Wednesday, July 24th, 2013 Posted by Jim Thacker

Corel ships Painter X3

Corel has released Painter X3 (that’s ‘Painter 13’ in ordinary product-numbering terms), the latest update to its natural media digital painting package.

As you might expect in a product with a relatively mature toolset, the changes are mainly workflow-related, but there are several nice additions.

Better brush editing and previews
In the workflow category, there is now a new brush search engine, and the option to highlight only the key properties of a brush rather than the scores that can actually be adjusted, to speed up brush editing.

You can also now preview the stroke before using a brush, eliminating the need to create test canvases; and there is the option to view the cloning crosshairs on a source image alongside the image you’re cloning it into.

New jitter options and perspective guides
In the new features category, there is a set of new jitter brushes, and Photoshop-like options to add jitter to existing brushes: not just for size, but for properties like opacity, angle and grain.

But the thing that caught our eye was the new perspective guides: just adjust the vanishing points, and your brush strokes snap automatically to the grid, ensuring accurate one, two or three-point perspective. Handy.

Painter X3 is out now for Windows and Mac, price $429. The press release below has more details, or you can see demo videos of the new features on Corel’s website.

PRESS RELEASE (Excerpts)
Corel today announced the availability of the English version of Painter® X3, the world’s leading digital art software known for its hundreds of brushes, paper textures and media that perfectly emulate real-world art materials. As an innovator in digital art, Painter X3 continues to inspire artists with unique tools such as new Jitter brushes that produce more organic art and flow maps that direct the saturation of wet media as it interacts with the canvas. In addition, artists will save more time with workflow enhancements when cloning with crosshairs, drawing in perspective and transforming multiple layers. For both new and experienced Painter users, the Brush Search engine now makes it easier to find the perfect brush, while the advanced brush controls simplify the customisation options.

Painter® X3 Feature Highlights
Every day, artists around the world trust Painter to explore their creativity, produce stunning work with ease and deliver art that amazes their clients. Whether for photo art, traditional art, illustrations, concept art or designs, Painter X3 introduces new tools to further enhance the ultimate digital art studio:

  • Jitter Brushes
    Introduce elements of randomness to your brush strokes by adding universal Jitter properties to any brush expression or by using one of the 25 new Jitter brushes
  • Brush Search Engine
    Find the perfect brush that inspires you within seconds simply by typing terms in the search bar such as brush names or properties, and ensure they’re what you’re looking for with the enhanced Live Stroke preview
  • Crosshair Cloning
    Position the source image beside the clone and take advantage of the crosshairs which mark where you are cloning from, allowing you to focus on the creation
  • Perspective Guides
    Speed up the creation of an object with dimension by using the snap tool to draw in 1-,2-, or 3-point perspective and accurately portray spatial depth
  • Smart Brush Controls
    Change brush properties more easily now – only the settings that can be tweaked will be displayed in the panel
  • Reference Image Panel
    Open a reference image in the new panel to keep a visual source of inspiration within sight as you paint, without toggling between windows
  • Multi-Layer Transformation
    Apply a transformation to a selection across multiple layers
  • Flow Maps
    Create unique and irregular patterns with this technology that directs wet media across the canvas to produce less saturation at the peaks of the canvas texture and more saturation in the valleys, just like colors would with real-world materials

Pricing and Availability
Corel Painter X3 is available in English and can be downloaded from Corel’s website at www.corel.com/painter The box versions will start shipping in two weeks. The full version of Painter X3 is available for UK £311 (including VAT) and the upgrade, for registered Painter 11 and 12 users, is available for UK £156 (including VAT). Commercial and education volume licenses are also available.

Read more about Painter X3 on Corel’s website
(Includes download link for the 30-day trial)