Paint.NET
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 A screenshot of Paint.NET version 2.6 |
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| Maintainer: | Paint.NET Team |
| Stable release: | 2.72 (August 31, 2006) [+/-] |
| Preview release: | 3.0 (December 1, 2006) [+/-] |
| OS: | Microsoft Windows (Microsoft .NET) |
| Available language(s): | multilingual |
| Use: | bitmap graphics editor |
| License: | MIT License |
| Website: | http://www.getpaint.net/ |
Paint.NET is a bitmap graphics editor for the .NET Framework. The application started as a project developed at Washington State University (WSU) for Microsoft Windows and was mentored by Microsoft. Paint.NET is programmed in the C# programming language.
The native image format used is a compressed representation of the application's internal object format, which preserves layering and other information. Its file extension is .PDN.[1]
Some tout Paint.NET as the unofficial successor to the older Microsoft Paint graphics program that comes with Windows, though it is not affiliated with Microsoft Paint. Released under the MIT License, Paint.NET is open source.
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[edit] History
Paint.NET originated as a computer science senior design project during spring 2004 at WSU. Rick Brewster, one of the main designers, says on his weblog that version 1.0 was written "in 4 months … and was 36,000 lines of code."[2] A recent release, version 2.63, is approximately 105,000 lines of code. The Paint.NET project continued over the summer and into the fall 2004 semester for both the version 1.1 and 2.0 releases.
Development continues with two developers who now work at Microsoft, both of whom worked on previous versions of Paint.NET while they were students at Washington State University. As of May 2006 the program had been downloaded at least 2 million times.[3], at a rate of about 180,000 per month[4]
[edit] Timeline
- Version 1.0 (Released May 6, 2004):
- WSU Developers: Rick Brewster, Brandon Ortiz, Chris Trevino, Luke Walker
- WSU Advisor: Jack Hagemeister
- Microsoft Sponsor: Ivan Lumala
- Microsoft Mentor: Kerry Hammil
- Version 1.1 (Released October 1, 2004):
- Microsoft Mentor, Main Developer: Rick Brewster
- WSU Testers and Technical Writers: Tom Jackson, Michael Kelsey, Craig Taylor
- Version 2.0 (Released December 17, 2004):
- WSU Developers: Tom Jackson, Michael Kelsey, Craig Taylor
- WSU Advisor: Jack Hagemeister
- Microsoft Mentor: Rick Brewster
- Emboss, Relief, and Edge Detect Effects: Chris Crosetto
- Testing: WSU's Computer Science 422 Fall 2004 Students
- Version 2.1 (Released April 30, 2005):
- Developers: Rick Brewster (Lead), Tom Jackson, Craig Taylor
- Web Site Design: Luke Walker
- Version 2.5 (Released: November 26, 2005):
- Developers: Rick Brewster (Lead), Tom Jackson
- German translation: Dennis Dietrich
- Version 2.6 (Released: February 24, 2006)
- Version 2.70 (Released August 2, 2006) -- some plugins were integrated, system requirements updated
- Developers: Rick Brewster (Lead), Tom Jackson
- German translation: Dennis Dietrich
- v.3.0 (releasing Feburary 2007)
- Simple and intuitive tab-based multi-document user interface
- More intuitive and more powerful toolbar
- User-definable color palette (as opposed to just the color wheel)
- Gradient drawing
- "Merge Down" layer command
- More effects: Clouds, Median, Unfocus, Outline, and an improved Sharpen
[edit] Mono Port
Miguel de Icaza has partially ported Paint.NET to Mono, an open-source implementation of the Common Language Infrastructure on which Microsoft.NET is based. This allows Paint.NET to be run on Linux or other Mono-supported platforms. While the port is incomplete and no binary releases are planned as of 2006, the port's functionality considering the relative paucity of effort spent on it have led to de Icaza believing that a full-featured port is a realistic goal.[5]
