I recently upgraded from Paint Shop Pro X9 Ultimate to the new Paint Shop Pro 2019 Ultimate. The Ultimate version of the software comes with a “bonus collection” of software applications that work hand in hand with PSP. One of them is Painter Essentials 6, a hobbyist, or “lite’ version of the professional design software Painter X.
Painter Essentials 6 allows you to take a create painting-like images. It’s designed to be used by users with a drawing tablet. Since I’m using a traditional laptop with a touchpad and keyboard, I’m a bit limited, but it still allowed me to use templates to convert a couple of my photos into “paintings.”
The software allows you to load an image, select templates such as “Impressionist,” “Oil,” “Modern,” “Pastel” and several others. Once you select your template, you click “Start” and sit back as the software creates your painting. It’s pretty interesting to watch. Here’s a before and after view of a photo I converted to an “impressionist” painting.
Of course, you can do a lot more than just let the software create the image for you. You can use a tablet and stylus to paint your own images. Painter Essentials 6 allows you to simulate various “surfaces” such as canvas, woodcut, and rough paper. It also allows you to control the brush strokes. It will be fun to play with, and I can see the possibility of saving so-so photographs by turning them into virtual paintings.
It’s an interesting tool. I look forward to learning to use it.
Mostly True 