Painter 8 makes your screen a canvas

Posted on 11 Apr 2003 at 11:47

Corel has announced Painter 8, a new version of its digital sketching and painting tool.

To try and ensure that Painter 8 replicates the experience and output of traditional media tools, Corel worked closely with professional artists during the development of the product. This has resulted in a redesigned interface, over 400 new brushes and many other new features designed to reproduce on a computer screen everything that artists can create on paper.

New features include: a new Mixer that lets you mix colours interactively as you would using paint and a palette; a new Brush Creator - in addition to the 400 new brushes - that lets you design your own custom brushes; the Sketch Effect lets you convert photographs to pencil drawings with control over the amount of paper grain, heaviness of the pencil line, and level of detail; and Digital Water Color for hand painting line drawings, touching up photographs, and creating simple water color washes.

'Corel Painter 8 replicates the subtleties of an artists' hand with stunning accuracy,' said Brett Denly, vice-president of global marketing at Corel Corporation. 'This realism makes Corel Painter 8 an essential tool for digital artists and technical illustrators as well as story-boarding and production artists. These professionals require dependable tools that accelerate the creative process and deliver flawless results.'

UK pricing and availability has not yet been announced, but should be in line with the US, where Painter 8 will be available in May for $299 US, with upgrades (see below) costing $149.

More information about Painter 8 can be found at www.corel.com/painter8.

Registered users of Adobe Photoshop 5.5, Adobe Photoshop 6, Adobe Photoshop 7 (excluding Photoshop Elements, Photoshop LE and trial versions), Fractal Design Painter 4, FractalDesign Painter 5, MetaCreations Painter 5, MetaCreations Painter 5.5, MetaCreations Painter 6, Corel Painter 6, Painter 7, MetaCreations Painter Classic, Corel Painter Classic and procreate Painter Classic (all versions of Corel Painter and Corel Painter Classic) are eligible to upgrade to Corel Painter 8.

Author: Simon Aughton