Paint.Net 4.0 Released

Paint.Net 4.0 Released
June 24 2014

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the extensive alpha and beta releases with all the bug reports, crash log submissions, and general feedback. It has all been a tremendous help in creating the best paint.net release ever! It’s been a long time coming, but I think it’s worth it.

There are a few ways to get the new version:
• The preferred way: If you’re using Paint.NET v3.5.x, go to the Utilities menu and click on “Check for Updates.” If you’re using a pre-release version of 4.0 (beta or release candidate), go to the Settings dialog, then to the Updates section, and then click “Check Now.”
• You can also download it directly from the website, http://www.getpaint.net/ . There is no need to uninstall the old version: that will be taken care of automatically.

Whats New
• System Requirements
Windows 7 SP1 or newer is now required.
.NET Framework 4.5 is now required, and will be installed if needed.
A dual-core (or more!) processor is highly recommended.
Hardware acceleration (GPU) via Direct2D is now supported.
Please disable this in the Settings dialog if you experience visual artifacts.
• Performance
A brand new, asynchronous, fully multithreaded rendering engine allows performance to scale very well with respect
to the number of CPU cores whether you have 2, 4, 6, or even 16 of them.
The responsiveness of the user interface has been greatly improved, especially when working with large images.
Memory usage is lower.
Improved battery life impact due to fixing the way the floating windows manage their transparency.
Startup performance when many plugins are installed is improved, thanks to the Multicore JIT feature introduced in .NET 4.5.
• Selections
Selections are now antialiased, which greatly improves the quality around the edges of selected content.
You can turn this on and off at any time from the toolbar.
Everything related to selections now has much higher performance and greatly reduced CPU usage, especially if hardware acceleration (GPU) is enabled.
The selection outline is now rendered using the “dancing ants” animation, which greatly improves the contrast between it and the image itself.
• General
The functionality previously provided by the Utilities, Window, and Help menus has been simplified, consolidated,
and moved to the top-right corner of the main window. and much much more...

Download: Paint.NET v4.0

 

Beware : Windows 7 or later only

 

Thanks for the news! I tried a few years ago to learn how to use it. Just can't get the layers thing figured out. Maybe when I retire...

 

Thanks, I love this program.

 

Looks nice, although it took me a while to get used to some of the UI changes they made, mostly involving moving displayed info and buttons. In particular, if you're set for "zoom to screen", my usual mode for working, the percentage of actual size used to be large and conspicuous at the top, but is now a much smaller font down in the status bar. And Effects/Photo/Red-eye removal doesn't seem to be as efficient as in the old version, sometimes failing to remove all red even at the highest strength setting.