The more I play, the more I believe that I have been underestimating the power of the PixelMator. I am starting to suspect that hidden behind the humble pricetag is the image editing equivalent of "a predator masquerading as a house pet".
Many of my Photoshop worklow techniques are based on lessons learned from Photoshop gurus like Matt Kloskowski and Scott Kelby. I wondered while I waited for Photoshop to load if I could color correct an image in Pixelmator and achieve similar results. When I launched Pixelmator later that same day to look around for a "High Pass" filter or its equivalent, I didn't expect a menu called "Generator".
Curiousity got the best of me and off on a tangent I went. This is a brief introduction to some of these filters.
The Generator Menu offers: Checkerboard, Lenticular Halo, Star Shine, Stripes, Sunbeams, Constant Color and Random Generator. The Constant Color Filter generates a solid field of color based on your foreground color so I won't bother with it. Use the paint bucket. Now, why is it called generator? I don't know, because it generated interest?
Checkerboard:
When chosen, this command creates a checkerboard based on the foreground and background colors in your tool menu.
The Options Palette give you the option of adjusting the width and sharpness.
Lenticular Halo:
It cannot really be compared to Photoshop's Lens Flare Filter but it still offers an effect easy adjustable by all the available options in its palette. definitely a filter to become familiar with for future designs...
Star Shine & Sunbeams:
Easily add reflections and twinkles with these two filters.
Stripes:
The options are similar to checkerboard.
Random:
The Random Generator resulted in what I can only compare to a marriage between the Noise and Pointillize filters in Photoshop.
Next: A look At the Gradient Palette
*** The sample image is from costi at Sxc.hu and available for download free at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1136071
