Every freelance working with graphic knows what Photoshop is and, most of all, how much it costs.
It’s not easy to start a graphic business when you have to buy a software like photoshop that costs you over 1000$ and you can only afford a small budget, that’s why an application like Pixelmator for Mac OSX, with a price of 59$, can help, as people at Pixelmator says “image editing for the rest of us”.
Obviously Pixelmator cannot be compared to Photoshop, that is worldwide recognized as the best graphic editing application on the market, but is a fast, powerful and easy to use image editor that can for sure be a good tool for most of freelance everyday work.
Pixelmator is a layer based graphic editor that can import images from files, photos, pictures, selections and even iSight, supporting over 100 different files formats including Photoshop PSD files with layers.
Layers can be arranged, blended, change their opacity, add clipping and layer masks.
Different tools offer many ways to create complex selections that you can use to edit and apply special effects to the image you are working on and the selection can also be saved for later use.
Editing is made easy using the tools provided that allow advanced retouching like bluring hard edges or sharpen fuzzy areas, clone parts of image etc. also base actions like zooming, panning and writing text are part of this small but powerful application.
You can also do image color correction adjusting hue, saturation, luminance, exposure, color levels, brightness and contrast using different tools like curves, color balance, channel mixer etc.
Pixelmator also includes over 130 filters and effects you can apply to your images to distort, blur, sharpen etc. and see real-time preview, I must say that some of those filters are really interesting and inspiring and you will for sure find yourself trying and playing with them.
The innovative “strings” interface is used to move the point on the image where the filter will be applied and in some 3d filters you will use a 4 “strings” pointing system quite easy and immediate often better than some traditionally used methods.
Pixelmator includes graphic drawing tablet support with pressure sensitivity and Core Image technology with GPU powered image processing.
You may at this point be saying : “Well it’s photoshop!”. That is not completelly true even if Pixelmator has everything you may need for most of the everyday work.
Pixelmator is lacking some features that can be considered core for someone like layer styles, paths, vectors, channel palette, slicing tools, etc. but also shows some innovative approach in terms of user interface and some good filter that’s why we think that what Pixelmator offers is worth much more than 59$.
Absolutelly a suggested Mac freelance tool.
GIVEAWAY
Pixelmator staff was so kind to donate 1 free license to TheLanceLife and we want you to win them.
To win just you have simply to :
- twitter the following text:
“TheLanceLife giveaway: Pixelmator http://ow.ly/69S6 @thelancelife @wpstudios RT pls”
AND
- comment here writing your twitter ID and explaining why you would prefer Pixelmator to Photoshop for your daily work.
The giveaway will end on Friday 15th 2009 and the winner will be chosen using a random number generator.
Good Luck !
Tags: apps, freelance, giveaway
The Author : WPstudios
WPstudios is a graphic and coding agency specialized in web design, print design, logo and branding, wordpress customization, PHP and Javascript coding, 3D graphic.
May 10th, 2009 on 01:56
It is indeed quite the tool. It’s sad that Photoshop has become synonymous with pixel/photo editing, and wonderful products like this and other competitors suffer a bit for it. But Pixelmator has earned itself a star in my book and is mentioned among a few other alternatives for photo editing in my Photography-courses.
May 10th, 2009 on 10:09
I love this tool – have been using the trial and find it does everything that I need at the moment – a really good software programme for those with an older MAC that does not have the memory for the new Photoshop CS! I would love a licence so I can continue using it for my student work – thanks
May 10th, 2009 on 20:59
I really like the trial version of pixelmator, and that would be great if I could get the full version… I’ve been using GIMP, and its UI isn’t quite up to par…
May 10th, 2009 on 21:40
check out this page on Monday, we have 1 free license to giveaway thanks to people at Pixelmator, absolutely the first real alternative to photoshop ever seen.
May 11th, 2009 on 04:01
I love Pixelmator and would love to win a full license for it! Is there something we have to do to try to win the license at that time?
May 11th, 2009 on 07:57
Only comments below this are valid to win 1 free license of Pixelmator.
May 11th, 2009 on 08:07
Twitter-ID: der_jens
I had a look at Pixelmator recently, and I really love the polished interface. It’s just much more Mac-like than any of the current Photoshop iterations. It does not take long to get used to the differences between Pixelmator and Photoshop, once that’s overtaken, you’re in for efficient working.
Bottom line is: it’s just a really really good alternative to PS, and if you look at the price tag, one should not think long at all to switch IMHO. =)
May 11th, 2009 on 08:13
Twitter-ID: sgabardi
I love the clean UI of Pixelmator even better than Photoshop, an I love Pixelmator itself! I have deep respect of the guys creating such a powerful tool!! THX
May 11th, 2009 on 10:09
Twitter ID: QueenAmygdala
Pixelmator is lightweight, has a gorgeous interface, and best of all — is pretty similar to Photoshop, so that someone familiar with PS would be able to pick up PM easily! I don’t need everything PS offers to do my quick picture color edits and crops. But what makes it most attractive is that as powerful as it is, it isn’t run by a giant corporation; there seems to be quite a bit of user-dev interaction and I really respect that and so I would love to be able to use Pixelmator instead of loading Crossover to use my old, old Windblows version of PS.
May 11th, 2009 on 15:07
Twitter ID: tayzar44
I like to use Pixelmator for my projects since I’ve read PM tutorials on some sites. Clean UI, easy to use, some effects. Tools are also easy to use even for newbie. Of course, It’s even low price that suitable for design lovers.
May 11th, 2009 on 15:54
Twitter ID: pintoffuc
It’s not better than PS but for simple work you want simple tools. Pixelmator is simply faster and prettier.
May 11th, 2009 on 18:54
I will work simply with pixelmator.
May 11th, 2009 on 19:08
Heard so much about Pixelmator, It makes design more accessible to the masses
Power to the people!
May 11th, 2009 on 19:17
Twitter ID: esquareda
I look forward to using Pixelmator rather than PhotoShop just to avoid the beach-ball of death alone… not to mention the simple approach and gorgeous UI of Pixelmator!
May 11th, 2009 on 21:32
Hi, my twitter ID is TheFUA
PixelMator is much better for me than Photoshop because I use MacMini and MacBook ant even if they have 4gb ram, are not so powerfull and my daily tasks are not so complicated! Pixelmator is closer to the profile of the average macuser
May 11th, 2009 on 21:38
My Twitter id is tutwow (http://twitter.com/tutwow).
I’d absolutely love to have a copy of Pixelmator. Photoshop, as I see it, can be like Microsoft in ways. It’s “got everything”, but that can make it a bit too clunky to use. Pixelmator, on the other hand, is like Mac – simple, sleek, and easy to use for the layman. I just recently switched from PC to Mac, and I hope to do the same thing by switching from Photoshop to Pixelmator.
Will I use ONLY Pixelmator? Probably not. There are some things that only Photoshop does best, but for most of my digital painting/drawing, I would use Pixelmator.
Hope I win!
May 12th, 2009 on 04:51
Twitter ID: eagleandhawk
I prefer using Pixelmator because it loads up very fast and has everything I need to enhance my family photos for sending out to relatives. Pixelmator also is more ‘Mac-like’ and streamlined, thus making my workload much lighter, both on my Mac and time spent working.
May 12th, 2009 on 07:50
Twitter ID: dotmariusz
I use both Pixelmator and Creative Studio because Pixelmator sometimes allows you to achieve effect you want with more ease, whereas Photoshop requires using billions of filters one after another.
May 13th, 2009 on 00:50
Twitter: 6omma (http://twitter.com/6omma/statuses/1778244911)
It’ll be great to work with this tool. Photoshop CS3 it’s an amazing program but takes a lot of the Mac and most on things one never uses. Especially when I’m working with Flash and AI most the time and little things I need to do with PS could as well be done with Pixelmator
For vectors I use AI Freehand or even Fireworks(Studio 8).
Thanks 4 everything.
May 13th, 2009 on 08:07
Pixelmator is so nice, i love the UI, i can’t buy a photoshop license.
May 13th, 2009 on 22:48
I really like the trial version of pixelmator, and that would be great if I could get the full version… I’ve been using GIMP, and its UI isn’t quite up to par…
My Twitter username is CodeJoust http://twitter.com/codejoust.
May 14th, 2009 on 12:00
I love how Pixelmator looks very Mac-like, with free floating windows and an excellent interface that Adobe Photoshop cannot provide.
http://twitter.com/byzonesupport
May 14th, 2009 on 14:46
I have never used it as yet, and I just bought a new iMac for work and I think it would be the perfect tool for the work computer.
Plus that GUI is just so damn sexy.
May 14th, 2009 on 14:52
Twitter ID: ackbarr
As a software developer I would love to spring for Photoshop, but I don’t use it enough to justify the large price tag. I have tried Pixelmator and found it to be a good balance between price and features. It is definitely a cut above the “Photo Editor” applications and open source alternatives.
And I agree with Ben: the UI is absolutely beautiful.
May 15th, 2009 on 16:31
Twitter ID: inf0rmer
The main reason I prefer Pixelmator over Photoshop is the obvious one, and it’s the steep price tag on the Photoshop package. Having said that, I love how fast Pixelmator is and how sexy the UI is. It definitely feels more integrated into the OS than Photoshop.
May 15th, 2009 on 18:56
Twitter ID: west25th
Would love to try Pixelmator because PS takes so darn long to load! Over the years it has become bloated with tons of features I will never use. I love software that is lean and to the point!
mc
July 7th, 2009 on 05:26
@ADesignInMind
I am a student about to graduate and I cannot afford to purchase Photoshop at this time.
January 12th, 2010 on 11:45
Pixelmator is in my opinion a great alternative for Photoshop.
Pro’s are price, performance, look and feel.
Con’s, lack of layer-possibility’s
January 12th, 2010 on 11:46
Twitteraccount: Quichot
Pixelmator is in my opinion a great alternative for Photoshop.
Pro’s are price, performance, look and feel.
Con’s, lack of layer-possibility’s