Table of Contents

Open and edit images with Portrait Masks

Portrait Masks make it easy to edit, manipulate or swap one image background for another, leaving the subject in the foreground untouched. To create an image with a Portrait Mask, you simply need to take an image in Portrait Mode on an iPhone that supports iOS 12 or later, and open it in Pixelmator Pro.

Open an image with a Portrait Mask

To open an image with a Portrait Mask in Pixelmator Pro, do one of the following:

  • Choose File > Open and double-click the image you’d like to edit.
  • Choose File > New From Photos and double-click the image you’d like to edit.
  • Drag the image from Finder to the Pixelmator Pro icon in the Dock.
  • In Finder, Control ⌃ – click the image and choose Open With > Pixelmator Pro.
  • In macOS Photos, Control ⌃ – click the image and choose Edit With > Pixelmator Pro.

Important: Dragging images from Photos to Pixelmator Pro directly doesn’t transfer the mask info, so the images opened this way will have no Portrait Mask. Portrait Mask also won't be retained if the image has been previously edited using any other apps.

Turn a Portrait Mask on or off

When you open a portrait, the Portrait Mask is turned off by default. To turn on the mask, do one of the following:

  • Select the visibility checkbox for the mask layer.

  • Select the mask layer and choose Format > Mask > Enable Mask or Disable Mask (from the Format menu at the top of your screen).

  • In the Layers sidebar, Control ⌃–click the mask layer and choose Enable Mask.

Permanently remove a Portrait Mask

Do one of the following:

  • Select a layer with the Portrait Mask and choose Format > Mask > Remove Mask (from the Format menu at the top of your screen).

  • In the Layers sidebar, Control ⌃–click the masked layer, and choose Remove Mask.

  • Select a layer with the Portrait Mask and press Backspace ⌫ on your keyboard.

Pixelmator Pro User Guide