[Solved] How to set the colour of deleted areas? How to speed up deletions?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2020-01-17 03:59:58

Hello,

Pardon my ignorance! I am completely new to Pixelmator Pro 1.5.4.

When I open an existing image and delete some areas in it, either by choosing Edit > Delete or by pressing the Del key, those areas turn transparent. Can I have them solid white instead? How do I set the colour of deleted areas? (The image's background colour, if you prefer.)

Somewhat unrelated, but deletions seem relatively slow and unresponsive: there is a 3 to 4 second delay between when I hit the Del key and when the deleted area actually becomes transparent. I can have as many as 30 areas to delete per image, so I want deletions to be as snappy as possible. Is there a way to speed them up, maybe by disabling some advanced feature I don't need?

Thank you in advance!
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2020-01-17 08:17:42

Hi Charles.

There are a couple of options here. If you want to fill an area white, there is always the fill tool.
Or you can take advantage of the fact that Pixelmator Pro supports layers and put a white layer below your layer with the cutouts.
To make a white layer:
1. Add a new layer using Insert > Layer.
2. In the Colour fill tool, select the colour white and click on the canvas.
3. In the layers panel, drag it below the layer with the image on it.
Or, if you're a keyboard junkie: Cmd-Shift-N, D, Opt-Delete, Cmd-[
(New Layer, Set colours to default (black foreground, white background), Fill layer with background colour, Send layer back one.)

As to the speed. That depends on size and complexity of image. My 5-year-old MacBook takes about a second to delete a moderately sized selection on a moderately sized image. My 2019 iMac is pretty much instant. So, unless you're working on a large image on old hardware, I think there might be a problem here. If you don't get a reply from Pixelmator staff here I'd recommend dropping an email with a sample image and details of your hardware and OS to support@pixelmator.com to check it out.

Hope this helps.

- Stef.
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2020-01-17 14:04:43

by st3f 2020-01-17 13:17:42 If you want to fill an area white, there is always the fill tool.
Ah... a filled shape. Of course! I should've thought about it myself. The Rectangle tool works great and works instantly. So, you've managed to solve both of my problems at the same time. You've saved my life... once again!
by st3f 2020-01-17 13:17:42 As to the speed. That depends on size and complexity of image. My 5-year-old MacBook takes about a second to delete a moderately sized selection on a moderately sized image. My 2019 iMac is pretty much instant.
Deleting areas definitely takes 3 to 4 seconds. Not sure how to explain it. Maybe because my Mac is without a dedicated GPU. But the Rectangle tool is instant, so I won't bother with deletions. Thank you for your valuable input!