|
Corel
Painter IX’s wide selection of customizable brushes, tight integration
with Wacom pressure-sensitive graphics tablets and easy-to-get-started
interface make it the best painting software we’ve used to date. While
Painter IX is primarily a painting program and not an image processor,
you don’t have to be a painter or have any training in the craft to
enjoy experimenting with your photographs.
New Features. The Welcome Screen lets you
quickly open previous files or start a new image, and includes links to
tips, tutorials and tool controls. It’s a good place to begin for users
who are new to the software. Previous Painter users will appreciate
this version’s faster performance. Painter IX has significantly reduced
the delay between moving a mouse or stylus and its result on the
screen. Corel notes that speed improvements are as much as 10 times
faster than previous versions.
Brush Controls.
Like painting in the real
world, the selection of brushes, canvases and paints are diverse. When
used with a Wacom pen tablet, the pressure-sensitive tools react to the
weight and angle of your stroke. Along with changing the width, grain
and even the angle at which the paint is laid on the page, the duration
that the brush remains wet with paint until dry is adjustable as well.
Depending on how you set your layers, paint from one layer can interact
with those in lower layers, just as would happen when working on a real
canvas.
Cloning. When it comes time to use a
photograph as the basis of a painting, Painter IX makes it all that
much easier with its Quick Clone feature. With a click of the mouse, a
clone of the selected image appears with a semi-translucent tracing
paper over it. Using any paint or brush, you can begin tracing or
painting on your image. Click Control+T to make the underlying
photograph disappear so you can review the results of your painting. In
previous versions of the software, this often involved numerous steps.
Cross-Compatibility.
Along with these
functional controls, the software offers greater compatibility with
Photo-shop. It not only supports layered PSD files, but also masks
layers and channels. For better print results, Painter IX provides
improved color-calibration controls for the monitor, printer and
display devices. Windows and Macintosh. List Price: $429 (full
version); $229 (upgrade).
Contact: Corel (Jasc), (800) 772-6735, www.corel.com.
 
|
