Corel Painter 8

Of course, it's a lot to ask users to understand what they can do with each of the 16 control sets, let alone each of the parameters spread between them. The Brush Creator dialog's additional tabs aim to make this easier. Using the Randomizer tab, Painter generates random variations on the current brush, which are displayed visually as preview strokes. The Transposer tab offers more input and control, as you select two brushes and Painter automatically creates intermediate variations. The results can be unexpected, but that's often an advantage and, once a variation takes your fancy, you can always fine-tune it back in the Stroke Designer. Be warned: use of the Brush Creator can be addictive.

In fact, this can be a serious problem - it may be virtually impossible to recreate an unsaved customised brush, but that's often what you have to do if you decide to rework an area of your image. However, Painter's new Brush Tracker palette records each of the last 25 brushes you've used. It's handy for quickly swapping between recently used alternatives, but the system would be much more useful if it only tracked those brushes actually used on the current image, rather than every variation you try out in the Brush Creator. It would be better still if these brush settings were stored in the image file itself.

Photoshop inspiration

Painter 8's main focus is clearly on its interface and brush handling, but there are a number of other important improvements. The first of these are apparent in Painter's layer handling, which now supports layer groups. These are useful for keeping on top of complex compositions, and the layer masks also enable non-destructive masking. Selection handling has been updated too, with the ability to save up to 32 selections as alpha channels in the all-new Channels palette, although, disappointingly, this won't let you work on the separate colour channels.

Both these changes are especially significant as they're clearly inspired by Photoshop and, along with the discount upgrade price for Photoshop users, indicate Corel's determination to make Painter the natural artistic partner to the market-leading photo editor. Most important in this regard is the ability to open and export to PSD format, although this doesn't extend to full support for Photoshop's adjustment layers or Painter's dynamic plug-ins. No-one could say Painter was a mainstream application - that's its strength - but at least it no longer seems wilfully perverse.

Finally, Painter 8 also introduces the Sketch filter, designed to automatically turn existing images into hand-drawn sketches. Using the filter's small preview, you set the sensitivity, smoothing and thresholds, and Painter pulls out the outlines accordingly. It's a useful tool, but don't expect it to work miracles - ultimately, as Painter knows only too well, nothing can replace the eye and hand of the artist.

For those users willing to put in the effort, Painter has always provided rich rewards, and this release not only boosts Painter's power but makes it much more accessible. There's just one problem - reliability. Painter's natural media approach is inherently complex and demanding, and the program has always had a tendency to crash. Sadly, this release is no different, except that this time the program doesn't just crash; it disappears and takes any unsaved work with it.

As it stands, this initial release of Painter 8 isn't ready for production environments. However, assuming Corel improves reliability in a service update, Painter 8.1 should be the release that finally opens up Painter's amazing creative power to everyone, especially at its new attractive price.

Author: Tom Arah