View Full Version : How Good Is Paint.Net?
samureye
10-13-2007, 02:09 AM
Based on the third episode of the show - anyone actually use it? Check it out (http://www.getpaint.net). It actually seems like I could use this!
tnvwboy
10-13-2007, 02:21 AM
I use it at work all the time. They won't give me Photoshop. It's decent. No PS or even Elements, but it's pretty decent considering it's FREE!
It handles layers which is nice but the painting tools are pretty basic. Not so good for photo 'painting' like putting someones head on another body. It's great for editing basic graphics though. I use it all the time for screenshots that need additional notations.
Personally I'd say it's great for business users who need basic editing, but not so good for home users who are more likely to want to edit photos.
Just my 2 cents though.
samureye
10-13-2007, 02:30 AM
Well I'm a blogger, I use Irfanview for screenshots, resizing. But I want to be able to do more things. Is it processor intensive, or a replacement for Irfanview? I'll check it out when I get a new PC, should be good to put text on screenshots.
tnvwboy
10-13-2007, 02:49 AM
I've never used Irfanview so I can't speak for the differences. I personally use PrintScreen 2000. It makes your PrintScreen button work a bit more flexibly. It's an older program but it still works, though I've not tried it on Vista yet. I like that it allows you to capture a portion of the screen, not just the whole thing or a window.
I usually copy the capture into Paint.NET afterwards.
As for the speed. It can be a bit slow to load, a bit faster than PS but not a lot. When it's running I don't think its too bad on processing power or memory. I've not looked at the footprint.
Bottom line, it's well worth looking into.
wizmaster
10-13-2007, 03:24 AM
I'm more of a GIMP person (Linux so...) but I used Paint.NET. It's like a basic version of Photoshop in that it's Paint with layers, alpha, etc. For basic needs, it's probably good but I'm no graphics dude. I remember it being easy to use so that's a plus.
maxiscool1994
10-13-2007, 09:01 AM
i love paint.net. I am a student and I can not afford PS, so I use Paint.NET. It has all of the same features that PS does, and seems a lot more usable to me.
scienceking
10-13-2007, 06:38 PM
It has all of the same features that PS does
I only wish such claims were so about Paint.NET or GIMP. But if you really digg down into the software, it just isn't true. And so serious users are still tied to Adobe against their will.
That said, CS3 seems to actually be a slight improvement over CS2, as opposed to the trend of them seeming to practically get worse with releases, so maybe Adobe actually cares to an extent now.
wizmaster
10-13-2007, 10:20 PM
I only wish such claims were so about Paint.NET or GIMP. But if you really digg down into the software, it just isn't true. And so serious users are still tied to Adobe against their will.
That said, CS3 seems to actually be a slight improvement over CS2, as opposed to the trend of them seeming to practically get worse with releases, so maybe Adobe actually cares to an extent now.
That's just it though, most people don't need those "deep" features so Paint.NET is perfect and GIMP has even more features. If you need the features in Photoshop (as in mandatory) then you are stuck with it.
Kinda like the difference between users and power users. Only Photoshop power users need Photoshop. Everyone else (I would say most) could use either one of the programs.
Of course many places demand PS (publishers, print shops, etc.) so even if Paint.NET or GIMP is good for you, you will still need PS.
I am a graphic designer, and have used Photoshop and Illustrator and others for years, I don't have these at home anymore for certain reasons, but need something to use just for screenshot editing and other things, and got Paint.NET.
It's so nothing like Photoshop, that I don't know how to use it. There aren't that many features, hard to figure things out, maybe only because I know Photoshop but yea.
If you are only croping photos and things like then, then yea its a good free software.
wizmaster
10-14-2007, 02:06 AM
I am a graphic designer, and have used Photoshop and Illustrator and others for years, I don't have these at home anymore for certain reasons, but need something to use just for screenshot editing and other things, and got Paint.NET.
It's so nothing like Photoshop, that I don't know how to use it. There aren't that many features, hard to figure things out, maybe only because I know Photoshop but yea.
If you are only croping photos and things like then, then yea its a good free software.
You'll have the same problems with GIMP. It's like Windows users using KDE or Gnome. It's only hard for them because they are used to Windows.
Yea that's what I assumed, but Paint.NET still does not have as many features, but that is normal to find in a free application.
ryudo
10-14-2007, 02:59 AM
I have has Paint.net and gimp for years and Paint.net was never meant to be as deep as Gimp or PS..it was made to replace basic paint with a few more features like layers and higher res Jpeg and other basic stuff,it's great with low end stuff as it was meant to be.
deltaphc
10-15-2007, 03:23 AM
Paint.Net is good for basic graphics as well as photos.
I used it to go from this:
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/144/blockdtajy4.png
To this:
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/5393/blockdta2dj3sx2.png
Although, that's only an example of the most basic things you can do with it.
blacklabelsk8erx
11-29-2007, 07:15 PM
Paint.NET sucks. I may be biased as I find anything that requires extra packages like .NET Framework to be crap. This applies to Ooo as well, but I've found you can actually run it without Java...at least I've seen no lack of functionality, but I don't use Macros or things of that sort. I'm pretty sure Paint.NET requires the .NET Framework before it even allows one to install.
GIMP is free, unhindered by additional software and more powerful than Paint.NET.
I guess if you're into using whatever Microsoft puts out, then its not bad, certainly better than MS-Paint :p
wizmaster
11-29-2007, 07:33 PM
Paint.NET sucks. I may be biased as I find anything that requires extra packages like .NET Framework to be crap. This applies to Ooo as well, but I've found you can actually run it without Java...at least I've seen no lack of functionality, but I don't use Macros or things of that sort. I'm pretty sure Paint.NET requires the .NET Framework before it even allows one to install.
GIMP is free, unhindered by additional software and more powerful than Paint.NET.
I guess if you're into using whatever Microsoft puts out, then its not bad, certainly better than MS-Paint :p
Yea, that's biased. Just because it uses a framework doesn't mean it's crap. GIMP won't run without GTK (you install it together with GIMP) and it's the same thing.
GIMP is more powerful then Paint.NET but if you needed that power you could just "get" Photoshop. Paint.NET isn't supposed to be as powerful as those two so that's not exactly a good con.
blacklabelsk8erx
11-29-2007, 07:52 PM
Yea, that's biased. Just because it uses a framework doesn't mean it's crap. GIMP won't run without GTK (you install it together with GIMP) and it's the same thing.
GIMP is more powerful then Paint.NET but if you needed that power you could just "get" Photoshop. Paint.NET isn't supposed to be as powerful as those two so that's not exactly a good con.
Yeah, I'll concede that GTK is an extra package along the lines of the .NET Framework, but I don't think its nearly as bloated. I have relatively limited HDD space on the system I'm using primarily so I have to cut every corner possible.
I still maintain my position that Paint.NET is nothing special. If anything, it contains upgrades the original Paint should of gotten years and years ago.
maxiscool1994
11-30-2007, 03:57 AM
even though you need to install the .NET framework, which we all hate, Paint.NET is really handy for small jobs you don't really want to open PS for. Also, it becomes really powerful, while still being easy to use, once you download some plug-ins...
minutegold
12-08-2007, 10:26 PM
Let me give you a quick, real world example:
My secretary insists on using Windoze, for MS Office compatibility reasons. And although I don't mind her doing private photo editing on company machines (You might guess, that she is not the busiest person in the world.), she is not allowed to install a pirated copy of Photoshop, and thus used Paint.Net, until recently.
Because recently I had to use her notebook to spice-up some convention photos and had to ask her for permission to install GIMP, after messing around with Paint.Net for a while.
Since that day she kept informing me how much she likes "the" GIMP. And after I gave her a book about it on Saint Nicholas' day (It's a gift giving day in Germany and she always places my favourite pair of shoes of hers in front of my office door. (A question for USAmerican readers: Who would be guilty of sexual harassment in the US? She, for doing it? Or me, for letting her know what I like?)) she told me that she got rid of her pirated Photoshop at home and is now using the gimp exclusively.