I have noticed that Apple designs and distributes some professional apps. There is Logic Pro for musicians, Final Cut Pro for video creation and Xcode for developers. Does Apple make a professional app for image design/editing? I have been using GIMP and I know Pixelmator Pro is available, but I'm wondering if Apple makes a similar app.
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Resolved Apple image editing app?
- Thread starter revmacian
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Great question. I've been using Pixelmator and Affinity for the last several years. Waiting to see if someone knows of something I missed.
No. Apple has never tried to bring out a pro-level app for every possible pro-level need. Generally, they've been happy to let other companies do it (can you say, Adobe, boys and girls?).
The precursors of Logic Pro and Final Cut were acquired by Apple from other companies. I don't know Apple's specific reasoning for doing that, though I suspect it's because they felt a particular vision for doing those particular tasks was valuable and would fail unless they stepped in, and that if they did that, they could make Mac a compelling purchase for professionals in that field. Apparently, Apple didn't see the need to do that in fields like DTP or raster image editing, where there have been successful, industrial-strength Mac apps from other makers. I think in the case of video editing and music production, they felt there wasn't a strong Mac alternative to Windows-specific apps.
Note that X-Code is not a general software development tool. It is for developing apps to run on Apple's OSes. X-Code is not for Windows or Android developers - look to Microsoft and Android for those tools. Generally, the makers of OSes have a vested interest in providing development tools for their OSes. This is a classic example of "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Only in this case, the fisherman feeds the teacher, too.
The precursors of Logic Pro and Final Cut were acquired by Apple from other companies. I don't know Apple's specific reasoning for doing that, though I suspect it's because they felt a particular vision for doing those particular tasks was valuable and would fail unless they stepped in, and that if they did that, they could make Mac a compelling purchase for professionals in that field. Apparently, Apple didn't see the need to do that in fields like DTP or raster image editing, where there have been successful, industrial-strength Mac apps from other makers. I think in the case of video editing and music production, they felt there wasn't a strong Mac alternative to Windows-specific apps.
Note that X-Code is not a general software development tool. It is for developing apps to run on Apple's OSes. X-Code is not for Windows or Android developers - look to Microsoft and Android for those tools. Generally, the makers of OSes have a vested interest in providing development tools for their OSes. This is a classic example of "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Only in this case, the fisherman feeds the teacher, too.
The closest thing Apple's come to an image editing program would be the since discontinued photography studio program, Aperture. Apple did a good job with it initially and it continues to have fans even to this days years after support for it ended. As @ApfelKuchen said, Apple seems to target areas of need when they throw their resources behind software development or they do it because it reinforces the brand image they want to create for Apple.
I guess that need for Apple to devel its own photography studio program diminished over time. The playing field for photography studio programs similar to Aperture is now extremely crowded with extremely good tools. Perhaps that was the reason why Apple exited the scene much to many people's dismay.
On the other hand, they didn't entirely exit this space. Photos appears to share a lot of the DNA that was in Aperture and a lot of people expected that Apple would enhance Photos to bring some of the more powerful features in Aperture over, but that never happened.
I have used GraphicConverter for about 10 years. It has been a native Mac program since 1992, aggressively supported and updated by the developer. The developer updates it 3-4 times a year. It does not have some of the finer picture editing features of Lightroom or Pixelmator Pro (I use that, too), but it is a full-featured program with lots of functions, highlights listed here. It is updated for Mojave. Well worth the $40 license, and it does offer a trial version with only a few restrictions. The Preferences alone offers hundreds of options. I use it for 90% of my routine picture editing, occasionally going to Pixelmator Pro for some fine tuning of the colors.
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Yes. It was reply to "Waiting to see if someone knows of something I missed."