Software Update: Krita 4.0.0

Version 4.0 of Krita has been released. Krita is a program for editing and creating digital drawings, and can handle both bitmap and vector graphics. The program was previously part of Calligra Suite and is being developed by the KDE team, but also works fine under Gnome or XFCE. In addition, there are downloads for Windows and macOS. The release notes for this release can be found below.

Krita 4.0.0 Released!
Today we’re releasing Krita 4.0! A major release with major new features and improvements: improved vector tools, SVG support, a new text tool, Python scripting and much, much, much more! The new splash screen for Krita 4.0, created by Tyson Tan, shows Kiki among the plum blossoms. We had wanted to release Krita 4 last year already, but trials and tribulations caused considerable delays. But, like the plum blossoms that often bloom most vibrantly when it’s coldest, we have overcome, and Krita 4 is now ready!

Highlights
We’ve again created a long, long page with all the details of everything that’s new and improved in Krita 4. See the full release notes with all changes!

We already mentioned SVG support, a new text tool and Python scripting, so here are some other highlights:

• Easy coloring of line art with the new Colorize Mask Tool. Read the manual for more detail!
• Masked brushes: add a mask to your brush tip for a more lively effect. This opens up some really cool possibilities!
• New brush presets! We overhauled the entire brush set for Krita 4. Brush presets are now packaged as a bundle, too. And Krita 3’s brush set is available as well, it’s just disabled by default.

Known issues
Krita 4 is a huge step for the Krita project, as big as, if not bigger than the 3.0 release. There are some known issues and caveats:

• Krita 4 uses SVG for vector layers. This means that Krita 3 files with vector layers may not be loaded entirely correctly. Keep backups!
• Krita 4’s new text tool is still limited compared to what we wanted to implement. We focused on creating a reliable base and making the text tool work reliably for just one, simple use-case: creating text for comic book balloons, and we’ll continue working on improving and extending the text tool.
• We have a new binary build factory for Windows and Linux. Unfortunately, we don’t have 32 bit Windows builds at this point in time.
• Because macOS has a very low limit on shared memory segments, G’Mic cannot work on macOS at the moment.
• The Reference Images Docker has been removed. It was too easy to crash it if invalid image files where present. In Krita 4.1 it will be replaced by a new reference images tool.