Pixelmator Pro 3.3 is now available and brings a powerful new Remove Color adjustment

Discuss the latest Pixelmator news.
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2023-02-28 14:31:09

Pixelmator Pro 3.3, codenamed Mosaic, has just been released, bringing an all-new Remove Color adjustment for quickly removing color from images and even videos, powerful Clarity, Selective Clarity, and Texture adjustments for intelligently enhancing fine details in images, new stroke styles and more options for customizing strokes, new ways to save edits using sidecar files, and a whole lot more.

Learn more on our blog.

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2023-02-28 15:12:34

As always :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up: :thumbs_up:
Thank you!)
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2023-02-28 15:52:33

Hooray! It was a longer wait than usual for an update (yes, I check often) but it's well worth it! Remove Color and Texture-Aware Color Adjustments are especially exciting additions this time around. Thank you so much, Pixelmator Pro team, for continuing to make some of my absolute favorite software for the Mac!
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2023-02-28 16:14:54

我们想得到更多关于pixelmator photo的消息
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2023-02-28 16:32:20

Follow up: Pattern Fill is cool, too. I know we can load our own patterns, which is stellar, but does just one pattern come built-in to Pixelmator Pro? I can't seem to find a choice to try any others without getting some to import.
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2023-02-28 20:56:54

Great update - especially for us vector veterans. :grinning:
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2023-02-28 21:41:29

This is huge! I love the Sidecar files, now I can send files from Capture One/Lightroom to Pixelmator Pro, do my edits and just hit save then bang! It's in C1, lovely... Oh, the Clarity and Texture addition is so, so, sweet!

Fantastic job guys! Now we need a film strip and a way to just point to a folder.😊
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2023-03-01 07:46:12

Superb update! The clarity and texture tool is what I have been waiting for. The border and sidecar stuff is a great addition too!
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2023-03-01 07:49:08

At last we got clarity tool and I appreciate highlights slider improvement as well, works much much better now. Sidecar is also game changer. Thanks for a hard work!
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2023-03-01 11:03:04

:thumbs_up: for this update. Love the clarity and texture tools. The improvement of the highlight and shadows sliders also great.
Not sure about the sidecar. I assumed that it would be a sidecar in xml format, so reducing the dubbel or even more increase of the file size next to the original RAW. But it appears to be a complete storage of the picture file including the edits. So it will still fill up my disk space enormously, as did the .pxd files. I can understand the possibility for exporting to f.e. jpg and then continue editing afterwards, but I had hoped this would lead to get rid of the huge increase of file-sizes using PP.
Did I miss something ?
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2023-03-01 16:24:21

Hey all — so cool to see all the awesome feedback about the update. We’re glad you’re enjoying it! :red_heart: To answer your questions:
我们想得到更多关于pixelmator photo的消息
The next Pixelmator Photo update is coming along nicely, but it's shaping up to be a big one, so it will take some time before we're ready to release it.
does just one pattern come built-in to Pixelmator Pro?
In this case, the pattern is just a placeholder. We are thinking of creating an actual resource library at some point though, that would also include a collection of patterns.

And, for what concerns the size of sidecar files — we’re constantly optimizing PXD files, so they will only get lighter and quicker to open in the future, with all the benefits of maintaining full metadata. For instance, last year, we started using the original image layer formats — JPG, PNG, WebP, and HEIF — when saving layer data instead of converting them to compressed TIFFs. By doing this, we've already reduced the size of PXD files quite significantly (compared to PSDs, for instance), and sidecar will let us take the optimizations even further.
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2023-03-03 06:41:33

I did not quite understand how this will work with Apple Photos and especially photo edits that are saved in my icloud. It would be great you can post a detailed breakdown of the settings and what each setting does.

When I look at my icloud pixelmator folder, previosuly it saves a pxd for every photo with my edits.

With sidecar files, it now also saves an additional sidecar file into the new sidecar folder (on the open files as pxd setting). So there are 2 files now saved? pxd and sidecar?

When I open a photo from Apple photos in pixelmator that was edited before already (so there existed a 45MB pxd file in the pixelmator folder on my icloud). After saving a small additional edit (just changed a color slider slightly), now i still have the 45 MB pxd file as before + it added another 45MB sidecar file into the sidecar folder. I thought its supposed to save file space?

When the setting is "open files in original format" it will save only a sidecar file into the sidecar folder. No other pxd anymore. OK. But the sidecar file has the same size as the original image. Shouldnt it be smaller if its just like a meta info file? So I am wondering what the difference is or advantage of using either way.

It would be great you can post a detailed tutorial on this. thanks.
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2023-03-03 08:31:23

@denisbkk:
Good questions: I also am still trying to figure out what is happening. My sidecar files still have the pxd extension ?
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2023-03-03 09:05:06

The sidecar integration with the Photos library still needs a little bit of work from our side to improve the user experience. Basically, when you open an image from the Photos browser, a new Pixelmator Pro document must be created. Then, if you choose File > Modify Original in Photos, the changes are saved to Photos, a sidecar file is saved containing the edits, but the new Pixelmator Pro document is still open (this is just how document-based apps work on macOS) and, when you close it, you are prompted to save or discard that document. I'm guessing most people are intuitively choosing to save it. However, that document actually has nothing to do with the sidecar file that was saved when you click File > Modify Original in Photos, so it can just be deleted (i.e. you can close the tab/window and choose Delete).

All this can certainly be improved but, from a technical standpoint, because you're not required to save sidecar files when editing assets in Photos, we do still have to create a new unsaved document when creating an image from the Photos browser. Then, if you save your changes with edits, we could say – this document can be discarded, but it's not entirely straightforward and it's just something we haven't addressed yet from a user experience perspective. So, just to reiterate – for now, once you choose Modify Original in Photos, you can delete the temporary imported document without affecting the sidecar file for that photos asset.
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2023-03-03 09:08:49

Oh, and as for saving space – an image with a sidecar file should take up exactly the same amount of space as a regular exported image and a separate PXD file, this feature is almost entirely about convenience. :pray:
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2023-03-03 12:51:54

by Andrius The sidecar integration with the Photos library still needs a little bit of work from our side to improve the user experience.
Will iOS/iPadOS Photo and macOS Pixelmator Pro in a future release use the same iCloud location for the sidecar?
... Pixelmator Pro saves the sidecar in iCloud to: Pixelmator Pro/Pixelmator Pro Sidecar Files
... Photo to: Photo/Linked Files (shown as Photomator/Linked Files in macOS)

Great update.
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2023-03-03 15:43:12

@Andrius,
Thanks a lot for the explanation off the sidecar-behaviour. Starting to understand what is happening now 😀.

One more question though. Is it possible to move the "Pixelmator Pro Sidecar Files" ? Would be great to avoid my internal disk to fill up the space. You may know that Mac's tent to come with lesser internal disk space nowadays, unless you spent a fortune 😉. Would be a great feature to be able to point another location, for example from within the settings.
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2023-03-03 21:06:22

by MacGB @Andrius, ...Is it possible to move the "Pixelmator Pro Sidecar Files" ? Would be great to avoid my internal disk to fill up the space....
That's a good suggestion for Pixelmator. (You should be able to get the results you're looking for with a symbolic link).
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2023-03-04 08:06:55

by Andrius The sidecar integration with the Photos library still needs a little bit of work from our side to improve the user experience. Basically, when you open an image from the Photos browser, a new Pixelmator Pro document must be created. Then, if you choose File > Modify Original in Photos, the changes are saved to Photos, a sidecar file is saved containing the edits, but the new Pixelmator Pro document is still open (this is just how document-based apps work on macOS) and, when you close it, you are prompted to save or discard that document. I'm guessing most people are intuitively choosing to save it. However, that document actually has nothing to do with the sidecar file that was saved when you click File > Modify Original in Photos, so it can just be deleted (i.e. you can close the tab/window and choose Delete).

All this can certainly be improved but, from a technical standpoint, because you're not required to save sidecar files when editing assets in Photos, we do still have to create a new unsaved document when creating an image from the Photos browser. Then, if you save your changes with edits, we could say – this document can be discarded, but it's not entirely straightforward and it's just something we haven't addressed yet from a user experience perspective. So, just to reiterate – for now, once you choose Modify Original in Photos, you can delete the temporary imported document without affecting the sidecar file for that photos asset.
Thanks for that info. What setting in settings dialogue would that refer to:
"Open images In:" Original format or Pixelmator Pro format? Or it doesn't matter?

And also, I think the behavior on my side when using Photos is a bit different.
When "Open images in" in settings is set to Pixelmator pro format:

I select a photo in Photos > click edit > open in pixelmator > edit and save changes > click Done.

Actually this just creates a sidecar file in the sidecar folder. No pxd is created or anywhere is it asking me to save a pxd. I mean that is a good thing, I was just wondering what you are referring to with "Modify Original" as I do not seem to be getting that anyways.
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2023-03-05 20:22:24

THANK YOU! Other than the odd 3.0 Themes-centric update, every update has brought thoughtful, impressive and, especially recently, excellent improvements. (The inclusion of video truly was something I would have never thought to ask for and I'm wrapping my head around further uses for.) Pixelmator has been the 3rd party app I've recommended most for anyone doing graphics "stuff" for many years.

That said, I do want to bring the Stroke function with text back up.
Since there have been multiple updates to Stroke here, I did go into the problem Pixelmator PRO has had with Stroke on text since the change from Pixelmator Classic. I went back to my 2019 post where this is really discussed in detail. Pixelmator Classic has/had a beautiful implementation.

From that thread, I've gathered that there are 2 main issues:
1) Pixelmator Pro uses Apple's outline feature which often results in ugly, spikes on text...especially on dirty fonts as opposed to Pixelmator Classic which used a Filter (see Andrius's explanation on that thread) created by the Pixelmator Team
2) Pixelmator Pro 3.3 (I don't recall seeing this issue until 3.3) removed the options for inside-center-outside Stroke.

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2023-03-14 11:00:07

by Tony T
Will iOS/iPadOS Photo and macOS Pixelmator Pro in a future release use the same iCloud location for the sidecar?
... Pixelmator Pro saves the sidecar in iCloud to: Pixelmator Pro/Pixelmator Pro Sidecar Files
... Photo to: Photo/Linked Files (shown as Photomator/Linked Files in macOS)

Great update.
Apologies for the delay here, been quite busy with work on a certain new Mac app and totally missed these comments. They won't use the same location but Pixelmator Pro is able to access Pixelmator Photo's Linked Files folder and open those files. However, because Pixelmator Photo doesn't support layers, the file format is a little different and if you choose Modify Original in Photos, only Pixelmator Pro will be able to open the new sidecar. This can be improved, but we're planning to address this a little further down the line.
by denisbkk
Thanks for that info. What setting in settings dialogue would that refer to:
"Open images In:" Original format or Pixelmator Pro format? Or it doesn't matter?

And also, I think the behavior on my side when using Photos is a bit different.
When "Open images in" in settings is set to Pixelmator pro format:

I select a photo in Photos > click edit > open in pixelmator > edit and save changes > click Done.

Actually, this just creates a sidecar file in the sidecar folder. No pxd is created or anywhere is it asking me to save a pxd. I mean that is a good thing, I was just wondering what you are referring to with "Modify Original" as I do not seem to be getting that anyways.
Ah, in the extension, you shouldn't be getting duplicate files because we just discard that "temp" document when you finish editing if you don't save your changes. Are you getting duplicate documents?

As for that setting, it doesn't affect the extension. :ok_hand:
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2023-03-14 11:06:12

by MacGB @Andrius,
Thanks a lot for the explanation off the sidecar-behaviour. Starting to understand what is happening now 😀.

One more question though. Is it possible to move the "Pixelmator Pro Sidecar Files" ? Would be great to avoid my internal disk to fill up the space. You may know that Mac's tent to come with lesser internal disk space nowadays, unless you spent a fortune 😉. Would be a great feature to be able to point another location, for example from within the settings.
This is something we've considered and it should be doable, although it was out of scope for this update. But we'll be keeping the idea in mind!
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2023-03-21 10:25:36

:smile: Bravo !
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2023-03-28 16:01:19

Cool but does not work with RAWs
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2023-03-30 12:00:03

Cool but does not work with RAWs
That's strange - it definitely should! SpicyPixel, would you be able to send a sample RAW file, as well as a before & after example, over to us at support@pixelmator.com for investigation?