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Paint.NET for Windows

  • Free

  • In English
  • V 4.3.12
  • 3.8

    (10086)
  • Security Status

Softonic review

Dinkar Kamat
Dinkar KamatUpdated 10 months ago

Free image creator and editor

 

Paint.NET is a free photo editing software program that lets you easily create and edit artwork. Released in 2004, Paint.NET is managed by Rick Brewster and dotPDN LLC. The lightweight freeware is available on Microsoft Windows 32-bit and 64-bit devices with system requirements being those of Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

 

 

Is Paint.NET safe?

Mentored by Microsoft and led by an undergraduate college student, Paint.NET came about to provide a free replacement to the Microsoft Paint software that was native to Windows electronics. The idea resulted in a successfully safe alternative to the Microsoft photo editor tool. Advancements are consistently being made to Paint.NET.

Is Paint.NET no longer free?

While the ‘Classic’ edition of Paint.NET is a free download, the creators launched a new release that is a paid version. This purchasable paint shop application has improved automatic updates, easier installations, etc. Given that the paid and free downloads are relatively the same, the developer has answered the question of why he decided to begin offering the app for a fee.

While offering friendly help to answer additional questions about the change, the creator alluded to charging money for the new version of the app for financial reasons on the Paint.NET blog. Despite users mentioning that they were willing to pay for the design project, the developers were not receiving adequate donations to mirror those claims.

The team at Paint.NET did clarify that their preferred method of receiving financial support is through the donation option on their official website because Microsoft takes a percentage from sales. 

Both the free and paid offerings support plugin capabilities. You can disable the use of plugins with the registry key. On both versions, users have layers, unlimited undo, etc.

What does Paint.NET do?

Paint.NET is an intuitive hub for creating and editing images on PC computers and laptops. The right portion of the program has the menu bar and icon bar where users can perform actions: save, print, etc. Beneath the two bars, users can customize chosen mediums. The tool will be shown along with factors associated with that medium: brush-width, hardness, etc.

Four main categories sit in the upper right corner of the innovative user interface: tools, history, layers, and colors. The tool tab is represented by a hammer. To access the history feature, you just press on the clock. The layers section is symbolized by sheets of paper. The color wheel button is associated with the color menu.

How do I use Paint.NET?

A wide variety of powerful tools within Paint.NET are accessible by a click of the hammer button. To hide this category, you just need to click the icon again. The tools available within the rectangular structure that appears are: rectangle, ellipse, lasso, magic wand, move pixels, move selection, zoom, paint bucket, gradient, eraser, pencil, color picker, clone stamp, recolor, shape, etc.

The group of selection tools within the panel are the rectangle, ellipse, lasso, magic wand, and pixel moving tools. Users can highlight a specified area and move that selection away from the original image. This feature can create special effects when people layer another image underneath the edited one because a portion of the upper image has been cut to reveal the lower photo.

For those who are new to this concept, getting rid of any area created can seem difficult. Paint.NET created a helpful ‘Deselect’ button in the upper-left icon menu: the box with a red x. If users highlighted an area that they want to undo, then they can click on the ‘Deselect’ button.

By pressing on the color wheel in the upper right corner, you can access a variety of pigments. The left dropdown menu in the ‘Colors’ window is for ‘Primary’ and ‘Secondary’ color options. To the right, the ‘More’ function reveals detailed controls: hex, opacity, etc. Users can choose their preferred paint palette by clicking and dragging directly on the color wheel.

The layers tab lets users add, delete, duplicate, move, and customize different content elements. This separation allows for people to easily manipulate the media. Within the ‘Layer Properties’ window, the community can tailor the visibility. You can access the properties by double-clicking on the specified layer, selecting the final icon in the pop-up, or by pressing F4 on the keyboard.

The history tab keeps track of the changes made during the session. You can scroll through the list to locate an action. To backtrack, you just need to select the desired prompt and press ‘Undo’. When an action is undone, then users are not able to redo that command again.

Is Paint.NET as good as Photoshop?

Compared to Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET is a simple image creator and editor. Photoshop is intended as professional multimedia software, whereas Paint.NET is considered an editing platform for beginners. Adobe Photoshop is a paid program. Other free, digital photo software packages include Corel DRAW, FireAlpaca, GIMP, Krita, and Inkscape.

Aside from Photoshop, the software mentioned above boast similar user interfaces and are lightweight. Excluding Paint.NET, all of the apps are cross-platform. The systems are able to save creations in various file types.

 

 

Work in Paint.NET

If you run Windows on your PCs, you can access the freeware. Paint.NET has grown into a popular editing option because of new effects, fixes, languages, etc added by developers. Some languages offered include Portuguese, Finnish, Danish, Ukrainian, Persian, Hungarian, Simplified Chinese, etc.

What’s new?

In a website browser, you can visit the Paint.NET official site to see their most recent software updates, privacy policy, etc. The well-maintained platform has a multitude of online video tutorials that can assist novices in the beginning.

 

PROS

  • Easy to use
  • Supports layers
  • Multitude of tools
  • Plugin capabilities
  • Unlimited undo functionality

CONS

  • Only available on Windows

Program available in other languages


Paint.NET for PC

  • Free

  • In English
  • V 4.3.12
  • 3.8

    (10086)
  • Security Status


User reviews about Paint.NET

  • Dan Schaller

    by Dan Schaller

    I've used it for years. It's as powerful as the Adobe products with as large a user database and with hundreds of add-ons if necessary. Now I'm using  More

  • Tamisha Joyner

    by Tamisha Joyner

    It was a fast simple download, and the way it popped up so quick and ready, love it so far.

  • Scott H

    by Scott H

    works great quick and ez.once you get used to it, it's a piece of cake .

  • Ric Lotek

    by Ric Lotek

    It's free and it does nearly all of the things that Photoshop does

  • Boris Brković

    by Boris Brković

    tahanksewrui9š8'58zu02f5999999991i3023frz1zerwjuerueuesiweideiei

  • Horace Oakley

    by Horace Oakley

    My absolute $1 Favorite for sure! fast easy with all the tools I need


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Laws concerning the use of this software vary from country to country. We do not encourage or condone the use of this program if it is in violation of these laws.