Corel Painter digital painting software has expanded, refined and evolved from an ersatz "wet" or "dry" media simulation program to a legitimate replacement of traditional visual media, even going as far as designing tools and customizable workflows to suit the needs of various media and the stylings of their respective artists. That is why this digital art application is our TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award winner.
This digital art application is designed and intended for innovative and creative use, paying equal attention to the precision and effect of paint brushes, paint palettes, composition tools and wet and dry media suites as it does to tools and features that have no counterpart in either wet or dry media.
The tablet response and program architecture of this digital art application is designed to see artists, designers and illustrators through every step of the creative process. It is easy to see why this paint program has become an integral part of the design process for many artists, as well as the main creative vehicle and mode of production for a growing number of other artists of all backgrounds and training.
This paint program not only includes features you'd expect such as tablet support, brush customization, canvas rotation, color management and image layers, but also offers a number of unique features and capabilities as well. Perhaps the most impressive features of this digital art application are the mixing palette and auto-painting features. The mixing palette allows an artist to mix paint on a palette just as one would with physical paints, combing and synthesizing colors to affect the right tone or hue. In addition, the auto-painting feature of this digital art application transforms and renders a photograph into a painting. With this feature, users can use one brush stroke at a time using the paints and stroke techniques specified to transform photos to vivid, true-to-form portraits.
The most widely used Corel Painter tools and features consist of the program's brushes toolset. This digital art program has an arsenal of brushes that is unmatched. If you are looking for a specific medium of paint, this digital painting software has it in spades. Try acrylic paints, oils or watercolors. The same goes for media used in sketching, drafting and drawing. You will find pencil, pen, crayon and even chalk. Best of all, you can customize, create and save your own brushes. With the tablet support, you can paint actual strokes, with texture and intensity, and make use of their wet or dry media skills and methodology without the cleanup and preparation. Corel Painter manages this through its impressive tablet-support program architecture, which senses the pressure and tilt of the tablet pen, allowing the brush to respond naturally and giving the illustration, at all stages of development, an impeccably realistic feel and, more importantly, appearance. With dozens of painting and sketching media tools available in this digital art application, as well as different types of brush shapes, designed specifically for each medium, Corel Painter can be used to duplicate any existing medium. Although, it makes an even stronger argument for itself when it comes to combining, mixing and transforming existing media to innovative, novel effect.
One limitation that we did find with this digital art application is the rate at which some of the brushes execute tasks. This limitation seems to only affect larger and more detailed brushes, causing them to render onscreen more slowly than other brushes. This limitation does, however, seem to be limited only to the aforementioned brushes; virtually all other brush types perform just fine.
We were impressed with the brushes of this paint program. The quality is immaculate. Whether using wet or dry media, the brush outputs look and perform like their physical counterparts. However, these ones will not create a mess. This is especially evident when using the Realbrush brush set. Various media behave and execute with impeccable fidelity to their dry or wet media counterparts. For example, when using a Realbrush pencil, not only is the brush sensitive to pressure, drawing a heavier line when pressed harder, but it is sensitive to tilt as well. We noticed that when the tablet stylus is tilted, Corel Painter produces a wider pencil stroke, affecting shading, tonal variation or another similar effect.
This digital art program has set a very high standard for file format compatibility and support early on with its products. Corel Painter paint program has a proprietary file format for its image (RIFF) and video (Framestack) files, but also can open most other standard image files, including JPG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP, TGA and PCX. It can even import and open Photoshop PSD files and QuickTime Movies. Images can also be saved and exported in these file formats. You can also export video file formats to QuickTime, either as a series of numbered images or as an animated GIF. Corel Painter digital art application can import and export in virtually every file format in current use.
Corel Painter digital art application is designed with innovation in mind. For that reason, it has become the go-to paint program for countless digital and mixed media artists. However, just like a blank canvas and a palette of paints and brushes, the features, tools and user interface, while simple and easy enough to comprehend, aren't a masterpiece guarantee. Like wet media, digital painting software programs take time, training and trial and error to bring art projects from concept to creation. Corel provides a solid training and support foundation for Painter, offering users of all experience levels a variety of topically organized tutorials and user guides to make use of the program and its features.
Corel provides good support for their products, period. If purchased as a download, this digital art application comes with a PDF formatted manual, which, in addition to the well-organized, built-in help and support menu and features, will help users of all experience levels get their hands dirty quickly, figuratively speaking.
What's more, the Corel website has dozens of indispensible tutorials to help users understand the full range of functions and capabilities that Painter offers. Corel also has an active community of Painter users who can help with immediate questions, as well as a FAQs section and knowledgebase to gain program insight or troubleshoot technical issues, should they arise.
However, if an answer from an official source is necessary, Corel offers free email support for this digital art application. You can also receive additional support by telephone; however, there is a cost per call. You should rest assured that seldom, if ever, would a phone call be necessary. You can get answers to most of your questions either through the moderated community or via email. Finally, Painter automatically downloads software updates, so you are always up to date on the latest bug fixes and security patches.
Corel Painter digital art application has the most expansive brush set, wet and dry media palettes and true-to-form design features. Combined with an intuitive, customizable workflow and the clean, responsive and easy-to-use interface, it is easy to understand why this digital painting software has become the hub of artistic production and creative conceptualization for digital artists, mixed-media artists and other designers and illustrators of all fields and backgrounds. With Corel's emphasis on continual development, refinement and expansion of the program and its capabilities, it seems that Corel Painter will continue to lead and drive digital painting for years to come.
