Paint.NET

DirectWrite for Windows Vista

September 11, 2009 – 11:29 am
Paint.NET v3.5 has added support for DirectWrite, a new component in Windows 7. It improves performance, text rendering quality, and reliability when compared to GDI+ or GDI. DirectWrite is also coming for Windows Vista. Microsoft just released a beta version of the "Platform Update for Windows Vista", which includes Direct3D 11, Direct2D, and DirectWrite. Check it out here: http://blogs.msdn.com/DirectX/ Paint.NET will automatically use DirectWrite if it is installed on a Windows Vista system. The code for enabling DirectWrite does not limit itself to Windows 7. You don't even have to wait for the next update, you can do this now! This is all pre-release beta stuff though, so the usual warnings apply. The next update after Paint.NET v3.5 (let's call it v3.5.1) should automatically install this for you, so that'll be one less thing to have to remember (computers are good at automating and remembering things, right?).

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Paint.NET v3.5 prepares for beta and gets a visual refresh

September 10, 2009 – 5:57 pm
I’ve been chipping away at the last changes and fixes for Paint.NET before I stamp it as beta and release it to the larger, hungrier “Beta crowd.” This update will be published to users of previous stable versions who’ve opted into public beta updates, and made available via the built-in updater. Hopefully I can finalize and push the stable version out the door to all users by the time Windows 7 hits retail shelves (October 22nd). Now, the visual styling of an application does not affect its functionality. However, it is a key ingredient for a positive, even enjoyable, user experience. Up through version 2.5, Paint.NET used a 16-color “Windows 95” icon styling. The icons were free, and the style and color palette were very easy to emulate for any custom icons: For version 2.6, I upgraded the whole application to .NET 2.0, 64-bit, and “Windows XP” / ...

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July 2009 usage statistics

August 23, 2009 – 10:53 pm
I’ve finally got a little down time since putting out another alpha build for Paint.NET v3.5 tonight (go get it!), so I decided it was a good opportunity to update the usage statistics. The last time I posted an update was last October, and that’s way too long to have gone without an update. Overall, usage of Paint.NET is up by 9.2%. This is based on the total hits to the update manifest text files. The slow growth isn’t too surprising since there haven’t been any (stable/mainstream) updates to Paint.NET in awhile, and hence not a lot of news or blog posts to draw people to the website. That’s okay though, as version 3.5 is coming soon (more on that in a bit!). There aren’t too many changes in the demographics of Paint.NET users. Well, the number of French users has dropped from almost 8% down to 6.8%. Turkish has grown in ...

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Paint.NET v3.5 now enhanced for Windows 7 with DirectWrite

August 11, 2009 – 12:57 am
The latest alpha build of Paint.NET v3.5 will now use DirectWrite instead of GDI for the Text tool if you are running Windows 7. Get it while it’s hot: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=31132 DirectWrite is a new font and text rendering system that comes with Windows 7. In Paint.NET, you’ll see the following benefits: Faster text rendering. This is currently due to important architectural differences from GDI. With DirectWrite, I can render using multiple threads (performance scaling), while also not blocking the UI thread from drawing (mutexing). GDI can only render text on 1 thread at a time, and that also includes the thread responsible for the UI. DirectWrite can also benefit from GPU acceleration when things are set up correctly with Direct2D (Paint.NET only uses the software rasterization capabilities right now, but in the future who knows!). Better quality text rendering. DirectWrite implements what is called “y-direction antialiasing”. The short story is that GDI apparently ...

Posted in Update News | 21 Comments »

Paint.NET v3.5 – Better font handling, and performance. Again.

June 15, 2009 – 4:16 pm
Last Thursday I release a new alpha of Paint.NET v3.5, build 3450. I have rewritten the way that fonts are handled for and by the Text tool. Even if you don’t use the Text tool much, you will still notice some improvements! (see the bulleted list below) In previous versions of Paint.NET, there are two forms of text rendering supported. The first and the default is called “Smooth”, which utilizes GDI+* to render text. The second is called “Sharp”, and uses GDI. For both, GDI+ is used for font enumeration through the classes in the System.Drawing namespace. Over time, GDI+ has proven to be a poor system for font handling. It has been the cause of many crashes, as GDI+ has a tendency to crash or trample on memory when it encounters fonts that are “bad” (although bad is relative – the font itself may be perfectly fine!). This has led ...

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First alpha build of Paint.NET v3.5 is now available

May 17, 2009 – 8:49 pm
Here’s where you can check it out: http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=30113 This will not be made available on the website. I don’t even recommend that any download websites host it yet. We’ll wait for the beta for that! In the meantime, please download, install, and post your comments on the forum.

Posted in Uncategorized | 18 Comments »

Random April Thoughts

April 7, 2009 – 11:29 am
It's April and we finally have some sun in Seattle and I haven't posted in awhile. Paint.NET runs pretty well with Parallels on my MacBook Pro, although there's a few quirks to squash. Hmm ... they have an affiliate program. I smell a revision to the System Requirements coming soon. Do you know how many requests I get for a Mac version of Paint.NET? :) "Should Competent Programms be "Mathematically Inclined"?" -- Absolutely, Jeff. I can't believe anyone would question this. "Math is hard, let's go shopping!" *faceplant* Paint.NET v3.5 is coming along, but slowly. I haven't had as much time or motivation, and it's difficult when you don't have a build that works because of ancillary code you broke in areas that you don't really like (the Recolor tool comes to mind). Blackjack is fun, especially when you're winning.

Posted in Uncategorized | 27 Comments »

Thank you, Akimset spam detector

March 2, 2009 – 1:47 pm
One of the most popular plugins for WordPress blogs is the Akimset spam detector. Mine says it has found and squashed 93,860 spam posts since it was installed. I'm always amazed at what type of spam the robots try and sneak through every day. Here's a recent spam post: "poonnnbvhifiytfyudyufydyddyufytfyufyutfyfyfyutfyfyutfyufytfytfyfyufytftyftftftftftftftttttttttttttttttttttttttttttfffffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffbut" Thanks for the comment! I'll be sure to raise that issue with management the next time I see them.

Posted in Silly | 23 Comments »

Russian is coming to Paint.NET

February 26, 2009 – 9:19 pm
Another great feature for the upcoming version 3.5 release: an official Russian translation! I think this should make 4.16% of the userbase very happy :)

Posted in Uncategorized | 19 Comments »

Introducing Paint.NET v3.5’s new selection renderer

February 25, 2009 – 11:56 pm
In my previous post, I mentioned that I had rewritten the selection renderer in Paint.NET v3.5. As a pseudo-warning, this post is pretty technical. The selection renderer in Paint.NET v3.36 uses GDI+. It draws the outline twice: once as a dashed black line, and the second as a dashed white line. A timer fires every 50 milliseconds or so and redraws the outline with a slightly increased “dash offset.” This gives the “dancing ants” animation. Our pal Emma Roberts will demonstrate:   “Pretend I’m animated!” -- Ants There are a few major problems with this implementation. The first is that while you are drawing or modifying a selection, it is only drawn with a black outline (once you are done, it will transition to the “dancing ants” mode). This makes it wickedly difficult to figure out what kind of selection you’re drawing if the underlying area is black. Try it with a solid ...

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