Most of you know by now that Paint.NET is one of my favorite image and photo editing solutions. Of course it’s free which is part of the reason, but the big reason it ranks high on my list is because it’s basic yet offers some advanced, more powerful editing features. To boot, it’s easy to understand and to use which is important. Yesterday they launched Paint.NET version 3.20 (no beta) with several new features, and of course the typical bug fixes. You can get it one of two ways - if you already have a version of Paint.NET installed, you go go to the Help menu in the program and click “Check for Updates.” If you don’t have it installed, you’ll want to go to www.getpaint.net and download it there.
The last beta release that we mentioned was version 3.10 which came out back in August. At that point, they introduced new features like the “soften portrait effect” and the “ink sketch effect” which makes a photo look like it was sketched by someone. Between then and now, they must have been working pretty hard because there are yet more new features to add to the list. Here’s what you’ll find in this final version:
- Choose between a fixed ratio or a fixed size when you use the Rectangle Select tool
- Look for the selection combination mode which is accessible from the toolbar
- “Flood mode” for the Magic Wand and Paint Bucket tool are accessible from the toolbar (continuous or global)
- Effects menu has been reorganized and all effects are classified under sub-menus
- Enhanced “frosted glass” distortion effect
- Enhanced “twist distortion” effect
- and more…
The list of changes is actually quite long and if you’re interested in seeing exactly what all has been changed, just check out the Paint.NET blog. While this release adds all kinds of new features, I’m most excited for Paint.NET version 4.0 which is still a long ways away. They say it’ll be released maybe in early to mid 2009 but it is going to be completely rewritten which according to their site “should enable such features as layer masks, adjustment layers, effect layers, composite layers, effect and adjustment chaining, soft selections, scripting and recorded actions, a completely new brush system,” and more. I can’t wait!
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Tags: Software
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I have always wanted to know: is this a viable replacement for Photoshop? In fact, it actually appears it may be superior
The download is only 1.6Mb? That is insane. I know they use .Net, but still, that is some streamlined code.
It’s definitely not superior because it’s still lacking a ton of things that Photoshop offers, but for most people, it is a viable replacement. It’s easier to understand, easier to use, and it offers most of the features that the typical person would need. I prefer it to Photoshop, simply because does everything I need it to do.
That is the result of hard work from the developer, and I’m sure that is also part of the reason why it runs so darn fast. On my computer it is able to startup in a matter of seconds.