Pixelmator Filters
I may have just got Pixelmator, but I already created something that would have taken ages in Photoshop. I was able to do this with several Pixelmator features that either don’t work as well or don’t exist in Photoshop. In fact, Pixelmator can use any Core Image filter or generator, giving it incredible versitality. I’d like to share three nifty little filters.
My starting image:
One of the filters I used in the Subtle Synergy background is the ‘Zoom Blur’ filter, which uses Quartz Composer. Quarz Composer if a fully 3D OpenGL enviroment, so any filter that uses Quartz Composer is truly 3D.
Another filter I used in the background is the Stripes generator. Stripes generator uses Core Image to render some simple stripes. In the background, they’re used with blend mode Multiply to create the neon streams. Creating stripes is something that isn’t impossible in Photoshop, just more time-consuming than it should be. In Pixelmator, its just a few clicks.
Finally, the Page Curl ‘transition.’ All the Core Animation transitions that you may have seen in Pages or Final Cut Pro can be used as filters in Pixelmator. Some, like Page Curl, are very usefull, while others, like Copy Machine, are rather useless. Page Curl is a nifty filter to have around, and its got plenty of options. The ‘radius’ setting sets the sharpness of the curl.
A brief closing note on Pixelmator’s speed: Pixelmator is so fast with its filters that it renders them in full quality while you are adjusting settings, unlike Photoshop, which does a low-quality preview and then finalizes the filter (usually displaying a progress bar and the beach ball). In fact, while making the test image using a Dots generator, I came to the conclusion the the preview was full-quality. I didn’t apply any of the filters shown here.
Tags: features, pixelmator