Paint.NET v3.5.1 is now available

November 19, 2009 – 9:17 pm
I discussed this update yesterday, and I’ve decided to release it before the weekend. You can either use the built-in updater, or go to the website and download it. There’s no need to uninstall the old version; that will be taken care of automatically. Oh! And for those who didn’t check out betas, this will be your first chance to see the background auto-updater in action. I think you’ll find it much more convenient than the in-your-face update process that older versions required you to sit through. Changes and fixes since v3.5: New: For Windows 7, added taskbar progress reporting for long running operations (effects, adjustments, Image->Resize, save, install) Made some corrections to the French translation Running setup with /auto will no longer launch Paint.NET when it's done Fixed an issue where Paste into New Image would refuse an ...

Paint.NET v3.5.1 is coming … small fixes, and more Win7

November 18, 2009 – 11:48 pm
It’s inevitable that a small “QFE” update is necessary shortly after a big release like Paint.NET v3.5. I’ve been keeping track of the crashes and other issues that have been sent my way, and I have fixes for the most important ones. Some users have reported lag with the paintbrush tool … fixed. Some have been having a really difficult time with Paste gobbling up CPU time and never finishing … fixed. Et. cetera. In addition, I’ve added a few extra small goodies for Windows 7 users. Namely, many long-running operations will report their progress in the taskbar, like so: All effects, adjustments, Image->Resize, and the installer itself will do this. The installer is a pretty useful one, in fact. That way you can tell at a glance if it’s done or not. It reports progress, and also uses an overlay icon that updates to reflect whether installation is in-progress, ...

Paint.NET v3.5 (Final) is now available!

November 6, 2009 – 10:21 pm
Thanks to everyone who helped out with the extensive alpha and beta releases with all the bug reports, crash log submissions, and feedback. It has all been a huge help in creating the best Paint.NET release ever. As usual, there are two ways to get the new version: Preferred: Use the built-in updater from within Paint.NET. If you are using version v3.36, simply go to the Help menu and click on “Check for Updates.” For v3.5 alpha/beta, go to the Utilities menu instead of the Help menu. Or, just wait for the update prompt to come up automatically within the next week or so. Download directly from the website: http://www.getpaint.net/ . There is no need to uninstall the old version; that will be taken care of automatically. Changes since version 3.36: New: Refreshed user interface with new icons and visual styling. On Windows 7 ...

A new license for Paint.NET v3.5

November 6, 2009 – 5:20 pm
Over the years I’ve had to put up with several individuals, and companies, trying to plagiarize Paint.NET by recompiling the program under a different product name and with their own name stamped into the credits. Sometimes they charge money for it. I even came up with my own term for it: “backspaceware.” Additionally, every once in awhile Paint.NET is spotted being sold on eBay. And, as many of you know, Paint.NET used to be open source. Or rather, it was “released source” – the source code was released, but it was never an open and collaborative project that accepted unsolicited code submissions. I liked releasing the source code this because I felt there was value in allowing others to study it. About a year ago I decided I was tired of seeing plagiarized versions of Paint.NET and I yanked the source code from the website. However, the source code was still ...

Paint.NET v3.5 Beta 4 (Build 3591) is now available

October 31, 2009 – 7:50 pm
The translations are done, the last bugs have been ironed out, and Paint.NET v3.5 is a few steps away from prime time. Officially this is a beta, but the final release is imminent. Update: Looks like I mixed up the Russian translation, and it comes up in English. That will be fixed of course! :) Anyway you can grab it over at the website. If you want the list of changes since Beta 3, you can get those at the forum. Happy Halloween!

Paint.NET v3.5 Beta 3 (Build 3572) is now available

October 14, 2009 – 10:18 am
This update is focused on fixing a lot of small issues, ranging from performance to selection clipping. The full changelist, as usual, is over at the forum. Of note, the compression for .PDN files has been improved. For the tech-minded, I switched from the .NET-supplied GZipStream over to SharpZipLib’s GZipInputStream and GZipOutputStream. At this point, the bar for fixing a bug is quite high. I’m waiting for a few translations to be finalized, but other than that the only bugs I plan to fix are for crashes and data loss. If you’re seeing a bug that still hasn’t been fixed, and you haven’t reported it, then you should report it. Please don’t assume everyone or anyone else will see it too. I once had someone, after the v2.1 release, post on the forum that some bug still wasn’t fixed after the betas. I asked him if he’d ever reported it. “No, I ...

Paint.NET v3.5 Beta 2 (Build 3561) is now available

October 2, 2009 – 12:18 am
This update fixes a whole swath of small issues, and even a few larger ones. The full change list is at the forum. As usual, you can either download it over at the forum, or use the built-in updater. For those new to Paint.NET v3.5 with Beta 1, this is your first chance to try out the new background updater – you can have it download the update without sitting around and waiting for it as a foreground task! Of note, there’s a new option in the Window menu called “Glass Dialog Buttons.” I really like the glass footers for dialogs and don’t want to give them up, but just enough people have expressed a strong dislike that I decided to make it an option.

Paint.NET v3.5 Beta 1 (Build 3550) is now available!

September 21, 2009 – 1:33 am
It’s finally time for the beta, which means things are mostly done and stabilization is now the highest priority. Go download it at the forum, or get it via the built-in updater from any Paint.NET version. Make sure “Also check for pre-release versions” is enabled – you can ensure this by first clicking Check for Updates (from the Help or Utilities menus), then clicking the Options button. This beta is the first to include the newly refreshed user interface, with new icons and enhancements for Aero and “glass” (Windows 7 and Vista only). Here’s a taste of that: (Click for full-size version.) You can get the full changelist over at the forum. In addition to the glass in the image thumbnail list, I have added it to the footer of many dialogs. This includes the setup wizard, and dialogs for File->New, Image->Resize, Image->Canvas Size, ...

Leftover Domain Names - “The Lambda Closure”

September 20, 2009 – 7:38 pm
If anyone is interested in purchasing this block of domain names, please contact me -- either in the comments here (leave a valid e-mail!), or via "contact ...at... getpaint.net" The domains are named for "the lambda closure", a computer science and programming term. I bought it on a whim because I thought it was a cool name, but not sure if I was going to do anything with it. Well, I haven’t, and I don’t want to renew them. But I’d rather sell them to someone who will use them then let the domain squatting vulture robots snatch them all up. I always thought it’d make a good name for a website similar to Stack Overflow, but maybe more oriented toward academia and/or functional programming. Variants are included with “the” prefix and without, and with correct (lambda) and incorrect (lamda) spelling. Top-level domain suffixes for biz, com, info, net, and org. ...

A real glass prototype for Paint.NET v3.5

September 15, 2009 – 1:19 am
In a much older post, I talked about how I did a small experiment with glass. And, just the other day I talked about the latest visual refresh for Paint.NET. Since then, I’ve decided that the free icons available from http://www.pinvoke.com, by Yusuke Kamiyamane, are a much better fit than those from the Oxygen or Crystal sets. I’m also playing a bit more with glass. Check it out, Now, of course there are still a few things to work out, such as the left edge of the menu being offset by 1 pixel. Unfortunately, a JPEG just can’t do it justice (nor could the PNG, even at 5x the file size). It looks much cooler “in real life,” when it’s drawn over your actual desktop.