Enhancing tools for artists/designers

[remy97]

Been using Photoshop for years which has a strong set of tools. Decided to give Paint.NET a try. Wow! Amazing app for a small 4 MB download. Multi-core and 64-bit support, clean and usable UI. Much better experience than Gimp.

As a web designer, I don't need print capabilities (CMYK), so Paint.NET does most of what I need. However, I find some of the paint tools lacking some important features. I don't know what is planned for the next release (4) and how much emphasis is placed in strengthening the power of the tools, but I would like to request a feature that I believe most artists/designers need and that is feathering support in tools such as the clone stamp and the paint brush.

Basically, the idea is to soften the edges of these tools, i.e. blend them to alpha. I don't mean anti-aliasing. Adding a feathering or 'hardness' setting to the clone tool would make it much more effective in many scenarios, such as photo retouching. Adding the same setting to a brush would make it a 'soft' brush, etc. Another useful tool would be to allow softening the edges of an arbitrary selection, making it easy to composite and look smooth/natural with a background.

Anyhow, great app. Keep up the good work.

Edited January 15, 2011 by remy97

[BoltBait]

remy97, have you tried some of the plugins? For example, my plugin pack http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/8318- includes 2 Feather plugins. They defiantly help when making composite images.

You can adjust the amount of the cloning brush by adjusting the "Transparency alpha" level of the primary color:

Try setting it down to 50 before doing skin retouches, for example.

Note for Rick: The text on the help page http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/CloneStamp.html should probably be edited to mention this functionality. It is not very discoverable on its own.

[pyrochild]

They defiantly help

Ooh... not sure if I wanna be using defiant plugins.

[Rick Brewster]

Brushes and shapes are a major focus for Paint.NET v4, as well as antialiased selections. Arbitrary feathering of selections will come later, and of course hopefully sooner rather than later.

[BoltBait]

Ooh... not sure if I wanna be using defiant plugins.

Damn spellcheck! Ha ha!

[vonzemo]

Im really interested in this program but also feel strengthening the tool box is imperative for it to be a serious choice for any graphic artist. Right now its capable enough to get some attention but its limitations quickly surface and really does more to aggrevate than to deliver. First and foremost should be a selection tool like Photoshops Pen tool. In my opinion if you cant make quick, accurate and and well defined selections with bezier curve capabilities, this is pretty much useless.

A few other items for improvement would be the ability to drag layers for repositioning within the palet and being able to add extra points to a line beyond the basic four.

If ive come off sounding a little harsh I apologise, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for Paint. I started manipulating photos and doing graphics pixel by pixel with the earliest versions, long before Photoshop, Paintshop, Corel Draw and the others came along. Even though it was excruciating at times (well , most of the time) I learned so much and had a lot of fun with the simplistic little program.

I wish you guys luck with this and will monitor the development closely.

Edited February 27, 2011 by vonzemo