After a year full of updates, the team behind Pixelmator Pro is announcing one more function to end 2022. With version 3.2.3, the photo editor app is bringing Deband, which lets you remove posterization and compression artifacts from images with just a click.
Here’s a better explanation of this feature directly from the Pixelmator Pro team:
Color banding (or posterization) is a common type of image artifact especially noticeable in low-quality photos featuring gradients or large areas of solid color. Instead of smoothly blending together, colors jump abruptly from one shade to the next, forming distinct bands of color. While posterization isn’t particularly difficult to get rid of — you can blur it out or add noise to hide it — it is very much a labor-intensive task. Or, it was. With the magic of machine learning, we’ve been able to turn color debanding into an effortless, one-click process. And the results are simply incredible!
Pixelmator Pro developers trained the Deband algorithm to analyze colors, gradients, and textures in images to determine where the affected areas are and then smooth them out without touching finer details in other parts of the photo.
The blog post says that Deband also “tackles different compression artifacts (in heavily compressed JPEGs, for instance) so you can enjoy all-around better-looking images.”
In addition, update 3.2.3 brings 18 Holiday templates. The team behind the app created a collection of “new, holiday-themed templates you can easily customize and share with your friends and family.” These artist-designed templated are a great choice for social media posts, stories, posters, and greeting cards.
This update is free to all existing users and is available from Mac App Store. For those who didn’t buy Pixelmator Pro, there’s a promo sale giving 50% off.
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