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Corel Painter 9 Is this unique program still King? Read on. |
The resource for reviews of what to buy, watch out for and run out and get. |
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Corel Painter 9 |
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 Painter has never been an easy application to use. That has not stopped Corel from trying. The new user friendly interface opening menu is a nice starts.
Some things have changed. Corel has opted to keep much of the familiar. The biggest improvements are under the hood. Faster and more stable, they are working hard at making this the best all around program for fine art. The big news is that the layers menu operates like Photoshop CS system. For those of us that work with both, this is a huge blessing.
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Painter 9 Corel Corporation By Kurt von Behrmann Painter has always been, at least for me, an enigmatic application. There are no other software programs on the market that even come close to it in scope, form or detail. Having been a product of one company, and literally handed down the pipeline, Painter, now version 9, has found a secure home with Corel. What makes Painter a unique program is that it is not purely an image editor, although it has some of that functionality. By design, it is not a purely graphic design oriented program either. What Painter amounts to is a digitized version of an Artist’s Studio. Much like the real materials artists use, like conte, prisma colors, oils, acrylics, water colors and, Painter replicates those mediums on the PC and the Mac. Unlike Photoshop CS, which is a program for manipulating images for the most part, Painter allows you to create them from scratch. Offering a mind boggling number of options to chose from, the program is a detailed power house. The great irony of painter is that it has been so complicated that it is almost too much for the audience for whom it was intended, visual artists, to grasp. While designers and web masters can certainly appreciate and use Painter, the heart and soul of the program is that it becomes a virtual artist’s studio minus the mess. When it was first created by Fractal Design and then owned by Metacreations, the program was good, but prone to being a bit buggy. Given the power and complexity of the program, it was a real challenge to use and a true beast to tame. In contrast to Photoshop, Painter is the harder of the two programs to master and control. When Corel took over Painter, there was a huge fear that the program would either fall into another program, be totally revamped or abandoned. During the tenure that Painter has had, it has shifted direction, it was at one time Procreate Painter, but the basic program was not altered. The changes Corel made to Painter had more to do with functionality. To their credit, they addressed the technical aspects that harmed painter without taking away the real essence of the program. Over the years the changes and additions Corel has made to the program have been good ones. For long time users like myself who recall painter 3, the adjustments have been more evolutionary than cosmetic. Much like Adobe’s handling of Photoshop, Corel has slowly and carefully altered Painter. The big push has not been to make the program radically different, but to make it easier to use and more stable. For those that use applications like these daily, those incremental changes are much appreciated. With version 9 of Painter, the changes from 8 to 9 are not as nearly abrupt as the changes that came with version 8. What the even numbered version brought was considerably less clutter to a easily cluttered interface and some serious power and function tweaks. These are all things Painter desperately needed. This time out, Corel has added a few ease of use features. Opening with a nice notebook help screen, Painter 9 is offering a more friendly interface. It is a nice option for new users, and could be of interest to experienced ones. For me the real major adjustments were in the layers. The real power of Photoshop has always been its detailed layers. Operating in a vacuum, Painter has always had an idiosyncratic manner of handling operations that are standard in other programs. Conforming to the conventions of Photoshop by having layers that work in the same manner is not small deal. While some layers may not translate well, the fact that they work in more or less the same way is a good thing. My only real grip with Painter over the years has been in the rather Byzantine method in which the program works. Steps that should be simple become complex operations. Plus, scanning into Painter was never an easy process. Much, or as much as possible, Corel has been persistent in making Painter a more stable more operational program. Some of the “bugginess” with painter stems from what it is trying to do. When configuring painter nozzles, paper textures and other features, Painter is a very intensive program. With any application of this complexity, working out the “kinks” is not that simply or that easy. This time out, Painter ships with the KTP collection. This is a set of photoshop plug ins that offer some intriguing special effects to images. It is a nice touch seeing them here. They also fit the program’s overall theme well. What is most jarring is the interface of KTP filters. Like AV Bros Plug Ins, Corel’s KTP collection is stunning to see. The only problem is that they operate within their own conventions. For long time users of Painter, Nine brings about some “under the hood” improvements. While it is hard to say if the speed increases are huge, they are noticeable if you have worked with previous versions. This means, there are no long delays, and the scanning feature works much better, but this problem was also fixed in version 8. Continuing the legacy of the older versions, the boxed version of Painter 9 comes with a ringed binder. A bit smaller than the very lengthy ones produced by Fractal Design, the spirit of the program has been kept in tact. Also included are videos and access to online documentation. Imaginatively presented, Painter 9 comes in a beige colored box filled with expressive linear doodles and one nine fingered hand. The push with the program is on artists, which is truly in keeping with the spirit and tone of Painter. The real accessory for Painter 9 has always been a pen stylus. While you can try to use a mouse, this program really shines when you have at least a pen stylus like the Wacom Pen Tablet or Fingersystems I Pen Pro. The gestures, feel and tone of the program really require that type of control. The next major accessory is Photoshop, or and I am sure Corel will appreciate this, Corel Draw Suite with the very solid Photo Paint. Image editing and manipulation is very much a Photoshop specialty, or a specialty of a high end image editing program. Certainly there are many budget, and good budget programs on the market, Painter simply demands the type of image features that only Photoshop or Photo Paint can provide. Although Photoshop has painting tools built in, and you can find great plug—ins for even more control, Painter simply is the best and only true creative artists tool on the market. The options for brushes are exhaustive. The creative possibilities endless, and the program is just well designed for type of control and results visual people need and want. Having purchased Painter years ago, it is good to see the program has been well cared for by Corel. A program like this one must and should be available namely because it is the only one like it on the planet. For Corel, this is a big important program that gives serious credibility to their image editing department. Clearly designed for Artists, keep in mind that Painter, even with improvements, has a rather steep learning curve. While Corel has done an admirable job in taming a wild beast of an application, be aware that you need to bring your computing know how with you along with your studio training. Corel Painter 9 is the best of the entire Painter series to date. It retains the best of the old and brings some much needed system improvements. Just keep in mind you will need to bring a full fledged image editor and a pen stylus to really get the most bang out of this power house. Summation As a Professor of Art and studio trained Artist, when I first found Painter I felt right at home. Granted the learning curve was a “pain in the behind” and the system stability issues a nightmare, it offered the creativity that no other program could match. When partnered with Photoshop, Painter looks like the ultimate companion for the Adobe line up of programs. Corel has done a respectable job of keeping the application alive and well. They have even gone so far as to make it “Artists Friendly.” As much as this even possible, they have managed to pull that off to some degree. In response to the criticism of Painter 9 that it lacks that “killer application” that puts it in the maybe I will try it to the I really want it camp, there is no one particular feature that screams to the mountains. However, for me the improved layers is a compelling reason to consider this upgrade. When you factor in the system improvements, the new speed and greater stability, this upgrade becomes a serious consideration if serious art production is your bread and butter. Having entered the realm of professional designer recently, and forced to work under deadlines, I have really seen how important stability is. When you need to get something done fast, the last thing you need is a buggy program slowing you down. When windows went from being totally messy to being more reliable, provided you have a slew of utilities and don’t mind updates and defragging, it became a real multi use system able to operate the net and function as a place for serious design. While Macs are still the standard in design spaces, windows xp is not a bad alternative, and in some ways better due to its compatibility with everyone else on the planet. For professionals, Painter 9 becomes a necessity because of the improved stability. For those new to this type of program, and there are a few designers not familiar with Painter, this is an excellent starting point. The options, creativity and sheer solid results make this a compelling addition to any 2 D or 3 D artists stash. For existing users, upgrading Painter is like upgrading Photoshop: you want it simply because it is the latest and greatest. There is nothing wrong with that at all. Corel’s over all reworking of the inner workings of Painter are much appreciated. Painter still retains its crown as the King of the digital studios in both the Mac and Windows worlds.
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