Thankfully, Saulius and the Pixelmator crew gave me permission to write up some initial thoughts with screenshots, so check out a preliminary Pixelmator gallery I've put together of some handy features and clever details, and read on for more of my first impressions of this highly anticipated image editor.
Overall, Pixelmator is shaping up to be a great app. Starting it up feels light, snappy and fast; easily beating out competitors by a landslide. Beyond its slick UI is a powerful image editor that offers a lot of control over color and selecting specific regions to edit. You can mask out parts of an image or layers, and yes that's right: layer support is in full effect here, complete with blending modes so color in one layer can affect the others below it.
You can toggle layer visibility on and off, and adding an image lying around on your Mac to a canvas you're already working on is as easy as dragging and dropping from the Finder; even Photoshop CS3 doesn't do basic integration with Mac OS X like this, which is where I think one of Pixelmator's fundamental strengths really shines (note the iSight snapshot earlier in the article). Instead of using its own color picker or type palettes, Pixelmator simply takes advantage of the system wide color and type panels already found in Mac OS X.
This means you can set your favorite fonts and colors in many other Apple and 3rd party apps like Adium, Pages and ecto (notice the blue and green swatches at the bottom of this color pane on the right above), and they'll come right along for the ride in Pixelmator, and vice versa. You might also notice that I have the the Hex Color Picker from waffle software installed as a plug-in for the Mac OS X color palette; it too is ready to work in Pixelmator.
Diving deeper into Pixelmator's abilities, many of the more advanced color, selection and manipulation tools are here for power users. There is a levels dialog, channel mixer, masking tools and some handy transformation abilities. A healthy number of filters are also present, including the pseudo-3D ones we saw in that in-depth screencast earlier this month. There really seems to be quite a bit here, whether you're just a casual user who would like to snap an iSight pic and play with it, or you're a more advanced image editor who needs flexible color, selection and layer manipulation tools but don't want to shell out a minimum of $650 just to get a few key Photoshop features.
Be sure to check out the gallery for a few more choice screenshots, and stay tuned for more coverage as Pixelmator matures into a more solid 1.0 release for the masses.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-16-2007 @ 6:28PM
Mr. H said...
Looks excellent, but that desktop pic in the first shot is more excellent. What is it?
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8-16-2007 @ 6:31PM
webmacster87 said...
Heh, way to go David. I guess you didn't read the e-mail from Pixelmator telling everyone not to share any details about the Pixelmator beta.
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8-16-2007 @ 6:35PM
David Chartier said...
#2: They gave me permission to write this up, though I'll update the post to make sure no one else gets confused.
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8-16-2007 @ 6:49PM
David Chartier said...
To clarify: Maintaining trust with developers is of the upmost importance to me, so I don't spill the beans on anything until expressly instructed so. I'm getting more and more opportunities lately to speak with developers and CEOs about upcoming products under embargo, which means I get to write up the post and play with the product, but I don't get to publish anything until a specific time they dictate. There's no way I would jeopardize my journalistic reputation by breaking that trust. I hope this clears up any confusion, and I've updated the beginning of this post in the second paragraph with a statement that Saulius gave me permission to publish this.
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8-16-2007 @ 7:38PM
Tim said...
Now if someone would just come up with a tutorial for n00bs like me who don't really have much experience with programs like this, I'd be happy.
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8-16-2007 @ 8:44PM
Quine said...
@Tim: No joke, this program is so well-designed that even a newb can learn to use it quickly. I can barely resize a layer in photoshop and I'm already putting filters on my custom gradients.
pixelmator sure is fast and easy to use!!!
Now, pixelmator team, make a gorgeous alternative to Fireworks and I will give you my house in gratitude!
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8-16-2007 @ 9:46PM
andrew harrison said...
was there a list to register for the beta? i can't remember, but if there was i'm sure i would have registered, and I didn't get an email to try out the beta.
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8-16-2007 @ 10:54PM
joeypfeifer said...
A Pixelmator version of Fireworks would be amazing!
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8-16-2007 @ 11:41PM
jc said...
Damn, i wish you guys wouldnt post private beta announcements. I got all excited about Versions and its painfully slow to even get to public beta. I'd rather know about it when I can use it!
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8-17-2007 @ 2:34AM
mike sorbara said...
*leaked*
look for demons.
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8-17-2007 @ 8:55AM
Floggy Bottom said...
I played with the beta (yes, it leaked faster than a New Orleans levee). While there is promise in this application, right now it is stymied by a poorly conceived UI.
The fundamental flaw is the HUD paradigm. HUD tools are fine in *very* sparing use. Look at how Apple uses them in iPhoto. But having *every* tool a HUD is a visual nightmare. Coupled with the fact that there is no way to dock all these free-floating palates, you spend more time fighting the UI rather than working with it.
I'm not saying the dark/black look is bad. Both Aperture and Lightroom do it well. Pixelmator would go a long way towards usability by simply giving the palates the ability to snap/lock into place and an option to turn off the translucence.
It's a shame that TUAW isn't more critical of this application; they offer NO criticisms. But I guess that's to be expected when you're kissing up to a developer.
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8-17-2007 @ 10:41AM
David Chartier said...
Or perhaps it's to be expected when you preface a headline with "First Look."
The critical review is coming in another post. First Look posts are a quick glance through a product to highlight the interesting features. Actual reviews - with both praise and criticism - typically appear in posts that have some variation of the word 'review' in their headline.
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8-17-2007 @ 11:47AM
Carlos said...
I'm fairly new to macs and new to doing photo mods, have only used iPhoto. Tried GIMP and its very... un-mac like. I don't want or need a super suite ala photoshop. I'm just touching up and modifying a bit for web posting some of my pics. Have no desire to become a pro. If pixelmator provides this to "the rest of us", mission accomplished!
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8-17-2007 @ 1:37PM
krye said...
Part of the agreement in the beta program guidelines document supplied with the beta was to not share Pixelmator details or post anything on the Web about it. Look at TUAW, it's only been a day and they already have a post up about it. http://www.tuaw.com/2007/08/16/first-look-pixelmator-private-beta-arrives/ I just wanted to bring this to your attention, not very nice/professional of them at all. Kevin
Hey man, part of the Guidelines for the Beta program we are in started that you are not allowed to share details of the Pixelmator beta or post anything to the web about it.
Nice going. The beta has been out for 1 day and you're ruining it for everyone already.
Very professional, huh? Good to see you can follow basic instruction. Did you even bother to read the documentation that was supplied with the beta they so graciously supplied you?
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8-17-2007 @ 1:43PM
David Chartier said...
#14: Did you even bother to read the beginning of my post? I had express permission from the Pixelmator developers to write about this. Email them yourself if you're having that hard of a time with this.
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8-17-2007 @ 2:12PM
Ari said...
#11 Aren't you being a bit presumptuous? Not everyone works like you and you seem to be from a windows background. You mentioned iPhoto which has a full-screen editing mode while this is apparently not a fullscreen app and you also mentioned Photoshop with the docking of controls. Controls docking to the sides is a very "windows" concept and Photoshop for windows is an MDI style interface. Even though the the mac version is not MDI, the docking behavior of palettes near the screen tend to mimic the window version as if it ws treating the current screen as the root window in the MDI scheme.
I prefer having free floating toolbars to docking ones. If you find then getting in the way, you can always move them off the editing window or onto another screen so I don't see the problem here.
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8-17-2007 @ 2:35PM
SubGenius said...
@#1 - I agree the desktop picture in the first screenshot is awesome.
The second screenshot simply reminds me how god awful the TUAW logo is. It is seriously hideous. The designer should be beaten, burned alive and his ashes scattered.
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8-17-2007 @ 3:02PM
David Chartier said...
To answer a few questions:
1) Pixelmator does indeed have a full screen editing mode. I simply didn't mention it in this First Look. I definitely plan to cover it in the bigger review I'm drafting.
2) Be nice to our graphic designers. I used to think our logo was kinda icky too until I realized that it actually spells T-U-A-W. The T is stacked on top of the U, with the A atop the W. This cleverness turned me around; now I dig it.
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8-17-2007 @ 4:00PM
Steve said...
#16: Talk about presumptuous -I bleed 6 colors, baby. The fact is, UI design is steering *away* from having millions of discreet palates. Pixelmator persists with this paradigm, which is sad. I would prefer fewer, but contextual palates. The iApps are going in this direction a bit, if you look at the inspector.
Nevertheless, given discreet palates, as a seasoned Photoshop jock i've found that having them in a persistent, locked down position unobstructing the main document is critical to efficient workflow. Call it a Fitts law sort of thing.
But even with all that, the HUD look is really the worst offender. You have to ask yourself: what is the *benefit* of being able to see through every single palate in the application? When I work on images, I want LESS distractions. PIxelmator, with it's candy-colored elements, superfluous swinging ropes and such bring nothing to the usability table.
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8-18-2007 @ 10:27AM
Chip Coons said...
If you would like to see a different paradigm for editing photos, check-out http://www.greenwavesoftware.com/magicbrush-photo/
The first 100 buyers using this coupon (CPN5059878658) will get a 50% discount.
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