Notice how the right side of the image has been removed using the new masking tools
The new Pixelmator Pro 3.6 for Mac update focuses on masking, an important way to select objects to edit or delete, which is now accelerated by AI.
Longstanding Mac image editor Pixelmator Pro wins important updates several times a year, but this latest one is specifically a renewal of a tool that is central to the app. While there are many ways to select part of an image to work on, the app's masking feature was the quickest to use but sometimes tricky to get just right.
If you choose the Quick Selection tool and drag it over an image, parts of it will still be selected, but a series of masking tools will also appear on the screen. This allows users to quickly fine-tune what is selected.
Dragging to select parts of an image may be the most common use of masking, but the new AI-powered feature also improves on the existing background removal tool. The previous version couldn't get it quite right, enough that it was sometimes necessary to manually click around an object point by point to select it.
Removing the background results in a mask over any elements a user doesn't want. With the updated tools, once Pixelmator Pro has made its best guess at what's foreground, users can now refine that selection.
In addition to selecting an element of a photo to work on, such as removing an object from the background, masks can also be used to create layering effects.
If necessary, a new mask toolbar will appear on the screen
In Pixelmator Pro 3.6, a new vector mask feature lets users drag a square, circle, or much more elaborate shapes over an image. Users can create their own mask shapes, and they are all customizable.
What all this has achieved in practice is that selecting objects makes the work faster and more precise.