Jumping Ship From Photoshop to Pixelmator: Switch Guide

Posted on March 5, 2015 by resourcefulman

Pixelmator is now our favorite image editing app for Mac because it’s incredibly cheap ($ 29.99) and almost as powerful as the much more expensive Adobe Photoshop. But if you switch from Photoshop, you will notice that things work a little differently. Let’s take a look at how to do some of the most common Photoshop things in Pixelmator so you can start using them right away.

As you’d expect, Pixelmator is different from Photoshop, but for photo editing it does almost everything that Photoshop does, especially for the needs of the average user. It’s also much easier to use, especially if you’re new to image editing in general. However, Pixelmator is very similar, uses many of the same toolbar icons, and if you’ve used Photoshop before , you can master Pixelmator in less than an hour of effort. If you’re tired of the expensive Adobe subscription prices, now is a great time to switch. If you are not a Mac user, GIMP can be customized to work in much the same way as Photoshop, you can check out our guide here .

Learn your new keyboard shortcuts

Many of the keyboard shortcuts in Pixelmator are the same as in Photoshop, but you still need to learn Pixelmator to really get into the app. The above diagram from Dashkards should get you started. If you want your shortcuts to work like they do in Photoshop, you can change them .

Get used to the different elements of the toolbar

The toolbar in Pixelmator is very similar to the Photoshop toolbar, except for a few things:

Paint Selector : The Paint Selector is a purple marker in the toolbox. It works in a similar way to the lasso tools for highlighting areas of your image. Instead of carefully tracing the lasso, you can colorize your selection and Pixelmator will automatically select similar colors to make your selection of sections easier.
Gradient Tool : The Gradient Tool actually works the same as it does in Photoshop, but the icon is just a blue square that can be easily confused with the Photoshop Shape Menu (which is located at the bottom center of the Pixelmator toolbar) …
Warp Tool : The warp tool icon (similar to a lollipop) contains several different tools. These tools allow you to stretch, shrink, expand, shrink, rotate, or feather the image. Unlike Photoshop, these tools are all found in the Warp Tool drop-down menu.
Tool “red eyes”: a tool “Red Eye” does exactly what you would expect: it removes the “red-eye” from your photos. Just click on it, select the red eye in the photo, and Pixelmator does the rest.

Otherwise, the icons and tools in Pixelmator are very similar to Photoshop, and you can navigate the interface in a couple of minutes.

Panel differences

For the most part, the Pixelmator menu bar and various windows are very similar to Photoshop windows, but there are a few things worth noting.

The first thing you’ll notice in Photoshop is that your various windows and panels don’t line up. Everything is floating, making it difficult to control your windows, especially if you’re used to a very specific Photoshop interface. Likewise, there is no large work area. Instead, your image gets its own context menu box at the top, which changes depending on which tool you choose.

As far as the panels themselves go, Pixelmator has a variety of expected panels, including brushes, layers, and shapes. But it also has something that Photoshop doesn’t:

Effects Browser : The Effects Browser is essentially a version of Photoshop filters from Pixelmator. Here you will find effects for image editing, including blur, distortion, sharpening, color adjustments, tiles, stylization, halftones, and more. Simply select the effect you want to add to your image, drag and drop it onto your image, and you have a set of options to customize how the effect works.
Styles : The Styles menu works similarly to the Blending Options menu in Photoshop. You can customize the fill and stroke colors, add shadows or reflections. You can also create your own styles.
Photo Browser : The Photo Browser is exactly what you expect. Here you can easily search for pictures on your computer or iPhoto.

For the most part, all of these panels work the same way they do in Photoshop, so if you are familiar with the various effects and blending options, you will immediately understand how to use them in Pixelmator.

How to work with layers in Pixelmator

Layers in Pixelmator work a little differently, especially if you’re working with adjustment layers. You can do pretty much the same thing as in Photoshop, but the ways to get them are slightly different.

In Photoshop, you cannot change a layer until you select it in the Layers panel. In Pixelmator, you can select it directly from the image itself. It’s intuitive, but if you’ve been using Photoshop for years, it takes a little getting used to.

The newest version of Pixelmator has finally added layer styles. This allows you to perform non-destructive editing just like in Photoshop. You also get all the blending options you’re used to in Photoshop in the Layers panel. However, Layer Styles aren’t as powerful as Photoshop Adjustment Layers, where you can edit levels, curves, and just about anything else without altering the main image. This is one of the main complaints people have about Pixelmator, and at the moment it seems like one of the few places where Photoshop still has a lot of support.

Editing differences in Pixelmator

Pixelmator processes and edits images a little differently than Photoshop, and while we’ve already touched on some of these differences, let’s take a closer look at exactly how you’ll use them in your workflow.

Move / Transform Tools : Unlike Photoshop, Pixelmator’s Move and Transform tools are combined into one. When you drag a new layer over an existing image, you can move it with the move tool. You can also instantly rotate or resize it without pressing the Cmd + T keyboard shortcut.
Paint Selection Tool : We talked a little about the Paint Selection tool above, but it’s worth noting how it works when editing. You can select any part of your image with the paint picker and it will automatically select a part of your image with a similar color. Essentially, Pixelmator uses Photoshop’s Magnetic Lasso Tool. Once you’ve selected a portion of the image, you can easily apply effects to the selection by dragging and dropping them from the Effects Panel.
Recovery Tool : Pixelmator’s recovery tool is one of the coolest features. Just select the patch icon from the toolbar, then highlight whatever you want to remove from the image. You can get rid of small spots, wrinkles, or remove whole elements from the image.
Built-in Effects : We’ve talked about how the Effects Panel works above, but it’s worth taking a closer look at how to actually use them to edit images. Effects are what Pixelmator calls Photoshop filters. You can preview the effect by hovering over it to see how it works. From there, you can double click on it or drag and drop it onto your image. Once you’re there, you can adjust the size of the effect, move the effect, or make more drastic changes. Also worth noting is the set of Instagram-style effects in the Vintage Effect section. Here you can apply all sorts of filters to change the levels and give your photos an older look. Likewise, there is the Light Leak effect, which adds another way to give your photos a vintage look.

Pixelmator’s Editing Options is where it really differs from the Photoshop system. It can do many of the same things as Photoshop, but it’s a hell of a lot easier to use, especially if you’re just editing lightweight images. It does take some getting used to, though, so when you switch, don’t be surprised if you end up feeling a little frustrated when you learn to edit.

What Pixelmator doesn’t do yet

Finally, let’s just briefly list a few of the most popular Photoshop features that Pixelmator lacks:

History: Pixelmator prevents you from going back and viewing the entire project editing history.
Actions : There is no way to record or use custom actions in Pixelmator.
Magnetic Lasso: Pixelmator does not have a Magnetic Lasso selection tool, although the Paint Selection tool serves the same purpose.
Bitmap-to-vector conversion: Pixelmator doesn’t do more vector functions than Photoshop, and the lack of bitmap-to-vector conversion is likely to bother some people.
Create animated GIFs. If you use Photoshop to create animated GIFs, Pixelmator will disappoint you. It can’t handle animated GIFs at all.
Third-Party Plugin Support : Pixelmator doesn’t have an extensive library of third-party plugins like Photoshop, so if you tend to use a lot of these tools, you’re out of luck here.
3D Filtering : Pixelmator doesn’t have the 3D tools that Photoshop does.
Run on Windows: This is obviously the biggest one. Pixelmator is currently available for Mac only.

There are many other subtle differences between Pixelmator and Photoshop, and chances are you will find a few little things that Pixelmator cannot do or that it just does differently. For the most part, if you’re using Photoshop for basic image editing, Pixelmator can do everything you need to do and more. Plus, it’s much easier to use, and once you get the hang of it, image editing with Pixelmator is faster than Photoshop.

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