Briefly described below are the new features in Paint Shop Pro 9 that will enhance your ability to work with digital photographs, create and enhance artwork and graphics, and boost your productivity. Click the Learn More link for more information on each item.
Although similar to the version 8 interface, Paint Shop Pro 9 has been updated to include the following.
The History palette replaces the Command History menu item. The History palette lists each command applied to an image. You can then selectively undo any action without affecting subsequent actions. Additionally, you can select and save steps as a Quickscript to be applied to another image, or copy to the clipboard the scripting language code (Python) associated with each step. Learn More.
The Mixer palette offers a more natural, intuitive way for artists to create and pick colors. Working in conjunction with the new Art Media brush tools and the new Art media layer, the Mixer palette provides artists with the best way to digitally simulate real-world painting. Learn More.
The Materials palette now contains the Frame tab, offering a new (and for some users a more intuitive) method of choosing colors. Learn More.
Open images can optionally be displayed in a tabbed format across the top of the workspace. To make an image active, click the desired tab. When many images are open, use the forward and backward buttons to scroll among the tabs. Learn More.
The docking behavior of palettes has been modified. Palettes can be set to slide open and closed from a tab along the right side, roll up at a user-selected speed, or roll up into the nearest quadrant of the workspace. Learn More.
The default, main workspace area right-click context menu now has more commands for enhancing control of the workspace.
The Customize dialog now contains a new tab called Scripts. This tab lets you easily bind a script to one of 50 icons. The icon can then be dragged onto a toolbar or into a menu. Learn More.
The General Program Preferences dialog has new options for the Crop tool's shading area, as well as the number of steps to save for the History palette. Additionally, the main workspace right-click context menu now contains the command to access this dialog in a single click. Learn More.
In the Adjust menu, the three Automatic correction commands (Color Balance, Contrast Enhancement, and Saturation Enhancement) have been pulled out of their former submenus and now reside as standalone items in the Adjust menu. Additionally, the Adjust menu contains a Photo Fix item loaded with helpful commands geared toward quickly correcting common problems with digital photos.
Working in conjunction with the new Mixer palette, the new Art Media tools let you create digital artwork that closely mimics real-world media, pigments, paints, and artist's tools. The Oil Brush creates realistic paint strokes, while the Chalk, Pastel, Crayon, Colored Pencil, and Marker tools are used for making dry-pigment works of art. Learn More.
The Image Browser now contains two tabs, Find and Info, in the left side of the Browser window. The Find tab contains the familiar Windows Explorer-like navigation view, and the Info tab displays image information, creator data, and EXIF data. Additionally, with the Browser active you can choose File > Sort and use the Sorting dialog to sort images by EXIF data. Learn More.
You can now open Raw (unprocessed) images from high-end digital cameras in Paint Shop Pro. Additionally, a new File Format Preferences tab contains an option for displaying a dialog that allows for further Raw image editing before the image opens in Paint Shop Pro. Learn More.
Four new filters provide innovative methods of correcting common problems with digital photos:
The Digital Camera Noise Removal filter scans your photo and removes image noise often inherent to digital cameras while intelligently preserving normal image textures. You can even customize noise removal by defining specific regions or color ranges to focus on or ignore, and then save settings as a Preset that can be applied to photos taken from the same camera. Learn More.
The Chromatic Aberration Removal filter helps eliminate the colored glow that often appears in digital photos, especially in an image's high contrast images. Learn More.
The Fill Flash filter corrects underexposed, shadowy areas of your photos. Learn More.
The Backlighting filter corrects the opposite problem by compensating for overexposed areas surrounding the photo's subject. Learn More.
Two new powerful and interesting effects include:
The Displacement Map effect lets you create two or three-dimensional surface effects using a different, underlying image as the basis for the effect. Learn More.
The Radial Blur effect lets you add interesting and fun spin, twist, and zoom effects to an image. Learn More.
Creating vector shapes has never been easier or more powerful.
The Pen tool's functionality has been simplified to offer a clearer, more intuitive way to create and edit curves and lines. Learn More.
Three new tools, Rectangle, Ellipse, and Symmetric Shape, provide all the controls you need to create buttons, banners, polygons, any kind of rectangle or ellipse or custom shape. Learn More.
The Preset Shape tool provides you with a variety of arrows, flowers, gears, and other miscellaneous shapes. Learn More.
The Text tool now provides a vertical text layout option, updates to the text on a path feature, as well as new anti-aliasing rendering options that generate cleaner text at smaller font sizes. Learn More.
The Crop tool now provides the option of shading the area outside the crop box. This option can be set in the Transparency and Shading tab of the General Program Preferences dialog. Learn More.
The Print Layout feature now lets you draw a text box on the layout to easily add custom captions or titles to your printed pages. Additionally, you can create elliptical cells and apply edits to multiple cells simultaneously. Learn More.