

- #Pixelmator pro review 2020 full
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This cleverly adapts the toolbars in the software so that, for example, if you’re only interested in tweaking photos, you only see the tools that are relevant to that job. Talking of Preferences, this is where you’ll find the option to choose one of four different workspaces for Photography, Design, Illustration or Painting. The software has been tweaked to match Big Sur (the latest version of macOS) and it will work with either older Intel-based machines or Apple’s new M1 Macs.īy default, the software has the dark black look that every app seems to shoot for at the moment, but you can pick a lighter design in Preferences. One of the biggest changes in this new version of Pixelmator is the revamped interface. Don’t fear that you’re buying an old version.
#Pixelmator pro review 2020 mac
Although the Pixelmator team refer to this new version of the software as “Pixelmator Pro 2”, it’s simply labelled as Pixelmator Pro in the Apple App Store (it’s Mac only, sorry Windows fans). One other thing to note before we get cracking. Pixelmator Pro 2 does have tools for illustrators and designers, and I will touch on these, but I simply don’t feel qualified to offer a definitive opinion on them. In this review, I’m going to look at it largely from the point of view of a photographer, because that’s where my skills lie.
#Pixelmator pro review 2020 full
That’s £38.99 full stop, not every month. Pixelmator Pro 2 doesn’t cover anywhere near the full breadth of Adobe’s Creative Suite, but if all you really use is Lightroom, Photoshop and Illustrator, then it could be a genuine replacement – and it costs only £38.99. If you want the full suite of apps, Adobe will relieve you of £50 per month. If you’re deeply entrenched in Adobe’s ecosystem you may struggle to make the jump, but for a casual user like myself, it offered everything I could possibly ask for in a photo editing application.Adobe Creative Suite is magnificent, but also magnificently expensive. In truth, it’s simply impossible not to recommend Pixelmator for the vast majority of users. It’s easy to do since the app has cloud support to keep files in the same place. Not only do you get Apple Pencil support, but you’ll also be able to use a much larger display with which to tweak your images.
#Pixelmator pro review 2020 free
It crams in almost every feature from the macOS release, and thanks to the power of the latest iPhones and Pixelmator Team’s impressive harnessing of it, photo editing is more powerful than the likes of Lightroom’s free tier – with a one-off fee of £4.99 instead of a monthly subscription.Ī smart two-pane system means that whichever device you’re using has enough room for the smallest of details, although we would advise on using an iPad as opposed to an iPhone. We’re pleased to report that Pixelmator on iOS (and iPadOS) is similarly well optimised. Not only is it powerful, but it’s convenient too – users can use extensions within the Photos app to retouch and add distortion to photos without even needing to open Pixelmator. Pixelmator offers a full suite of painting tools, as well as the ability to sculpt vector shapes and logos as well as Typography features that allow for stunning custom images. If you’re a budding designer, there’s plenty more than the powerful photo editing suite here. Whether it’s cutting out images as we mentioned earlier, instantly colour matching, or simply adding effects like “Light Leak” to make your latest snaps Instagram ready, there’s plenty of power here for an impressively low price (£29.99 on the Mac App Store). This not only makes it instantly familiar to users but means that if you’ve spent any time with Adobe’s application a lot of what you’ll do in Pixelmator can be done using muscle memory. In fact, we were able to connect an iPad Pro using macOS Catalina’s Sidecar function and use the Apple Pencil on the tablet to cut out images in a heartbeat.Īs with Photoshop, Pixelmator is layer-based. Working with Apple’s Metal graphics, with MacBook Pro touch bar functionality, and Catalina support, it’s a dream companion for any Apple user. That’s down to the developer’s continued optimisation work, with Pixelmator on Mac continually ahead of many similar apps in terms of adoption of macOS features. On a mid-2015 iMac (albeit with 24 GB of RAM) it ran impressively well, and on a late 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro everything feels instantaneous. Put simply, Pixelmator on macOS is a joy to use. We’ll be breaking this review down into the Mac and iPhone/iPad versions of the software. While it lacks that ecosystem’s range of features and ability to dovetail with seemingly every other artistic software, it offers enthusiasts and beginners (like me) an impressive amount of power at a much more appealing price. Mac and iOS users are spoiled for choice when it comes to photo editing tools, but there’s a reason Pixelmator is mentioned in the same breath as Adobe’s excellent creative suite.
