How To Import Shapes

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-01-10 20:50:40

I apologize if this has been asked, but no amount of googling has provided an answer. I'm 100% new to Pixelmator and a couple weeks ago I downloaded the Pro version. I need to make a simple graphic and I need a "mouse pointer" that's standard white, with a colored background. I found a shapes pack from many years ago that's a pxs file, but it doesn't seem to open or work with Pixelmator Pro. That, or I've not figured out how to import those shapes into the app.

Anyway, is there a set of additional basic shapes somewhere, or is there a way to import these shapes from this old Pixelmator file? I'd appreciate the assistance.
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2019-01-14 11:06:57

If you add that shape to a Pixelmator document (PXM) and open that document in Pixelmator Pro, you'll be able to save the shape to your Shapes palette in Pixelmator Pro and use it in the app, of course. Let me know if you need any more help with this. :wink:
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2019-01-14 11:09:49

Oh, and if you don't have the original Pixelmator, you can grab the trial or share the shapes here and I'll convert them to Pixelmator Pro shape format!
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2019-01-14 13:39:27

Thanks for the info. I actually opened Pixelmator Pro for work with a different photo and a small, external window popped up with about 30 other shapes, than just the two from the drop-down. One was an arrow which I made work.

I'm not sure why, but I never saw it. I kept trying to load/open various shapes, and I just saw the default three, and not secondary tiny window with more options.

I also do not have the original app. This is my first time using any software from this company. I'm a software engineer but sometimes I need a tool that's better than something like Paint but not as fully featured (or expensive) as Photoshop, and this one was highly recommended.
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2019-01-15 11:06:28

Ah, that's the Shapes palette and, if it's not visible, you can click View > Show Shapes to show it. What's more, if you create a mouse pointer shape, you can drop it from the Layers sidebar into the Shapes palette to save it. By the way, here's an example of how you could recreate a macOS style mouse pointer in Pixelmator Pro using multiple shapes:

Image

It's not quite pixel-perfect, but it's a rough example. Basically, there's a white pointer shape with a drop shadow and a smaller black pointer on top of it. Pretty simple to do yourself, but if you want to, you can download that file here:

http://upload-cdn.pixelmator.com/Mouse-Pointer.zip