Expansion of File Formats

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2018-01-02 02:10:49

Hello - apologises if this has already been asked.

Will you looking at allowing us to open and work with .eps + .ai files in Pixelmator Pro?

This would be vital for me. At the moment i have to jump into Gimp, Convert, Export + only then open in Pixelmator.

Unless i'm missing something on this?

Thanks for your help everyone.


Rosie
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2018-01-02 14:53:52

Hi, MissRosie,

Unfortunately, your mentioned file formats aren't supported by Pixelmator Pro.
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2018-03-21 14:36:18

Hi Vytenis, would you happen to know why these files were supported by Pixelmator but are no longer supported in Pixelmator Pro ? Do you know if this will be possible in a near future ?
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2018-03-21 15:09:29

They were supported in Pixelmator a while ago but, if I'm not mistaken, they used to be opened as bitmap images and not as vectors. Back in the days of Pixelmator 1.6.7 and earlier, it didn't really have any vector-based drawing tools (these came with 2.0) so opening them as bitmaps made perfect sense. By the way, these file formats are no longer supported in Pixelmator 3.7 either.

Theoretically, I think we could add support in Pixelmator Pro for opening these vector file formats (AI/EPS) as bitmap images relatively easily, but since Pixelmator Pro has its own collection of great vector tools, it would be much more awesome if these files (along with SVG) were opened as vectors. Of course, that requires a little more work but it's actually something we've been considering a lot more recently so I think improved vector support is something you should see in Pixelmator Pro in the future.
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2018-03-21 15:24:49

Thank you for your response, that would indeed be an awesome addition. But for the use I make of Pixelmator, opening eps files as bitmap was already very useful (and not being able to very damageable), because I work on video mostly and receive eps files from clients that I can no longer use and export in png... But ok, I'll wait !
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2018-03-21 15:33:23

No problem! In that case, there's actually a simple workaround that requires no apps that you may not have. You can open AI and EPS images in the Preview app, then choose File > Export and export to a format that Pixelmator Pro does support.
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2018-03-21 15:39:20

Would one of these formats keep the transparency ?
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2018-03-21 16:06:44

If the file itself has a transparent background, exporting to PNG should, in theory, keep the transparency but it seems transparency in AI and EPS images is a little tricky and I haven't managed to find one which opens as transparent by default in Preview.
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2018-03-21 16:12:59

Yes, I have this same problem... on the eps files I have it creates a white background. If you find a solution let me know, that would be immensely helpful !
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2018-03-21 18:57:38

I'll rack my brain and dig around but I'm starting to think this isn't possible. :(
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2018-10-03 16:14:18

PLEASE - another vote for adding .eps functionality.
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2019-01-31 20:29:39

It shocks me that AI or EPS files can't be opened in Pixelmator or PP. Please add this functionality.
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2019-07-01 20:20:37

Hey just adding to the list of people who would like to see Pixelmator support EPS files!
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2019-07-02 11:42:58

Thanks for the requests, everybody — out of interest, would you be looking more for import or export support? Adding support for EPS is possible, though would require a lot of dev work and there are things we feel are more important to take care of. AI support is unlikely as a lot of what is in AI files is proprietary, so even if we could open some stuff, it wouldn't be close to everything. AI export, the same reason, is pretty much impossible. Anyway, just wondering about the kind of workflows you have. :wink:
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2020-01-29 15:32:05

by Andrius 2019-07-02 11:42:58 Thanks for the requests, everybody — out of interest, would you be looking more for import or export support? Adding support for EPS is possible, though would require a lot of dev work and there are things we feel are more important to take care of. AI support is unlikely as a lot of what is in AI files is proprietary, so even if we could open some stuff, it wouldn't be close to everything. AI export, the same reason, is pretty much impossible. Anyway, just wondering about the kind of workflows you have. :wink:
I just want to echo that support for .EPS vector files would be huge. At the very least, to be able to import, convert, and retain transparencies at certain file sizes so that we can manipulate further.
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2020-01-30 11:17:25

Understood, thanks for the clarification! :pray:
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2020-02-18 16:03:39

by Andrius 2020-01-30 11:17:25 Understood, thanks for the clarification! :pray:
Being able to open EPS files and edit text layers would be amazing!
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2020-02-25 13:18:41

I would love to be able to import EPS file. I work a lot with different logos and receive them as EPS files. Being able to import them as vector (not rasterbased) would be a huge benefit. Right now I'm opening them in another app, expecting them as SVG which Pixelmator seems to open as vector, that's how I want the EPS support to work as well.
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2020-02-25 14:39:22

Hey Conny, this would be a big project and, seeing as we already support SVG files, we currently feel we're better off focusing on other improvements, especially as Pixelmator Pro is still primarily a raster-based editor. Of course, that not to say that we wouldn't like to add this in theory, but I wouldn't expect to see it in the near future.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!
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2020-03-01 13:30:04

by Andrius 2020-02-25 14:39:22 Hey Conny, this would be a big project and, seeing as we already support SVG files, we currently feel we're better off focusing on other improvements, especially as Pixelmator Pro is still primarily a raster-based editor. Of course, that not to say that we wouldn't like to add this in theory, but I wouldn't expect to see it in the near future.
I think you are missing a major need from the community. I do raster based editing and exports, but the images that we receive from clients (or my own company) are all .eps . It seem strange that we should have to do a workaround just to get basic images imported to raster. This was always just a simple import on Photoshop. This seems to be the only basic function missing from Pixelmator when I switched from Photoshop. And the fact that it is not in Pixelmator Pro seems to be a major miss.
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2020-03-02 12:13:56

by Wayne Morgan
I think you are missing a major need from the community. I do raster based editing and exports, but the images that we receive from clients (or my own company) are all .eps . It seem strange that we should have to do a workaround just to get basic images imported to raster. This was always just a simple import on Photoshop. This seems to be the only basic function missing from Pixelmator when I switched from Photoshop. And the fact that it is not in Pixelmator Pro seems to be a major miss.
Ah, raster import is a little different and, in fact, support for raster import of EPS images is something we're planning to add.
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2021-03-30 20:50:36

I think it's overwhelming enough to consider this as not 'Maybe' or its not really what we intended for the app to do', but a real necessity. People have paid for this app, are using it daily, and see the absolute NEED for this. I scream with everyone else when I say, IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN. Whatever your vision of the app is/was should be put on the backburner for what it's being used for, methinks. I think with a little extra coffee (after years...YEARS of this being asked for by your users), the devs can/should/need to make it happen. It's worth it guys - for rizzle!
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2021-07-30 16:03:10

by Andrius 2020-03-02 12:13:56
Ah, raster import is a little different and, in fact, support for raster import of EPS images is something we're planning to add.
Soon, I hope?
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2021-08-19 13:24:29

by colindun 2021-07-30 13:03:10
Soon, I hope?
Not in the nearest future, most likely — we have a few other things lined up for Pixelmator Pro that we want to implement first, but we'll get there, eventually. :fingers_crossed:
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2021-08-21 07:53:26

by Aurelija 2021-08-19 12:24:29
Not in the nearest future, most likely — we have a few other things lined up for Pixelmator Pro that we want to implement first, but we'll get there, eventually. :fingers_crossed:
After PSD is now supported - does that mean you would work on eps import support?

I find myself buying artwork from creative market and most of the files are in eps. I use Affinity Designer for now but it would be cool to have eps import support in Pixelmator Pro.

Thank you.