Developers from Pixelmator Team have released an updated version of their popular app of the same name, called by many as the analogue of Photoshop for Mac.
The main innovation in Pixelmator 3.0 is layer styles. Various effects, strokes, fills, shadows or reflections will allow you to transform the layer as you wish with just a few clicks. Moreover, the function does not affect the image itself, leaving the original data intact, which greatly facilitates the work process. The style can be copied to the clipboard, duplicating if necessary. For convenience, a small FX icon appears next to the modified layer. The function can be accessed through the updated toolbar.
Preset style options are located at the bottom of the panel. A small assortment of presets, however, looks good, so you can and even should use them. In addition, it is possible to save your own styles for later use or import from external sources.
A new set of warp tools is also available. Officially in the app they are called "Liquify Tools" and are switched by clicking on the Smudge icon. The user can choose between the pre-installed Smudge and the new tools: Warp, Bump, Pinch and Twirl.
The effect of each is simple and obvious. Warp pushes pixels around, Bump gradually enlarges the center of the brush, Pinch stretches, and Twirl lets you rotate the image however you like.
As the developers themselves say in a press release, the set of tools will allow the user to experiment with images in every possible way, subtly adjusting them, or vice versa - distorting them beyond recognition. Obviously, the functions are purely entertaining and were not designed for serious editing, although they can be used to achieve results.
Some examples of experimenting with a set of effects can be seen below in the videos.
The developers have also worked hard on the internals of the application. The team combined OS X technologies, including Core Image and OpenCL, which have dramatically improved Pixelmator's performance. The updated editor is incredibly fast.
In addition, Pixelmator has been specially optimized for the GPUs of the new Mac Pro, as well as improved application performance on the final version of OS X Mavericks.
As before, the update is available free of charge for current Pixelmator users, while for new users the purchase of the editor will cost RUB 979.
Download Pixelmator (Mac App Store)
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