SUGGESTION - Missing tools and 3 extra file types support I think would complete Paint.Net's app

[avidichard]

Yeah, I know, we all have our different needs in apps. But I use 3 different image editing apps. Mainly Paint.Net because everything just works flawlessly with the keyboard and mouse. Ctrl, Shift and Alt keys work properly doing what they are supposed to do. I use 2 other softwares just for 2 main things. And I am making it clear, I am not speaking about adding plugins because I know they probably exist, I'm talking about built-in the app's interface and not via a menu.

 

The 2 other free apps I use:

• Greenfish Icon Editor Pro (GFIE)

• RealWorld Paint (RWP)

 

I'll start with the file types I think Paint.Net should support without any additional plugins: ICO, CUR and GIF.

Paint.Net is a Raster Image editor, so small images like these should not even be a problem.

 

So why do I use GFIE? Icons, of course, but for something way more interesting than icons. GFIE has a Layer editor, like Paint.Net but has 2 extra options that I think Paint.Net should have.

• Layer image size (For icons)

• Frame duration (For GIFs and cursors)

I don't create icons a whole lot, BUT GIFs, I DO. GFIE has no easy keyboard/mouse controls, everything is just hard and tiresome when zooming/moving/resizing, but I have to live with it because it's the only best GIF editor I found. And when I say GIF editor, I mean, a paint tool combined with the frame duration/animation support, not just a GIF frame manager like most apps out there. And speaking of GIF, although not the same format, it's the same setup for cursors AND animated cursors with an additional "Hot Spot" for the pointer's clickiing space. So I think Paint.Net could be perfectly capable of including these file support and since plugins already exist which work for that and prove that Paint.Net is capable of handling these, it would be just nice to have that integrated into the Paint.Net interface.

• Double clicking a Layer would give you 2 extra options to change the layer's size and a frame duration

 

Saving would still be in PNET format. PNG and onther single image formats would simply save using one of 2 options. Save the top most visible layer as the image OR save as the largest sized layer and merge the other layers (even the small ones) centering them. ICO format would be saved as is. GIF would resize all layers to the largest layer centering them.

 

In RWP. One thing I overuse is Perspective transformation of a selected area. Actually, that's the only reaosn I use RWP. For the rest, I prefer how GFIE works for GIFs and how Paint.Net works for image editing altogether. I love that you can use the corners to change the image to look like perspective and I find it pretty usefull for 3D-ish styles or even icon making. I also love the bezier but I don't really use it and I am not asking for THAT function but the perspective option, that would make the app very complete.

A few other things that would be used within the editor and not in another window, like many plugins do, and could be added in an update because they are very usefull as basic vanilla tools:

• Smudge tool

• Colored Brush with underlying blur effect if semi-transparent

• Add image borders with border size (the current border detection clears the entire screen and is not user-friendly)

>>

THIS, I overuse, mainly for shadows and such or outline icons and other graphical elements in a game. The outline is just complicated for nothing in Paint.Net and it would be neet to have this as a tool in the effects menu. Simple outline tool with size and blur amount.

 

I miss these tools a lot and I actually don't like using GFIE and RWP but in many occasions I need it because Paint.Net needs plugins to do those tricks and the plugins have a tendency to add an extra window, which I hate or go through the effects menu instead of simply adding it as a tool inside the tools section. There's also other file type plugins but they also have a weird non-vanila feel which makes it uninsteresting for me to use but I cannot blame the authors as Paint.Net has rules to accept plugin here which include not touching the Paint.Net interface.

 

That's my suggestions for Paint.Net. I would really love to see this as a GIF editor and a perspective image manipulation withing the editor and not from an effects menu option with a seperate render window.

[BoltBait]

33 minutes ago, avidichard said:

I am not speaking about adding plugins...

 

If you're not using plugins, you're not utilizing the full power of Paint.NET.

[Djisves]

7 hours ago, avidichard said:

I miss these tools a lot and I actually don't like using GFIE and RWP but in many occasions I need it because Paint.Net needs plugins to do those tricks and the plugins have a tendency to add an extra window, which I hate or go through the effects menu instead of simply adding it as a tool inside the tools section.

I understand you don't like using plugins and prefer to have tools built-in the PDN application. Whether one agrees with you or not, this makes sense.

I also understand that you prefer to use two other apps to do things rather than use PDN plugins for the same task, because "the plugins have a tendency to add an extra window". Unless the other apps do not run in a new window, this makes no sense to me.

[avidichard]

3 hours ago, Djisves said:

I understand you don't like using plugins and prefer to have tools built-in the PDN application. Whether one agrees with you or not, this makes sense.

I also understand that you prefer to use two other apps to do things rather than use PDN plugins for the same task, because "the plugins have a tendency to add an extra window". Unless the other apps do not run in a new window, this makes no sense to me.

I understand what you mean by the other apps being other windows. Where the problem resides is that the other apps ALSO have an image editor which have similar tools to PDN. This means that for the temporary use I make out of them, I don't have to struggle through different windows in the process. All I have to do is open the app, open my image inside, do my changes and continue whatever other manipulations I have to do, save and I'm done. All that without encountering menus and other option window or an extra render window because most plugins load your image in another window for render and I hate that. What I basically did is when a job needs to be done with those tools, I tend to finish in that other app in which I need the tool for. So I will finalize my editing in GFIE or RWP because they basically have all the tools PDN has, with some major differences, but for what I need them for, they work just fine, I just need to live with many features PDN has that these don't have which is a major discomfort with zooming and pixel manipulations such as select all pixels of a same color and a few more things. But I'd prefer to have these extra tools in PDN and eliminate these other apps.

 

Another thing, the plugins in PDN are much slower than the other apps themselves. This also hinders my enthusiasm for plugins.