paint.net 5.0.3 is now available!

[Rick Brewster]

This update adds the ability to draw shapes from the center, the ability to resize shapes and selections uniformly (from the center), as well as the usual handful of bug fixes.

 

In this update I've also rewritten the Direct2D initialization code to modernize it (switching away from ID2D1HwndRenderTarget, in other words). For now you should see no difference, in terms of rendering or performance, compared to previous versions. Future updates should see reduced memory usage and improved canvas interaction capabilities as I investigate and integrate the use of newer Windows technologies like DirectComposition and DirectManipulation.

 

For all the details on what's new in 5.0 (there's a lot!), check out its release post.

 

Changes since 5.0.2:

• New: You can now draw from the center when using the Shapes or Line/Curve tools by holding down Ctrl. You can also resize uniformly by holding Ctrl.
• New: You can now resize uniformly ("centered") by holding down Ctrl when using the Move Selection or Move Selected Pixels tools
• Fixed: Edit -> Copy and Copy Merged are no longer greyed out (disabled) when a selection is not active; they will copy the entire layer or image. You could always use the keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Shift+C) to invoke these commands, but the menu items were not clickable.
• Fixed: Right-clicking on the color wheel in the Colors window will now set the secondary color
• Fixed some issues with the Text tool recentering the view when it shouldn't when keys like Ctrl are pressed
• Fixed some JPEG images failing to load because of malformed IPTC metadata
• Fixed a rare crash in the Magic Wand and Paint Bucket tools
• Fixed an uncommon rendering glitch with the Text tool when antialiasing is disabled
• Fixed an issue with some older plugins that were using the legacy Gaussian Blur effect with radius=0
• Added an /ignoreCorruptPDNChunks command-line parameter to assist with certain data recovery scenarios for .PDN files
• Updated the Direct2D initialization code in order to modernize it and enable future work that will optimize performance, memory use, and interactivity (e.g. with DirectComposition and DirectManipulation)
• Updated the bundled DDSFileTypePlus plugin to version 1.11.4.0, which adds error diffusion dithering support for the BC1-3 formats (thanks @null54!)

Get the Update

There are two releases of Paint.NET:

• Microsoft Store release (recommended)
  • You can purchase it here. This helps fund development and is an alternative or supplement to sending in a donation.
  • If you already have it installed, the update should happen automatically once Microsoft certifies the update, usually within the next day or two. To get the update immediately (once it's certified), you can follow the instructions listed here.
     
• Classic Desktop release
  • Download the installer from the website. This is the recommended download if you don't have Paint.NET installed. It can also be used to update the app.
  • If you already have it installed, you should be offered the update automatically within the next week or so, but you can also get it immediately by going to ⚙ Settings -> Updates -> Check Now.
  • Offline Installers and Portable ZIPs are available over on GitHub.

 

[LWChris]

Love the "Draw from center" feature, it was just today that I would've needed it to draw circles around a point. If only I had figured it out two hours earlier 😅

[JohnTheBudderman]

I'm actually not huge on the uniform resizing, is there a way to disable it? Holding down ctrl is also how you zoom out, so not being to zoom out without the uniform thing also happening is pretty inconvenient.

[Rick Brewster]

43 minutes ago, JohnTheBudderman said:

I'm actually not huge on the uniform resizing, is there a way to disable it? Holding down ctrl is also how you zoom out, so not being to zoom out without the uniform thing also happening is pretty inconvenient.

 

Those two things are mutually exclusive, you have to be holding down the left mouse button to resize uniformly. Zooming is Ctrl + Mouse Wheel, the left mouse button isn't involved.

[S1M0Y]

When will the horizontal and vertical alignment be added in Paint.net? 

Edited April 1, 2023 by S1M0Y

[Georgia]

On 4/1/2023 at 8:08 AM, Rick Brewster said:

 

Those two things are mutually exclusive, you have to be holding down the left mouse button to resize uniformly. Zooming is Ctrl + Mouse Wheel, the left mouse button isn't involved.

It is a really big annoyance if for example you're drawing a line/shape where you have to be zoomed in to a point, but you need to make the object quite large so you have to be holding the left mouse button to continue drawing as you're zooming out. Please don't get me wrong, it's a really nice feature to have, but is a way for us to remap this key to, say, Alt a possibility?

[Rick Brewster]

16 minutes ago, Georgia said:

It is a really big annoyance if for example you're drawing a line/shape where you have to be zoomed in to a point, but you need to make the object quite large so you have to be holding the left mouse button to continue drawing as you're zooming out. Please don't get me wrong, it's a really nice feature to have, but is a way for us to remap this key to, say, Alt a possibility?

 

There is no way to rebind/remap keys.

[JohnTheBudderman]

On 4/1/2023 at 12:08 AM, Rick Brewster said:

 

Those two things are mutually exclusive, you have to be holding down the left mouse button to resize uniformly. Zooming is Ctrl + Mouse Wheel, the left mouse button isn't involved.

 

Yes, I know how to do them, what I'm saying is I often DO find myself in situation where I am doing both Zooming out and drawing a line/shape at the same time, and having to redo it because the other side resized when I didn't want it to isn't very fun and should be a setting you can toggle or be under a different key than Control.

[Rick Brewster]

But the shape snaps back to non-centered when you release Ctrl ... I don't understand why you'd have to redo the shape drawing?

[Georgia]

If you release the left mouse button before releasing Control it keeps the extra resizing.

 

Sure, I can get myself used to releasing Control first other than LMB. But it would be really awesome if there was a way we could bind and rebind keys for features, even not only just for this but so we can access effects a lot easier and quicker for example as these aren't assigned any keybinds out of the box. It will also work really well for the select tools, where currently you have to cycle through them all with the S key. We could just assign our most used ones to a single keystroke

Edited April 4, 2023 by Georgia

[anam8214]

hey is there a version where i dont have to be on windows 10 version 1089 or anything, i just want paint.net

[BoltBait]

4 hours ago, anam8214 said:

hey is there a version where i dont have to be on windows 10 version 1089 or anything, i just want paint.net

 

What OS are you using?

[Rick Brewster]

9 hours ago, anam8214 said:

hey is there a version where i dont have to be on windows 10 version 1089 or anything, i just want paint.net

 

No. You need to update your OS to Windows 10 v1809 or newer. There is no other answer to this question.

[JohnTheBudderman]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:30 PM, Rick Brewster said:

But the shape snaps back to non-centered when you release Ctrl ... I don't understand why you'd have to redo the shape drawing?

 

If you're accidentally still holding control at all, the line/shape will uniformly resize. There's no way to undo the uniformity, meaning you have to redo the entire line/shape

[Rick Brewster]

Right now I've got two ideas on how to ameliorate this.

 

1. Lock in the centering/uniformity at the beginning of the interaction. So you do Ctrl+Click, drag ... but you can let go of Ctrl after the mouse button goes down and the centering/uniformity will stay engaged. Pressing Ctrl before you release the mouse button, whether you had pressed Ctrl at the beginning or not, will have no effect.

 

2. Switch the key to Alt. I can't remember if there was a strong reason I chose not to use Alt, other than that I wanted to match Office which used Ctrl, so I'll have to double check into this.

[Random Finn]

On 4/12/2023 at 11:26 AM, Rick Brewster said:

Right now I've got two ideas on how to ameliorate this.

 

1. Lock in the centering/uniformity at the beginning of the interaction. So you do Ctrl+Click, drag ... but you can let go of Ctrl after the mouse button goes down and the centering/uniformity will stay engaged. Pressing Ctrl before you release the mouse button, whether you had pressed Ctrl at the beginning or not, will have no effect.

 

2. Switch the key to Alt. I can't remember if there was a strong reason I chose not to use Alt, other than that I wanted to match Office which used Ctrl, so I'll have to double check into this.

To be quite honest with you, I am quite the opposite from the other folks talking about the issue. I don't mind it at all and have never had issues with using Ctrl and actually prefer it that way like office just as you said.
I haven't had an issue with zooming in or out by holding Ctrl and having the centered sizing occur either, but maybe I'm just used to it. 

Simply put, I hold LMB + Ctrl for the centered sizing and zoom in/out with my scroll wheel and continue doing so until I've achieved a zoom level I am happy with and continue drawing the line, whilst still holding Ctrl to get the sizing. Whenever I don't want the resizing, I hold Ctrl to zoom in/out and once an optimum zoom has been reached I let go of Ctrl and go about the normal line tool. 

Not sure what seems to be the issue here; please don't change the functionality of its current state one bit! I personally think it's fantastic as it currently stands!

[00D0]

Could you add the center functionality to the box and circle selection?*

*NM im dumb, works great.

Edited April 18, 2023 by 00D0

[CrownSprings]

Unfortunately, it looks like CTRL+G no longer rotates images CCW, which is a major burden to workflow (even if it's functionally the same as three applications of CTRL+H).

 

What makes matters more irritating is how difficult it is tracking down old versions of PDN, since there's no "official" archive. With all due respect, I think it's pretty suboptimal to tinker with shortcuts people have been using for years (over a decade, in my case!) when finding older versions requires downloading from sketchy third-party sites or personal backups. 

 

Anyway, looks like I'll be on my old version of 4.x for a while yet. 😕 If it ain't broke...

Edited April 30, 2023 by CrownSprings

[Rick Brewster]

1 hour ago, CrownSprings said:

Unfortunately, it looks like CTRL+G no longer rotates images CCW, which is a major burden to workflow (even if it's functionally the same as three applications of CTRL+H).

 

What makes matters more irritating is how difficult it is tracking down old versions of PDN, since there's no "official" archive. With all due respect, I think it's pretty suboptimal to tinker with shortcuts people have been using for years (over a decade, in my case!) when finding older versions requires downloading from sketchy third-party sites or personal backups. 

 

Anyway, looks like I'll be on my old version of 4.x for a while yet. 😕 If it ain't broke...

 

Ctrl+G is coming back in the next update.

[Rick Brewster]

New version is now available: