Pixelmator 1.1: Graphic Tablet Support and More
Pixelmator is a fairly new image-editing application, recently reviewed here. The focus of the application is to provide easy but powerful image editing . Recently, Pixelmator’s team released the first 0.x update of the application: version 1.1, codename Kitten. This new version brings a lot of new features such as graphic tablet support, a QuickLook plugin and many new filters.
The new graphic tablet feature brings support for pressure sensitivity. This is a great news for digital painters or anyone else who uses a graphic tablet for editing or creating images. This new version also brings over 80 new filters including ASCII Art, Blue Print, Kaleidoscope, Line Overlay, Neon, Comic Book, and Pop Art. Third-party filter support was also added which is great news – meaning you can now create your own filters, with Quartz Composer and use them in Pixelmator.
Finally, my favorite addition to Pixelmator is the Quick Look plugin. It allows you to preview more than 100 image file formats without having to launch any applications. If you want a powerful but easy image editing program, but are daunted by the price or complexity of Photoshop or the Gimp respectively, I would highly recommend Pixelmator.
I have to say that Pixelmator is looking better and better every day. One more update like this, and I may have to go out and buy it. Great roundup of all the new features.
I agree 100% with Michael.
The problem with Pixelmator is that they keep adding sizzle and never fix the steak. It’s got amazing filters but its basic selection tools don’t work and it’s often slow and unresponsive.
That said, it’s free to download and try, as are superior programs with less hype such as Acorn and Photoline.
this is avg. its called gimp people. gimp is better than this, theres so many brush and effect add-ons. it supports tablets as well.
I tried the first release out and it was real good. Like…really really good. Especially for such a low price ($20-$30 than Elements, I believe) it is quite powerful. I also have to agree that the selection abilities are weak and often make certain tasks impossible, but the integration with Mac OS and the increased performance due to Core Image is noticeable. My biggest gripe is that there is no third-party brush support. Not even a proprietary format of brushes that is only moderately annoying. You have to make your brushes from your own images, which usually ends up requiring GIMP or Photoshop anyway.