Month: April 2020

paint.net 4.2.11 alpha build 7420

2 Comments

This is just a hotfix for 4.2.11 alpha build 7417 that fixes a crash in the built-in updater’s “Check Now” button.

NOTE: This post was originally for build 7419. It has been updated to build 7420 to fix an issue at app shutdown that prevented the process from terminating correctly. Sorry for the confusion.

To get this update if you have installed 7417, just launch or use the app as usual. You’ll be notified of the update within about 24 hours (it only checks at app startup though). Normally I’d say you should follow the instructions below, but the Check Now button is currently broken.

(If you really want to force the check to happen now, first exit the app. Then, delete the registry key at HKCU\SOFTWARE\paint.net\ named “Updates/LastCheckTimeUtc”. Then, start the app again.)

To get this update if you have NOT installed 7417, make sure you have “Also check for pre-release (beta) versions” enabled in Settings, and then click on the Check Now button. (Unfortunately alpha/beta releases are not currently available for the Microsoft Store version of the app).

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paint.net 4.2.11 alpha build 7417

4 Comments

So it’s been over 2 months since 4.2.10 landed and it’s been really stable and hasn’t needed any hotfixes. Whew! That’s good, especially now with everything else in everyone’s life being so crazy now.

To get this update, make sure you have “Also check for pre-release (beta) versions” enabled in Settings, and then click on the Check Now button. (Unfortunately alpha/beta releases are not currently available for the Microsoft Store version of the app).

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You can also join the conversation over at the forum.

It took awhile, but I implemented XMP metadata support. The thing is, you won’t actually see anything in the app for this. XMP metadata is preserved when loading images that have it if they’re a supported format (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, JPEG XR, HEIC, AVIF, WEBP), but there is no UI for viewing or editing, or even an indication that this is happening. Funny how things work out like that sometimes :)

I increased the quality of the selection outline. And by that I mean that I increased it from 4 frames of animation all the way up to … 8 (with double the framerate). I think it looks great In order to make sure it didn’t take 2x as long to render, and take up 2x as much memory, I did some clever stuff™. Note that this will use more GPU processing power while the selection is actively animating on your screen, and as such it’s important to tell me if your laptop feels excessively burdened (loud fans, high CPU/GPU usage, battery draining too fast). Early testing indicates it’s still pretty good in this area.

The Magic Wand tool’s history actions should now be a lot faster. By that I mean undo/redo will be faster when you’re in a chain of things like “Change Tolerance Type” or if you’re moving the anchor point around. The computed selection geometry will be cached and stored in the history files, which means it won’t be recomputed again if you go back to that point in history (assuming you didn’t make another change that canceled the computation). This can greatly improve performance when working with large images.

So, those 3 areas will need attention: loading/saving images (and checking if XMP is preserved if you’re interested), selection stuff, and Magic Wand stuff. Just stress test them as much as you can :)

Changes since 4.2.10:

  • New: XMP metadata is now preserved for supported file types (PDN, JPEG, PNG, TIFF, JPEG XR, HEIC, AVIF, WEBP)
  • New: Belarusian translation
  • New: Greek translation
  • Changed: The selection outline animation is now smoother (2x the framerate)
  • Fixed: The NVIDIA sharpening setting will no longer cause trippy distortions in the canvas area
  • Fixed an issue with loading very small TGA images, first reported here: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/116100-tga-rle-truecolor-1×1-image-failed-to-load/. Thanks @null54 for the fix!
  • Fixed a PropertyNotFoundException error message when saving JPEG images with a particular ordering of metadata. This was due to a bug in Windows 7’s WIC JPEG codec. First reported here: https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/116079-jpg-cant-save-some-file/
  • Fixed clipped text rendering in the Curves adjustment dialog in some non-English translations.
  • Fixed a crash when running the app with a DPI scaling setting of 500%
  • Fixed some IndirectUI controls not honoring their default values if also initialized in read only (disabled) mode. Thanks @BoltBait for the fix!
  • Fixed a memory leak in the effect system that was causing 1 orphaned thread per effect invocation
  • New: Added /openCrashLogFolder command-line argument. This is particularly useful when combined with protocol launching, e.g. Start -> Run -> paintdotnet:/openCrashLogFolder. This is intended for simplifying troubleshooting scenarios and workflow.
  • Updated WebPFileType plugin to version 1.3.3.0, which adds XMP metadata support. Thanks @null54!
  • Updated DDSFileTypePlus plugin to version 1.10.3. This fixes an issue with saving in the A1R5G5B5, A4R4G4B4, and R5G6B5 formats, and adds support for reading files that use a ‘BC7\0’ FourCC. Thanks @null54!