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Apple Completes Pixelmator Acquisition

I was eager to begin moving, which I think I can for Photomator as a Lightroom replacement, but Pixelmator unfortunately can't compete with Illustrator or Photoshop — not because it lacks the feature set but because Adobe has essentially monopolized Font licenses.

I tried opening an Illustrator file and was immediately met with a laundry list of Missing Font Warnings. Apple was a leading pioneer in digital typography and will no doubt build out their collection of fonts, but in an industry of cross collaboration, your app is only as good as the document it can work on with other designers and printers.
 
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nicmart said:
My free trial ran out before I tried it. Does Pixelmator have a Blur Background feature, and, if so, is that adjustable as it is in Photoshop?
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Not something I've ever tried, so I don't know. Pixelmator suffers from the same problem that all powerful graphics manipulation apps have - a steep learning curve to learn how all their "intuitive" controls work. I only dig as deep as I need into PM's toolkit to scratch whatever itch I've got.
 
jasnw said:
Not something I've ever tried, so I don't know. Pixelmator suffers from the same problem that all powerful graphics manipulation apps have - a steep learning curve to learn how all their "intuitive" controls work. I only dig as deep as I need into PM's toolkit to scratch whatever itch I've got.
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I've got licenses for Pixelmator and Affinity Photo, and yet the one I tend to use for manipulating images is Acorn, just because of familiarity with the controls.
 
nicmart said:
My free trial ran out before I tried it. Does Pixelmator have a Blur Background feature, and, if so, is that adjustable as it is in Photoshop?
Click to expand...

I do not see it, but there is a select subject button then you can invert the selection and apply a background blur.

Pixelmator is pretty weak app compared to photoshop, even the in browser photopea is more capable. Its more of something between image annotation and fully fledged image editing.

jasnw said:
Not something I've ever tried, so I don't know. Pixelmator suffers from the same problem that all powerful graphics manipulation apps have - a steep learning curve to learn how all their "intuitive" controls work. I only dig as deep as I need into PM's toolkit to scratch whatever itch I've got.
Click to expand...

any app needs a learning curve, no one will see a computer for the first time now know how to use it. There is also the technique and tricks. As an old timer who knows his way around photoshop, I found pixelmator extremely simple and intuitive. You have not seen that horror that GIMP is.
 
CarlJ said:
I've got licenses for Pixelmator and Affinity Photo, and yet the one I tend to use for manipulating images is Acorn, just because of familiarity with the controls.
Click to expand...

the price is right on that one. $20. Unfortunately it only runs on 10.14 and I am still on 10.12 maybe in the future.
 
ipedro said:
I was eager to begin moving, which I think I can for Photomator as a Lightroom replacement, but Pixelmator unfortunately can't compete with Illustrator or Photoshop — not because it lacks the feature set but because Adobe has essentially monopolized Font licenses.

I tried opening an Illustrator file and was immediately met with a laundry list of Missing Font Warnings. Apple was a leading pioneer in digital typography and will no doubt build out their collection of fonts, but in an industry of cross collaboration, your app is only as good as the document it can work on with other designers and printers.
Click to expand...

There’s a lot that Pixelmator and Affinity can’t and don’t do, but that’s expect for budget software.

No equivalent for Actions which have become essential for 20 years.

Only Adobe does a decently performing Liquify tool.

Layered and masked TIFF and PSD files that ‘just work’ in After Effects, etc.

General usability. If I remember correctly Pixelmator had this ridiculous idea of putting the layers panel on the left hand side of the screen even though most users are right handed and interact with the layers panel more than any other panel.

We’ve already been through al these phases of budget competitors being compared to Photoshop. Paint Shop Pro in the 90s had a ton of features and still exists. Corel Photo had a lot of features and died. The newcomers aren’t doing anything different to what they did. They are competitive on the low to mid range and that’s their market. Their users will always insist on behaving like they are some kind of noble and pure race of people fighting against the evils of the Photoshop Sith Empire. Make me laugh.
 
nostradumbass said:
There’s a lot that Pixelmator and Affinity can’t and don’t do, but that’s expect for budget software.

No equivalent for Actions which have become essential for 20 years.

Only Adobe does a decently performing Liquify tool.

Layered and masked TIFF and PSD files that ‘just work’ in After Effects, etc.

General usability. If I remember correctly Pixelmator had this ridiculous idea of putting the layers panel on the left hand side of the screen even though most users are right handed and interact with the layers panel more than any other panel.

We’ve already been through al these phases of budget competitors being compared to Photoshop. Paint Shop Pro in the 90s had a ton of features and still exists. Corel Photo had a lot of features and died. The newcomers aren’t doing anything different to what they did. They are competitive on the low to mid range and that’s their market. Their users will always insist on behaving like they are some kind of noble and pure race of people fighting against the evils of the Photoshop Sith Empire. Make me laugh.
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I've been using Adobe products for 25+ years...knowing their shortcuts...then trying Affinity some shortcuts and layouts just don't feel right or means I need to learn another keystroke.
 
nostradumbass said:
A company that makes creative apps is the last of your worries.
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A company making creative software is indeed not a problem, but a company which treats its customers badly is. So it is important that a subscription must be as easy as possible to cancel and why software needs to be de-bundled.

nostradumbass said:
A company that puts spy cars on every street is a real worry.
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I would say cars alone are evil enough, spy cars are just the next step.

nostradumbass said:
A company that uses algorithms to shape public opinions is a real worry.
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That is why we need platform and algorithms regulation, that is why Apple needs to follow their own rules for third party developer and that is why algorithms need to be public and optional.
 
ChrisA said:
Too bad, it was a great product. I think to date Apple has killed EVERY software product they have bought
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Uhm, their procurement of NeXT turned into macOS which is rather useful and well designed. Way better than Windows.
 
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I’m thinking of buying Pixelmator Pro but I don’t know if should wait till it’s on sale or get it now. I’m afraid Apple will mess with it if I wait too long. Any advice? 🧐
 
I applaud Apple for making Pixelmator for iOS a simple one-time purchase. So many companies today try to sell you subscriptions!
 
I wonder when we'll see Apple address Pixelmator in a public facing setting, outside of Press Releases. WWDC25 may be too soon for any substantial changes but I have a hunch it'll be mentioned as a part of Apple's creative suite to begin the process of blending it into Apple.

I don't think the Pixelmator branding is that valuable as it's not a mainstream recognized name like Photoshop or Canva (recently acquired by Affinity) so I think it'll be renamed fairly quickly to fit in with Apple's naming conventions and style.

My guesses:

Pixelmator: Creative Pro
Photomator: Photos Pro

The Pixelmator team have continued working uninterrupted since the acquisition so there'll probably be a point update due around June, which will be a good opportunity for Apple to make the announcement in a short segment: "Joining Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro, Apple welcomes Apple Creative Pro, a vector design app and Apple Photos Pro, a more powerful Photos editor with tools made for professionals. Both are available on the App Store today."
 
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