Custom crop ratio

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2017-11-29 14:41:30

Please can you let me know how to create a custom crop ratio in Pixelmator Pro - I am new to the programme and cannot see how to do that. I have seen how to do it in the old Pixelmator but only have the options below in the new programme, with no (obvious) way to create a custom option:



Image
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2017-11-29 20:34:03

Indeed there are no custom crop ratios available in Pixelmator Pro. There have been many complaints about custom crop ratios because people misunderstood that you could fill out any number to create a ratio and thought they would actually get the exact crop as they filled out. So for now if you want to crop with a custom ratio you would be able to change the canvas size instead and move your document around inside this canvas. This is not exactly what you want if you really meant you want to fill out a custom ratio.
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2017-11-30 09:12:58

Thanks for answering Sebastian - a bit frustrating that it isn't there but there are work arounds, as you say.
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2017-11-30 12:44:41

Wow, that's disappointing. I use custom crop ratios all the time in Photoshop. I was thinking of jumping ship but this makes me think again. Any chance of reconsidering your decision here?
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2017-11-30 17:45:08

I'm sure this will be put on the feature request list, but like I wrote before a lot of people complained about it in the regular version of Pixelmator and didn't really understand its workings.
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2017-12-16 16:40:17

Same question, and looking forward to its coming.

By the way, "Open Recent" doesn't work on macOS 10.13.1 and 10.13.2(Pixelmator Pro version is latest, currently 1.0.5).

And many specific parameters of many tools which Pixelmator Classic has are disappeared(maybe just I haven't found them). I don't know whether they are intended to be removed.

In the end, does anyone have any idea about the release date of Pixelmator Pro Tutorials? Thx!
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2017-12-18 17:18:12

So how do I get a 5x7 crop?
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2017-12-18 17:26:52

I'd like the custom crop please. If people don't understand how that works, then they should stay on Photos.
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2018-01-06 09:52:29

Apparently, you cannot do a custom crop. If you can, then can someone tell me how, otherwise continue to read this rant...

Unbelievable! I pay for a new app and the first thing I want to do, I can't. I can choose a custom crop in Pixelmator. I can choose one in Preview! I guess it's back to Pixelmator again. Pro? Really? If you're going to call it Pro then make it Pro!
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2018-01-07 02:31:25

Fully in agreement with OJB an junebug172. on this one. I spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to do such a basic thing. Not having a custom crop function is not OK. Changing the canvas size as a work around?? Really? What if I want to crop a layer or a series of layers to an exact ratio? This is a significant shortcoming from an app bearing a "Pro" moniker! You have to put this back in!!! As the others say, this is supposed to be a Pro level app. You're going to cripple it because a certain portion of the user base can't understand the feature?? Sounds like the docs should be improved and a tutorial developed to help them out. C'mon. you can do better than this.
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2018-01-16 18:24:08

I second the complaints in here. I just had the OK from my employer to purchase Pixelmator Pro, that I described as a valid, one-purchase alternative to a Photoshop subscription, because I trusted the team behind it… and the first time I open this self-declared “Pro” app to do some real work, namely cropping some pictures to get them ready for the upload to our CMS, I find out that this very basic feature is missing. I had to download GIMP to do it! This is very disappointing, and the reason given for the lack of this feature is frankly ridiculous. I don’t care about machine learning and self-naming layers, I care about having a capable app that I can trust to do its job when the time comes.
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2018-01-17 09:50:40

Custom crop ratios are on the way and you should see them very soon indeed. 👌 For now, here's a (somewhat inelegant) workaround:

1. Add a rectangular shape to your image
2. Select the Arrange tool and resize the shape to have same proportions to whatever ratio you need to crop to (for example, 500x700 pixels for a 5:7 aspect ratio)
3. Choose Edit > Load Selection
4. Select the Crop tool
5. Resize the cropping box while holding down the Shift key to constrain to the current ratio

Again, not the nicest workaround but it should definitely work.
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2018-01-19 00:56:50

Andrius, great to hear there are changes coming for that feature!

Please, just please, include an option to create fixed size selections, like we talked in the other thread!
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2018-01-19 15:11:08

Glad to hear that custom crop is coming, however considering a portion of the user base didn't understand how it worked, I strongly recommend a tutorial on just that feature be made right away, and released alongside the feature. It needs to be a complete explanation of what custom crop is, how you would use it in a workflow, and a step-by-step explanation of how to do it.

Developers who are too close to their own product usually have a very difficult time explaining features and doing a detailed walk-through because of their assumptions of what the user might already know. As you develop your tutorials, please put yourselves in the place of the new user, step back and see through their eyes. It will cut down on support time and your product will be more widely adopted because people will know how to use it.

I run into this all the time with software developers and am frequently "the bridge" between them and their users, so my advice is based on experience.
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2018-05-31 16:17:59

I'm not sure if this has been resolved but you actually can do custom ratios. Once you select one the preset ratios all you have to do is click at the actual numerical representation of the ratio at the bottom and change it to whatever you want. It works, I've tried it myself several times. Hope this helps
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2018-06-01 10:16:20

Yeah, the thread was posted before the 1.0.6 (I think) update, where we added custom crop ratios so this is very much possible in the latest version.
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2020-11-29 22:41:43

Thanks for including custom crop ratios but they don't work for me. I have a 5x7 that I want to crop to 4x6. There is a 6x4 crop but not 4x6 (why??? Its a common print size). So I tried to add a 4x6 crop ratio in Pixelmator Pro v2.0 but clicking add and then typing in a new ratio and hitting enter takes on the 5x7 crop. That is, the crop handles on the photo doesn't change at all. This is very confusing. Couldn't the team just add common sizes in BOTH vertical and horizontal sizes/ratios? Please!?
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2020-12-01 15:38:37

Hey Philip, a 4:6 ratio is mathematically equivalent to 2:3 and 6:4 is equivalent to 3:2 – we have both those presets. You can, if you like, create 4:6 and 6:4 presets yourself, we don't simplify the ratios when you add them.

As for the preset saving issue, I have to be honest and say I'm not 100% sure what's going wrong as everything appears to be working correctly for me. In cases like this, a screen recording of you demonstrating the issue is by far the best way for us to diagnose the problem. If you could share that with us either here or at support@pixelmator.com, that would be much appreciated!