Pixelmator drawing apps upgrade#

Some of the effects contain sub-effects: B&W has seven types of black & white filters, for instance, which look much better than AppleвЂ™s. These include the obvious B&W, Sharpen, Vignette, as well as more peculiar ones such as Light Leak, Bokeh, and Vintage. Pixelmator has an Effects feature that lets you apply filters to images with one tap. Pixelmator is a good iOS 8 citizen and, besides importing files, it supports extensions for exporting images as well as applying effects. IвЂ™m not sure IвЂ™ll ever get to design a poster for a party, but youвЂ™ll never know with these things, and maybe Pixelmator will come in handy for that. There are several templates for frames, cards, posters, collages, and more. Speaking of templates, the Create Image screen provides a good selection of downloadable templates that you can use to get started. Pixelmator doesnвЂ™t have a custom template feature yet (or, at least, I couldnвЂ™t find it), but you can use folders and the Duplicate feature to store template files in a dedicated location. Using drag & drop like youвЂ™d do on the iOS Home screen, create a folder from two images and then drop other files in it. If youвЂ™re working on multiple projects, you can organize images in folders in the main screen of the app. I appreciate the simplicity involved with creating a new text layer, giving it a shadow, tweaking the font, and adding a blurred shadow to it. This popover gains a new tab when a text layer is selected, where youвЂ™ll find fonts (over 70), size controls, colors, alignment, and other settings.

вЂ“ while Arrange shows the current layerвЂ™s size in pixels (which you can tap to adjust) and buttons to rotate, flip, and move to back/front.

Style features the usual suspects вЂ“ shadow (with support for blur), fill, stroke, etc. Select a layer, hit the paintbrush icon, then go to Format and youвЂ™ll see two sections for Style and Arrange. Arranging layers on screen is intuitive thanks to guides and handlers for resizing, and it takes seconds to line up a background with a photo and perhaps a couple of text layers. You can swipe from the left edge of the screen to show layers, which you can rearrange and group with tap & hold or tap to show options for duplication and styling. IвЂ™ve also been trying Pixelmator for images and banners I could use on MacStories, and I like how the team translated layers and styles to the iPadвЂ™s form factor (again, note that I never used Photoshop I like and use Acorn on my Mac). For that, take a look at PixelmatorвЂ™s new website and tech specs webpage.Д«elow, youвЂ™ll find a brief collection of notes and thoughts on Pixelmator for iPad after 24 hours of testing. And even if I had more time with the app, my limited perspective and use case wouldnвЂ™t allow me to offer a comprehensive look at the app. IвЂ™ve only spent 24 hours with Pixelmator for iPad, so donвЂ™t consider this a review.

IвЂ™ve always wanted a lightweight but powerful image editor on my iPad: I could never get used to the interface oddities of AdobeвЂ™s Photoshop, and drawing-oriented apps such as Procreate didnвЂ™t fit my needs.

Pixelmator drawing apps upgrade#

As someone who works primarily from his iPad mini and is about to upgrade to a full-sized iPad Air 2 with faster hardware, I was eager to try this new portable version of Pixelmator for basic image editing and photo retouching needs. IвЂ™m no photographer, and IвЂ™m definitely no artist, but I wanted to get my hands (quite literally) on Pixelmator for iPad since I watched the demo video. Announced and demoed last week on stage at AppleвЂ™s media event, Pixelmator for iPad is a powerful portable rendition of the popular (and award-winning) image editor for Mac.