Art by Jerry Stinson Click for more screen caps from Corel Painter Essentials.
Corel has released Painter Essentials 4, a new version of its consumer painting and illustration software for Windows and Mac. The program offers a wide selection of paint brushes, pencils, paper textures, and built-in tutorials, and can be used to create photo-based art.
The new version has a redesigned tabbed interface that provides separate Drawing & Painting and Photo Painting workspaces. The program’s Photo Painting System has also been redesigned, and all of its brushes now act as cloners that take their color from the source image. Corel has implemented its Smart Stroke Technology to let users paint photos with strokes that dynamically changing brush size, stroke length, and pressure according to image detail and focus. Painter Essentials 4 also gets a hand-me-down from Corel’s professional painting software, Painter X, in the form of the RealBristle Painting System, which heightens brush responsiveness.
Other added features include a Brush Drawer for easier brush identification and selection, new pen tools, new paper textures, and a new Color Palette that lets users choose a color with one click. Support for Wacom tablets has also been expanded, and the program now provides integrated online print ordering.
Painter Essentials 4 is available for $99, as a $69 upgrade, and as a free trial from Corel’s Web site.
Leave a Reply