Software Update: Paint Shop Pro 8.01

Jasc Software has released a patch for Paint Shop Pro 8. This update is only for the full version and can be read here. The main changes relate to the general performance. Below is a small selection of the most important innovations:

Changes in Paint Shop Pro 8.01
We’ve made a number of changes to the program to improve overall performance and address known issues reported to us by our customers. The list below cites some of the most significant changes in this version of the program.

• Added full editing integration between Animation Shop 3 and Paint Shop Pro 8. You can now transfer frames from Animation Shop 3 to Paint Shop Pro 8 for additional editing and update back to Animation Shop.
• Fixed a number of issues related to using the Text tool, including entering text with backspacing, multiple-line text and copying/pasting text into the Text Entry dialog box.
• Fixed crashes in several areas that were caused by clicking on a button while processing was being done on the image, eg clicking the Apply button for a tool while a previous Apply was still being processed.
• Fixed crashes that were caused by attempts to use the application during startup, eg pasting an image from the clipboard before the program finished loading.
• Fixed an issue that caused the program to crash when scrolling the style ruler in the Styled Lines dialog.
• Fixed issues that caused the JPEG Optimizer to lock up in certain circumstances.
• Fixed issues that caused color management to work incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue that caused images to print at an incorrect size if they were created with a pixels/cm setting.
• Fixed issues that caused some EXIF ​​data to be cut off and JPEG comments deleted when saving a JPEG file.
• Changed all strings in scripts to be written as Unicode strings (only the Text tool used Unicode in 8.00). This has affected the SimpleCaption script, and could affect any handwritten scripts that manipulate string values.
• Fixed an issue that could cause to scripts to fail if a saved file path did not exist on a different computer.
• Fixed several issues where the incorrect Help topic was displayed.
• Addressed display issues related to changing the color scheme of the Windows display appearance while the program is running.
• Resolved issues that could cause the program to crash when using the Warp tool outside of an active selection.
• Fixed an issue that could cause a script to fail if third-party plug-ins were recorded.
• Fixed issues in the Optimizers that caused some settings to be ignored when saving files.
• Enhanced performance of the Effects Browser when previewing complex effects.
• Resolved an issue that could cause the program to lockup when using the Clear function in the Image Slicer.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the program to lockup when using an open image as a pattern.
• Fixed issue where edit controls would not accept valid numbers if too many digits were present after the decimal point.
• Fixed an issue that caused the image to display incorrectly after using Crop to Selection.
• Fixed an issue that caused an endless loop when printing images from the Browser that require user input for the size of a bounding box.
• Fixed an issue in the Canvas size dialog where units other than Pixels were being ignored.
• Corrected issues that caused incorrect cropping when using the Perspective Correction tool.
• Corrected an issue that caused the Perspective Correction tool to fail when there were no vanishing points set.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the Text Entry dialog not to appear if the monitor settings had been changed.
• Fixed an issue that caused images to not be positioned correctly when using Picture Frames.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the program to crash if a default printer was not set.
• Resolved an issue that caused the program to not embed valid Digimarc watermarks.
• Fixed issues related to using negative numbers in the Resize Canvas dialog.
• Fixed an issue that caused printing from the Browser to ignore the image orientation setting.
• Improved performance of JPEG Artifact Removal adjustment on large images. I
• improved performance of proofing functions in effects and adjustments.
• Fixed an issue that could cause the program to crash if rapid changes were made to the mesh parameters of the Mesh Warp tool.
• Fixed an issue that caused the program to crash if the Clone brush attempted to read transparency data off the image canvas.
• Fixed an issue that caused a floating selection to be created with no image data or selection marquee, which could lead to a program crash.
• Fixed an issue that caused the program to crash after resizing the Save As dialog when using the JPEG, GIF or PNG Optimizer.
• Added PCDLib32.dll to the Animation Shop folder. Without this file, the program would not launch if started directly from the program folder (worked fine when launched from Paint Shop Pro or the Start menu).
• Fixed an issue that caused the program to crash after double-clicking the Text tool on a floating selection.
• Fixed an issue that caused the brush outline of the Warp brush to not be drawn correctly when used outside of a selection.
• Updated file format support to correctly read TIFF files created by AGFA Snapscan e52 scanner and Scanwise software.
• Fixed an issue that caused a selection to shift when using the Mirror or Flip commands.
• Modified behavior of Zoom In By 5 Steps command to allow zooming all the way to 5000%.
• Increased the default value of the Miter Limit so that points are not cut off as often.
• Fixed an issue with the Crop tool that caused incorrect alpha channel information to be added to an image.
• Fixed a crash that occurred when the Sample Merged control was turned off in the Histogram Adjustment window when viewing a paletted image.
• Fixed an issue that caused an Adjustment Layer to be incorrectly merged with image data when using the Merge Down command.
• Added a “Preset Converter” script to convert Paint Shop Pro 7 presets to a format Paint Shop Pro 8 understands.
• Updated the Script Authoring document included with the program to Revision 3.
• Addressed many other issues that affected overall product performance, stability and consistency.

Known Issues & Changes
The following are known issues or changes from previous versions of Paint Shop Pro that may affect your use of Paint Shop Pro 8:

• Lines and preset shapes can appear excessively jagged when “anti-aliasing” is turned off and a small stroke width is selected.
• The rendering of gradients used on text objects has changed from Paint Shop Pro 7. Previously gradients were applied separately to each character in a text string; in Paint Shop Pro 8, a gradient is applied across the entire text string. If you would like to render text as in Paint Shop Pro 7, select the text object then choose Convert Text to Curves>As Character Shapes.
• If you use Animation Shop, you will need to save files in the Paint Shop Pro 7- compatible format in order to open them in Animation Shop.
• In order to better differentiate Paint Shop Pro files from similar file types used by other applications, we are now using long file type extensions by default, eg *.pspimage instead of *.psp.
• During installation, Paint Shop Pro 8 created a folder called “My PSP8 Files” (by default in your ‘My Documents’ folder). This folder is used for any resources that you create or add to the program, eg tubes, brushes, gradients, patterns, textures, etc. To set additional file locations, go to the File menu and choose Preferences>File Locations.
• Paint Shop Pro 8 introduces support for WIA (Windows Image Acquisition). The direct digital camera support in previous versions of Paint Shop Pro is no longer available. As a result, support for some devices may be different than in previous versions of Paint Shop Pro.
• Due to the size of the deformation map that must be saved in each Undo step, large amounts of RAM can be consumed when using the Warp brush or Mesh Warp tool. If you use these tools frequently on large images, we recommend increasing the size of your Undo limit. For better performance, you may also want to free up additional hard drive space and/or add RAM to your system.

[break]The release notes are only available in PDF format and consist mainly of legal babbling.