How do I pixelate a photo in aperture?

No way that I know. You can blur using the Blur Brush. There is no pixilation function in Aperture.

You'll have to resort to an external editor or plug-in that offers pixilation.

It really depends very much on what you want to be able to do, and how much you are willing to spend. Your decision got complicated by Adobe's just announced change in how it is selling and pricing its products.

There are three excellent external editors that are regularly recommended by Aperture users here:

- GIMP. Free.

- Pixelmator. $30 via the App Store.

- Photoshop, either Elements or the whole sh-bang.

Pixelmator has a free trial -- see if you like it. GIMP is free -- see if you like it.

Any of these can be set-up as an external editor for Aperture ("Aperture➞Preferences➞Export➞External Photo Editor").

If you specify more of what you want to do, both with Aperture and with your digital photo files, others may jump in with more refined suggestions.

Dennyirl,

if you want to pixelate the whole image and not only pixelate selected parts of the image, you could create an Automator service based on a a quartz filter. services can be applied to selected Aperture images from the Services menu and if you set up the service to reimport the created image to aperture you will find the result in the "last import" folder.

See this page for downloading sample services and to set up services using quartz filters:

Using Quartz Filters with Aperture

Léonie

SWEET!

I love pixelations, especially dots. For me, it's sugary way as saying "You know this is just an arrangement of colors, don't you?".

Here's one of my favorite ways to while away the hours when I can't get on-line to answer posts to the Aperture Discussion forum: http://www.snapdotapp.com .

Back to our menagerie -- what do you recommend for brushing in pixelation (which I actually have a need for, but have simply ignored for a year)? I can't have the overhead of creating new files via a plug-in or an external editor.

Congratulations, Kirby!

Beautiful 10000 Points! So well deserved!

Here's one of my favorite ways to while away the hours when I can't get on-line to answer posts to the Aperture Discussion forum: http://www.snapdotapp.com .

A great app - got it immediately. Thanks for the link.

Now I have to get back to my iPad to try it out 😁

😁 Thanks. Been on the road all day, came home and got ... glittered! I may never shower. 😁

😀 😁

Back to our menagerie -- what do you recommend for brushing in pixelation (which I actually have a need for, but have simply ignored for a year)? I can't have the overhead of creating new files via a plug-in or an external editor.

When I have to blot out a face or want face recognition to be unable to recognize it, I sometimes use the retouch brush to modify it - sample some patch of color and dab the face over and over with colored spots, like the measles. 😝

That frequently will suffice and I can undo it, if need be. For example - probably in this case a larger brush size would have been necessary.

Emma -- I don't have Pixelmator installed. Are there no controls that let you change the size of the squares? The Help file indicates that there should be some parameters you control, but it does not mention which.