torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hello all! At my place of work, we need the capability to take application screenshots and annotate them with frames, arrows, and texts. We don't need anything fancy, it's not for publication but for bug tracking. We wanted to get something like SnagIt or FastStone Capture, but this was denied based on cost ($14 per seat...). I've already tested a number of freeware capture tools but they don't annotate well enough. 1) Can Paint.NET be used as a sensible replacement? I'm afraid that it's total overkill... (I can't test this because it doesn't run on Win2000, but we are going to upgrade to WinXP soonish - yes we're at the bleeding edge of technology...) 2) How would this work -- I do a normal PrtScrn of the entire screen and paste it into Paint.NET where I crop the relevant part and add frames,arrows,texts as vector items -- right? I'm concerned that the learning curve for normal staff is much too steep. All we need is a way to annotate screenshots, but Paint.NET can do so much more. What are your thoughts? Best regards from Austria - TorbenGB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hello all! At my place of work, we need the capability to take application screenshots and annotate them with frames, arrows, and texts. We don't need anything fancy, it's not for publication but for bug tracking. We wanted to get something like SnagIt or FastStone Capture, but this was denied based on cost ($14 per seat...). I've already tested a number of freeware capture tools but they don't annotate well enough. 1) Can Paint.NET be used as a sensible replacement? I'm afraid that it's total overkill... (I can't test this because it doesn't run on Win2000, but we are going to upgrade to WinXP soonish - yes we're at the bleeding edge of technology...) 2) How would this work -- I do a normal PrtScrn of the entire screen and paste it into Paint.NET where I crop the relevant part and add frames,arrows,texts as vector items -- right? I'm concerned that the learning curve for normal staff is much too steep. All we need is a way to annotate screenshots, but Paint.NET can do so much more. What are your thoughts? Best regards from Austria - TorbenGB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hi torbengb, Welcome to the forum. Paint.net can do all you annotating - no problem! To get your screenshots into Paint.NET try this little plugin: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25897 [edit] It's not a plugin - it's an external program by the look of it. :wink: [/edit] Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Hi torbengb, Welcome to the forum. Paint.net can do all you annotating - no problem! To get your screenshots into Paint.NET try this little plugin: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=25897 [edit] It's not a plugin - it's an external program by the look of it. :wink: [/edit] Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Thank you for the fast response. I'm quite sure that Paint.NET has no limitations and that it can do all we need. But I am concerned that it is too much; too many features and possibilities for our limited requirements. I have no experience with Paint.NET so I am asking you. I have some experience with GIMP and found that GIMP is way too complicated for this purpose. I'd like to hear comments from fellow forum members, whether or not you think that our normal office staff would be overwhelmed by Paint.NET just to annotate a screenshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Thank you for the fast response. I'm quite sure that Paint.NET has no limitations and that it can do all we need. But I am concerned that it is too much; too many features and possibilities for our limited requirements. I have no experience with Paint.NET so I am asking you. I have some experience with GIMP and found that GIMP is way too complicated for this purpose. I'd like to hear comments from fellow forum members, whether or not you think that our normal office staff would be overwhelmed by Paint.NET just to annotate a screenshot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.atwell Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Paint.NET will be much better than GIMP in that regard, that's for sure. The name of the game here is "usability." It has been designed to be easy to use. Paint.NET is more powerful than what you'll be using it for, but you won't be overwhelmed by extra features. EDIT: A worry I might consider: if the past is any indication, Windows XP support may be removed from Paint.NET when Windows 7 is released. Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. You'll have a much longer support cycle and a better program, as well as being able to use Paint.NET even longer! Quote The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.Amy: But how did it end up in there?The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.atwell Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 Paint.NET will be much better than GIMP in that regard, that's for sure. The name of the game here is "usability." It has been designed to be easy to use. Paint.NET is more powerful than what you'll be using it for, but you won't be overwhelmed by extra features. EDIT: A worry I might consider: if the past is any indication, Windows XP support may be removed from Paint.NET when Windows 7 is released. Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. You'll have a much longer support cycle and a better program, as well as being able to use Paint.NET even longer! Quote The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.Amy: But how did it end up in there?The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Paint.NET ... has been designed to be easy to use. Paint.NET is more powerful than what you'll be using it for, but you won't be overwhelmed by extra features. This is excellent news, thank you very much! Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. I agree with you. Seeing how we're still using Win2000 as the standard platform today, anything newer than XP is completely out of the question... unfortunately. But at home I'm a longtime XP user, so it'll be good to finally upgrade at work, too. Thank you for your excellent answers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 Paint.NET ... has been designed to be easy to use. Paint.NET is more powerful than what you'll be using it for, but you won't be overwhelmed by extra features. This is excellent news, thank you very much! Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. I agree with you. Seeing how we're still using Win2000 as the standard platform today, anything newer than XP is completely out of the question... unfortunately. But at home I'm a longtime XP user, so it'll be good to finally upgrade at work, too. Thank you for your excellent answers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew D Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 EDIT: A worry I might consider: if the past is any indication, Windows XP support may be removed from Paint.NET when Windows 7 is released. Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. You'll have a much longer support cycle and a better program, as well as being able to use Paint.NET even longer! But isn't Paint.NET support more dependant on .NET support over OS support? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Brown Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 It's not that simple, especially as I doubt Paint.NET uses purely managed code. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goonfella Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 What about this program?- http://www.bugshooting.com/web/ It`s the screen capture I use. You can annotate screenshots, capture the full screen,active window or select your own area. It also has delayed capture as well. And best of all - it`s free! Quote Please feel free to visit my Gallery on PDNFans And my Alternatives to PDN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Brown Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 I use Window Clippings, although it's not freeware and can be buggy at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torbengb Posted July 3, 2009 Author Share Posted July 3, 2009 What about ... http://www.bugshooting.com/web/ Yes, we reviewed it and it gets close. Thanks for the suggestion!But apparently it doesn't get triggered by the PrtScrn key, and there were some rather odd behaviour of the editing tools (the selection rectangle makes a copy of the bitmap which you can move around in a layer over the original bitmap but underneath the annotations... that was rather confusing). Anyway, the prtScrn key is essential. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brewster Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 EDIT: A worry I might consider: if the past is any indication, Windows XP support may be removed from Paint.NET when Windows 7 is released. Says who? Your office should really consider upgrading to 7, rather than XP. Although I can agree with that. Not that I'm biased or anything ...* * yes I am. I work for Microsoft! Quote The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/ Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brewster Posted July 7, 2009 Share Posted July 7, 2009 But isn't Paint.NET support more dependant on .NET support over OS support? Paint.NET is only dependent on what I make it depend on. Quote The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/ Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.atwell Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 EDIT: A worry I might consider: if the past is any indication, Windows XP support may be removed from Paint.NET when Windows 7 is released. Says who? Extrapolation. Not long after Vista made its debut, you ended W2K support. I'm sure you're planning on dropping WXP support eventually, no? Quote The Doctor: There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior... A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world.Amy: But how did it end up in there?The Doctor: You know fairy tales. A good wizard tricked it.River Song: I hate good wizards in fairy tales; they always turn out to be him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oma Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Oh I certainly hope not. In this finacially uncertain times I can't afford or wish to spluge on a new computor with Vista . Not now or in the near future. I'd truly be dismayed . :wink: Quote My Deviant Art Gallery Oma's Paint.Net gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brewster Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Actually the plan is to drop support for everything except Windows Server. Quote The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/ Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoltBait Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Actually the plan is to drop support for everything except Windows Server. Sweet! Actually, I'm probably the only person on this forum who would still be covered. Quote Download: BoltBait's Plugin Pack | CodeLab | and a Free Computer Dominos Game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Brown Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Actually the plan is to drop support for everything except Windows Server. And make Paint.NET a web application? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oma Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 Actually the plan is to drop support for everything except Windows Server. well I followed the conversation until this point. Googled and wikid windows server. not sure I understand. Quote My Deviant Art Gallery Oma's Paint.Net gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Brewster Posted July 8, 2009 Share Posted July 8, 2009 It's a joke It's the version of Windows that's used on servers. You'd never* use it on your own computer. * unless you're BoltBait apparently ... ! Quote The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/ Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oma Posted July 9, 2009 Share Posted July 9, 2009 I know I'm a good researcher because I have been doing that as a profession for years, so it being a joke explains why I couldn't make any sense of why you would do something like that. ...thanks for telling me you were just joshing with me, I'd have stayed awake at night wondering. Quote My Deviant Art Gallery Oma's Paint.Net gallery Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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