Lock Transparent Pixels feature

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2021-12-06 17:40:08

Dear devs, please implement Lock Transparent Pixels feature (checkbox) for layers. This is an immensely useful, time-saving, peace-of-mind feature, present in Photoshop and other great editors.
Allows painting only over (semi)opaque pixels of a layer, without touching the transparent ones - and without messing with selection tool.
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2021-12-07 09:53:07

Hi Alexander. You can do this in Pixelmator Pro by choosing Format > Image > Preserve Transparency (from the Format menu at the top of your screen).

Hope that helps!
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2021-12-07 10:58:32

Thanks, Aurelija! Happy to hear that this feature has already been implemented.
At the same time, without your help, I couldn't (and wouldn't ever) find it, despite the fact that I've been using graphic editors professionally for more than 20 years :)

So 3 more questions:

• curently, to toggle Preserve Transparency on, I have to perform 3 steps and use the menu - and 3 steps to turn it back off. Is there a keyboard shortcut for that? If there isn't, why?
• looking an my screen, how can I tell, if Preserve Transparency is on or off?
• why Preserve Transparency in Pixelmator is activated/deactivated for all layers at once and not for each layer separately?
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2021-12-09 09:14:18

by Alexander Tokarev 2021-12-07 08:58:32 Thanks, Aurelija! Happy to hear that this feature has already been implemented.
At the same time, without your help, I couldn't (and wouldn't ever) find it, despite the fact that I've been using graphic editors professionally for more than 20 years :)

So 3 more questions:

• curently, to toggle Preserve Transparency on, I have to perform 3 steps and use the menu - and 3 steps to turn it back off. Is there a keyboard shortcut for that? If there isn't, why?
• looking an my screen, how can I tell, if Preserve Transparency is on or off?
• why Preserve Transparency in Pixelmator is activated/deactivated for all layers at once and not for each layer separately?
True, the feature is a bit hidden but honestly, it's quite difficult to find an appropriate place to put it, other than the top menu. To answer your questions, since the Preserve Transparency option is available from the menu, it can be assigned with a keyboard shortcut of your choice. Not all menu items have default keyboard shortcuts and Preserve Transparency is simply one of those items.

When Preserve Transparency is turned on, it will have a checkmark next to it in the menu. Right now, that's that the indicator you can use to check if the option is turned on or not. As for having Preserve Transparency activated for all layers at once — I don't think that's the case. It should work on a layer basis. Is it working for you any differently?
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2021-12-09 20:22:41

When Preserve Transparency is turned on, it will have a checkmark next to it in the menu. Right now, that's that the indicator you can use to check if the option is turned on or not.
Sure, but without digging into the menu every time, how can I tell if the checkmark is on or off?..
As for having Preserve Transparency activated for all layers at once — I don't think that's the case. It should work on a layer basis. Is it working for you any differently?
I double-checked that, and yes, you're right, it really does work on a layer basis. I wonder, how could this be not obvious to me? Probably because this feature resides under 'image' menu, not 'layer' menu, which is unexplainably absent in Pixelmator.

In this respect I'd like to propose a little feature. How about adding an on/off control for Preserve Transparency onto a Layer stripe (alongside the Lock and the Eye icons)?

Image
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2021-12-14 10:58:57

All valid points and something for us to think about for the next batch of layer management improvements. :ok_hand:
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2022-05-19 17:56:16

I just came across this post and agree 100% with the feature ask to add a visibility to each layer showing if the transparency lock is on/off. Thanks for already having this great feature available in the meantime!