Pixelmator for iPad Updated – Watercolor Mode, New Brushes, More

The already fantastic Pixelmator for iPad app has received a major update to version 1.1, and now includes a unique watercolor painting technology, a collection of artist-designed watercolor brushes, a new Color Picker, twice as fast painting performance, and more.

The update, version 1.1 and codenamed Aquarelle, offers watercolor painting technology, along with 12 new artist-designed watercolor brushes, that allow artists to beautiful watercolor paintings right on their iPad.

“Beautifully-designed by watercolor artists brushes from the new watercolor brushes’ collection apply colors with watery strokes. When strokes overlap, their colors blend creating an entirely new color with a soft gradient in-between just like applying paint on paper with a wet brush.”

Pixelmator can also open and edit RAW images, has a brand new color picker, a new color grid, 2X faster painting performance, better photoshop support, ability to insert photo as a new layer from iCloud Drive, Lock Alpha, open RAW previews, a refreshed Eyedropper, Live Brush Preview, and better stylus support.

What’s New in Pixelmator 1.1:

  • Unique watercolor painting technology allows creating real-life-looking watercolor paintings
  • 12 new beautiful artist-designed watercolor brushes
  • The new Color Picker now features the history of your previously used colors
  • Use the new Color Grid in the new Color Picker to pick colors even more precisely
  • Optimized Painting Engine gives you up to 2 times faster painting performance
  • Now you can open 16-bit RGB, CMYK and Grayscale Photoshop image previews, as well as Photoshop images containing layer masks
  • Insert an image as a new layer right from your iCloud Drive
  • Use the Lock Alpha feature to paint on the non-transparent parts of a layer
  • Preview of your brush while adjusting its settings
  • Open and edit RAW image previews
  • Full support for Adonit Jot Script, Jot Touch 4, Jot Touch with Pixelpoint styluses
  • Enhanced stylus pressure sensitivity with all styluses

Attention to detail

  • Scale images without constraining proportions: Tools > Format > Arrange > Constrain Proportions
  • Invert image colors with the new Invert color adjustment preset
  • Open PDF files from your email or any other app
  • See precise color values while selecting colors with the Eyedropper
  • Adjust the settings of an effect more accurately with enhanced slider sensitivity
  • Zoom into your image while still tweaking the effect’s settings
  • Rotate text more accurately with the new text rotation slider: Tools > Format > Arrange
  • Toggle between full-screen mode more easily
  • Optimized memory use allows to undo much faster while painting
  • Cleaner Eyedropper Interface
  • Refreshed look of the Gradient Picker
  • Auto Save improvements
  • Updated Wacom Stylus SDK for even more precise painting

Fixes:

  • Memory leak fixes
  • Fixed Eyedropper crashes that happened while rotating the device
  • Fixed adding layer from Photo Stream
  • Fixed transforming maximum-sized layers
  • Paint freely without affecting locked or hidden layers
  • Smoothly transform maximum-sized layers
  • The image no longer dims when adjusting the effect’s strength

This update is available free of charge to current Pixelmator users, and is available for new purchases for $9.99 in the App Store. (iPad/iOS 8.1 Only) [DIRECT LINK]

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.