Work with video layers in Pixelmator Pro on Mac
In Pixelmator Pro, video layers are like image layers, with added in-canvas controls for video playback and options. You can easily incorporate videos into a design or layout, and edit video layers much like you would an image layer using masks, color adjustments, and more.
You can open videos in common formats including MP4 and QuickTime Movie.
Play, pause, or mute a video
When you open a video as a new document or insert a video as a layer, you can play, pause, or mute the video using in-canvas controls at the bottom of the screen. You can also loop the video playback.
In Pixelmator Pro on Mac, open a video file, or add one to a layer.
Select the video layer in the Layers sidebar, then in the toolbar at the bottom, do any of the following:
Click
to play the video.
Click
to pause the video.
Click
to mute the video. Click it again to unmute the video.
Position the pointer over
and choose Loop Playback to loop the playback of the video.
If you have more than one video layer, and you only want to play the video layers that are selected in the Layers sidebar, position your pointer over , then click
and choose Play Selected.
You can also press the Space bar to start or stop playing all videos in a document.
Trim, scrub, or set a poster frame of a video
In Pixelmator Pro on Mac, opena video file, or add one to a layer.
Select the video layer in the Layers sidebar.
In the toolbar at the bottom, click
, then do any of the following in the Edit Video dialog:
Drag in the video clip timeline to scrub (preview) the video.
Double-click anywhere in the timeline to set a poster frame (a static thumbnail when the video isn’t playing).
Drag the left trimming handle to trim the beginning of the video or the right handle to trim the end of a video. After trimming, you can drag these handles in the opposite direction to extend the clip.
Hold Command and drag a trimming handle to move the clip to a different part of the timeline without changing its duration.
Click Advanced Settings, then drag the Start Playback At slider to set a start frame for the video.
Change start and end behavior of a video clip
You can change the start and end behavior for a video clip.
In Pixelmator Pro on Mac, opena video file, or add one to a layer.
Select the video layer in the Layers sidebar.
In the toolbar at the bottom, click
Click the Start Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Hold Frame to set the video to display a static frame until it starts playing.
Click the Start Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Hide Video to hide the video until it starts playing.
Click the End Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Hold Frame to set the video to display a static frame when it’s finished playing.
Click the End Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Hide Video to hide the video when it’s finished playing.
Click the End Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Loop Video to infinitely loop the video playback.
Click the End Behavior pop-up menu, then choose Bounce Video to play the video backwards after it plays, and then forward again, and so on.
Tip: To play one video right after the other, set the delay time to the exact duration of the video you’d like to play first.
Show or hide video controls
You can change the visibility settings of the video controls.
In Pixelmator Pro on Mac, choose View > Video Playback, and choose one of the following:
Automatically Show Controls: Shows video controls when a video layer is selected.
Always Show Controls: Shows video controls even after you select a different layer.
Always Hide Controls: Hides video controls.