I've been using paint.net for years now and it does have some pros.
- Sufficient even for mid-complexity art tasks
- Nice, simple interface
- Plenty of plugins
I don't mind the proprietary format -- since I'm usually just doing quick tasks in it, I'm either saving as jpg or png, or don't expect to need to open the pdn file at some later time or in other software.
However for anyone looking to start with something new, I'd really recommend using Krita or some other more recent program. Paint.net's available plugins are wildly disorganized, spread across at least one forum and hundreds of threads, often out of date or not working as intended, etc.
Great community and they deserve all the praise for maintaining free software for many years, but much like Gimp, it's just not the best free option available anymore.
If there is one thing about Paint.net that I really like, it is that is has separate, simple controls for manipulating a selection independently of whatever the selection is selecting. Like you can move the marching ants around super easy. Years ago I had a job that involved a lot of cropping + rescaling images and my workflow with paint.net was so much faster than anything else
I have tried all but pdn is the best software for quick editing. In the time it takes for Krita or GIMP to launch, I'm already halfway in pdn. I really miss it when using Linux.
It's also Windows only and one of the few things still holding me back from going full KDE. Krita is frankly overcomplicated for basic everyday stuff and Pinta is a decent clone with the same workflow and shortcuts, but still falls short in most aspects and is not very performant.
I use Paint.Net on my Windows machines. It's a great piece of software—and free. I bought the Microsoft Store version to support the author, although I continue to install the free download.
I also run https://github.com/viliusle/miniPaint using Cloudflare Pages so it's hosted in one of my sub-domains as minipaint.[mydomainhere] and it's great for quick jobs.
Paint.net is the one thing I missed when I switched from Windows to Mac when M1 came out.
It's a brilliant quick photo editor.
People say to use Pinta on Mac but it's not the same. The closest I've found is Pixelmator Pro, which is also awesome, but is not free and quite a bit heavier than Paint.net.
Paint.Net is by far the best non-pro graphics editor ever. So practical and intuitive. To me lack of Paint.Net seems the biggest problem of desktop Linux, also of Mac. Sadly Pinta appears buggy. But it still is tolerable and has no real alternative. Both Photoshop and GIMP feel too unintuitive and this way take too much time to do simple things when you are not a graphics pro. GIMP also arguably looks ugly. Paint.Net is a great example of the whole UX (intuitiveness, convenience and aesthetics) done right.
As I understand Paint.Net it is a WPF app. I wish the author would just use Avalonia XPF to port it to Linux and Mac. XPF is a drop-in replacement for WPF which can easily make WPF apps cross-platform for some money. I wouldn't mind paying my share.
Many quality Mac apps are not free. Fair enough IMO, then we know the developer gets some income for their work and hopefully stay motivated to refine the application.
My favourite in this category is Flying Meat’s Acorn. Really nice.
I am not sure how it compares to recent versions of Paint.NET, but on my Apple desktop computer, I like to use Aseprite [0] (which is also not free). At the very least, Aseprite seems to have more features compared to the Paint.NET version that came with my Windows 10 installation (I think).
It's more of a graphic program for game design, but still very good in my opinion. And multiplatform, so usable on Windows and Linux as well.
I switched over to pixlr web apps and I love them - definitely recommend checking them out. I pay for premium (like $3/mo maybe) purely because I want to support them, not for the features.
Oh yes. I found Paint.Net and used it for many years as a quick photo editing solution. It's lightweight, reasonably fast and sophisticated enough for most daily tasks. However, I find I no longer install it on my new Windows boxes because of Photopea. Photopea is kind of a Photoshop Express clone and runs entirely in the browser. It's amazing how fast and easy photo editing software can be. WASM is really amazing stuff!
If you want a cross-platform photo editing tool, give it a try!
paint.net is one of the only pieces of software that I miss from Windows. After having started with Tux Paint, I found paint.net extremely intuitive and easy to use (very nice for making goofy memes in middle/high school, and quick/easy drawings). I think that even after not having used it for years I am still more productive in it than I am in, say, Photoshop or GIMP.
I have found Pinta (pinta-project.com) is a great replacement that works on Linux. I don't use it very often anymore but last time I did it was basically a drop-in replacement.
Slightly related, if someone wants Photoshop like features, I would recommend Photopea. It's basically photoshop but all processing is done in browser and doesn't need to be installed.
Did something new happen with paint.net? Or just a post to remind us?
I love paint.net. Recently purchased a windows store license for it. Clearly a winner for most of the image editing needs I have, for things like basic cropping, dpi changes, or changing formats. I treat it like I did GraphicConverter on Mac. Just a beloved image tool.
Lately I’ve been using it for simple file conversion with roll20, to hand-tune my assets for small downloads with webp.
Like many others, I was a die hard Paint.NET person while Windows-only. When I went multiplatform 8 years ago, Krita took its place. Bulkier, buggier and in some ways less convenient, but so many great features and fully cross platform. I tried pdn again recently and was shocked at the chaos that plugins still are.
I recall trying Gimp 2.99 with the new UI some years ago (they take their time don't they) and finally liking it a lot. I would love for it to get a popularity boost like Blender did.
It is one of few softwares, I believe MSFT should simply sponsor and promote, maybe make it opensource. It is a perfect application, Windows only built in dotnet, loved by users and has a perfect positioning.
> Initially, Paint.NET was released under a modified version of the MIT License, with the exclusion of the installer, text, and graphics.[7] However, citing issues with the open source code being plagiarized by others that had rebranded the software as their own and bundled user content without their permission, the availability of the source code was restricted, in December 2007 Brewster announced his intent to restrict access to components of the program (including its installer, resources, and user interface).[8] In November 2009, the software was made proprietary, restricting the sale or creation of derivative works of the software.[8][9] [[1]]
I quit using it when it wasn't anymore.
I now use Pixelmator Pro on macOS, and I love it, but it isn't FOSS. Price was OK though. Is it the best? I don't know.
This was _the_ one thing that kept me switching from Windows to Linux.
Bit the bullet and now I full time use Krita and Linux Mint. But it doesn't stop me from pulling it open anytime I need to do work on a Windows PC. Great for Cg (with its builtin .dds support!) and texture work (.vtf and other plugins)
The community has been good to me. Good piece of software.
I use a Mac now, but have a Windows VM running in Parallels. Paint.net is one of the first apps I installed on that VM. It's ridiculously easy and intuitive.
The closest program I've found for Mac is Pixelmator Pro, but it's not free, and the UI/workflow is more complex in my opinion. Paint.NET is still one of my favorite pieces of software on Windows.
Since I didn't see it mentioned, my multiplatform (Java based) alternative to Paint.net is Pixelitor, https://pixelitor.sourceforge.io/
Something in between MS Paint - Paint.net I think.
I also use XPaint; it's quite capable but the interface is very different, too much deviated from usual GUI apps.
Been using paint.net for years. The only downside it has is mentioning it's name, because people keep going to the completely unrelated "paint.net" website. Super fucking annoying.
Anyhow, the only paint program I've used in years. I consider it to be the modern Deluxe Paint ][. Can't get anyone to use it though, because they're all clueless normies stuck in the belief they need to use PhotoShop for everything.
If that makes no sense to you, consider the insane amount of people who buy an expensive DSLR, because they believe it makes them better photographers. Hint: It doesn't.
I fully agree with a lot of that. It's the modern Deluxe Paint in a lot of ways.
I've had web developers hear "paint.net" and think Microsoft Paint (maybe the ".net" makes them think Microsoft), and why am I using something so basic?
> insane amount of people who buy an expensive DSLR
I'm not with you at all on that one. DSLR sales have plummeted every year for the last decade. "Normies", as you put it, think their smartphone camera is a high-end camera and all they could possibly ever need for taking top-quality photographs. The appalling noise their tiny sensors produce seems to have become so normalised, they don't even notice.
Yep, I'm happy with Pinta as Paint.NET alternative on macOS.
Sometimes, I feel GIMP is a bit complicated when I typically want simple quick processes like cropping, paintbrush, etc.
this app is almost as old as dotNet and always felt like a showcase. it works, but understand your concerns. especially as the format is exclusive to their app (and the only way to have layers)
When I remember right, Paint.net has this funny origin story: someone wanted to proof that .NET was not suitable for delivering a paint application. He proofed himself otherwise and made a permanent job out of it.
Paint.net is great. I even purchased it from the Windows store even though you can install it for free outside of that channel. The one thing that does annoy me about it is that there's no way to dock the floating windows. I'm sure being able to rearrange them is great for some people's workflows but for me, I'd prefer them just to be docked to the main window. Maybe something like Visual Studio where everything can be docked to any side or completely undocked but just a everything docked option would be fine for me.
Always choose this app but find myself using Irfan view for printing nearly every time as the Windows native print dialog which paint.net and other image apps use to be severely lacking.
Ah, memories. When I was on Windows I did all my edits and 'shops in this. Capable enough for layering and clone stamping, I touched up images of friends and I in absurd situations. E.g. a photo of us camping was made to look like a battle scene from Call of Duty 4. Then I shared it on Fb for a few likes and comments.
I wonder if the younger generation still make time for things like this. Wouldn't have happened without Paint.NET, I was too conscientious to pirate Photoshop.
The main thing I remember about Paint.net are forced updates and being the only software besides windows update to create system restore points. Always felt a bit overkill for updating a basic graphics program. It was great to have something free with more features than Paint and less complicated than GIMP though.
It's sad to see that paint.net (the domain) is parked now. Back in the day they had a little notice at the top of their site for people (like me) who were looking for Paint.NET's website. I always thought that was super cool of them because they didn't have to do that.
recently i went looking for a (slightly more featureful) mspaint.exe replacement for linux and found https://maoschanz.github.io/drawing/ to be serviceable.
Regarding its native file format, IIRC it's a dump (aka serialization) of the internal structures used in the program. More or less like the old Office did for its native doc and xls files.
Photopea.com! It's basically a free version of Photoshop.
I haven't used paint.net in like a decade(maybe 2 decades). I didn't like the interface at all. And it seemed to heavily rely on .NET graphics APIs, which are fine, I guess. Hopefully it's improved since then. Doesn't sound like it. Closed source now? Meh.
Disappointing to see that they still didn't port it to other platforms after all these years. I thought that should be easy to do since .net is multiplatform.
I can't say I understand the strategy, there are enough painting programs for Windows (which they even seem to focus on extra much on the frontpage of the website too) yet they are donation based but exclude other platforms.
Paint.Net is an example of how to make great apps. Very focused, fast and easy to use.
I tried multiple alternatives, including Krita, which was the most decent. But its layout, speed, colorschemes, behaviors and some visual bugs are meh compared to subj. The most annoying is its content window black-flash when the cursor crosses the border.
Btw, does someone know a good SD webui plugin for PDN?
proprietary app, proprietary format (pdn), which coincidentally is the only supported one that works with layers. save yourself the trouble of locking yourself into this format and app.
telchior|1 year ago
- Sufficient even for mid-complexity art tasks
- Nice, simple interface
- Plenty of plugins
I don't mind the proprietary format -- since I'm usually just doing quick tasks in it, I'm either saving as jpg or png, or don't expect to need to open the pdn file at some later time or in other software.
However for anyone looking to start with something new, I'd really recommend using Krita or some other more recent program. Paint.net's available plugins are wildly disorganized, spread across at least one forum and hundreds of threads, often out of date or not working as intended, etc.
Great community and they deserve all the praise for maintaining free software for many years, but much like Gimp, it's just not the best free option available anymore.
_zamorano_|1 year ago
Offers basic functionality, that allows the user to easily achieve most goals.
It's not intended as a Photoshop replacement (GIMP tries to) or a professional tool.
But most other users will find that what they're trying to achieve is straightforward compared to other options.
pdntspa|1 year ago
blackbeans|1 year ago
moffkalast|1 year ago
NoxiousPluK|1 year ago
forgotpwd16|1 year ago
owlstuffing|1 year ago
freitasm|1 year ago
I also run https://github.com/viliusle/miniPaint using Cloudflare Pages so it's hosted in one of my sub-domains as minipaint.[mydomainhere] and it's great for quick jobs.
cglong|1 year ago
pogue|1 year ago
How does it compare to something like photopea.com ?
FredPret|1 year ago
It's a brilliant quick photo editor.
People say to use Pinta on Mac but it's not the same. The closest I've found is Pixelmator Pro, which is also awesome, but is not free and quite a bit heavier than Paint.net.
qwerty456127|1 year ago
As I understand Paint.Net it is a WPF app. I wish the author would just use Avalonia XPF to port it to Linux and Mac. XPF is a drop-in replacement for WPF which can easily make WPF apps cross-platform for some money. I wouldn't mind paying my share.
cpach|1 year ago
My favourite in this category is Flying Meat’s Acorn. Really nice.
wsc981|1 year ago
It's more of a graphic program for game design, but still very good in my opinion. And multiplatform, so usable on Windows and Linux as well.
---
[0]: https://www.aseprite.org/
jokoon|1 year ago
some software can't be replaced and don't have good enough alternatives, and prevent me from switch to linux
windows is getting worse, but not bad enough to justify me switching to linux, exactly because of those softwares
it's odd in a way, because the free software for windows is generally higher in quality that the one I find on linux.
And Gimp will never replace paint.net. Inkscape also have a very difficult UI.
dsego|1 year ago
soared|1 year ago
sinuhe69|1 year ago
If you want a cross-platform photo editing tool, give it a try!
moffkalast|1 year ago
firebot|1 year ago
mnurzia|1 year ago
dsage|1 year ago
No affiliation, just something I have used.
busymom0|1 year ago
pureheartlover|1 year ago
UberFly|1 year ago
mlvljr|1 year ago
uobytx2|1 year ago
I love paint.net. Recently purchased a windows store license for it. Clearly a winner for most of the image editing needs I have, for things like basic cropping, dpi changes, or changing formats. I treat it like I did GraphicConverter on Mac. Just a beloved image tool.
Lately I’ve been using it for simple file conversion with roll20, to hand-tune my assets for small downloads with webp.
barlog|1 year ago
The project was originally started by WSU (Washington State University)'s Rick Brewster and his team with backed MSFT.
But it wasn't adopted for Windows.
unknown|1 year ago
[deleted]
Jare|1 year ago
I recall trying Gimp 2.99 with the new UI some years ago (they take their time don't they) and finally liking it a lot. I would love for it to get a popularity boost like Blender did.
blackoil|1 year ago
Fnoord|1 year ago
> Initially, Paint.NET was released under a modified version of the MIT License, with the exclusion of the installer, text, and graphics.[7] However, citing issues with the open source code being plagiarized by others that had rebranded the software as their own and bundled user content without their permission, the availability of the source code was restricted, in December 2007 Brewster announced his intent to restrict access to components of the program (including its installer, resources, and user interface).[8] In November 2009, the software was made proprietary, restricting the sale or creation of derivative works of the software.[8][9] [[1]]
I quit using it when it wasn't anymore.
I now use Pixelmator Pro on macOS, and I love it, but it isn't FOSS. Price was OK though. Is it the best? I don't know.
[[1]] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint.NET
alisonatwork|1 year ago
The other one I love is MusicBee, which is a fantastic music library organizer and player.
I always try to pick open source options when they're available, but these two apps are so great it's hard to find a replacement.
kqcso|1 year ago
https://photodemon.org/
cobertos|1 year ago
Bit the bullet and now I full time use Krita and Linux Mint. But it doesn't stop me from pulling it open anytime I need to do work on a Windows PC. Great for Cg (with its builtin .dds support!) and texture work (.vtf and other plugins)
The community has been good to me. Good piece of software.
stkai|1 year ago
OsrsNeedsf2P|1 year ago
If you just want a MS Paint replacement, KolourPaint[1] is the way to go
[0] https://krita.org/en/ [1] https://apps.kde.org/en-gb/kolourpaint/
wildrhythms|1 year ago
krackout|1 year ago
I also use XPaint; it's quite capable but the interface is very different, too much deviated from usual GUI apps.
MrYellowP|1 year ago
Anyhow, the only paint program I've used in years. I consider it to be the modern Deluxe Paint ][. Can't get anyone to use it though, because they're all clueless normies stuck in the belief they need to use PhotoShop for everything.
If that makes no sense to you, consider the insane amount of people who buy an expensive DSLR, because they believe it makes them better photographers. Hint: It doesn't.
abanana|1 year ago
I've had web developers hear "paint.net" and think Microsoft Paint (maybe the ".net" makes them think Microsoft), and why am I using something so basic?
> insane amount of people who buy an expensive DSLR
I'm not with you at all on that one. DSLR sales have plummeted every year for the last decade. "Normies", as you put it, think their smartphone camera is a high-end camera and all they could possibly ever need for taking top-quality photographs. The appalling noise their tiny sensors produce seems to have become so normalised, they don't even notice.
snvzz|1 year ago
- It is not open source.
- It does only run on Windows.
Alternatives include Krita, Pinta and The GIMP.
anta40|1 year ago
gbraad|1 year ago
oaiey|1 year ago
steve1977|1 year ago
https://betanews.com/2006/02/27/interview-a-look-inside-pain...
Mountain_Skies|1 year ago
conorgdaly|1 year ago
HeckFeck|1 year ago
I wonder if the younger generation still make time for things like this. Wouldn't have happened without Paint.NET, I was too conscientious to pirate Photoshop.
ChrisArchitect|1 year ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34334780
matchamatcha|1 year ago
freedomben|1 year ago
5-|1 year ago
YourCupOTea|1 year ago
luismedel|1 year ago
emeril|1 year ago
it runs extremely fast on any modern windows box
3836293648|1 year ago
ramon156|1 year ago
rnewme|1 year ago
harha_|1 year ago
stormed|1 year ago
omnibrain|1 year ago
pkz|1 year ago
firebot|1 year ago
I haven't used paint.net in like a decade(maybe 2 decades). I didn't like the interface at all. And it seemed to heavily rely on .NET graphics APIs, which are fine, I guess. Hopefully it's improved since then. Doesn't sound like it. Closed source now? Meh.
unknown|1 year ago
[deleted]
Aardwolf|1 year ago
I can't say I understand the strategy, there are enough painting programs for Windows (which they even seem to focus on extra much on the frontpage of the website too) yet they are donation based but exclude other platforms.
GartzenDeHaes|1 year ago
wruza|1 year ago
I tried multiple alternatives, including Krita, which was the most decent. But its layout, speed, colorschemes, behaviors and some visual bugs are meh compared to subj. The most annoying is its content window black-flash when the cursor crosses the border.
Btw, does someone know a good SD webui plugin for PDN?
pxoe|1 year ago
davikr|1 year ago
anon115|1 year ago