In a previous post I explained how to manually convert .png brushes for use in Pixelmator. After many trials and errors, I was finally able to make an Automator workflow to convert batches of brushes automatically. As Pixelmator doesn’t have the actions I needed in Automator, I had to use the new “Watch Me Do” feature, so these scripts probably won’t work in Tiger.

I was unable to get Pixelmator to apply the specified actions to each images in a batch, so I got around this by having it repeat the actions multiple times. Unfortunately it will continue repeating these actions the specified number of times even if there are no more images, so I made multiple scripts to enable you to choose the one closest to the number of images to convert: this way you won’t waste too much time waiting for it to finish. Read under the cut for step by step intructions.

Before using these workflows, you must set a keyboard shortcut for the Pixelmator “Mask To Alpha” filter. Here’s how:

1. System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts
2. Click the “+” button
3. Application: Pixelmator
4. Menu Title: Mask To Alpha
5. Keyboard Shortcut: option-command-m
6. Click Add

Please note that “Mask To Alpha” must be written exactly as it is in Pixelmator (and this post), or the shortcut won’t work. This includes capital letters at the start of each word.

Click here to download the zip file containing workflows for converting 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 100 brushes. They are saved as applications; to use them, just select the images to convert and drag them onto the appropriate workflow icon. You can also open the applications in Automator and save them as plug-ins for the finder - then you can convert brushes via the right-click menu. Pixelmator doesn’t need to be open before launching the workflows: the scripts will open it automatically.

Warnings:
- These scripts will replace the original brushes with the converted ones, so make a copy first if you don’t want to lose them.
- You must wait until the workflows are finished running (check in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen) before doing anything on your Mac.
- These workflows were tested in Leopard only. I have no idea if they will work in Tiger or not.

Please add a comment if you download!

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