Update, November 18th: You can now download the new Pixelmator Pro update from the App Store, with an updated design for Big Sur and performance optimizations targeting M1 Macs.
The Pixelmator team today announced the next major version of Pixelmator Pro, version 2.0. The update will be available in about a week’s time on Thursday, November 19th.
Pixelmator Pro 2.0 features an overhauled user interface with new layouts for the app’s toolbars and editor sidebars, including a dynamic Effects browser. There’s also drastically expanded customization options for the app’s interface, so you can tweak the chrome just the way you like. This update also brings support for macOS Big Sur and the new M1-powered MacBooks and Mac mini.
Pixelmator Pro 2.0 introduces the concept of workspace presets which can quickly re-arrange the UI for the task you are doing. The four built-in presets include panel layouts tailored for photography, design, illustration, and painting workflows. And of course, you can customize these or create wholly new presets to suit your tastes. You can freely change the position of the layers sidebar, the tools list, toolbar buttons, and more.
You can also speed up image editing by taking advantage of 200 new included presets. There’s also a new hand tool for easier canvas navigation when editing really large images.
Apple’s first ARM-based Macs start shipping from November 17th, featuring the Apple M1 chip. Pixelmator Pro 2.0 is a universal app, so that it runs natively on both existing Intel Macs and the new ARM models.
In addition to benefitting from the powerful CPU and GPU of the M1 chip, Pixelmator’s machine learning effects and adjustments will take advantage of the Neural Engine for even more performance. The team says Core ML features in Pixelmator Pro are up to fifteen times faster when running on the M1 chip. Pixelmator’s Metal-based canvas environment also means we should see big benefits from the M1’s unified memory architecture.
Pixelmator Pro 2.0 is fully compatible with macOS Big Sur, including updated toolbar, icons, and controls that match the new system theme. There’s a new app icon too to fit in with other rounded-rectangle Big Sur apps.
Pixelmator Pro 2.0 will be available as a free update for existing users starting November 19th, and sold at its usual $39.99 price for customers new to the app. As always, you can download Pixelmator Pro from the Mac App Store.
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