February 22, 2024

Photomator 3.3 introduces a powerful new file browser on Mac

Photomator 3.3 brings a powerful file browser, built using native macOS technologies. This makes it easier and faster than ever to browse and edit photos, not just on your Mac, but also on external drives and cloud services. After extensive testing and optimizations, we’re more than thrilled to announce that this highly-awaited feature is finally available on Mac.

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Native Features

The all-new file browser, designed using native macOS technologies, offers an exceptionally fast and seamless photo browsing and editing experience. Its integration of native features, along with a familiar interface, makes it incredibly easy to use. The new file browser includes such native features as drag and drop for quickly importing folders and photos, even if you need to import thousands of them at a time, a native Share menu for effortless photo sharing, and much more.

Being built upon the Apple File System, Photomator’s file browser also saves your storage space. It doesn’t catalog your photos or store their duplicates and automatically syncs the edits with the original file. This also ensures a clutter-free photo editing experience. Another small, yet significant, feature is its handling of photo duplicates within the file browser – when you duplicate photos, say for comparing edits, they don’t consume additional storage space.

External Drives and Cloud Locations

Edit photos stored across various cloud services such as Dropbox, Box, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive, as well as SSDs, NAS devices, or SD cards, with the same ease as editing photos stored on your Mac. When you disconnect an SD card or external storage after editing, Photomator lets you seamlessly continue editing right from where you left off once you reconnect the storage device, ensuring an uninterrupted editing workflow.

Saving Edits

The latest update introduces a new edit-saving feature, allowing you to save edits alongside the original file, without modifying the original itself. It ensures that all your edits are in place when you reconnect to external storage or cloud services and also helps save storage space, which is a significant advantage, especially when working with RAW photos.

Photomator’s photo editing is designed to be nondestructive across all photo locations – whether your photos are on a Mac, external storage, or a cloud service, you’ll be able to preserve the original photo and revert the edits at any time.

Syncing Edits With iPhone and iPad

Easily view edits on all devices by simply syncing them through iCloud Drive. When you open edits from Mac on your iPhone and iPad, you’ll need to grant folder access to Photomator. To grant the access, open a photo, select Give Access at the bottom, then open the folder containing the photo. Once you’ve granted access, you’ll be able to view the edits within the folder in the future.

We are thrilled to announce the addition of the powerful file browser to Photomator, and we can’t wait for you to experience its native capabilities. This update is available for free to all existing users. If you’re new to Photomator, you can explore all the features and save a limited number of edits for free by downloading it from the Mac App Store.

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January 19, 2024

Photomator and Pixelmator to be available on Apple Vision Pro from day one

We’re excited to share that Photomator and Pixelmator will be available on Apple Vision Pro starting from February 2nd. From day one, you’ll be able to access Photomator and Pixelmator as iPad apps in the Vision Pro App Store. We’re also planning to continue optimizing them specifically for visionOS to ensure you get the best image editing experience on this powerful new platform.

Compatible as iPad Apps

Our goal is to make sure that all the features found in Photomator and Pixelmator on iPad are readily accessible on Apple Vision Pro right from the start. This means that once you get your hands on Apple Vision Pro, you’ll have full access to all the tools available in our apps, including AI tools and even the Repair tool. And, we’re currently working to bring HDR editing support to Vision Pro, too. 

A significant advantage offered by Apple Vision Pro is its infinite creative space, which means you won’t be restricted by your display size. Even if you’re using a Mac with the largest display or multiple Studio Displays, they can’t replicate the experience of the enormous creative space provided by Apple Vision Pro. When working with Photomator or Pixelmator on Vision Pro, you’ll be able to easily resize your window and work within this vast creative environment with fewer screen size limitations.

Vision Pro as Mac Display

You’ll be able to view even Mac apps, including Pixelmator Pro, on Apple Vision Pro by bringing your Mac into Apple Vision Pro through Mac Virtual Display. This feature brings an exciting possibility to easily view designs from Pixelmator Pro on the enormous Apple Vision Pro display. 

Spatial Photography

The introduction of Apple Vision Pro brings forth an exciting feature – spatial photos. Spatial photography introduces a whole new level of depth to your images, making them appear incredibly lifelike. We’re eagerly looking forward to seeing how spatial photography evolves, as we believe it will provide an incredibly immersive photo-viewing experience.

We are thrilled about the future of spatial computing, and we believe it holds immense potential for designers, photographers, and other creatives. We’re also delighted for Photomator and Pixelmator to be among the first apps you’ll experience on Apple Vision Pro, and we can’t wait to launch them as native visionOS apps in the future!

December 22, 2023

Pixelmator Team adds watermarking to Photomator and opens spots for file browser beta testing

Today, we’re happy to announce we’re checking off one more item from the Photomator roadmap — we’ve just released Photomator 3.3, adding a new photo watermarking feature that brings a simple yet powerful way to add watermarks to your photos on iPhone and iPad.

New Watermarking Feature

The new watermarking feature in Photomator lets you easily protect your creative work from being used without your permission by applying custom watermarks to your photos. When exporting photos, you can add watermarks as standalone text or images, or tile them repeatedly throughout the entire photo for an added layer of security.

Watermarks can also be incredibly useful for building your personal brand. Adding custom signatures or logos to photos helps people recognize and find more of your work easily, which is especially great if you’re just starting out your photography career.

Image

Text

Tiled

Watermark Presets and Batch Editing

Photomator comes with 6 ready-made watermark presets that you can quickly apply to photos by simply replacing placeholder text or images. If you have custom watermarks you use often, you can also save them as presets for a quick access the next time you’re exporting photos. And, for photographers editing large volumes of photos, we’ve made it possible to watermark entire albums at once with full batch editing support.

Advanced Watermark Customization

When you add watermarks, they become an integral part of a photo, so we made sure you can make them look just how you want them. For instance, using handy anchor points and the Offset slider, you can move watermarks around and position them on a photo. You also can play around with their size, opacity, add a shadow, tile them, and more. For text-based watermarks, you can change their color, pick a font, and make the text bold or italic.

This update is all about making watermarking fast and simple, saving you more time for capturing and editing photos. Download the latest Photomator update from the App Store on your iPhone or iPad and try out the new watermarking feature with your photos.

Open in App Store

Photomator File Browser is Now Available for Testing

We’re excited to announce that our second biggest and most anticipated project of the year (after Photomator for Mac) has finally entered its final development phase. We’re now ready to start testing the file browser in TestFlight, and we would love your help in identifying any remaining issues and perfecting it for the official release.

The file browser offers incredible new features such as seamless edit syncing with original files, the ability to edit photos from external drives, and import folders by simply dragging and dropping them to Photomator. If you’re excited to try it out, remember that beta spots are limited. Click the link below to sign up and get the first look at Photomator’s new file browser on Mac!

Join TestFlight Beta

December 20, 2023

Pixelmator Pro now supports AI and EPS files from Adobe Illustrator

Pixelmator Pro introduces support for Adobe Illustrator (AI) and Illustrator EPS files, letting you open these files with all their layers, including text and shape layers, fully preserved, and easily edit them in Pixelmator Pro. Additionally, this update includes performance improvements, ensuring an even faster image editing experience when switching between tools and opening documents in Pixelmator Pro. In preparation for the upcoming holidays, we’ve also included a stunning collection of holiday templates in Pixelmator Pro.

AI File Support

Pixelmator Pro now supports native Illustrator data in AI documents. This means that when you open AI files in Pixelmator Pro, all layers and layer groups are preserved, allowing you to seamlessly edit shapes and even text layers. This enhancement greatly expands the capabilities of Pixelmator Pro, letting you open AI files without the need for Adobe Illustrator and convert AI files into other formats when needed.

Illustrator EPS File Support

Pixelmator Pro now offers full support for Illustrator EPS files, which is another file format produced by Adobe Illustrator. While this format is older and no longer supported on macOS 14 Sonoma, it’s still commonly used for sharing vector graphics. With Illustrator EPS file support in Pixelmator Pro, you can open EPS files with all the layers intact and easily edit shapes, text layers, and more. Additionally, you can use the Convert Image action in the Shortcuts app to effortlessly convert EPS files into various other formats.

Improved Performance

We are committed to enhancing your experience with Pixelmator Pro, and as part of our ongoing efforts, we are introducing further performance improvements. This means you can now enjoy quicker tool switching and faster document opening, making Pixelmator Pro work at lightning-fast speeds!

Holiday Templates

With the holidays around the corner, we are excited to introduce a collection of stunning new holiday templates. These templates are crafted to simplify the process of creating beautiful holiday cards, posters, social media posts, and stories. Our latest release includes 14 brand-new templates, among which you’ll find 8 festive moving design options. In addition, we’ve added 11 new holiday shapes to the Shapes browser in Pixelmator Pro, offering you even more creative possibilities when making your designs from scratch.

The update is free to all existing users. If you haven’t got a copy of Pixelmator Pro yet, you can still purchase it at a 50% discount for the next 24 hours, making it a perfect gift for yourself or your loved ones. It’s our way of wishing you the happiest of holidays!

Open in App Store

December 15, 2023

Pixelmator Pro gets a collection of App Store templates

Pixelmator Pro 3.5.1 brings a game-changing new update for app creators — a collection of professionally designed App Store templates. From a number of popular screenshot layouts to alternative color palettes, the new App Store templates have everything you need to create eye-catching App Store screenshots.

All-New App Store Templates

App screenshots are one of the first things people notice when they come across your app in the App Store, making it an excellent opportunity to showcase your app’s key features at a glance and make a great first impression. With over 30 different templates for Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps, Pixelmator Pro makes it easy to create professional App Store screenshots for any app. Simply replace the placeholder image and text in a template and, in just a few clicks, your app screenshot is ready for publishing.

Each template also comes with a range of different color palettes, allowing you to choose a color combination that best suits your app. Or, if you’d like to add a personal touch to your screenshots, you can freely customize colors, fonts, or even entire layouts to match your app’s unique style or brand identity. The templates meet all App Store’s technical requirements and are available in all the necessary sizes, so you can simply create a design you like and be sure it looks just right when you upload it to the App Store.

For detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to prepare your screenshots for the App Store, check out this in-depth guide.

New Mockups and Templates

In addition to App Store templates, the update brings new device mockups, including the latest Apple Watch Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max mockups. You’ll also find new iPad Pro mockups, now available in landscape orientation. And, for business professionals, there are also new business card templates — all optimized and ready for printing.

This Pixelmator Pro update is free to all existing users, so make sure to download it from the App Store. Also, the Pixelmator Pro sale is nearing its end, but there’s still time to get it for only $25 and explore all the new goodies in the latest version!

Open in App Store

December 13, 2023

Pixelmator Pro 3.5 adds full HDR support with the ability to edit HDR layers

Pixelmator Pro 3.5 is out now, bringing full HDR support that lets you import, edit, and export HDR content, including HDR photos and videos taken with iPhone. The major update also brings the ability to work with HDR layers, allowing you to seamlessly create designs featuring both SDR and HDR layers, all while maintaining your existing workflows. HDR support opens up a world of creative possibilities in Pixelmator Pro, and we have no doubt that you’ll put it to excellent use!

Full HDR Support

HDR support in Pixelmator Pro lets you import, edit, and export HDR images, ensuring that HDR image editing is just as simple as working with any other type of image. Moreover, its video editing capabilities let you effortlessly edit HDR videos too. This means that you can edit your RAW images or HDR photos and videos captured with your iPhone with the same ease as before, now with their full HDR range readily available at your fingertips with a single click. All the tools and features remain the same while working in HDR mode, and you can seamlessly edit HDR photos and videos within the same Pixelmator Pro editing window, allowing you to enable HDR on or off at any time. And, we’ve completely revamped our color adjustments – they work exceptionally well when you fine-tune the colors of HDR photos.

Display Requirements

You’ll get the best HDR editing experience with Pro Display XDR or MacBook Pro with XDR Display.

For more information, check the full list of HDR-compatible displays.

macOS Requirements

To work with HDR, you’ll need to update to macOS 14 Sonoma.

Supported Import Formats

HDR photos captured with iPhone, RAW, ProRAW, and ISO HDR formats like HEIC (10-bit), AVIF (10-bit), JPEG XL (10-bit), PNG (16-bit), and TIFF (32-bit from Photoshop and Lightroom). Also, OpenEXR, Radiance HDR, and photos with Smart HDR from Photomator.

HDR videos captured with iPhone, MP4, MOV, and video compression types such as HEVC and Apple ProRes that support HDR.

Supported Export Formats

ISO HDR formats like HDR HEIC, HDR AVIF, and HDR PNG. Also, HDR JPEG, HDR Still Image Video, and OpenEXR.

MP4 and MOV.

HDR Layers

Pixelmator Pro also offers support for editing HDR content as layers. When you drag and drop an HDR layer into an SDR composition, the SDR layers remain unchanged, while the HDR layers preserve their HDR data, even within SDR compositions. This ensures that working with HDR content is just as easy as working with any other image or video layer. Even if your workflow requires merging HDR layers or converting HDR layers into pixels, you can do so without losing any of the HDR data.

HDR Support in Shortcuts

When we say that HDR photos and videos can be edited just like any other image or video, we truly mean it. Automation tools like Shortcuts and AppleScript seamlessly handle HDR content, allowing you to efficiently edit multiple photos or videos at a time.

HDR Compatibility With Other Apps

HDR videos are well-supported on most platforms, but when it comes to HDR photos, it’s still a relatively new feature. In the table below, we’ve highlighted the compatibility of HDR image and video formats with different Mac apps – this will help you choose the best export option for HDR content after editing it in Pixelmator Pro.

MP4 and MOV
Export for Photos, QuickTime Player, and Final Cut Pro.
HDR HEIC
Export for Photos, Final Cut Pro, and Motion.
HDR AVIF
Potential format for future HDR image sharing, thanks to its efficient data handling.
HDR Still Image Video
Export for Safari, Messages, and other apps that don’t typically support HDR images.
OpenEXR
Export for Finder, Quick Look, and image or video editing apps like Blender.

The update is available to all current Pixelmator Pro users for free. If you haven’t got Pixelmator Pro yet, it’s currently on sale for just $25. Be sure to grab a copy and give HDR a try!

Open in App Store

November 30, 2023

Photomator is the Mac App of the Year

Wow, we’re still pinching ourselves because we can’t believe it — Photomator has won the title of the Mac App of the Year 2023! And what a truly incredible year it has been. Our team has worked hard to ship many updates, big and small, making Photomator better with each one. We launched Photomator for Mac, making Photomator our first fully cross-platform app, added full support for HDR content that takes photo editing to the next level, and a whole lot more. We’re sincerely thankful to the amazing App Store team for recognizing our work and to every one of you who supports and uses Photomator.

The Mac App of the Year title is a major milestone for us and it’s got us more pumped than ever to keep innovating and making Photomator the best photo editor it can be. In fact, our team is already busy working on exciting new features and updates, including the full file browser support planned to be released later this year. And, we have even more amazing features lined up for 2024.

This machine-learning-powered photo app wowed us with artful edits we thought only experienced pros could pull off.

– App Store editors

Your Mac is the best place to edit photos, so it takes a lot for an app to stand out. The most powerful apps can be complex and difficult to master; those that are easy to use tend to limit what you can do. Photomator hits the sweet spot. It made us feel like professional photo editors – without the learning curve.

The app’s machine learning (ML) tools make difficult or tedious tasks enjoyable. When a photo we snapped of a gorgeous sunset turned out too dim and with muted colours, the Auto Enhance feature brought it vividly – and realistically – back to life. We easily removed the strangers who wandered into an otherwise perfect family portrait by painting over them using the Repair tool.

Auto Enhance instantly corrects common colour and lighting issues – such as this evening photo that turned out much bluer than reality.

And when when we weren’t sure how best to crop a shot of Yosemite Valley we took from Glacier Point, ML Crop suggested the most artistic framing – based on millions of professional photos – for the aspect ratio of our choice.

Removing colour banding, upscaling resolution, reducing noise – in Photomator they all happen like magic with just a click or two, while advanced users can fine-tune each tool’s effect. And the app’s ML features aren’t limited to fixing photos. Using Match Colors, we were able to take a wedding photo that had that perfect golden-hour lighting – and apply the same colour balance, contrast and exposure to other shots we took that day.

It’s easy (and fun!) to see how an adjustment you made improves your image: drag the slider or press “\” to toggle between before and after.

We also love the app’s many pro-level tools, such texture-aware colour adjustments and support for LUTs – shareable profiles of colour, shadow and contrast adjustments that you can use to, say, apply a favourite look to video in Final Cut Pro. All of the app’s tools also work with HDR images, and in another practical use of ML, Photomator can even convert non-HDR photos to HDR.

Knowing you can undo any change or revert to the original image, even after saving your changes, gives you freedom to experiment and learn. And because Photomator integrates with your Photos library and albums, your edits are synced to the Photos app and all your devices using iCloud Photos.

Photomator truly offers the best of all possible worlds – one where there’s no boundary between what you imagine and what you create.

Quick tip

With the app’s selective-adjustments feature you can apply colour tweaks to part of an image without affecting the rest. For example, use Select Sky, Select Background and Select Subject to make accurate, automatic masks – no manual painting required – then adjust just those elements.

Fun fact

Photomator’s ML-powered Auto Enhance feature was trained on 20 million professional photos… twice. After the initial training, the team tweaked the images in the set to be “slightly incorrect in a realistic way”, says Photomator software engineer Andrius Gailiunas. The feature was then retrained to even improve photos that are already great.

Meet the creator

Brothers Saulius and Aidas Dailide founded Pixelmator Team in 2007 to create a Mac-native professional photo editor. The company was among Lithuania’s first bootstrapped tech businesses. Pixelmator Team has since won App of the Year awards on Mac and iPad, as well as two Apple Design Awards.

November 22, 2023

Photomator introduces full HDR support with advanced features for editing HDR photos captured with iPhone

Photomator 3.2 is now available, bringing all-around HDR support for importing, editing and exporting HDR photos, including those captured with your iPhone. It also introduces a cutting-edge Smart HDR feature, letting you convert SDR photos to HDR and take advantage of the advanced HDR photo editing capabilities with any photo. We’re thrilled to introduce HDR photo editing support on Mac, iPhone, and iPad, and bring you some amazing creative possibilities!

Full HDR Support

Photomator offers a comprehensive HDR photo editing workflow, allowing you to seamlessly import, edit, and export HDR photos, all while preserving their HDR data. From now on, you can choose to always work with HDR photos in Photomator or continue working with SDR photos without changing your workflow. All the editing tools in Photomator, including Super Resolution, Denoise, and the Repair tool, are fully compatible with HDR photos and we’ve revamped our color adjustments, so they work exceptionally well when you fine-tune the colors of HDR photos. And, when you finish editing your photos, the HDR edits are automatically saved back to the Photos app, ensuring that they seamlessly sync across all your devices.

Note

To work with HDR, you’ll need to update to iOS 17 and macOS 14 Sonoma. Also, you’ll need a compatible display. Find the requirements and more information about working with HDR in this article.

SDR

HDR

iPhone’s HDR Photos

Starting from 2020, all photos taken with iPhones are automatically captured in HDR mode. However, when you edit these photos in photo editing apps, they’re usually converted and saved as SDR. From now on, Photomator lets you edit iPhone HDR photos just like any other HDR photos and automatically save them back to the Photos library with all the HDR edits intact. And, when editing, you can use all the editing tools, including the Repair tool. It’s particularly noteworthy as the Photos app doesn’t support the Repair function for HDR images – Photomator addresses this by letting you effortlessly remove any unwanted objects or flaws from HDR photos captured with your iPhone.

Smart HDR

In addition to full HDR support, Photomator introduces the Smart HDR feature, which allows you to convert SDR photos to HDR. Often, images that feature clouds, sun reflections, or those captured in intense light conditions may look washed out in SDR. With a single click of a button, you can instantly convert an SDR photo to HDR and bring these photos back to life by unveiling richer colors, deeper contrast, and more detail in the brightest areas. Later, you can edit and share them with all the HDR data preserved – just like any other HDR photo.

SDR

HDR

Import and Export HDR Photos

When it comes to importing HDR photos, Photomator lets you open HDR photos captured with iPhone, edit RAW and ProRAW files in HDR, and open other ISO HDR formats. For the update, Photomator also adds new HDR export formats to let you share HDR images without compromising their quality. Below, you’ll find a list of supported import and export formats with our suggestions on which export format to choose based on your specific use case.

HDR Import Formats

  • HDR photos captured with iPhone
  • RAW and ProRAW
  • HEIC (10-bit)
  • AVIF (10-bit)
  • JPEG XL (10-bit)
  • PNG (16-bit)
  • TIFF (32-bit from Photoshop)
  • OpenEXR
  • Radiance HDR

HDR Export Formats

  • HDR HEIC (for sharing HDR photos to Apple apps, such as Motion and Final Cut Pro)
  • HDR JPEG (for photos viewed in both SDR and HDR)
  • HDR Still Image Video (for uploading HDR photos on the web)
  • HDR PNG (for archiving HDR photos)
  • OpenEXR (for exporting HDR photos to other video and image editing apps)
  • HDR AVIF
  • Photomator

We can’t wait to see the amazing results you’ll achieve with the powerful HDR editing capabilities in Photomator. This update is accessible to all existing Photomator users. If you haven’t downloaded Photomator yet, now is the ideal moment to do so, as it’s currently on Black Friday sale, with the first year of its subscription costing just $9.99.

Open in App Store

September 25, 2023

Photomator update coming with full support for HDR content on new iPhone 15

The just-released iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models feature highly advanced displays, fully optimized for viewing HDR content. The latest iPhone 15 stands out as the first non-pro device offering a professional-grade display with 1600 nits of peak brightness, perfect for viewing and capturing HDR photos. To make the most of this powerful display technology, Photomator will soon offer full HDR support – from import to editing and export. We’re already in the final stages of HDR development, and we’re excited to share a sneak peek at HDR support with you.

The showcased result will vary among devices, with the most striking effect visible on the newest iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro, Macs with XDR displays, and Pro Display XDR. If the effect is not visible, open the video in the YouTube app or open it in another browser.

Watch video on YouTube

HDR vs. SDR

Compared to Standard Dynamic Range (SDR), High Dynamic Range (HDR) takes the viewing experience to an entirely new level. HDR allows you to bring back more detail in bright and dark areas of photos and to see a broader range of colors. This translates into outstanding contrast, brighter whites, and richer colors, letting your photos mirror real life more closely. When compared side by side, SDR photos appear flatter and less vivid, whereas HDR photos are notably more vibrant.

SDR

HDR

Why Edit Photos in HDR?

As display technology evolves, editing and exporting photos in HDR effectively future-proofs them. HDR is already more or less a standard in video post-production and video games, and HDR is breaking into photography as a new norm, too. When HDR editing comes to Photomator, you’ll be able to preview your photos in HDR with a single tap of a button and all your edits will stay in place when changing between SDR and HDR modes. So, when exporting photos in HDR, simply check how the photo will look to someone viewing it in SDR or on a display with limited HDR capabilities. You might need to tweak the colors to ensure your photo looks great in both SDR and HDR but, when viewed in HDR, the colors in the photo will be on an entirely different level.

Current Limitations

  • Hardware. In order to work with HDR, first and foremost, you’ll need a compatible display. The latest iPhone 15 stands out as the first non-pro device offering up to 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR content, matching the abilities of professional-grade displays. iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro, Macs and iPads with XDR displays, and Pro Display XDR are also equipped with powerful displays suitable for viewing HDR content. MacBook Air, iMac, iMac Pro, Studio Display, and MacBook Pro models not equipped with XDR displays provide limited HDR support with peak brightness ranging between 300 and 600 nits. Check out this article on recommended HDR monitors for photography to get a more in-depth overview of HDR displays.
  • Operating System. To work with HDR photos in Photomator, you’ll need to update to iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS 14. On older macOS versions, HDR support may be limited or unavailable, and for those using older iOS and iPadOS versions, HDR editing is entirely unavailable.
  • Software. Full HDR support with import, editing, and export will be available in Photomator and Pixelmator Pro. Currently, HDR is fully supported in Apple Photos, Final Cut Pro, and Motion. Given the pace at which Apple is promoting HDR content, we’d expect HDR to be supported on all system apps, including Preview, Finder, and Safari, in the near future.

We’re launching full HDR support soon, along with updates to support iOS 17, iPadOS 17, macOS 14, and the latest Apple devices. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to be the first to know when we launch these exciting new features!

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September 11, 2023

Pixelmator Pro 3.4 brings advanced support for PDF files

Pixelmator Pro 3.4, codenamed Camelot, introduces a completely revamped PDF engine that takes PDF support to a whole new level. With this update, you can now open individual pages from multi-page PDF documents, work with vector PDFs, edit individual image, shape, and other elements in Apple PDFs, and more. If you often work with PDF files — we’re really excited for you to try out this update.

A (Very) Short History of PDF

PDF, or Portable Document Format, is a file format created by John Warnock, the co-founder of Adobe, back in 1990 as part of the “Camelot Project.” The project aimed to establish a reliable way to create and exchange documents, ensuring that they always look the same across multiple platforms and devices. Over the years, PDF not only achieved its initial goal but also became one of the most popular file formats for sharing and printing documents.

Import Selected PDF Pages

From now on, you can easily import and edit specific pages from multi-page PDF documents right in Pixelmator Pro. In a simple new import dialog, scroll through the list of pages in your PDF, choose the one you wish to edit and import it. You can also set the page resolution, and adjust its width and height to the size you need. And that’s not all. Thanks to the major PDF engine redesign, Pixelmator Pro now lets you import PDF files with layers. This means that if a PDF you’re opening includes images or shapes, you can now import these elements as separate layers and edit them individually. Or, if you prefer editing PDFs as flat images, you can import them with all layers merged.

Once you’ve edited and exported a PDF page, you can easily put it back into a multi-page document using the Preview app on your Mac. Simply open the original document in Preview, then drag and drop the page onto the list of PDF pages on the left. To create multi-page PDFs from scratch, you can take advantage of the automations available in the Shortcuts app on your Mac.

Edit PDF Layers

With support for vector PDFs, you can now edit shape and image elements in PDFs as separate layers and scale documents to any size without losing quality. This makes it simple to edit, rearrange, and delete elements in existing PDF documents, or create new vector PDFs you can then share and edit in other apps. More complex layer properties like blend modes, opacity, and masks are also supported and will be preserved when exporting.

Up until now, Pixelmator Pro supported bitmap PDFs — an image-based type of PDF. Unlike vector PDFs that support layers, bitmap PDFs open with all their contents merged into a single page which also has a fixed resolution. Because of this, bitmap PDFs have more limited options for editing and may lose quality when upscaling. That said, both PDF types have their own uses, so we’ve put together a quick comparison to help you figure out which PDF format is the best fit for your needs.

Vector PDFs

  • Editable page layout
  • Resolution-independent scaling
  • Editable vector elements
  • Best for sharing and printing vector-based documents, logos, text, and more

Bitmap PDFs

  • Embedded page content
  • Fixed resolution
  • No content discrepancies when sharing
  • Best for sharing and printing high-quality images and photographs

While bitmap PDFs are always image-based, vector PDFs can have both vector and bitmap elements (photos or illustrations) in the same document. When upscaling such documents, bitmap elements may lose quality and turn out blurry in the final design. To achieve the best possible quality when upscaling, you can use the AI-powered Super Resolution algorithm which increases the size of images while preserving sharpness and details with the help of machine learning.

Work with Apple PDFs

As part of the PDF engine improvements, we also wanted to extend the existing PDF support on macOS and make it easy for users to edit the PDF documents they create using everyday Mac apps. Pixelmator Pro now fully supports vector PDFs created using Safari, Keynote, Pages, and other iWork apps, and opens them with incredible precision. For instance, you can now export entire web pages to PDF from Safari and they will open in Pixelmator Pro exactly how you see them in your browser. And, best of all, you can edit all image, shape, and other elements as regular layers, using all your favorite tools in Pixelmator Pro.

Full Apple PDF file support unlocks many new workflows and possibilities. As a quick demo of other cool things you can do with this, we’ve exported shapes from the Geometry collection in Keynote to PDF, and then converted them into a new Pixelmator Pro shape collection. And just like that, Keynote shapes are ready to use in your Pixelmator Pro designs!

Convert Files to PDF with Shortcuts

The updated “Convert Image/Video” action in the Shortcuts app makes it easy to convert multiple Pixelmator Pro documents, Adobe Photoshop files, and other files to PDF. With added controls, you can also choose whether you want to convert documents to bitmap PDF or preserve all layers. By combining this feature with existing macOS actions, it’s possible to create workflows that will help quickly create multi-page PDF documents or prepare individual pages for editing in Pixelmator Pro. We’ve created shortcuts for these two specific workflows that you can download below:

These are all the amazing new features in the Pixelmator Pro 3.4 Camelot. We hope you like the update! The update is free to all existing users and is available from the Mac App Store starting today. And, if you don’t have a copy of Pixelmator Pro just yet, now is the best time to get it as it’s currently on sale for 30% off.

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