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What do you miss in Pixelmator?

R

radek42

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 27, 2008
168
1
Here, there, and everywhere
Hi,

I was wondering how many people use Pixelmator (PM) given its attractive price. More importantly, do you find any "critical" features missing compared to pro programs like Photoshop.

Some background here: I am an amateur photographer using DSLR for number of years now shooting mostly RAW. I only take couple thousand photos a year and even less last couple years. I will take a plunge and will get either LR or Ap to manage my files and convert RAW to tif/jpeg/whatever. Until now I was using PS to correct/adjust my photos (I am still on CS version by the way). I use layers extensively as well as clone/heal to remove dust bunnies or stray soda cans in my landscape pictures. I also use HDR every now and then ... actually since I am not CS version I do that manually by aligning two exposures and masking out unwanted parts. Rarely I'd use liquify tool. It seems that PM can open PS files ... can it also save PS file format?

I would like to know if people perhaps tried Pixelmator and it did not work for them. Why it did not. Or you are really happy with it. Are there any feature that YOU are missing (I know this could be really personal)?

I also would like to know if people switched one way or another and how their files worked in the other software.

I will try PM at some point when I have a bit more time, but I'd like to get as much information before that.

Thanks for your input.
R>
 
Thanks for info.

Isn't lens distortion part of LR/Ap?

What do you mean by "limited layer support"? Do you refer to limited "corrections" that could be applier as layers? I mostly use "levels", "curves", "color balance" (although this could be done LR/Ap), sometimes, very rarely filters.

Cheers, R>

eXan said:
Lens distortion, History and limited layer support, but I haven't used it much.
Click to expand...
 
radek42 said:
Thanks for info.

Isn't lens distortion part of LR/Ap?

What do you mean by "limited layer support"? Do you refer to limited "corrections" that could be applier as layers? I mostly use "levels", "curves", "color balance" (although this could be done LR/Ap), sometimes, very rarely filters.

Cheers, R>
Click to expand...

By that I mean that in Pixelmator I couldn't enter layer properties (or is it called layer styles?), etc. Doesn't really matter for photos, but for creating for example web graphics its a deal-breaker.

Also, I think it can't freely rotate a selected object, I found options for only 90 or 180 degrees.
 
I said BUMP in this thread because I too wanted to know the answer... Should I go and make a clone thread instead moderators? Would you like that more??

Ok here goes

Instead of saying BUMP

I will say this.

I B-want U-to M-know P-this too.

Really this is one of the reasons the world is so messed up. People in charge go after minor things instead of major things.

----------

Just downloaded the trial.

First impressions:

-Not as snappy as photoshop
-Brush options are very limited and I am a digital painter so unfortunately I am falling back on photoshop.
 
KingJosh said:
I said BUMP in this thread because I too wanted to know the answer... Should I go and make a clone thread instead moderators? Would you like that more??

Ok here goes

Instead of saying BUMP

I will say this.

I B-want U-to M-know P-this too.

Really this is one of the reasons the world is so messed up. People in charge go after minor things instead of major things.

----------

Just downloaded the trial.

First impressions:

-Not as snappy as photoshop
-Brush options are very limited and I am a digital painter so unfortunately I am falling back on photoshop.
Click to expand...

??? Pixelmator is far faster than Photoshop, especially with filters which are real time vs Photoshops where you have to click for it to do something.

Which part of Pixelmator don't you think is snappy?
 
chrono1081 said:
??? Pixelmator is far faster than Photoshop, especially with filters which are real time vs Photoshops where you have to click for it to do something.

Which part of Pixelmator don't you think is snappy?
Click to expand...

I agree with chrono1081. I've worked with PS for years and everyday at work and find that Pixelmater is much quicker from a software performance standpoint. It doesn't quite have the tool set of PS so sometimes there are work arounds to accomplish similar results. Could this be what you're referring to? From that point I would agree, but those projects tend to go beyond what Pixelmater was designed for. That being primarily photo touch up and manipulation. I wouldn't consider it a design program because of it's limited vector tools. That's a different app.
 
chrono1081 said:
??? Pixelmator is far faster than Photoshop, especially with filters which are real time vs Photoshops where you have to click for it to do something.

Which part of Pixelmator don't you think is snappy?
Click to expand...

well i work very quickly between the eraser, brush and undo tools and i felt slight lag vs photoshop before I could use the tool after selecting it.

It has potential but I don't think it will ever try to compete to be a professional app hence the price tag.
 
eXan said:
Also, I think it can't freely rotate a selected object, I found options for only 90 or 180 degrees.
Click to expand...
Sure it can: select something and select Edit > Transform from the menu. You can rotate in 0.1 degree increments (either by dialing the knob on top, entering a value in the field or by grabbing a corner and rotating it). This has been in Pixelmator ever since I first bought it (version 1.1 perhaps, not sure).

My biggest gripe is 16 bit/color channel support.
 
The arbitrary rotation is crucial for aligning horizon ... I hardly miss it by 90degs :)

On the other hand, the lack of 16bit support sucks. I guess at the end you get what you pay for ...

R>

OreoCookie said:
Sure it can: select something and select Edit > Transform from the menu. You can rotate in 0.1 degree increments (either by dialing the knob on top, entering a value in the field or by grabbing a corner and rotating it). This has been in Pixelmator ever since I first bought it (version 1.1 perhaps, not sure).

My biggest gripe is 16 bit/color channel support.
Click to expand...
 
Pixelmator is very very good, but it isn't able to recognise unknown fonts and there aren't any alignment tools, so centering stuff is pretty hard.

n/p but I did a review here if you're interested here

Also, it could do with telling you the name of each tool when you hover over its icon.
 
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