Pixelmator Pro and Photomator for iPhone, iPad and Mac have gained an updated Auto Straighten tool with 5x more accurate horizon detection.
Pixelmator Pro is a powerful image editor that I’ve been using as a Photoshop alternative for years now. Photomator, previously called Pixelmator Photo, borrows some of those advanced image tools and combines them with powreful photo management capabilities. In the latest update, both apps now provide enhanced horizon detection that the team claims is now 5x more accurate in both apps. Even better, it works even without discernible horizon on your image to work from.
“This powerful enhancement allows you to straighten photos with a single click, saving you time and effort, especially when editing large batches of images,” the team noted in an August 20 post published on the Pixelmator blog.
Pixelmator Pro and Photomator gain better Auto-Straighten
What they’ve done instead is swapped the old Auto Straighten algorithm that relied on Apple’s Vision for a new custom algorithm that’s capable of leveling complex photographs, especially those that don’t show a clear horizon line.
“This limitation highlighted the need for a more accurate solution, leading to the development of our custom machine learning-based horizon detection technology.” You can download two sample images embedded in the announcement post to test the effectiveness of the new algorithm yourself.
Instead of looking for specific features like lines, the new algorithm analyzes the entire image. They trained it on low-light images and photographs where the horizon is not easily identifiable as a straight line. The new algorithm works well with noisy, compressed and lower-quality photos. You can even straighten many images at once as batch auto-straightening is now 5 times more accurate than before, too.
To automatically straighten a photo, choose Image > Crop, then hit the crop mode button (Photomator) or the … (ellipsis) menu (Pixelmator Pro), then select Auto Straighten (or Straighten, then choose Auto in the tool options).
Your iPhone has a hidden leveling feature
The iPhone app provides a hidden camera level feature to help you alight your shots perfectly. It’s quite useful because it uses built-in sensors to determine device orientation in 3D space. However, if the horizon line is partially visible or obscured entirely by objects like mountains, hills, or trees, it doesn’t work so well anymore.
I can reconnect the broken yellow lines in the viewfinder, but my hand moves after hitting the shutter button enough to tilt the horizon line, which looks very unprofessional. Even a very slightly tilted horizon makes it feel like something’s not right, but you can’t quite put your finger around it.
How to get Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro and Photomator
Pixelmator Pro is a one-time $50 purchase from the App Store. The app requires macOS 12.0 or later. There’s no iOS or iPadOS version, but you can get standard Pixelmator for iPhone and iPad for $10 on the App Store. This app lets you import multilayered Pixelmator Pro and Adobe Photoshop documents.
Photomator for iPhone, iPad and Mac is a single download from the App Store with a $5/month subscription or a $100 lifetime license required for unrestricted usage. Thankfully, a free trial is available to try out all the features before buying the app. Photomator requires at least iOS 16, iPadOS 16 and macOS 13.