Cheap Corel Painter IX: Natural Media Painting & Illustration (Win/Mac) (Software) (Windows 2000, Windows XP, Macintosh) Price

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Customer Reviews of Corel Painter IX: Natural Media Painting & Illustration (Win/Mac)

Unique app that is creatively inspiring, though perfornance issues remain
Painter occupies a very particular niche in the world of digital imaging software. Though the latest versions of Photoshop sport an excellent brush tool and ample brush controls, there is nothing to match the power and possibilities of Painter's brush creator. And Painter is truly unique in its emulation of natural media, ranging from thick impasto strokes to naturally drying watercolor, and oil paints that stay wet as long as you please. There is a mixer palette which works exactly like an actual one: new colors can be mixed on the fly as if mixing actual pigments rather than colored pixels. Of course, the digital environment also offers possibilities not available in the real world, and apart from the natural media Painter therefore offers a whole array of fantasy and pattern brushes, as well as distortion filters and blender. As all these can be adjusted and turned into new brushes according to taste, the possibilities are truly limitless. Layering options are numerous, and come with an array of blending methods more extensive than that in PS. Selection possibilities are excellent too, with highly accessible options for saving and reloading particular complex selections. There are some nice filters as well, including a particularly fine bevel tool that allows detailed control of complex bevels. There are, of course, many plug-ins available that can be added according to budget and taste, such as the KPT filters. Painter includes the usual vector pen and shape options, which are excellent for making precise selections or creating smooth shapes. <
>This is, as the name suggests, a painting program. It is not primarily an image editor. It can be used a such, but obviously yields to Photoshop in that regard. It appeals strongly to the individual creativity of the user, and can be inspiring to work with. If you are familiar with PS, you'll have to get used to the Painter interface, which puts similar functions in different places than PS. There are some nifty solutions, such as the possibility of creating a custom box of drawing tools: simply drag the thumbnail of the desired brush into the work area. On the other hand, some options on offer seem superfluous or even confusing. E.g., the "paint outside"/"paint inside"/"paint everywhere" switch achieves something just as easily done by inverting or discarding a selection. As usual with such high end programs, the array of options is apt to make for a cluttered workspace. Fortunately, palettes are all floatable and collapsible. <
>Downsides? Well, yes. Apparently recent versions of Painter have gained speed compared to earlier ones, but the program still seems to have some serious memory management issues. On my PC (1.6Ghz P4, 1Gb RAM, 250 GB harddisk, nVidia GeForce FX 5950 256 MB videocard, Windows XP Home SP1), routine operations like loading a selection or changing the zoom level, and even saving, regularly lead to program freezes that can last for some time (as in: go downstairs, make yourself a cup of coffee), though on the plus side I've experienced no actual crashes. Some brush types also tend to be excruciatingly slow to respond, especially with large brush sizes, which rather detracts from the natural painting feel. <
>Still, Painter remains a more than worthwhile addition to any collection of digital imaging tools. Make sure you also have a drawing tablet, or you will not reap the full benefits of Painters possibilities. <
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Nice!!
I must confess, I haven't purchased Corel Painter IX yet... but I definitely plan to. I have downloaded and successfully used the trial version. I have Windows XP Home Edition and I have NOT had any difficulties using the trial version. Don't know about the real version, but I expect if I've had no trouble with the trial I will have no trouble with the full version. Looking forward to creating some wonderful things in the future :)

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2K Pro and your set, XP is shaky at best.
We want patches! Runs great, the program is amazing really but I had it running for all of 2 days on my XP machine. I've repaired, uninstalled, reinstalled, fiddled with the registry, nothing has helped. It's been solid on my 2k laptop though. So if you're still running 2K Pro this is a 5 star program but be ready to battle on XP Home. Next attempt is to see if it likes XP Pro any better.