Software Update: Paint.NET 2.1 Final

After four betas and two release candidates, the final release of version 2.1 of Paint.NET has finally been released. This program can be seen as a replacement for the MS Paint included with Windows and is being developed in C# by some people from Washington State University in collaboration with Microsoft. The software only works under Windows XP or 2000 and of course the .NET FrameWork will have to be installed. In version 2.1, improvements have mainly been made to the speed of the program, the compatibility and the quality of the images. Below are all the differences compared to version 2.0:

Changes in Paint.NET 2.1

• Many bug fixes and miscellaneous user interface tweaks.
• Installation via Group Policy is now supported.
• Rendering quality, usage, and performance of selections is improved.
• Much better performance all around.
• Magic Wand selection tool.
• Ellipse/circle selection tool.
• PNG transparency is now supported.
• GIF save quality significantly improved.
• JPEG quality selector and preview, and file size preview.
• Upgraded PDN file format to support very large images.
• Thumbnails are now shown for .PDN files in Windows Explorer.
• Much higher quality rendering when zooming out.
• Background layer is no longer “locked”.
• EXIF data is now preserved for supporting file formats.
• Lower memory usage. History items are now saved to disk instead of completely stored in memory.
• Better Tablet PC support. Also, Ink isn’t used unless you have a Tablet PC; this has increased compatibility and performance on regular systems.
• Ability to resize image based on a percentage.
• Brand new image resampling routines for Image->Resize menu item (no more transparent borders).
• No more flickering in the UI.
• More optimizations for multiprocessor and multicore systems.
• Startup time is greatly reduced.

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