have been added.
@CS The next update 1.4 (acc to the devs) is going to focus on painting tools. So we’re definitely going to see smudge and all those other things.
What about CMYK? don’t want it without that
What for is useful CMYK nowadays?
I purchased Pixelmator and occasionally create reasons to use it. It has an elegant interface and a good “feel.” That said, I boot up Photoshop CS3 Extended at least 10x more often. The reality is that serious graphic work requires tools that Pixelmator doesn’t have. Maybe one day it will, but not now. I’ll keep rooting for it, however, if for no other reason that Adobe takes its Mac customers for granted and needs to know what it is like to have competition.
Go Pixelmator, go!!!
I own it as well, but I’ll agree that it’s missing a lot of very basic features. It still can’t draw basic shapes – I don’t understand that. Heck, even Paintbrush can do that – and I find myself using it far more often as a result. And yes, I’ve already mentioned it to the dev team.
@Chris
I might have an idea about why shapes are missing in Pixelmator. The key thing to succeed creating Pixelmator is a very powerful foundation for the app. That’s why we invest more into improving stuff that’s already available.
It is very easy to add new features, but it would be awful if those are incomplete or useless (i.e. in order to have instant alpha in Pixelmator we had to improve performance – I think it was worth it; now if we want to have nice brushes we have to improve painting engine that will serve well not only for 1.X era, but also for 2.X).
P.S. Yes, I am one of the Pixelmator Team devs and yes, I am a big fan of MDN.
What for is useful CMYK nowadays?
What it always has been used for – color separations for commercial printing. That’s what makes Photoshop the professional product.
90+% of the user base may not need to do separations, but for those professionals who do, it’s essential.
“What for is useful CMYK nowadays?”
Commercial printing my friend. Try sending an RGB image to a commercial print press and it will either fail to print, or come out greyscale. Either way, the print shop will not be pleased.
Plate separations, halftoning, better control of colour etc. etc.
It also allows you to ‘cheat’ spot colour setups, making the process of using a clients pantone choice much easier. Make everything that is going to be a spot colour black, create a plate from that and use this plate for your spot colour with your printer (my print house uses an offset litho for spot colour jobs).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CMYK
CMYK support is not as easily implemented as some of you might think. It has taken Adobe years to perfect it’s lookup tables for accurate color conversion. Companies like Corel that have been in the market for years and they have Draw 13, still can’t achieve the level of accuracy that Photoshop has implemented for years.
Accurate good CMYK support is not a feature that will easily, unless they license the technology from a 3rd party, it witch chase would increase the cost. Their is a real reason why Photoshop and Pixcelmator are not really in the same league.
I find it funny how MDN, every time their is news about this application has to allude as to how they switched. Sure, for web simple work, it’s more then adequate. It probably is better then Photoshop Elements, but to compare it to the full version of Photoshop is like comparing Carrara to Maya or MS Publisher to InDesign.
Pixelmator is great. I use often. It´s not for real pro work but it has some nifty features that I use almost dayli
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The true competitor to Photoshop however is Apple´s Aperture.
Photoshop was my main workhorse for getting things done for many years, but after trying Aperture I have now switched. It´s a killer app. I´m a pro photographer, by the way.
All of you “Photoshop is better” posters are missing the point. Virtually everyone wanting to do image manipulation on a Mac has no need to spend several hundred pounds on a pro-level package. Pixelmator is a great little program targeted at home and casual users, and for that it’s coming quite close to being perfect. Anything else they build into it after that is bonus.