Pixelmator Pro on your Mac — 4.3

Version 4.3 of Pixelmator Pro introduces Generate from Image, a feature that lets you describe a change in plain language and have the app apply it. That matters for a realistic task like fixing a group photo where someone’s eyes are closed — you select the area, type “open eyes,” and the editor handles the rest. Here is how a session might go.

RAW file import — You open a RAW image straight from the camera; Pixelmator Pro processes it without needing a separate converter.

Non-destructive adjustments — Every brightness, color, or curve change stays reversible. You can undo a week later.

Repositioning tool — You want to shift a person a few inches left. The tool reshapes the background to fill the gap, no stamping needed.

Blemish and object removal — A dust spot or a stray branch: you brush over it and the app fills with surrounding texture.

Content Hub — You drag in a vector shape from the built-in library, or use Generate Image to make a new one from a text prompt.

Export — You save as PSD, TIFF, or JPEG with layers intact, or flatten to PNG for the web.

A weekend fair poster from scratch

Simone runs a small parent-teacher association at her kids’ school in Kiel. Every autumn she needs a flyer for the school fair, and this year she had no time to ask a parent who does design. She opened Pixelmator Pro, started a new A4 canvas, typed “cheerful autumn fair with bunting and a Ferris wheel” into Generate Image. A minute later she had three options. She picked one, dragged it into the background layer, then used Content Hub to pull in a vector star shape for the “prizes” section. She typed “free entry” over a dark patch, added a soft drop shadow, and exported the whole thing as a flattened PDF for the printer. From blank to finished file took about twenty minutes.

A portrait fix during a busy afternoon

Most of my photo editing happens in short bursts between lessons. A typical lunch break session with Pixelmator Pro goes something like this.

I open a JPEG from the class trip — a group shot under a tree. One student is squinting badly. I click the ML Enhance button to see if it evens out the lighting, and it does, so the shadows under the tree lift without washing out the sky. Then I select the student’s face with the lasso, right-click, and choose Generate from Image. I type “open eyes, natural expression.” The app fills in the missing detail. It takes maybe four seconds. I zoom in and nudge the opacity of that generated layer down a little so it blends with the original skin tone. Then I use the repositioning tool to move another student who was half-hidden behind a branch — the background fills automatically. I flatten, save as JPEG, and send it to the school newsletter before the bell rings. The whole session is under ten minutes and I never touched a healing brush once.

From scanned sketch to finished illustration

One workflow I use regularly starts with a paper drawing. I photograph a pencil sketch with my iPad, air-drop it to the Mac, and open it in Pixelmator Pro.

1. Clean up the scan — I use the levels adjustment to make the paper white and the pencil lines dark. A quick pass with the ML-based denoise removes any grain from the photo.
2. Convert to vector — I trace the cleaned lines using the vector drawing tools. Pixelmator Pro lets me build clean bezier curves over the scanned image. I hide the sketch layer once the vector lines are in place.
3. Add flat color — I create new layers underneath the vector lines and fill each area with the paint bucket tool. Non-destructive, so I can repaint the whole shirt later without redoing the lines.
4. Generate a background — I type “soft watercolor wash in pastel green” into Generate Image, scale the result to fit behind the character, and set the blend mode to Multiply. It looks like painted paper.
5. Export for print — I save as a layered PDF so the school’s copy shop can adjust color separations. If I only need a web version, I export as PNG with transparency.

That whole process replaces a detour through a scanner app, a separate vector editor, and a painting program. Everything stays inside the same window.

Ideal for teachers, small offices, and non-designers

This app suits three kinds of Mac users especially well.

Teachers and small-office workers — Anyone who makes newsletters, flyers, or social media images for a club or a small organization. You do not need to be a designer. The Generate features and Content Hub mean you can produce a decent poster with no graphics experience. The non-destructive layers let you experiment without fear.

Photographers who work with RAW files — If you shoot with a mirrorless or DSLR camera and want a single app that opens the raw file, adjusts exposure, retouches faces, and exports a layered PSD for further work, Pixelmator Pro handles all of that.

Illustrators who switch between digital and traditional — If you draw on paper and finish on screen, the vector tools and the generate features bridge the two worlds. You can keep a purely non-destructive pipeline from scan to final print.

Where Pixelmator Pro fits alongside Affinity Photo’s traditional tools

Comparing Pixelmator Pro with other apps helps decide where it fits into a workflow.

Affinity Photo — Affinity Photo is a power-user editor aimed at compositing and photo retouching with a traditional toolset. Its layer system is non-destructive and it supports RAW, but it does not include a text-to-image generator or a built-in content library. Pixelmator Pro adds those newer features and a single-window layout that feels more like a Mac app than a port of a Windows interface. If you need precise frequency-separation retouching or focus stacking, Affinity Photo offers those tools natively; Pixelmator Pro relies on its ML features for similar results. For everyday edits and quick creative work, Pixelmator Pro requires fewer steps.

Adobe Photoshop — Photoshop is the industry standard for professionals who work in teams, use complex layer comps, or need the full Adobe ecosystem. Pixelmator Pro opens and writes layered PSD files, so you can exchange work with Photoshop users. It does not support custom brushes in the Adobe format, nor does it offer Camera Raw in the same depth. For a solo user or a small team that does not need every plugin and script, Pixelmator Pro covers the same core tasks — layers, masks, adjustment layers, text, vector shapes — without the monthly cost and with a cleaner interface.

GIMP — GIMP is free and runs on Mac, but its interface follows a different design philosophy. It lacks native RAW support, non-destructive layers, and any ML-based tool. It is powerful for someone willing to learn its workflow and install plugins. Pixelmator Pro gives you a functional set of tools out of the box with no configuration. If you value speed of setup and ease of learning over total customizability, Pixelmator Pro is the simpler choice.

• macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later
• macOS 26 or later
• Requires a Mac with Apple silicon