Pixelmator 1.5 Spider update out

Great! I've been waiting to upgrade for months! :P

Over the last weekend, I spent most of it trying Mac-native alternatives to Photoshop & Illustrator. Sadly, I came up empty.

Where apps like Pixelmator fail is the lack of ability to use anything like Layer Styles that are present in most Adobe apps. Many designers can't produce most of their designs (especially for web or screen) without the flexibility that Layer Styles provide. Is Adobe's implementation of LSs the best? No. This is an area where an upstart like Pixelmator could improve on and expand this aspect of Adobe apps.

The other missing piece is a Mac-centric developer who's willing to get the development force to create a pack of apps that rival Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign and Flash and sell it all for a lower price ($500?). I would love to leave most Adobe apps in the dust because of their bloat and new, *wonderful* (sarcasm) user interface/window system but until the right Mac developer stands up, we're all locked into Adobe's system for the long haul.

Why isn't this update 64-bit? I'd really like to know their reason. This is a Cocoa app and I doubt they are using deprecated APIs (mostly carbon) that didn't get upgraded for 64-bit.

Yay! Except, I'd like to a folder system implemented for the brush palette! It's getting out of control. I don't want to have to go back and forth deleting and reinstalling brushes.

Pixelmator ROCKS! For a not artist type (me) this program is a great editor, enhancer. I have PS, but don't use it enough to get reasonably good at it. Pixelmator is easy to use and intuitive in ways that PS is not. And it handles PSD files just fine.

Keep it up Pixelmator.

I have Pixelmator from a Macheist bundle a few years ago. I tried it and still found I needed to go back to Photoshop too often, unfortunately. I'd love to be done with Adobe, but PS and InDesign have me trapped. I just opened PM and it updated me to 1.5. Should I try it again? What's improved?

btw, if anyone knows a good InDesign alt, let me know. I even tried using Pages, which is pretty darn powerful. But again, not enough.

I love this app and thoroughly recommend it to those who think Photoshop is too expensive and/or too convoluted (like me). This app is cheaper and does exactly all I need it to do. Glad it now works with SL.

How does this do with PSDs created in Photoshop? I'm a web developer and get Photoshop comps from a designer. I need to be able to take a PSD created in Photoshop and slice it up. I've always had to use Photoshop to do the slicing, but that's overkill. Will Pixelmator suffice?

Sweet!