Pixelmator Pro update adds new ‘Deband’ feature to remove color banding from photos

The popular image editor for macOS Pixelmator Pro was updated on Wednesday with a very useful new feature. Named “Deband,” this feature removes the effect known as “color banding” from photos using machine learning, which should make images look even more beautiful and natural.

Remove color banding from photos with Pixelmator Pro

As explained on the app’s website, color banding is a common type of image artifact that becomes extremely noticeable on low quality photos. These artifacts result in gradients or large areas of solid color on a photo, and removing them manually is not an easy task.

But Pixelmator Pro users can now take advantage of the Deband feature to remove color banding from photos with just one click.

The Pixelmator team says that the Deband algorithm has been trained to “intelligently analyze colors, gradients, and textures in images, determine where the affected areas are, and seamlessly smooth them out without touching finer details in other parts of the image.”

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!

In addition, Pixelmator Pro 3.2.3 also adds multiple holiday templates that can be easily customized and shared. There are 18 artist-designed templates that can be used to create social media posts, stories, posters, and printed greeting cards. The developers of Pixelmator say that this is a “small gift from the Pixelmator Team” to its users.

Earlier this month, Pixelmator also updated its Pixelmator Photo app for iOS with new tools for improving sharpness and shadow detail in images. As for Pixelmator Pro, the app is available on the Mac App Store for $19.99. Current customers can update the app with the new features for free.

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