| • | What was new in Corel Painter 2019 |
| • | What was new in Corel Painter 2018 |
| • | What was new in Corel Painter 2017 |
| • | What was new in Corel Painter 2016 |
| • | What was new in Corel Painter 2015 |
This topic describes what was new in earlier versions of Corel Painter.
| What was new in Corel Painter 2019 |
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New! Dark user interface theme
You can choose a refreshing, professional interface that makes your artwork the focus. We have meticulously transformed the main user interface elements in Corel Painter 2019 to reveal a darker theme that allows the interface to melt away and painting to take center stage. For more information about themes, see Interface preferences.
The dark theme allows the painting to take center stage. Artwork by Pavel Goloviy.
New! Application icons and controls
Corel Painter 2019 delivers a crisper, cleaner and more responsive environment with over 650 redesigned icons that make the application easier on the eyes, simpler to understand, and more efficient to use. Try the new slider functionality using modifier keys to precisely select values. For information about sliders, see Working with sliders.
The new Stamps brush category includes variants like Atomic (left), Scar (middle). and Tree (right).
Redesigned grabbers in the Color wheel make it easier to see and set colors in the Hue Ring and Saturation/Value Triangle. The new grabbers are also in the Temporal color selector, which can now be pinned so that it’s always at your fingertips. For more information, see Using the color selector.
Enhanced Color wheel selector grabbers help you select colors with ease.
The Enhanced brush ghost displays a representation of a brush variant when the Brush tool is selected, but not actively painting. The instant you start applying media, the Enhanced brush ghost changes to an icon. This delivers a more responsive creative experience, without any lag time, by using strokes that always track directly beneath your stylus. For more information about brush cursor settings, see Brush cursor preferences.
The Enhanced brush ghost eliminates any lag time when you are painting.
Multi-touch enhancements provide a natural sketching and painting experience that you will truly enjoy. Take advantage of a more intuitive way to simultaneously pan, zoom and smoothly rotate your canvas using two fingers on a Windows touch device. To reset your painting view, simply double-tap with two fingers. For more information, see Multi-touch support.
New! Drag to zoom functionality
You can zoom in and out of your document quickly by clicking and dragging with your stylus or mouse. Move to the right to zoom in, and move to the left to zoom out. Holding down the Shift key while clicking and dragging zooms into a specific area of interest. For more information about zoom modes, see Zooming images.
| What was new in Corel Painter 2018 |
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The Thick Paint property bar offers presets for painting technique, as well as quick access to settings that allow you to prevent the brush from running out of paint and control how new brushstrokes blend with existing ones. This makes it easy to jump in and get stunning results right away. Or if you'd rather tinker and experiment to get a certain look, there are new Thick Paint panels where you can modify controls. For more information, see Thick Paint.
Thick Paint brushes create visible brush and knife marks in the painting. Artwork by Cher Pendarvis.
A range of cloning enhancements lets photo artists to do more, in less time.
And when you find or create a clone source that you want to reuse, you can save it with the image as an embedded source or as a texture in the Texture library so it’s always at your fingertips. There’s also an option that lets you embed a clone source in a document, saving you time finding the source when you get back to work and simplifying sharing with other photo artists. For more information, see Image cloning and sampling.
Use cloning techniques to transform your photo into a work of art. Artwork by Bill McEntee
Enhanced! Drip and Liquid brush technologies
Brushes that use the Drip method (all subcategories) or the Plug-in method (Liquid Brush subcategory) are even more versatile in Painter 2018. Take, for example, the Sargent Brush, one of most popular Painter brush variants ever. Loved by artists for its rich brushstrokes, the Sargent Brush can now be used on an empty layer to blend the currently selected color with an oil-like transparency. Alternatively, you can use variants that use drip or liquid technologies to pick up color from underlying layers. What’s more, this step forward in brush technology offers artists of all stripes a range of fresh brushes, opening up a world of possibilities. For more information, see Drip.
And you can fill with texture, whether you created it using the Synthesis feature, imported it to use with a Texture Painting brush, or found it in the Texture library. For more information, see Creating textures.
New! 2.5D Thick Texture brushes
Concept artists and character designers love Texture Painting for its ability to deliver powerful realism, and Painter 2018 takes the experience to a whole new level. New 2.5D Thick Texture brushes apply strokes that feel like they are jumping off the canvas. Do you need to make a character authentically reptilian? You can paint thick, exotic scales that look like they’re rising off the canvas. Or when you need to make skin more lifelike, Thick Texture brushes let you paint cavernous pores and amplify them by adjusting the directional lighting and appearance of depth. For more information, see Add depth to a Texture brush.
An example of a Texture brush that uses the impasto Depth method (left) and the impasto Color and Depth method (right). Model by Cris Palomino.
New! Selection Brush tool and Selection brushes
Because selections are critical to so many digital-art workflows, Corel Painter 2018 gives you more choices when you need to isolate an area of an image. How much time could you save if you could create a selection as easily and precisely as you can apply a brushstroke? The new Selection Brush tool lets you do just that. To make it easier to distinguish between selected and protected areas, you can display a color overlay when you apply a stroke. You can fine-tune the overlay to make it suit the document that you’re working in. There's a new Selection brush category with new variants designed specifically for creating selections when working with a complex shape or image area. There’s also the option of turning any stamp-based brush variant into a selection tool, giving you even more flexibility. What’s more, you can tweak a brush just as if you were using it to paint, then save it as a custom selection variant for reuse. And in response to artist feedback, there are a series of selection improvements in Painter 2018. For more information, see Selecting areas by painting.
New! Natural Media Brushes library
The new Natural-Media brush library makes it easy for artists transitioning from traditional to digital art. It gives quick, one-stop access to brushes that mimic traditional media, from pencils and pastels to oils and acrylics, and much more. If you’ve used it in the real world, chances are you’ll find the digital equivalent in the Natural-Media brush library. You can access the new collection by opening the Brush Selector and choosing Natural Media Brushes from the Brush Library list box. For more information, see Exploring brush categories in the Natural Media Brushes library.
Examples of brushstrokes created with brush variants from the Natural Media Brushes library
Another user request in Painter 2018 is random grain rotation. This new feature slightly rotates the paper grain in each stroke, giving brushstrokes a more natural, organic look. For more information, see Grain controls.
Select your favorite grainy brush, enable Random Grain Rotation, and Corel Painter will slightly rotate the grain in each individual stroke. Brushstrokes with Random Grain Rotation disabled (left) and enabled (right). Grain rotation varies every time you lay down a brushstroke.
| What was new in Corel Painter 2017 |
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Texture Painting isn’t simply manipulating a layer’s opacity. It lets you intelligently blend a texture into existing content using a range of stylus expressions, such as pressure. It respects the transparency of the selected texture, giving you full control of when, where, and how much texture is used. You start by choosing or creating a texture and pairing it with brushes designed specifically for adding texture. And by combining Texture brushes, flexible brush customization options, and the ability to capture and import your own textures, you can add any number of surfaces styles to your work. You can even add Dab Stencils, grain, and smudging to the brushes with all the speed, precision and control you expect from Painter. In addition, you can make your own custom textures from scratch or by modifying a preset texture. For more information see Texture painting.
New! Interactive Gradient tool
In Corel Painter, getting stunning painted backgrounds is easier than ever with the new Interactive Gradient tool. It lets you quickly create and edit a gradient to give paintings a range of depth and lighting variations. If you’re just starting a new document, you can kick-start things by filling the background with a gradient and experimenting with different preset styles. Or if you have an existing sketch or painting, you can apply and tweak a gradient in context of your work with edit nodes. Corel Painter has a library of gradients to choose from, or you can create your own and save it for reuse. For more information see Applying gradients.
Gradients were used in this artwork by Marian Basinger.
New! Gradient Express Painting
When a blank white canvas is blocking your creativity or you need a back-drop for a new concept design, the new Express Paint feature lets you create stunning gradients in a matter of seconds. The new Express Paint feature allows you to apply a wide variety of painting styles automatically to any gradient, creating the speed and inspiration you need in virtually any composition. For more information, see Applying paint effects to gradients.
Corel Painter gives artists more power to craft and create expressive, unique brushstrokes. Dab Stencils let you change the brushstroke opacity before you paint, basing it on the active paper, flow map or texture. You can fine-tune exactly how much source texture to reveal as you paint and link Dab Stencils to a variety of real-time stylus input factors. Using them with the new Texture Brush variants gives you even greater control over the look and feel of your brushstrokes. For more information, see Dab Stencil controls.
The brushstrokes in this artwork use the Dab Stencil feature. Artwork by Melissa Gallo.
Some of the best Painter developments have been the result of user suggestions. Here’s another one — Glazing Brushes. They let you control the evolution of your painting using velvety, translucent paint transitions just like the Renaissance masters. Glazing Brushes deliver stroke-level opacity, so the paint of each brushstroke is applied independently. The paint that each dab deposits on the canvas builds up smoothly from a minimum to a maximum. This creates a smooth blend between colors, with no unwanted colors where dabs overlap. You’ll really see Glazing Brushes at their best when you fluctuate stylus pressure in a single brushstroke. For more information, see Glazing controls.
Glazing brushes were used in this artwork by Héctor Sevilla Luján.
Corel Painter makes it easier than ever to sample color. Sometimes what appears to be a solid-colored area is actually subtly shaded or dithered, so what you see onscreen isn't what you get when you sample a single pixel. Now you can get the color that you're seeing with new Dropper tool options that let you average the colors of pixels in larger sample areas, ranging from 3 × 3 to 101 × 101 pixels. What’s more, you can sample a color from the active layer or from all visible layers. For more information, see Sampling colors from images.
Having the tools that you need right at your fingertips isn’t only important for your productivity, it’s critical for your creativity. That’s why Corel Painter introduces Palette Drawers. This new workflow enhancement strikes the perfect balance between uncluttering your workspace and keeping essential tools handy by letting you combine panels and custom palettes in a convenient grouping — for a particular workflow or project — so the controls and settings are just a click away. And when you’re not using a Palette Drawer, it collapses, freeing up your work area. For more information, see Rearranging panels and palettes.
Optimizing brush and tool settings is important. But time spent tweaking controls is time not spent painting. That's why the property bars have been enhanced to make it easier to adjust brushes. For example, when the Brush tool is active, the enhanced property bar gives you quick access to a range of relevant brush-related panels, saving you time clicking through menus. It also lets you choose new dab profiles on the fly, select media like paper, and view brushstroke info. There’s also a new Extended property bar that gives quick access to even more settings. For more information, see Working with brushes using the property bars.
Enhanced! Brush Selector panel
Corel Painter gives you quicker and easier access to one of the things that makes Painter an industry leader in digital painting — our unrivaled selection of brushes. To that end, you can now display the Brush Selector as a panel. That way, your recently used brush variants are at your fingertips, the entire Brush Library is readily accessible, and you can position it wherever it suits your workflow. And the latest brush packs are available from directly within the Brush Selector. For more information, see Displaying and customizing the Brush Selector.
You can display the Brush Selector as a panel.
Just getting started with a new project in concept art, fine art, illustration, photo-art or manga? This collection of pre-defined user-interface arrangements is designed to kick-start a variety of digital art workflows by displaying only the relevant palettes and tools. There’s even one that displays only minimal UI, freeing up space for tablet users. You can also choose the two workspace layouts that you use most often and quickly switch between them to suit the current task or the display mode of your device using the Quick Switch feature. For more information, see Choosing a workspace layout.
| What was new in Corel Painter 2016 |
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In Corel Painter 2016, you can change the angle of paper textures and flow maps to get an unprecedented variety in the look of your brushstrokes. For more information see Rotating paper texture and To customize a flow map.
Rotatable media can help you vary the look of your brushstrokes.
Corel Painter 2016 makes it easier to preserve custom content when you reset the application to its factory settings. Now when you restore default settings, you can maintain custom brushes and palettes, paper textures, nozzles, scripts and more. In previous versions, retaining any customizations required exporting libraries, restoring default settings, and then importing the libraries. For more information, see Restoring the default Corel Painter settings.
This feature combines Particle System physics and brush-thickness control linked to your touch, allowing you to create luscious Natural-Media brushstrokes or progressive-looking Pollock splatters. You can use this feature with select Bristle, RealBristle and Particle brushes, so you can take full advantage of those revolutionary, Painter-exclusive technologies. For more information, see Dynamic Speckles controls.
Dynamic Speckles generate a continuous brushstroke from discrete spots of color or speckles.
Corel Painter 2016 lets you use an audio input device, such as a microphone, or internal audio to modify the look and feel of any brush. For example, your brushstrokes may change their appearance in synch with streaming music. Audio Expression allows you to link a variety of brush controls to audio input. In addition, you can adjust the strength of an audio signal, controlling its impact on a brush. For example, if you link brush size to quiet audio, increasing the strength will result in wider brushstrokes. Conversely, if the audio is loud, decreasing the strength will result in narrower brushstrokes. In addition, you can set the range of the audio expression to achieve a wider range of brushstroke variation (for example, minimum to maximum brushstroke width) regardless of whether the audio is consistently strong, low, or varies. For more information, see Audio Expression.
Whether you are working on a project, showing your work, or demonstrating a technique, Corel Painter 2016 makes it even easier to switch between document views. You can switch document views from the toolbox, the Window menu, and by using keyboard shortcuts. The Default view shows all the open documents together with commonly used application controls while the Single Document view lets you focus on the active document. The Presentation Mode hides the menu bar and the taskbar of the operating system, leaving only essential controls. For more information, see Switching document views.
Depending on the brush type you are currently working with, context-sensitive brush hints (Help 
Hints) provide useful tips about brush technologies. It’s a great way to discover different ways you can take advantage of a variety of unique Corel Painter features, including Particles, Watercolor brushes, Liquid Ink, Cloner, Impasto, and the new Dynamic Speckles.
At a glance, you can see the effect of high and low setting values.
Adobe Photoshop brush file import
With Corel Painter 2016, you can import the brush stamps of pixel-based Adobe Photoshop brushes stored in Adobe Brush Resource (ABR) files. These files contain a collection of Adobe Photoshop brushes, including shape, texture, dynamics, and other brush information. All other brush attributes specified in the ABR files are not imported, but can be fully customized in Corel Painter. For more information, see Importing Photoshop brush images.
Each imported brush stamp appears as a new brush variant.
You can share content saved to a custom palette.
Whether you are painting with a single color or blending two or more colors on a layer, the Enhanced Layer Blending option can help you produce brushstrokes without white fringes. For more information, see Blending controls.
Brushstrokes without (left) and with (right) Enhanced Layer Blending
| What was new in Corel Painter 2015 |
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Real-Time Stylus and Windows Tablet PC support let you create art on the go.
