Review of Corel Painter IX.5 - Review of Update

Corel with the Painter IX.5 update has made some prominent additions to Painter IX. "Innovative" would be a good word to describe this update.This update is free to registered users of Painter IX.

I will start out by describing the most obvious new aspect to Painter IX.5 which is the ability to easily turn photos into paintings automatically. However, one can still add individual touches to the final product throughout the process. This process can be set up to be done automatically, as I stated previously, using the three palettes shown below.

One takes an original photograph............................

And by creating a clone and manipulating it in the three palettes creates as varied an image automatically as desired.

The Underpainting palette allows for taking the original photo and making minor changes such as making it lighter or changing the contrast, etc. The Auto-Painting palette allows the user to choose a brush and the picture paints itself. The Restoration palette is constructed so that the user can bring up details from the original image. If you look at the last image, you will notice three arrows. The two that are together show two pine trees that are actually further back in the image than is the one selected by the single arrow. However, the two pine trees, as well as much of the other vegetation, has been restored to its original sharp image.

There are other additions to this update - a new Cloner tool, a new Rubber Stamp tool, and a new Eraser tool. All three are located in the toolbox for more ease of use.

There is also new integration with Corel Photo Album. Windows users can send files directly from Painter IX.5 to Corel Photo Album 6. There is new support for Windows users of Paint Shop Pro file formats (versions 9 and X). And on the Mac side, with new support for Rosetta on Intel-based Macs, users can use the Wacom® Intuos® 3 and 6D Art Pen.

The minimum System Requirements for Painter IX.5 are:

Macintosh®:

  • Mac OS® X (version 10.2.8 or higher)
  • Power Macintosh® G3, 500 MHz or greater
  • 128MB of RAM (256MB recommended)
  • Mouse or tablet
  • 24-bit color display
  • 1,024x768 or greater monitor resolution
  • CD-ROM
  • 395MB of available hard disk space
Windows®:
  • Windows 2000 or Windows XP (with latest service packs)
  • Pentium® II, 500 MHz or greater
  • 128 MB RAM (256MB recommended)
  • Mouse or tablet
  • 24-bit color display
  • 1024x768 or greater monitor resolution
  • CD-ROM
  • 380MB of available hard disk space

For more information on the features go to: http://apps.corel.com/painterix/product/new_features_ix5.html

I recommend adding this update, especially if you want to use the automatic painting palettes. However, make sure that you read the installation instructions.