Software update: Paint.NET 3.20 alpha 1

Yesterday the first alpha releases of version 3.20 of Paint.NET came out. This photo editing program owes its name to the fact that it is developed in C#, and version 2.0 of the .NET Framework is therefore required to run the program. Upgrading to this version can be done from within the program itself (provided ‘Also check for beta releases’ is enabled), or a 1.37 megabyte web installer can be used. this page are downloaded. Below are all the changes made since version 3.10:

New:

• Ability to do ‘Fixed Size’ and ‘Fixed Ratio’ selection drawing with the Rectangle Select tool
• Added selection ‘combine mode’ (replace, add, subtract, xor) to the toolbar. This makes this feature much more discoverable.
• Added magic wand / paint bucket ‘flood mode’ (contiguous, global) to the toolbar. This makes this feature much more discoverable.
• Mandelbrot and Julia fractal render effects.
• Implemented new property and UI systems that makes it much easier to develop effect plugins. Authors may now specify properties with default, min, and max values ​​and the UI for this will be dynamically generated. (instead of the author having to spend hours writing WinForms code)
• Better error handling for plugin effects. They will no longer crash Paint.NET, and will provide easier access to the diagnostic and support information.
• If a plugin fails to load, then a “View Plugin Load Errors” item will be added to the File menu.
• Added ‘Coverage’ property to the Add Noise effect.
• Added ‘Center’ (offset) property to Radial Blur, Zoom Blur, Bulge, and Twist effects. This allows you to set the center of rendering, complete with an image underlay preview.
• Added ability to do counter-clockwise rotation in the Twist effect. Also added ability to change the size of the twisted area in the Twist effect.
• Added text to installer to remind people that Paint.NET is free of charge, and if they paid for it (other than to donate), then they should ask for a refund (eg eBay swindlers).

Changed:

• In Frosted Glass effect, the performance was highly optimized. Increased max radius to 200 (instead of 10), and added ‘minimum scatter radius’ and ‘smoothness’ properties.
• Enhanced all built-in effects and adjustments (except for Layers, Curves, and Rotate/Zoom) to use the new effect UI system.
• Reorganized Effects menu into categories: Artistic, Blurs, Distort, Noise, Photo, Render, Stylize.
• Command link buttons now look better in Windows Vista.
• Moved ‘Median’ from the Blurs menu to the Noise menu.
• Rendering for the ‘angle chooser’ control is nicer now.

Fixed:

• Header label flickering in some parts of the UI.
• Some window activation issues with the Save Configuration Dialog if you switched to another program and back while it was open.
• Some buttons and checkboxes were not honoring the theme animations in Windows Vista.

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