Corel Painter IX (Full Product, PC/Mac)

Reviewed by: pirateSam

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Nothing does what Painter does, that hasn't changed ? and it has incrementally increased the efficiency in treating pixels like liquid pigment.

Weaknesses: Doesn't offer as much control over the size and look of the palettes and other controls.

Overall Evaluation: Painter IX is a big improvement over the last version I've used (7, I think) in many areas, and is well worth the purchase. Photoshop is great to paint with, but it is an all-around raster image creation program; Painter is focused sharply on reproducing the sensual perceptions of painting. The only area I can't give it the highest marks in is control over the visual representations of palettes: I shouldn't have to change my monitor's resolution to get a paint mixer large enough, I should be able to expand it to whatever size at whatever resolution I choose, and have more than one open if I choose. I should be able to quickly expand the size of the display type on the controls, yes even if the other big boys don't let you do this ? but they're not trying to create an "In the studio" type of user experience. That said, I'm having a great time using Painter and think it's an amazing application.