Paint.Net

Been using Paint.Net v3.36 for about a week now and find it to be a great image editor. Some of you may find it useful.

http://www.paint.net/

About

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins.

It's been mentioned on here for a long time now, it's what I've been using for a long time now it seems and they've removed many bugs over the versions. I think v3.36 is the most stable they've built to date.

Evanolds Icon/Cursor Plug-in is indispensable which I wish was built in by default:

http://www.evanolds.com/pdnicocur.html

It's been mentioned on here for a long time now, it's what I've been using for a long time now it seems and they've removed many bugs over the versions. I think v3.36 is the most stable they've built to date.

Evanolds Icon/Cursor Plug-in is indispensable which I wish was built in by default:

http://www.evanolds.com/pdnicocur.html

Thanks Andavari, just downloaded the plug-in. BTW, would you know if its possible to merge two pgn or ico images with Paint.Net?

if its possible to merge two pgn or ico images with Paint.Net?

Yes. You open both images or however many there are in Paint.NET. You select the image you want on top then copy it, then you go to the image that's to be on the bottom and select:

Edit -> Paste in to new layer

Note: The top image will have to have proper transparency, to overlay the bottom image.

There's a bit of a "bug" in Paint.NET when working on very small images, you won't be able to move them around and instead will only be able to adjust their size.

YAY!! I did it according to your instructions - it works perfectly.

I copied your answer to Notepad so someday when I forget how :wacko: I'll have a reference. Thanks!

EDIT:

I merged two icons and found that in order to make it a usable icon, I had to do the following:

after saving in JPG format in Paint.Net I had to convert it to the ico format using IcoFX. This worked.

I was wondering if I am missing something and could simplify the task?

I like GIMP, since it's as good as PhotoShop (I think), but Paint.Net seems to be easier to use.

I merged two icons and found that in order to make it a usable icon, I had to do the following:

after saving in JPG format in Paint.Net I had to convert it to the ico format using IcoFX. This worked.

I was wondering if I am missing something and could simplify the task?

FIle -> Save As -> Save As Type: Icons (*.ico)

There really are a lot of plugins for PDN. I have 90 DLLs in my Effects folder, and some have more than one effect :lol:

I love the "Upload to..." plugin by Simon Brown. Really useful. With it you can upload directly any image to ImageShack, Photobucket, Tinypic, or any FTP without having to save it first.

There really are a lot of plugins for PDN. I have 90 DLLs in my Effects folder, and some have more than one effect :lol:

I love the "Upload to..." plugin by Simon Brown. Really useful. With it you can upload directly any image to ImageShack, Photobucket, Tinypic, or any FTP without having to save it first.

Thanks for the tip Aethec.

FIle -> Save As -> Save As Type: Icons (*.ico)

Very odd, I did that initially yesterday and it didn't work when I tried to change the icon on a folder. But, now its working. :blink:

Very odd, I did that initially yesterday and it didn't work when I tried to change the icon on a folder. But, now its working. :blink:

The plugin may not have been picked up by Paint.NET initially, especially if you had Paint.NET running when you unzipped it.

Looks kind of heavy.

I like Gimp, I'll stay with it.

Looks kind of heavy.

Only because it requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 to function properly. It's the only program I have installed on my system that requires it, which I just found out thanks to your link. I thought it was still using .NET Framework 2.0.

I tried it but I'm more comfortable using my old Photoshop 5.5.

I tried it but I'm more comfortable using my old Photoshop 5.5.

I have a very old copy of PhotoShop that I used during one of the many Win98 installations all those years ago, I never reinstalled it though as the learning curve was steep.

Paint.NET still surprises me with some of its features, I've had it installed for at least two years now (I think it's been two years) and have yet to use everything it has let alone understand everything it offers. Since someone from Microsoft works on Paint.NET I've wondered why Microsoft themselves don't just buy it or something to completely replace the limited Microsoft Paint program.

MS Paint. :lol: Oh man, do they have that on Vista or Win7? Even on XP it's a total slap in the face. (And they want to drop DOS.) So why does Paint get the go-ahead? Unbelievable.

From what I've seen in Paint.NET it looks very similar to Gimp. Pretty good free programs. If I were 20 years younger I'd be exploring both with more vigor and vinegar and piss. But I'm comfortable with what I've got. ;)

Paint.NET still surprises me with some of its features, I've had it installed for at least two years now (I think it's been two years) and have yet to use everything it has let alone understand everything it offers. Since someone from Microsoft works on Paint.NET I've wondered why Microsoft themselves don't just buy it or something to completely replace the limited Microsoft Paint program.

A quote from the Paint.NET FAQ :

Will Paint.NET ever replace Paint in Windows?

No. But you can always download it for free from our website. Honestly, it's better that Paint.NET is not integrated in to Windows, because that let's us keep our own design and agenda for everything. Before Windows Vista was released, it was a common speculation that Paint.NET would replace Paint. This was completely apocryphal, however.