Shapes in Pixelmator

[acearchie]

SO I just lashed out $59 for pixelmator only to find that I can't find how to create simple shapes

(rectangles, circles, squares, etc.)

Any suggestions?

THanks

[LeviG]

might have something to do with it not appearing to do shapes according to the manual

As to fixing it - not sure to be honest, not got the program.

[alanulles]

Originally Posted by acearchie

SO I just lashed out $59 for pixelmator only to find that I can't find how to create simple shapes

(squares, circles, squares, etc.)

Any suggestions?

THanks

Use the selection tool coupled with options for overlapping selections, and then outline or fill. Makes it easier later on if you work with separate layers.

[acearchie]

Originally Posted by alanulles

Use the selection tool coupled with options for overlapping selections, and then outline or fill. Makes it easier later on if you work with separate layers.

Yeh but then you can't stretch them or alter their shape! I really was quite annoyed! Oh well!

THanks Anyway

[mkrishnan]

What are you trying to accomplish? I don't think Pixelmator is trying to be a drawing program.... I don't recall the last time I used the rectangle tool in Photoshop....

[MorzillA]

been reading the tech specs on the site and looks like you can, http://www.pixelmator.com/specs/ Once there, scroll down to Image Processing and read on. If you are trying to alter the image as one would do in PS, then you're stuck like chuck. No two image apps are 100% the same.

[psychofreak]

It would be nice to have a simple line tool in the next version...even if it is implemented like in Seashore where you hold down a button while clicking at either end of your intended line with the pen tool

[cavemanlawyer15]

Originally Posted by mkrishnan

What are you trying to accomplish? I don't think Pixelmator is trying to be a drawing program.... I don't recall the last time I used the rectangle tool in Photoshop....

Any suggestions for a drawing program similar in scope to Pixelmator (i.e. not $500 price tag) which might perform some of these functions?

[psychofreak]

Originally Posted by cavemanlawyer15

Any suggestions for a drawing program similar in scope to Pixelmator (i.e. not $500 price tag) which might perform some of these functions?

Take a look at Acorn

[cavemanlawyer15]

Looks very similar to Pixelmator! In fact, on the download page I can't find one difference between Acorn and Pixelmator...

[Slumbercub]

Originally Posted by cavemanlawyer15

Looks very similar to Pixelmator! In fact, on the download page I can't find one difference between Acorn and Pixelmator...

Except it does shapes.

[acearchie]

Sorry to be simple, but are these the only tools it offers?

[ezekielrage_99]

Sorry to say this but Pixelmator is only an image editing application, it doesn't do shapes.

IMHO Pixelmator does edit photos very well but Photohop it isn't, considering that it's a USD$59 application it still is very good value if you want to edit photos and add layers (text, images, etc) to artwork it really does work a treat.

I think in time you will see more added to it but for now this is what Pixelmator offers.

Personally I think it's a great purchase for USD$59

[acearchie]

I suppose rfom its website I was mislead...

I wqasa looking for some sort of drawing program, this sadly was not it!

[cspanfan]

From what I can tell, it's true that Pixelmator cannot create shapes. However, if you have Pages, iWeb, something of the sort that can create shapes, make it there and copy/paste into Pixelmator. It's best to make sure that you select 'no fill' when making the shape. Once copied to Pixelmator, do what you want to the canvas (use color dodge so the outline is visible). When your done, the easiest thing to do is use the magic wand tool to capture the shape. Copy/paste the modified shape to a new canvas and voila! You made a shape in Pixelmator.

[TomM]

Originally Posted by ezekielrage_99

Sorry to say this but Pixelmator is only an image editing application, it doesn't do shapes.

IMHO Pixelmator does edit photos very well but Photohop it isn't, considering that it's a USD$59 application it still is very good value if you want to edit photos and add layers (text, images, etc) to artwork it really does work a treat.

I think in time you will see more added to it but for now this is what Pixelmator offers.

Personally I think it's a great purchase for USD$59

I agree with ezekielrage_99 that Pixelmator is a good program. I use it a lot, by itself and with files imported from other drawing applications. (Usually with a screen capture.)

Another good program to consider is VectorDesigner described at http://www.tweakersoft.com/vectordesigner/

The cost is $69.95, and it provides great flexibility in drawing shapes from scratch and / or modifying "standard" shapes. This is a vector drawing program that also permits importing raster files and combining them in various ways with your vector shapes.

TomM

[daleegan1]

The post suggesting using one of the mac applications was most useful to me.

I just purchased Pixelmator and I found my drawing skill lacking..... I often wanted a smooth curve and just couldn't seem to manage it.

What I do is use the marquee tool to capture the section of the illustration I want to draw the curve on and copy that into keynote.

Then in keynote I add a shape..... the last shape for drawing curves.... with the ability to adjust the shape and smooth it out... by double clicking the points when editing.

Once I have the curve I want ( thats the stroke setting set to a smooth line and adjust the pixel size to what I want )..... and set the fill to none.

I copy and paste it back into pixelmator.....move it into position and.... there you are.... a curve the size and shape you need.

I would imaging using dots and changing opacity would be interesting too.


Have fun

[jfvaren]

I've been using Pixelmator for about a year now, mainly for web application GUI design. I really like it, but it does have it's shortcomings.

I quite often find myself needing to create primitive shapes like rounded rectangles. The fact that Pixelmator is not a full Photoshop fledged application is not a good reason for it not to support primitive shapes. Paint Shop Pro from the 90's supported this, for crying out loud!

I also work down on the pixel-by-pixel level at times. Even here Pixelmator fails when it comes to precision.

The inability to drop shadows without a 3rd party plugin also seems odd, considering all the other filters it comes with.

When a photo editor is named "Pixelmator", it creates some expectations that it in my case fails to meet.

I'm in the process of trying out Acorn, as suggested by psychofreak, and so far I'm very content You can draw primitive shapes and later on adjust their properties such as color, size, line stroke, shadow, etc.

[Annalea]

The latest release of Pixelmator, 2.0.1/Chamleon, now supports drawing simple shapes. I just used a rectangular shape to draw a border around a simple poster I just made. (Image attached for fun.) I'm pretty thrilled, as I really like Pixelmator.

Hope this helps . . .

[chenboda]

Make a new image the size of the shape you want, color it and border it to taste, then copy and paste it in as a new layer and move it up or down as needed.

This should have been a one question / one answer thread. I'm kind of chortling here at how lengthy threads can get which consist of several posts about how this other program is better or "You can't do that" or "I don't know" or whatever. Maybe I'm a bit aspergery but is it some kind of social thing? Like, people just enjoy chatting about nothing? I'm not trying to be smart or sassy here, if that's the case I'm cool with it and appreciate the fact that most people truly enjoy just chatting, but seriously though, people get into really lengthy threads which do nothing to address the question rather than simply answering the question. It reminds me of the endless 1990s discussions about indenting in HTML 1.0, consisting of arguments about how "some day stylesheets will address this," and debates about how the blockquote should only be used for quoted content, meanwhile the poor guy just wanted to know an easy way to visually indent a paragraph in the current browsers.

[acaciopn]

Hi all

Simple answer: current Pixelmator CAN draw shapes. However, the shapes tools are not visible by default - go to Pixelmator -> Preferences and, under Tools / Drawing you will see these tools:

They seem to at least do the basics - allowing resize after deployed in the drawing. I am still learning my way around pixelmator after purchasing it.

By the way, this seems to be under a promotion or something - I got it for 14 EUR in the App store. If someone is interested, it might be a good time to get it.

Cheers,

[daleegan1]

I was somewhat disappointed as well.... all I do is make the shape in keynote, copy and paste it in. As someone pointed out below, its not really a drawing program but I didn't realize the difference when I first purchased it, part of the learning curve really, and a relatively cheap one. I generally use a variety of tools to get to the end result. Sure I can fix red-eye in pixelmator, but if I don't need a high-res image, picnik is quick and effective. Pixelmator will do lots of great stuff for you but simple things are more easily done in simpler programs.

[CrickettGrrrl]

I have to disagree, Pixelmator has definitelybecome a drawing program for me in the sense that Photoshop has too. They both began as photo manipulation software but have got a lot of other stuff under the hood. Google for Pixelmator tutorials, their own site, PXM-tuts, Abduzeedo, etc. Photoshop & Illustrator tuts can be adapted once you know where to find the tools, alternative filters.