Pixelmator Pro was just updated to version 2.1.3, and it brings huge improvements to PSD support because the team behind the app has rewritten the whole engine that handles Adobe Photoshop files from the bottom up.
In a blog post by Pixelmator, the corporate explains all the changes made to the app. Starting with what’s the PSD engine, Pixelmator explains that this is often “what we call the part of the app that handles reading, opening, and writing PSD files – during a nutshell, everything to try to to with PSDs. And we’ve completely rewritten it to be faster, safer (crash-free!), and far more advanced.”
The company says it took them almost a year to finish this, and now the app should run smoother than ever while handling PSDs.
One of the major important improvements is support for shapes in PSDs. Previously, PSD shape layers would be opened as image layers in Pixelmator Pro. Now, they’re opened as vector shapes and can even be exported from the app bringing improved compatibility.
Pixelmator Pro 2.1.3 for macOS also added support for PSB files, layered TIFF files, better support for effects, and support for a few adjustment layers like Hue/Saturation, Exposure, Invert, and Channel Mixer. There’s also support for text layers for advanced features like SF Symbols sizing and improved handling of line height, spacing, and indents.
Finally, users can now optimize export PSDs for Apple pro apps like movie Pro and Motion. consistent with the team behind the app, “this was needed because Pixelmator Pro now supports some far more advanced features in PSDs that these apps don’t.”
With version 2.1, the app brought a replacement ML Crop feature which automatically suggests an advanced framing supported the topic within the canvas. There have also been many other changes, including major updates to the Paintbrush and sort text tools.
Version 2.1.3 of Pixelmator Pro is out there for free of charge on the Mac App Store for all of its users.
