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Pixelmator is an image editing application made only for the Mac OS. It was first released back in 2007 and has gone through many updates in the past 4 years. At the beginning of June, the team at Pixelmator announced their upgrade to version 2.0. This new upgrade is due this summer and adds many features that their customers had been asking for like vectors tools, dodge and Burn tools, and an improved text tool.

Pixelmator has a strong set of core tools for image editing. There is a natural tendency to compare it with the 800 pound gorilla of image editing, Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop has many more tools and filters than Pixelmator, but it is also ten times the price. Are there tasks where Pixelmator is better than Photoshop? In this 5 part series, I will examine many tasks Photoshop is currently used in and see if a software application that is one tenth the price can replace Photoshop.

Pixelmator has several things going for it. First, it is built from the ground up to be a Mac OS only application and uses many of the Mac OS’s built-in functions. This allows it to feel more Mac-like than Photoshop and also run faster. Pixelmator has a pretty clean and easy to use interface with a great set of core tools. Photoshop, on the other hand, has many more tools and filters, but it also feels cluttered and complicated. For version 2.0, Pixelmator adds a lot more new tools, while still managing to keep the interface clean.

Photoshop does have many big tools for specific tasks and for those areas, it is still the only choice. Some of the professions where Photoshop is the only choice include video, architecture, medicine, 3D, and science. In these, where users make a living with Photoshop, the $700 price tag is nothing. Pixelmator is not really targeted for those with a full-time career in image editing. It is targeted for those who want a great basic image editor, but don’t spend 6 hours a day editing images. These users have a different set of requirements. The learning curve is much lower for Pixelmator than Photoshop and gets users into editing pictures faster. That is not to say one can’t make a living with Pixelmator, it is just that for those who use Pixelmator, image editing is just one of many tasks that they do.

There are four main areas where Pixelmator can be used in place of Photoshop and they are: Graphics, Photography, Print, and Painting. In the following articles, I will look into each of these areas and examine Pixelmator’s strengths, weaknesses, and possible solutions for those weaknesses. I will also look at Pixelmator’s new version coming out this summer and how it will effect these areas.

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4 Comments

1. Mark Strait ~ June 14, 2011 14:37
   For most people, like 98%, they don't need a bloated and expensive software like PhotoShop. At $700, its just not worth the price for most, some yes, like 2%. Its like Word, totally not necessary, but people think they need it. I find all Adobe software way overprice, the interface suck, actually down right terrible, and the integration between the apps you need to be a rocket scientist. Adobe has lost their way. Hey Adobe where is Mobile Flash!
2. Craig Kozloski ~ June 14, 2011 16:30
   Having both CS5 and Pixelmator, I find there are times when Pixelmator is a credible tool for certain jobs. I do some work on photos for things like stock images and images for web pages. If I didn't have CS5, I would be able to accomplish about 90% of what I need in Pixelmator. My biggest frustration is when I get into a project with Pixelmator and then discover I need something in that 10% that only CS5 can do. Because of that I'm generally more likely to choose CS5 first. But, I started with Pixelmator and Lightroom. CS5 came along later when Adobe offered special pricing because of the Lightroom purchase.
3. Yacko ~ June 14, 2011 21:26
   Maybe in a later part of the series? Pixelmator runs Photoshop plugins, no? There are many and some do have their charm.
4. Patrick ~ June 15, 2011 00:15
   Perfect. I've bought Pixelmator for just the situation you described - occasional graphics creation and light photo editing. I look forward to the series.

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