Features
A folder on the computer can be opened, images edited in layers and saved back to that folder. Format support ranges from PSD to RAW; all pixel processing takes place on the user's device.
Key features
- Layers
- Pixel, text, adjustment and group layers. Opacity, 16 blend modes plus pass-through, hiding, locking, reordering, duplication, merge down, flattening and clipping masks.
- Layer masks
- Reveal or hide the selection; painting, gradients or filters on the mask; invert, apply, enable/disable.
- Selections
- Rectangle, ellipse, freehand and polygonal lasso, magic wand; add, subtract, intersect; feather, expand, contract, inverse, crop to selection.
- Adjustments
- Brightness/contrast, levels, curves, exposure, vibrance, hue/saturation, colour balance, black and white, invert, posterize, threshold. Applied directly or as adjustment layers.
- Filters with live preview
- Gaussian blur, motion blur, unsharp mask, high pass, noise, pixelate.
- Retouching
- Clone stamp, healing brush, dodge/burn/sponge, blur/sharpen/smudge.
- Folder-based work
- A folder is selected, subfolders browsed and thumbnails displayed; the last eight folders are retained. Layered files (.pictava, .psd, .psb, .ora) are updated in place with Save.
- Free transform
- Scale, rotate, flip; numeric input.
- Tools
- Move, marquee, crop, eyedropper, brush (hardness, flow, pen pressure), eraser, bucket, gradient, shape, text, hand and zoom.
- Typefaces
- Six typefaces are bundled. Approximately 1,900 families from the Google Fonts catalogue are downloaded only upon selection; in Chrome and Edge, fonts installed on the computer are also listed. The last 12 are retained. The Google Fonts connection can be turned off in the settings.
- Export
- PNG, JPEG, WebP, AVIF, GIF (including animated), TIFF, ICO (multi-size) and PDF.
- Clipboard and drag and drop
- Copy places a PNG on the system clipboard; an image on the clipboard is pasted as a new layer. A file dropped onto an open document is added as a layer. History panel with up to 60 steps.
Operating system integration
Integrations provided by the desktop application. Desktop versions are listed on the Download page as they become available.
macOS
- Image, layered document and RAW types are listed in the Open With menu
- .pictava files are associated with Pictava
- The default application is not changed without the user's consent
Windows
- Pictava in the Open with menu
- Installation requires no administrator rights
- x64 and ARM64 in a single installer
Linux
- AppImage and .deb packages
- Open with for image types
- Optional desktop integration for the AppImage
Devices and browsers
- Designed for desktop and tablet browsers; a phone-specific layout is not yet available.
- In Chrome, Edge and Opera, folders can be opened and files saved directly to them. In Safari and Firefox, files can be opened, and saved and exported files are provided as downloads.
- In the desktop application, images open from Finder or File Explorer via "Open with".
Keyboard shortcuts
⌘ and ⌥ are used on macOS; Ctrl and Alt on Windows and Linux.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl/⌘ S | Save |
| Ctrl/⌘ ⇧ S | Save as |
| Ctrl/⌘ ⌥ N | New document |
| Ctrl/⌘ Z / ⇧ Z | Undo / Redo |
| Ctrl/⌘ T | Free transform |
| Ctrl/⌘ J · E | Duplicate layer · Merge down |
| Ctrl/⌘ A · D · ⇧ I | Select all · Deselect · Inverse |
| Ctrl/⌘ 0 · 1 | Fit · 100% |
| V · M · L · W | Move · Marquee · Lasso · Magic wand |
| B · E · S · J | Brush · Eraser · Clone · Heal |
| [ ] | Brush size |
| Space | Pan (hold) |
When drawing with a pen, pressure controls the brush size (enabled in the options); strokes are smoothed with intermediate points. On touch screens, buttons are enlarged to 44 px. Two-finger zoom on touch screens is not yet supported; pinch-to-zoom on a trackpad is supported.
Get Pictava
Try it in the browser without installation; for continued use, purchase the version for macOS, Windows or Linux.