The Pixelmator Team (http://www.pixelmator.com/) has released Pixelmator 2.0, the latest version of its image editing app that provides tools to create, edit, and enhance still images. It's available at the Mac App Store in the Graphics & Design category for US$20 and requires Mac OS X 10.6 or higher.

Pixelmator 2.0 features new drawing and retouching tools, Content-Aware Fill, a Healing Tool, a Smudge Tool, and more. Designed from the ground up for Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion"), the new version supports Lion features such as Full Screen, Versions and Auto Save, and is available from the Mac App Store

The new drawing tools in Pixelmator allow users to add, create, combine and edit vector shapes easily, says Saulius Dailide of the Pixelmator Team.. In addition to Pen and Freeform Pen tools, Pixelmator also includes pre-drawn shape tools for quickly adding triangles, lines, circles or rectangles into compositions.

Fill and stroke settings for created shapes, as well as shadows, can be adjusted in the new Shape Settings palette. Drawing tools in Pixelmator can be used for creating buttons, icons, web page elements, illustrations or any other items for use in image compositions.

A new Content-Aware Fill technology in Pixelmator allows users to get rid of unwanted elements in images. By choosing either the new Healing Tool or the selection tools, a user can select wrinkles, blemishes, image damage or any other details present in images, and let Pixelmator seamlessly fill the selected area with similar nearby image content.

The new retouching tools in Pixelmator 2.0 include a Sponge Tool for adding more color or taking color away from areas of an image by painting on them; Burn and Dodge tools for naturally darkening or lightening areas of an image; a Red Eye Tool for (either automatically or manually) fixing the red-eye effect in images; and a new Smudge Tool for smearing paint or rubbing out blemishes or any other details in images, as realistically as using one's fingers.

Other new features of Pixelmator 2.0 include a revamped interface, a new Eyedropper Tool, a new info bar, a convenient tool options bar, a fully customizable Tools palette, a new Type Tool, a Pixel Tool, and a number of other minor improvements.

For existing Pixelmator users who purchased the app from the Mac App Store, the new version is available as a free upgrade.