When comparing Pixelmator vs Pixel.Tools, the Slant community recommends Pixelmator for most people. In the question“What are the best pixel art / sprite editors?” Pixelmator is ranked 11th while Pixel.Tools is ranked 21st. The most important reason people chose Pixelmator is:
Pixelmator's interface is pleasant to look at, easy to use and specifically optimized for OS X users, making it very intuitive for long-time Mac users.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Beautiful, easy to use UI
Pixelmator's interface is pleasant to look at, easy to use and specifically optimized for OS X users, making it very intuitive for long-time Mac users.
Pro Feature rich
Not only does Piexelmator provide easy to use tools that you should expect in any image editor, it also has rare tools such as layer styles, liquify tools and OS X optimized, fast image manipulation engine among others.
Pro Supports layer styles
Layer styles allow non-destructively applying effects to a layer.
Pro Powerful effects
Dozens of visual effects available, easily discovered from the visual Effects Browser, broken into categories. Effects have interactive dialogs and live preview.
Pro Multiple-display support
Pixelmator can be used across any number of monitors.
Pro Loads quickly
Gives you common image editing capabilities almost instantly.
Pro Great performance
Pixelmator's image engine is specifically optimized for use with Macs, providing one the best performance results available on OS X.
Pro Inexpensive
Pixelmator costs just $30 on the App Store. Additionally, it often comes bundled with other software that you might also find useful bringing the price down.
Pro Offers Colordex system
Included in Pixel.Tools is the Colordex system which allows the user to utilize multiple color ramps in a single brush stroke.
Pro Record and replay
Pro Free and open source
Pixel.Tools is licensed by MIT, making it free of charge and open source.
Pro Pixel with others simultaneously
Note: the multi-user feature is currently broken (at least in Chrome), but might work if using http
instead of https
. You can read more here.
Pro Wacom tablet support (via plugin)
Cons
Con Unintuitive interface
Zooming is reversed, the screen flickers a lot, and the flip/rotate selection is very buggy (selection will re-size though it should not). Essentially, the interface of Pixel.Tools is clunky and unintuitive.