Photoshop for videos? Pixelmator Pro 3.2 gets Video Editing / Compositing Layer

[11:28 Wed,7.December 2022 by Rudi Schmidts]

For some time now, there has been an image editing software exclusively for the Mac that primarily carries out its calculations on the GPU and works as fast as an arrow and partly nondestructively - which is why the programme is often referred to as "Motion" for still images.

We are talking about Pixelmator, and the programme now seems to want to compete directly with Apple&s Motion. With the version introduced yesterday, image editing now has its own video layers, which clearly moves the programme in the direction of video editing/compositing, but with an image-based operating concept.

Videos are treated as separate layers and can be modified with the same tools as image layers. You can mask or crop them, add effects or change colours.

There are new controls on the desktop to control video playback and to set start and end keyframes for videos, among other things. Video formats that should work include MP4, Quicktime but also animated GIFs and PNGs. Transparency is also to be supported directly with HEVC and ProRES 4444.

Basically, the functions seem to be aimed at short, effect-heavy projects for social media. This is also evident in the operation: In compositions with several video layers, you can delay playback in the advanced settings, play videos in a loop or define the behaviour of the first and last video frame. Loop" or "Bounce" effects control the running behaviour of the clips in the project.

On Apple silicon devices (M1 and M2), it should be possible to edit projects with up to 8K resolution.

The possibility to export projects or parts of them to Motion also sounds interesting. The following improvements are new here:

- Motion projects now retain custom fonts included in Pixelmator Pro documents.
- Basic vector clipping masks are now supported.
- Grain, vignette, black and white and gradient adjustments and effects are now replaced with corresponding filters in Motion.
- To emulate non-destructive gradients and colour fills from Pixelmator Pro, shapes are used instead in Motion.
- Improved positioning of layers with complex transformations.
Sounds like Mac users looking for Photoshop and Motion under one bonnet might find quite an exciting product here.

more infos at bei www.pixelmator.com

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