Thursday 23 Sep 2004 - 16:58
Corel has announced the release of Painter IX in October, and claims improved speed and productivity, enhanced creative tools and improved Photoshop compatibility in the latest version.
Trial versions are already available for download from the Corel Web site, and pre-orders are being taken. The full package will cost £249 plus VAT. Upgrades from previous versions are available for £99 plus VAT and an educational edition is available for £59 plus VAT.
Corel is making much of the performance improvements in the latest version. The company claims that some brushes now perform up to 10 times faster, and most brushes work twice as fast.
Brush settings
A new palette is provided for changing brush settings and variables by dragging sliders. Customizable short cut keys are now provided to improve workflow.
A new function in Painter IX is the frames-per-second control. Animations can be previewed in a range of 1 to 40 frames per second from within Painter, according to Corel.
Snap-to-grid
Corel also claims a new artists' oils painting system which offers oil paints that feel more ‘organic’ and mimic how real oils blend and mix. A new snap-to-path painting function also allows users to constrain brush strokes along vector paths or shapes.
Oil painting
Enhancements are claimed for the digital watercolor painting, which Corel claims now emulates the traditional watercolor painting experience more realistically. A new quick clone function provides a simple means of transforming a photo into a painting.
Photoshop support
Painter IX can now work with Adobe Photoshop (PSD) files, with layer masks, alpha channels and layer sets maintained, Corel claims. New layers are now added above the selected layer, layers with different merge modes are collapsible, and it is now possible to hide or display multiple layers by simply clicking and dragging.
Corel Painter IX features support the Wacom Intuos3 and supports ICC4.0 colour profiles. Corel also claims in improved Help function and user guide, as well as free tutorials from Lynda.com.
Dan Sullivan
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