Pixelmator Pro
A viable alternative to Photoshop
The workflow is quick to pick up, and there’s a wealth of tools on offer
Pixelmator Pro is a Mac-only photo editing and graphics app, distinct from the existing Pixelmator app and with a new interface and advanced technologies.
Its single-window interface, with controls you can quickly access and hide at the edges, lets you focus on your images instead of juggling windows. The workflow is quick to pick up, you won’t waste much time delving into submenus, and there’s a wealth of tools, from advanced shapes, transformations and type to pens, selections, layers, and more. The brushes are particularly responsive and fun to use. The art tools do a good job of not seeming too daunting to less experienced users, while also providing plenty of depth for more heavyweight tasks.
From a photographic point of view, there’s support for raw, as well as all other major file formats (including PSD), and solid editing tools with control over every aspect of an image’s light and colour. It’s several steps up from a standard photo-editing app, while arguably not having the fine-grained tools of a dedicated (and more expensive) tool like Lightroom or Capture One. Layers and masks are handled more intuitively than in Photoshop, appearing in a stack on the left of the window.
The retouching tools are excellent, with easy-to-use clone and repair brushes. The repair tool is especially impressive – we were able to accurately remove even large, complex elements from a picture by simply brushing over them, and do so better than any similar tool we’ve used. This is assisted by the app’s clever new machine learning capabilities, which enable it to recognise and interpret certain features within images. They require you to have a Mac with support for Apple’s Metal 2 graphics technology, but also deliver automatic, intelligent layer naming, horizon detection, and accurate quick-selection tools. Slick tricks Import, integration with Photos, and export (including to social media) are all well handled. So is your editing history: the app appears to constantly save with each step and periodically saves versions as well, meaning there’s a Time Machine-style history option for reverting to earlier states. All edits are non-destructive, too.
Does Pixelmator Pro have the depth of Photoshop? Not quite, but neither does it have its complexity, or the legacy of years of complicated cross-platform code. Pixelmator Pro is a pure Mac app: slick, gorgeous and powerful, and with more than enough features for all but the most demanding graphic artist or photographer. We also can’t help but feel that a one-off cost of under £55 for an app that’s this much fun to use is a bit of a bargain.