Open Source software is all over and making a large imprint in our everyday computer lives. Programs Like OpenOffice.org, Blender and GIMP are giving pay-for-use programs a run for their money without taken yours. One of the programs i use and have used for a while is called Paint.Net. Paint.net has some of the most amazing features i have seen in a program for painting, but here i will just tell you the basic interface and where to get it.
You can get Paint.Net –often refered to as PDN– from the download link on their page here. Before you do here is a screenshot of the program:
As you can see the interface is quiet simple to navigate, but don’t let it fool you, this is a power house of ability when it comes to painting or editing photos or creating graphics –including animated GIF’s and PNG’s. Below you can see what the panels are on the screen, I actually used Paint.net to create these screen shots.
Each panel can be moved and/or resized, you can even close them to have more screen space and reopen them when you need them or use the toolbar at top. The screen shot shows the label of each panel top left to bottom right:
- Tool bar – has all of the different tools for editing and painting
- History Panel shows everyaction you have taken, and clicking on an action will undo it, you can click on an action and everything done after it will be undone, allowing you to go back to a specific point in your project.
- Color Panel allows you to change a color, not just from a typical list or scheme, you can create your own color scheme and save it, you can change HSV and RGB to your desired settings and change the opacity (transparency) of the color you want to use. A closer look at this panel:
- Layers Panel, You can work your project on layers. The layers Panel allows you to change the transparency of a layer as well as how the layer blends into the one below it. layers can be turned off and on, moved up or down , duplicated, or merged.
With all the features that come in the basic install, that isn’t enough, Paint.Net has multiple plugins ranging from adding a grid to creating 3-D works. This program is completely Free and Open Source. If your looking for a good Photo editor, Graphics tool, or paint program, this is the one for you, i promise you will not be disappointed.
For more information and to download Paint.Net see the links listed below.
- Paint.Net Website Download the Paint.Net Program
- Paint.Net Search Search Paint.Net’s website
- Donate Donate to Paint.Net
- Forums Talk with others about Paint.Net or submit ideas
- Tutorials Learn to use Paint.Net and it’s features
- Plugins Get Plugins for Paint.Net
Xpyr'd 
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