Better hold on to your pants, Photoshop. Here's the new contender!
As GIMP cries in the corner.
GIMP 3.0 stomps door with sexy moustache
As it should, I've tried twice to use GIMP, always gone back to Photoshop.
For how relatively well known it is (it's probably like the next most well known piece of FOSS after Linux and Blender) I can't believe how bad a piece of software GIMP is.
I hope you mean the UX. I think attacking it's functionality would be unfair. It does everything good and right .... technically.
If the UX is objectively bad or "just" subjectively might be hard to find out. I would assume if there are objective UX mistakes, some contributor might have been able to deal with that by now. But of course it doesn't change anything if a majority doesn't like it for subjectice reasons. It's part of UX design to deal with subjective aspects.
Not having adjustment layers is a pretty big deal
Screw you Microsoft, I switched to Paint.net forever ago and I'll be long dead in the cold, cold grave before I recognize Missourah, I mean switch back to Paint.
Some other random company got the url "paint.net", so confusingly you need https://getpaint.net/ to download the product paint.net
For those unfamiliar, it's a free art program that's... idk 80% of what photoshop is? But you can install community-made plugins to add features (shoutout to Grim Color Reaper).
Also on their download page, you want this one:
~~If you do the microsoft link, you'll have to pay microsoft. For a free product. That microsoft doesn't own. Dafuq.~~
The paid version from the microsoft store helps to support the product; however I suspect the devs will get more bang-per-buck if you DL the free version and make a direct donation at https://getpaint.net/donate.html
The developer of paint.net sells it on the Microsoft store to support the product. Not any different than buying an app through the App Store or Google play store.
It’s created by a Microsoft Engineer, not super surprising they leverage Microsoft tools to get paid.
Actually a truly useful update in a sea of bloatware crap.
Win11 exclusive? Welp, guess I'll never use it, then.
I've used Vista "exclusive" programs on XP back in those days so I'm kinda curious how exclusive it really is if I could get the installer/files for it.
Shouldn't be too hard, I expect it to be a single executable stored in C:\Windows\System32 , much like the current mspaint.exe. Copy it over, run, have fun
Those are great features and two of the biggest reasons I never bother with Paint. But locking them to Windows 11 and not putting them out on Windows 10 is some Grade A bullshit.
It sure isn't enough to get me to bother installing 11.
I'm a hobbyist digital artist and have had to do a handful of graphic design projects for my mundane, non-art-in-anyway job.
As our computers are locked down Windows PCs, I've had to manage with MSPaint. It's always taken me double the time as on any other program or app, and I have been wishing it had layers for years.
Since this update is Windows 11 only, I'll have to for my company to upgrade, so I can look forward to layers in maybe 5 years.
Take a look at PhotoPea then. Needs nothing more than a browser. Runs fine in Edge and can be installed as PWA. That should work fine even on a locked down machine.
In case your browser isn't completely locked down: there's also image editors that run as web apps like photopea.
Excellent! Now I can draw things on the wrong layer in yet another program
Great. Now my customers are going to send me even worse art.
At least with layers support you can now extract the individual parts of the image.
What used to drive me nuts is when they send me over everything in one image and I couldn't separate the various components out.
meanwhile, wordpad.. probably used by more people over the age of seven than paint is, getting axed.
microsoft has office subs to sell, but they do not have a photoshop or gimp or even a paint.net alternative to sell.
I've literally never met anybody that used Wordpad, whereas I know a lot of tech normies that'll use MS Paint for quick memes and things
I've been using Notepad++ for a good while now and it's proven to be a great alternative to MS WordPad.
As someone who enjoys doodling in Paint, this is great
Huh.... I thought they discontinued this program.
Who told you that? MS Paint is basically a critical windows utility.
I really do like it for something that I want to just add quick/small edits to, or something that can be slapped together quickly. But I do hope this isn't the start of a trend to bloat mspaint and aim to compete against more robust image editors.
The pessimist in me fears they're going to, and start slapping on AI data harvesting measures that they're integrating into Windows, like for training their own AI art generators. But this addition, in a bubble, is a welcome change.
Very cool.
I like Paint for its simplicity, and since I don't need all the extra bells and whistles most of the time, I've never bothered with learning how to use Photoshop or GIMP.
I've been using Paint.net for the last few years, but I'll try the new Paint features as well and compare them to see which one I find better.
If it can pretty much do what I've been using paint.net for I'm sold.
I make all my memes with Paint(.)NET
But today Microsoft announced that it is finally adding two features that could make the app a bit more useful for power users: support for Photoshop-esque image layers and the ability to open and save transparent PNGs.
What kind of person is an MS Paint power user. I just use it to paste screenshots into if I'm not intending fine editing, otherwise it might as well not exist as a program.
The only person who seriously uses MS Paint for artwork is that one guy who recreated the Mona Lisa out of hundreds of pieces of variously burnt toast. Real, usable art tools would destroy the purpose and make that guy sad.
Really, if they kept this kind of momentum up for the next 20 years, it might put it on par with Fire Alpaca. It's an interesting move, they're just so incredibly late to the game that even other free programs are still leagues better than they are and no one will ever take them seriously again.
I use Paint almost daily.
Especially when I can’t be arsed opening Steam/Aseprite. Paint is a pixel art work horse.
What kind of person is an MS Paint power user.
Some older folks that aren't as tech savvy have made some impressive pieces with it if memory serves. There's also those that use it unironically for its constraints to produce pieces with a classic MS Paint style produced from those limitations. In a way this update kind of flies in the face of that a little, maybe, but eh.
I'll stick to good ol' https://jspaint.app/
Works on Linux too.
So many artists started with paint. I am really glad it is adding some features that are significant improvements that will help today's young artists even more.
I'm talking about kids, like an age before you're likely to become aware of other free tools... Wait. Fuck, do kids even use windows computers anymore or is the closest a chromebook?
What's the low-down on if extracting the EXE and putting it on Windows 10 works?
Didn't they say they were retiring ms paint in 2017 for some other program no one had heard of?
Sounds like a good little update, love seeing more default apps/programs getting new visual updates and helpful features
I use paint nearly every day to save something quickly. Glad to see it continue to be supported.
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