Pixelmator really sluggish

[Scorch07]

I just downloaded the trial of Pixelmator to try it out. I really like the interface, but everything is really sluggish. The interface remains snappy, but any actual editing tasks hang and do all kinds of weird things. Even painting and stuff like that lags way behind the cursor.

Is this normal or something that's fixable? I think I would like it a lot if it ran smoothly but as it is it's pretty unusable.

 

[FSMBP]

I just downloaded the trial of Pixelmator to try it out. I really like the interface, but everything is really sluggish. The interface remains snappy, but any actual editing tasks hang and do all kinds of weird things. Even painting and stuff like that lags way behind the cursor.

Is this normal or something that's fixable? I think I would like it a lot if it ran smoothly but as it is it's pretty unusable.

That's not normal. I have the same MacBook Pro as you (if you're using it on that) and it runs fine.

Maybe try running the app under a different Account on your Mac or a Guest Account and see if its still sluggish (you might have a corrupted Preference File in your account).

 

[Scorch07]

That's not normal. I have the same MacBook Pro as you (if you're using it on that) and it runs fine.

Maybe try running the app under a different Account on your Mac or a Guest Account and see if its still sluggish (you might have a corrupted Preference File in your account).

Didn't figure it was normal. Unfortunately I just tried it on the guest account and same deal. I have an external monitor hooked up. Is it possible that's putting enough of an extra load on the gpu to make it run slow, since pixelmator uses Open GL?

 

[J the Ninja]

An external monitor probably wouldn't do it unless you are working with a really big image. 2.2Ghz MBP....has only 128MB of VRAM, right? Idk, the combo of external monitor + HUEG image might do it. Try just using a small image, like 200x200, and see if the problem still exits. Pixelmator doesn't handle slow renders too well. The UI seems to be designed with the idea that any change will render in a few tenths of a second or less. So it tends to lag or lock up if something is taking a second or two to crunch.

 

[Scorch07]

An external monitor probably wouldn't do it unless you are working with a really big image. 2.2Ghz MBP....has only 128MB of VRAM, right? Idk, the combo of external monitor + HUEG image might do it. Try just using a small image, like 200x200, and see if the problem still exits. Pixelmator doesn't handle slow renders too well. The UI seems to be designed with the idea that any change will render in a few tenths of a second or less. So it tends to lag or lock up if something is taking a second or two to crunch.

128MB VRAM, right. I tried it with a 1000x1000 image, so I mean, it should be able to handle that. I could understand something really crazy messing it up but the paintbrush can't even keep up... That seems a little extreme.