Corel Painter IX

Painter IX adds another benefit that soon proves invaluable. With the new Align to Path option you can force your brush strokes to follow the edges of any underlying shape or path. Effectively, you can set up your strokes before you paint them.

This is what working with Painter is all about: recreating traditional art media as realistically as possible, but doing it with all the benefits of working within a computer environment - multiple undo, layer handling, infinite supplies of paint and so on.

Overall, this isn't a breakthrough release like version 8's major rationalisation, but Corel has done just enough to ensure that Painter IX remains the must-have application for those interested in the creative potential of PC-based art.

Author: Tom Arah