Pixelmator Pro for Mac

Table of Contents

Welcome
What’s new
- What is Pixelmator Pro?
- Pixelmator Pro interface
- - What is Apple Creator Studio?
  - Subscribe to Apple Creator Studio
- Create a new document
- Open a document
- Replace an image
- Create from templates and mockups
- Save, name, and close documents
- Edit from the Photos app
- Intro to layers
- Create layers
- Select layers
- Organize and manage layers
- Navigate the canvas
- Use rulers, guides, and other canvas overlays
- Rasterize vector layers
- Work with video layers
- Intro to selection tools
- Make intelligent selections
- Make geometric selections
- Select areas by drawing in the canvas
- Modify selections
- Intro to color adjustments
- Apply color adjustments in Pixelmator Pro
- Selectively adjust clarity and texture
- Color grade an image
- Add stylized finishing effects
- Sharpen an image
- Apply color adjustment presets
- Apply LUTs
- Intro to automatic image editing
- Automatically increase image resolution
- Remove or hide an image background
- Automatically enhance image color
- Automatically match image colors
- Remove color banding in an image
- Automatically reduce image noise
- Automatically crop and straighten images
- Decontaminate image colors
- Add and manage effects
- Adjust effects
- Use effects presets
- Apply styles to layers
- Adjust the opacity of a layer
- Change the blend mode of a layer
- Add an outline around a layer
- Fill a layer with a color or gradient
- Add an inner shadow to a layer
- Add a drop shadow to a layer
- Use layer style presets
- Transform a layer
- Warp a layer
- Intro to retouching and reshaping
- Repair, remove, and clone objects in images
- Lighten or darken areas of an image
- Sharpen and soften areas of images
- Smudge an image
- Adjust color saturation in areas of an image
- Reshape areas of an image
- Intro to painting
- Paint and erase using brushes
- Paint and erase with the Pixel Paint tool
- Fill a layer or selection with color
- Fill specific areas of an image with color
- Fill a layer with a color gradient
- Erase similarly colored areas of an image
- Manage brushes
- Customize brush settings
- Draw vector shapes and graphics
- Combine shapes
- Draw shapes with the Pen tool
- Draw shapes with the Freeform Pen tool
- Edit vector paths
- Manage shapes and collections
- Add basic text
- Add text on a path
- Modify fonts
- Format text characters
- Change the color of text
- Align and space text
- Use text style presets
- Convert text into an outline
- Convert text into a shape or pixel layer
- Intro to masks
- Add and edit bitmap masks
- Add and edit vector masks
- Make a clipping mask
- Convert a selection to a mask
- Crop and straighten images
- Rotate or flip an image
- Trim the edges of the canvas
- Reveal parts of an image beyond the canvas
- Resize an image
- Change the canvas size
- About color management
- Change the color profile of an image
- Change the color depth of an image
- Use histograms
- Export photos, videos, and documents
- Export a document for the web
- Slice documents into individual image exports
- Quickly export or share an optimized image
- Print a document
- Use presets from your Mac on your iPad
- Use the Pixelmator Pro toolbar
- Pixelmator Pro tools
- Use color controls
- Keyboard shortcuts and gestures
- Customize the Tools sidebar
- About the Pixelmator Pro file format
- Supported media formats
- Work with RAW files
- About Pixelmator Pro sidecar files
- Use the Pixelmator Pro Photos extension
- Restore an earlier document version
Copyright and trademarks

Intro to layers in Pixelmator Pro on Mac

The Layers sidebar showing folders, text layers, shape layers, and a color adjustment layer and mask layer.

Pixelmator Pro is a layer-based image editor that lets you combine and edit multiple elements of different kinds—images, shapes, masks, text, color adjustments, or effects—in a single document. Each element layer is organized in a vertical hierarchy in the Layers sidebar, and these layers are visually combined in the canvas to create your composition.

Think of layers as stacked transparent sheets. If you add a completely empty layer (an empty sheet) and draw on it, the parts you draw over are no longer transparent. But the rest of the sheet remains transparent, revealing the layers underneath it. The stacking order of layers in the Layers sidebar determines which layers appear in front of others in the canvas. You can organize layers into groups—containers in the Layers sidebar that enclose related layers.

When working with layers, make sure the Layers sidebar is visible (choose View > Show Layers). In the Layers sidebar, you can:

Select layers
Create a new layer
Organize and manage layers
Delete a layer
Hide or show a layer or layer group
Group or ungroup layers
Add a layer mask to hide part of a layer

Note: To modify a specific layer, you must select it in the Layers sidebar. If you try to modify a layer and nothing seems to happen, make sure the layer you intend to work on is selected in the Layers sidebar.

Helpful?