Pixelmator Pro 2.3 Released: New AI-powered Magic Background Eraser and Theme Picker: Digital Photography Review

Less than a month later Pixelmator Pro 2.2″ has been released, Pixelmator Pro 2.3 is now available. The new version is codenamed Abracadabra ‘because it’s totally magical’ and it adds many new features, including automatic background removal, automatic subject selection and more.

The new Magic Background Eraser allows you to remove the background from any image with one click. It works by using a complex neural network to identify objects in ‘almost any image’ and remove the background. The tool uses three different machine learning models that work together. You can see it in action in the short tutorial below.

Magic Background Eraser also includes a Quick Action built into the Pixelmator Pro Finder app. Furthermore, it includes a Color Decontamination feature. When removing a subject from its background, traces of the background color are sometimes left behind. Using AI, the Decontaminate Colors tool gives your images another step towards cleaning edges. You can manually apply it to any layer in the application.

It’s not surprising considering the ongoing work on processing scenes with Magic Background Eraser subject detection that Pixelmator Pro 2.3 includes a separate Subject Select function. With one click, you can select your subject and refine the selection with the new Selection Tool and Mask. This tool is designed for objects with complex edges, like hair and feathers, and can be refined using Smart Refine (automatic) and Refine Edge Brush (manual).

These big new features are powered by machine learning algorithms that the Pixelmator team spent a year developing. The company writes, ‘Because Pixelmator Pro does more than simply remove the background, we decided to create three algorithms – one to detect the subject of the image, one to fine-tune selection edges, and one to de-select the image’s subject. staining at the edges of the object. ‘

The first step taken by the AI ​​is to find the object and create an approximate mask around it. The next step is to refine the edges of the selection. Then a third AI model entered the scene to perform decontamination. You can see each step in the process in the images below.

Step 1: Find the subject of the image

Step 2: Refine the edges of the selection

Step 3: Decontaminate the colors at the edges of the object

Pixelmator Pro 2.3 is now available as a free update for existing Pixelmator Pro 2 owners. For a full list of updates, visit Pixelmator Pro update page.

For new owners, the Pixelmator Pro 2.3 is on sale for 50% off, bringing its price down to $19.99. You can purchase Pixelmator Pro through Mac App Store. By the way, this app runs natively on Apple Silicon, for those of you with hardware that supports Apple M1.