Corel gets bought!

[Doug B]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/183056/corel_saves_itself_wordperfect_and_coreldraw_from_ brink.html

Hmm..wonder what this means for Painter? Neglect? Improvement? No change?

[laxon]

I think nothing will change. They might change some marketing strategies for some of the products but the rest [and especially painter] will remain as it is.

"As it is" being: it will stick to the same dev schedule.

[Doug B]

I think nothing will change.

Why is that?

[Baron Impossible]

I hope they've got a plan with some money behind it. The now need to rewrite Painter to compete with AR3, that's pretty clear.

[ikken]

I really doubt any changes will happen, aside from marketing strategies.
Maybe they'll push developers to shorten the production time for painter 12 but I don't think it will be anything remarkable as a release.

[sigmadog]

It's interesting to me that when the article describes Corel's product line, Painter is not even mentioned.

The omission could be due to the small user base for Painter, an unintentional editing oversight, or perhaps a harbinger of doom.

[joeparis]

Yes, I thought exactly the same thing. I think it's probably the smaller user base plus the fact that painting always seems to be perceived as something peripheral.

[Sascha Thau]

I really doubt any changes will happen, aside from marketing strategies.
Maybe they'll push developers to shorten the production time for painter 12 but I don't think it will be anything remarkable as a release.

Even shorter? I hope not. I didn't buy Painter 11 because of all the bugs I'm hearing of. I shudder to think what happens when they shorten the dev time.

I hope they've got a plan with some money behind it. The now need to rewrite Painter to compete with AR3, that's pretty clear.

I second this. Painter by now is full to the brim with old code and leftovers from older versions.

[George Abraham]

Yah and Corel's records show a painter user base of only 39 users, this can't be right can it?





LOL!!! What are their user base like anywayz?

Pirates!!!

[ikken]

Painter never got as much recognition as photoshop if you refer to the userbase.
Corel tried to push it into entertainment industry by the time version IX and 10 were released, but I have no idea what exact direction they took with 11.
I have no idea if there're any numbers published.

[RogerAdams]

Corel just doesn't get it. I hope this purchase does something to this once great software. With every release I hope that they are going to get rid of the bugs and make it as reliable as PhotoShop. But it's always the same. They add some useless new brushes like Real Bristle whatever they call it and ignore what real users are asking for. You still can't resize the layers palette on a PC!

Sketchbook Pro 2010 does drawing better. ArtRage mimics real painting better - hey look at that, I can move my document around and there are no screen issues. Paint should be put to death. Sorry for the rant. Painter X just keeps crashing every time I hover my stylus over it. Time to reinstall... again...

Oh and just to put some more fuel on the fire, here's a review of Painter 11 from Dermot Power (Batman Begins, Harry Potter)

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1MLZ8562WKCG8

[Portus]

Corel just doesn't get it. I hope this purchase does something to this once great software. With every release I hope that they are going to get rid of the bugs and make it as reliable as PhotoShop. But it's always the same. They add some useless new brushes like Real Bristle whatever they call it and ignore what real users are asking for. You still can't resize the layers palette on a PC!

Sketchbook Pro 2010 does drawing better. ArtRage mimics real painting better - hey look at that, I can move my document around and there are no screen issues. Paint should be put to death. Sorry for the rant. Painter X just keeps crashing every time I hover my stylus over it. Time to reinstall... again...

Oh and just to put some more fuel on the fire, here's a review of Painter 11 from Dermot Power (Batman Begins, Harry Potter)

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1MLZ8562WKCG8

That's a very interesting review, Painter 6 is indeed the last great version, also the sliders issue I sent that complain to Rick Champagne (previous Product Manager) when Painter 9 came out among all the issues with the UI to which none was address. It's a shame that all the problems and bugs with Painter are still present after all these versions with no real answer to why that is, we can only speculate.

[ikken]

You still can't resize the layers palette on a PC!
http://i50.tinypic.com/j9v8tu.jpg

but you're right on the other points
thank you for the link as well

[RogerAdams]

[QUOTE=ikken;2537699
but you're right on the other points
thank you for the link as well[/QUOTE]

You're right, I was wrong. The palettes can be resized if they are separated. If it's grouped with another it's locked. Thanks for the pic!

[joeparis]

The palettes can be resized if they are separated. If it's grouped with another it's locked.
If you hover your cursor over the base of the Layers Palette, just above the New Layer icon, you will get a little double arrow that allows you to resize the palette without undocking.

[Sascha Thau]

hey look at that, I can move my document around and there are no screen issues.

This is one of the worst bugs in Painter.

[GriNGo]

Painter should definitley be re-written, maybe even add 64bit support, and also, rethink the UI (specially the brush selection manager UI) it's all so complicated it hurts.

[kodekon]

I've started to move to Photoshop from Painter, because Photoshop has always been rock solid to me (although I've heard some bad stuff about the newest versions; I'm using CS1). Maybe it is that I've used PS much longer than Painter but somehow PS just feels much more mature compared to Painter. All the little problems with Painter just make me feel bad even before opening the program.

I must admit, though, that the latest version has overall behaved quite well on my hackintosh, although at some point it had the infuriating -18 -problem where the program wouldn't even start, but for some reason it's been opening alright for the past few weeks. But so many things, e.g. the document handling (layers, resizing etc.), just works much better in Photoshop. And PS just feels much much more polished.

Actually I probably wouldn't even have thought about moving to Photoshop for painting without Massive Black's tutorials and Photoshop-forum here. At first when I saw that Jason Chan had many tutorials for Photoshop I couldn't understand why he just wouldn't use Painter instead, but when I started painting in PS after his tutorials myself I noticed that you can really paint quite well in PS, too.

In a way I like Painter a lot, but then again it frustrates me in so many ways. I first started using it really in the version 8, and after that I've always wanted to see some real improvements in the new versions, but in the end the program really hasn't changed that much. It makes me wonder how small bunch of coders are working on it at Corel, or whoever owns it. At the same I understand that Photoshop probably has made me used to certain things that are much easier in PS, and probably they are trademarked. I just wish that Painter would focus on making the whole user experience better. I don't want to ditch it completely since you still can do lot of stuff in it that PS hasn't got, but at the moment PS is winning in my eyes. And I don't even like Adobe.

[RogerAdams]

I'm sorry for derailing this thread but Sidebard did an interview with Dermot Power (link (http://www.sidebarnation.com/my_weblog/2009/12/dermot-power.html)).

[Fredbt]

Funny that this thread came up just as Corel Painter Magazine http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk/ became Digital Artist Magazine. http://www.digitalartistdaily.com/

As a subscriber to Painter Magazine, I just received issue number one of Digital Artist Magazine as a replacement for the remainder of my subscription. Digital Artist covers Photoshop, Painter, ArtRage, Manga Studio and even Adobe Illustrator, among others.

I like the newer magazine because it covers so much more.

[Arshes Nei]

Oh and just to put some more fuel on the fire, here's a review of Painter 11 from Dermot Power (Batman Begins, Harry Potter)

http://www.amazon.com/review/R1MLZ8562WKCG8

A small note. The brush selector bar is customizable (albeit a few bugs). You don't HAVE to have that massive drop down list. When you activate the drop down, notice the arrow on the right? Change to thumbnail view.

You can also do that with the dabs, to thumbnail or stroke view. The problem with stroke view is that it still has that bug I reported in Painter X and it will screw up or even crash the program..

[Chipsterology]

Funny that this thread came up just as Corel Painter Magazine http://www.paintermagazine.co.uk/ became Digital Artist Magazine. http://www.digitalartistdaily.com/

As a subscriber to Painter Magazine, I just received issue number one of Digital Artist Magazine as a replacement for the remainder of my subscription. Digital Artist covers Photoshop, Painter, ArtRage, Manga Studio and even Adobe Illustrator, among others.

I like the newer magazine because it covers so much more.

Hehe, I think we all saw this move coming. While reading most of the articles in all of the 2009 issues up to date, you'll see no less than 3-4 solid references to a digital artist using Photoshop to wrap up the job. They've also had a plug for Layers magazine (don't quote me on that though, it may have been something I've seen on the site), and I think they actually reviewed Artrage. Made me look at the cover to make sure it said "Corel Painter"........

[CCorsair]

Reading this article over I will say that WordPerfect and Corel Draw and maybe a few programs will survive ,but Painter will ether be killed or sold (again) I am reading the numbers they are talking and knowing how nearly ever company in Tech and software that has prob.em are like the car makers are cut production to fit the needs and demands and this could go that way for Painter I think if they think Painter had such a low user base (which I think isn't true) They will sell it off or it will just die.

I been using WordPerfect for like forever as well as some of the other products and Painter I use since its came out and owned from version 4 (Fractal Paint out of the can) I have like all versions even with 11's bugs I would like to see it given a better chance with some company that would put more time and effort to make it even better and maybe a better pricing

Looking at some of the comments I am seeing no one talk about Painter at all.
I wonder if Wacom could or some company could take it over?

I like Painter I use it more than PS and I think a lot people do.
I do think there are a lot of artist that get Painter but not the way they should. I Don't know but looking that Painter demo or full version comes with near every Wacom sale to say the user base is low would be kind off as well .
If people want Painter to do better or not get killed it will mean putting in some support for it. (Major support) Could everyone live with Painter 11 being the last version with no support? even if Painter 12 makes it out before they cut it free will people buy it knowing it could be the last version ever?but that could go for the current version as well .


time will tell and I hope some is watching what happens with this take over at Coirel as i would not like to see Painter get Axed .

CC

[ikken]

They didn't mention selling painter as well to start with.
I don't think wacom has any interest in producing in-house painting software since they've been on the market for like 20 years and didn't write anything on their own
I can see Autodesk buying painter out and screwing it up even more, but who knows, time will show.

[Chipsterology]

I could see Autodesk making a play for it too.....I don't know if they have track record for screwing up acquired properties....do they? I see they own 3DSmax and Maya, years ago one would pick either flavor. Now they've developed Mudbox to compete with Z-Brush.....purchasiing Painter tech and merging it with Mudbox or making the two a viable drag-and-drop combo would be awesome, but not practical. Autodesk would automatically jack the price for Painter up in the $500USD + zone, upgrade pricing might be $50 less if that.......no deal. I personally wanted to see Adobe acquire it so my next CS purchase will be all inclusive and even better yet I'd be able to copy/paste - drag/drop between all CS apps, but it seems the new patch coming out for P11 will address the copy/paste deal at least with PS. Mention of this cooled my jets almost immediately, I'm looking forward to trying this out. Painter is Painter, the sponsor doesn't really affect my decision, Painter X has it's quirks (some that make me want to drive a truck clean through the front wall of my studio, aiming for my workstation), and it's Corel branded, but still it's a program I use almost every single day. I'm one that wants to see the Painter have a good home that will improve and advance it's performance, the brand doesn't really matter to me.

[ikken]

autodesk also bought xsi, and mudbox isn't their own development as well.

I don't really care what's going to happen, unless there're some really positive changes.
if there aren't, I'll just stick to my painter x for another couple of years.

[Doug B]

autodesk also bought xsi, and mudbox isn't their own development as well.


Pretty sure that Mudbox was developed by WETA for Lord of the Rings, then spun off into a separate company. Then Auto desk bought Mudbox about a year or two ago.

[ikken]

you're right

it's really sad they fallen into "one feature per year" marketing trap.

[Doug B]

you're right

it's really sad they fallen into "one feature per year" marketing trap.

Hey, it's Autodesk, what can I say?!?

They buy companies, they don't innovate.

[CCorsair]

Painter is the program that got me to this site .. I don't that to see it go down due to people who are not artist not marketing it right.
the fact that Corel changed the mag name means they are about to change .
but i next seem to like the mag as it seem to be trying to copy IFX and it was just focused on one program but so are all the PS mags as well.
May that it is opening up i look at it again.
I am looking at Artrage 3 pro it looks night but i like Painter and as i said i watch it grow up and i think it need to be work on by people who understand art.. Adobe is about $$ more than the product (sorry I known people who work for them they said some of the programmer are well not very bright) Autodesk killed Maya an 3D max . I started my digital art back in the early Amiga days with D paint and Opal paint ,Vistpro ,Art department(Ad pro) and many program many of you never heard of . I still run them on my Amiga's i have running(it good to be VP of one of the last clubs access to parts) Painter has come a long way from when i started using it (Painter 4 under Fractal paint) So seeing it get better is one thing i want .
Opal paint came out as part of video editing Card that was trying to take part of the market from the Newtek people Video Toaster systems and Paint and 3D program Light wave. Some of what is in Painter NOW Opal paint had in 95 believe it or not. Ad pro was like that PS is today and all ran under 2 to 5 meg of ram . So I think some need to make call and find out what going on with Painter and get Corel to tell us rather than wait and see .. Corel seeming no one up in arms could be more likely to sell it off if no one said anything.

CC

[joeparis]

the fact that Corel changed the mag name means they are about to change .
I really don't think Corel had anything at all to do with the direction Corel Official Painter Magazine has gone, despite the name. It was surely a decision of the publishers, Imagine Publishing, to change the content and name.

[CCorsair]

I really don't think Corel had anything at all to do with the direction Corel Official Painter Magazine has gone, despite the name. It was surely a decision of the publishers, Imagine Publishing, to change the content and name.



Well if you got word that Corel was not going to own Painter and that you don't know who will you would lose the "Corel" name and Open it to a all formats to keep readers, So even if Corel it self had not say in the mag the fact they their could change of owners to Painter would make any publication think about ways to change

I am going to jump the shark people I going to call the People at Corel and Play reporter and get the dirt as to what is going on and what will happen to Painter .. yes i may get no answer but i still going to try to got to the top and get an answer for all. I done this before when products change owners and I will post what I find and who I talk with. We need answers so I will just dig up the right answers ..

CC

[Sascha Thau]

Good luck then. :)

[Jin]

[quote]the fact that Corel changed the mag name means they are about to change . but i next seem to like the mag as it seem to be trying to copy IFX and it was just focused on one program but so are all the PS mags as well.
May that it is opening up i look at it again.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but in the quote above, I get the impression you think Corel Painter the Official Magazine was owned by Corel Corporation. It wasn't, nor is the new magazine that's replacing it. They're owned by Imagine Publishing in the UK.


Jinny


#

[Jin]

Well if you got word that Corel was not going to own Painter and that you don't know who will you would lose the "Corel" name and Open it to a all formats to keep readers, So even if Corel it self had not say in the mag the fact they their could change of owners to Painter would make any publication think about ways to change

It would be inappropriate for Imagine Publishing to mention the sale of Corel Corporation to Vector Capital in the Corel Painter the Official Magazine or the magazine that replaces CPOM since Imagine Publishing is a completely different company.

I am going to jump the shark people I going to call the People at Corel and Play reporter and get the dirt as to what is going on and what will happen to Painter .. yes i may get no answer but i still going to try to got to the top and get an answer for all. I done this before when products change owners and I will post what I find and who I talk with. We need answers so I will just dig up the right answers ..

CC

The information about the company that bought Corel Corporation has been available for a while, both on the Corel site and, in more reader-friendly form in articles on various other sites.

This article explains it pretty clearly:

DigitalArts - Corel Saves Itself, CorelDraw, and Painter from Brink (http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/index.cfm?email&NewsID=13330)

And on the Vector Capital site, some background information from a few years ago:

Vector Capital - Case Studies: Corel Corporation (http://www.vectorcapital.com/portfolio/casestudy/1)

I serously doubt that anyone at Corel will be free to discuss what will happen to Corel Painter (it's too early and they may not even know at this point).

Last time Vector Capital bought out Corel, it turned out well and we can hope this time it will, too, especially if the economy continues to heal. The financial crisis hurt a whole lot of companies, even the big ones. Lots of layoffs over the past year, cuts in salaries, etc.


Jinny


#

[Portus]

I think he means if Painter would no longer be owned by Corel the mag couldn't use the name "Corel" as its title.

[CCorsair]

It would be inappropriate for Imagine Publishing to mention the sale of Corel Corporation to Vector Capital in the Corel Painter the Official Magazine or the magazine that replaces CPOM since Imagine Publishing is a completely different company.
YEs I understand the magazine isn't owned by Corel .. what i was saying is if you have magazine name Corel Painter and they drop it Would you keep calling you Magazine the same name?


The information about the company that bought Corel Corporation has been available for a while, both on the Corel site and, in more reader-friendly form in articles on various other sites.

This article explains it pretty clearly:

DigitalArts - Corel Saves Itself, CorelDraw, and Painter from Brink (http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/index.cfm?email&NewsID=13330)

And on the Vector Capital site, some background information from a few years ago:

Vector Capital - Case Studies: Corel Corporation (http://www.vectorcapital.com/portfolio/casestudy/1)

I serously doubt that anyone at Corel will be free to discuss what will happen to Corel Painter (it's too early and they may not even know at this point).

Last time Vector Capital bought out Corel, it turned out well and we can hope this time it will, too, especially if the economy continues to heal. The financial crisis hurt a whole lot of companies, even the big ones. Lots of layoffs over the past year, cuts in salaries, etc.


Jinny


#

well the CEO at Corel was doing well
Kristof Hagerman
Age 43
$336,000 salary
$224,000 bonus
this is from

http://www.hoovers.com/company/Corel_Corporation/ctyksi-1-1njea1.html

my Day job is internet security and investigation..Fraud and other wonderful thing people do with computers ..so i love to dig.

Jinny you would be surprised at what I can get with a phone call to some one at Corel or Vector Capital . As right now it seem many are off for the week so I will dig up more names to talk to.. The sales info that was posted only cover Corel at their most common known program and said nothing of Painter .. this is my one main focus to my question to them and I have done this many time on need to get need info when I have question on a product. Because of this I know how large companies like this this one and I know how they work. This why many companies have department that deal with question brom people and the Press... you just need to know how to ask them in the right way and to the right people .

so far I gotten names I just need to wait too next week to ask the question (this is for Corel) digging up Phone for them that are not 1-800 is not easy but I found the right one but it phone system with human is really the worse . going to look up and see who in PR for Vector Capital I can contact next .

BTW During my searching around for info on Corel I found that Corel and bunch of other companies were served court papers on the 15th of this month to be sued for patten infringements on some tech for downloading software you buy from them .. it seems a bunch of companies Corel and Adobe set up their download software with out checking if it was copy righted ..the suite will get tossed as this guy even if right is shot gunning the suite ie he is suing everyone he can that mite be using his tech even Apple and MS..dumb as they can counter will all the lawyers they have and he just one guy..and they people suing have how many on the hook to counter this stuff? any why if you need laugh this is the link to the Pdf http://www.courthousenews.com/2009/12/15/TechPat.pdf looking at he has a valet complaint but he is doing wrong i feel ..the legal people will eat him for a snack..if they haven't already.

Late all

CC

I rather dig and find out nothing than to find out later by doing nothing we lost the program.

[Jin]

OK. Let us know what you find out and please also give us the names and job titles of people you talk to at Corel.

Thanks,


Jinny


#

[Arshes Nei]

I'm kind of confused at what you're saying because you're using the wrong words....

[Chipsterology]

I'm kind of confused at what you're saying because you're using the wrong words....
*snickers* hehe......*wipes the tears from my eyes* Whooooooooooo.....LMAO

[CCorsair]

I'm kind of confused at what you're saying because you're using the wrong words....

Sorry I did not mean to be unclear...and I do talk better then spell and write lol

I did make contact wit the new owners of Corel some will be calling me back soon. It may not be till next week. The first person I talked to that works in the Office in SF she did not give her name but turn me over to a woman named Aida(not sure of name spelling) she ask me for my info and said some would contact me. I maybe call back next well if nothing comes about

CC

[velderia]

well the CEO at Corel was doing well
Kristof Hagerman
Age 43
$336,000 salary
$224,000 bonus
this is from

http://www.hoovers.com/company/Corel_Corporation/ctyksi-1-1njea1.html

Maybe it's just me, but 336k seems like a lot. Plus that bonus. Correct me if I'm wrong though. Maybe I'm being too recession-minded.

It's really sad when I hear about companies buying other companies, even if it's good for said company. Hope Painter benefits from this and doesn't disappear ever.

[ikken]

It's a little bit naive to think recession somehow affected top management's income and especially annual bonuses.

I wonder if they're going to outsource painter coding in India to cut develoment costs x 10, lol.

[velderia]

It's a little bit naive to think recession somehow affected top management's income and especially annual bonuses.

I wonder if they're going to outsource painter coding in India to cut develoment costs x 10, lol.

Well, I meant the CEO sounds like an overpaid dude.

[Arshes Nei]

It's a little bit naive to think recession somehow affected top management's income and especially annual bonuses.


Exactly.

The reason you see ridiculous bonuses, is to KEEP the management. It doesn't matter if its a recession, they basically don't want the CEO jumping ship. It happened actually with other companies recently.

If the company can't find anyone better they keep adding bonus money to keep current management around, if not they would have already fired the CEO if they found someone better.

Just a bit of a business lesson. Top management doesn't work like us scrubs ;)

[CCorsair]

just small update so far no call back but then again this could be for two reasons.. one they don't want to comment or I need to find some with more inside contacts. I been busy so I have not even tried to call back just yet but may do so later this week or on Monday.

I'll keep you posted all . the noting that updates are coming is good but that are slow.. well that just how updates are sometimes ..

CC

[ikken]

It would be very wrong if corel staff were giving comments to everyone before any official announcements were made.
I really doubt you'll find something out, unless you have some insiders of doom around.

[George Abraham]

If the new company releases a rammified new version of whatever it might become. Would the painter version now be free to copy?

[Arshes Nei]

If the new company releases a rammified new version of whatever it might become. Would the painter version now be free to copy?

uhhh what....?

I heard Disney Bought out Marvel, I guess Captain America is PUBLIC DOMAIN!

[ikken]

If the new company releases a rammified new version of whatever it might become. Would the painter version now be free to copy?

I have no idea what you're talking about, but any software is free to copy, not to use and make profits of.

[Jin]

I have no idea what you're talking about, but any software is free to copy, not to use and make profits of.

No, ikken, software is not free to copy. It's protected by copyrights and illegal to copy for any use. That's software piracy.

It's the Edcation version of Corel Painter that can't be used for commercial puposes and the price is reduced, but it still must be purchased... it's not free.



Jinny


#

[sandman]

Corel layoffs won't be end of bad news (http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/corel-layoffs-wont-be-end-of-bad-news/139715)

My thoughts and sympathies go out to all Corel employees who are affected by this, and for those who remain, who may have to take on additional responsibilities and workload.

David

[joeparis]

My thoughts and sympathies go out to all Corel employees who are affected by this, and for those who remain, who may have to take on additional responsibilities and workload. David
Yes, quite. It's a nasty business all round - cut backs, closures, redundancies. I only hope that the "more bad news to come" is one of those little PR tricks; a warning of a disaster to come makes "ordinary" bad news sound like a lucky break - or if you are more cynical, good management.

[sandman]

Yes, quite. It's a nasty business all round - cut backs, closures, redundancies. I only hope that the "more bad news to come" is one of those little PR tricks; a warning of a disaster to come makes "ordinary" bad news sound like a lucky break - or if you are more cynical, good management.

You could be right, I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for Painter.

David

[arestocrat]

Damn, it would be a shame if there would never be a painter 12 or a painter 11.5 :<
Hope they get over this crisis soon!

[ikken]

No, ikken, software is not free to copy. It's protected by copyrights and illegal to copy for any use. That's software piracy.

It's the Edcation version of Corel Painter that can't be used for commercial puposes and the price is reduced, but it still must be purchased... it's not free.



Jinny


#
oh, ok, my wordplay failed, but I did say that using software is not free.
No contradiction here.

Damn, it would be a shame if there would never be a painter 12 or a painter 11.5 :<
Hope they get over this crisis soon!
I honestly hope the changes aren't affecting painter development team;
this application is one of the most unique out of all corel brands, and it has much more loyal userbase (at least, in my opinion), than others.
Their office software has stong competition with open-office and microsoftware, and corel draw/photopaint/video editors are direct competitors of adobe.
painter is sort of standing aside those market wars.

(but I would be happy if they change management and painters direction as well)

[Arshes Nei]

Economy is affecting a lot of folks. It had affected me even, but I was able to bounce back. Hopefully it won't turn out too bad and wish everyone the best.

[slipp3ry]

i didnt read the whole thread but i see a lot of hate.. i personally love painter XI and can work so much more naturally than in photoshop.

[slipp3ry]

I hope they've got a plan with some money behind it. The now need to rewrite Painter to compete with AR3, that's pretty clear.

ur joking right? they should probably rewrite it to compete with MSPaint too ..

[lou per]

If you are looking for alternatives to Painter for digital painting you should check out Synthetik Software's Studio Artist application. Studio Artist used to be mac only but new version 4 runs on windows pcs as well as macs. Synthetik Software is a boutique software company that is totally focused on digital artists, very responsive to user input, and Studio Artist is actively being developed and enhanced.
www.synthetik.com (http://www.synthetik.com) - main synthetik software site
studioartist.ning.com (http://studioartist.ning.com) - studio artist user forum
studioartist.blogspot.com (http://studioartist.blogspot.com) - studio artist news site

[Arshes Nei]

ur joking right? they should probably rewrite it to compete with MSPaint too ..

You've seen his paintings right? He uses Art Rage. AR3 actually has some pretty good stuff in it, and their development team used to be the folks that put together some of Painter's better features like the Mixer.

...funny how that works...

[Portus]

Very different philosophies between Corel and Ambient Design, while both Painter and AR aim at a traditional look, the way they do it is totally different. AR has a more dictatorship approach, it's also very restricted in way the tools should behave the same as they do in real life.

Painter on the other hand allows the user with more options and embraces the digital while still aiming for the traditional look. I think both companies should carry on with their own vision.

[Doug B]

If you are looking for alternatives to Painter for digital painting you should check out Synthetik Software's Studio Artist application. Studio Artist used to be mac only but new version 4 runs on windows pcs as well as macs. Synthetik Software is a boutique software company that is totally focused on digital artists, very responsive to user input, and Studio Artist is actively being developed and enhanced.
www.synthetik.com (http://www.synthetik.com) - main synthetik software site
studioartist.ning.com (http://studioartist.ning.com) - studio artist user forum
studioartist.blogspot.com (http://studioartist.blogspot.com) - studio artist news site

The first link only shows version 3.5 available-and thus no PC version is available yet.

I also see that the price is $375-at that price it better be a lot better than Painter in order to get new converts from Painter.

[artmessiah]

Very different philosophies between Corel and Ambient Design, while both Painter and AR aim at a traditional look, the way they do it is totally different. AR has a more dictatorship approach, it's also very restricted in way the tools should behave the same as they do in real life.

Painter on the other hand allows the user with more options and embraces the digital while still aiming for the traditional look. I think both companies should carry on with their own vision.

Agreed. Although I hope that Painter will improve in the near future in regards to stability, a CLUTTER FREE INTERFACE - which btw is one on the things that makes Artrage popular, real transparency with the blends and some badly needed robust options for layer functions, (adjustment layers and or more dynamic plugs). For nitpick stuff, a virtual ruler for perspective and straight lines and an improvement to the kaleidoscope function to make a symmetrical drawing for something besides patterns would be nice too.

[ikken]

If you are looking for alternatives to Painter for digital painting you should check out Synthetik Software's Studio Artist application. Studio Artist used to be mac only but new version 4 runs on windows pcs as well as macs. Synthetik Software is a boutique software company that is totally focused on digital artists, very responsive to user input, and Studio Artist is actively being developed and enhanced.
www.synthetik.com (http://www.synthetik.com) - main synthetik software site
studioartist.ning.com (http://studioartist.ning.com) - studio artist user forum
studioartist.blogspot.com (http://studioartist.blogspot.com) - studio artist news site

not impressed.

[joeparis]

If you are looking for alternatives to Painter for digital painting you should check out Synthetik Software's Studio Artist application.
Thanks, but without running the demo I have to say that there seems to be an emphasis on photo-manipulation and "cloning", precisely the sort of thing that Painter users here don't need or want. There might be some good brushes and painting tools buried in there somewhere but I would prefer an application that focuses on them exclusively - and that includes Painter.

[rattsang]

Thanks, but without running the demo I have to say that there seems to be an emphasis on photo-manipulation and "cloning", precisely the sort of thing that Painter users here don't need or want. There might be some good brushes and painting tools buried in there somewhere but I would prefer an application that focuses on them exclusively - and that includes Painter.

agreed that software looks like a program to automatically process film frames in batches,a filter factory, the majority of ppl on these forums use painter to paint in a traditional manner not to manipulate photos ect.