Version 5 starts in Alpha

The popular paint.net image-editing program (the domain is getpaint.net) is going into alpha for version 5. Along with this, there are a lot of innovations, according to the developer. Major performance improvements, new features including pressure sensitivity for styluses and graphics tablets, and an all-new effects plug-in system with GPU rendering support are among the many. Almost all of the built-in tweaks and effects are now rendered using the GPU, which dramatically improves their performance and quality.

The free Windows program uses hardware-accelerated rendering since version 4.0. Added GPU acceleration to some effects (mainly blurs) in version 4.1. In version 5.0, GPU support has been significantly extended. Much of the UI now uses the GPU, including the Levels and Gradients windows, the ruler, the image list at the top of the main window, and the curves and levels adjustment UI. This improves performance and consumes less battery on laptops.

There’s a full overview on the Paint.net forum, where you can also find the download option, or keep an eye on the repo on GitHub. Intel/AMD x64 and ARM64 on Windows 10 and 11 are supported. It doesn’t go any lower.

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