Paint.NET v4.2 released - Now supports HEIC images

[Arthur]

For the full list of changes click the blog or changelog links below.

 

Blog / Download: Direct, Microsoft Store / Changelog

 

This is a big update that focus on adding HEIC file format support, fixing performance with very large images, and upgrading and modernizing the functionality of many existing file types (JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF, and TIFF). Many other quality of life issues have also been addressed or fixed.

 

If you’re using the Windows Store release, you should get the update automatically within the next 24 hours. You can also force an update check by following these instructions.

 

For the Classic release, you should be offered the update automatically within the next week or so. You can get the updater soon by going to ⚙ Settings → Updates → Check Now. You can also download and install it directly from the website.

 

It’s important to note that HEIC file format support requires two things: 1) you must be using Windows 10 v1809 or newer, and 2) you must install Microsoft’s HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store which costs $1. This is necessary due to HEVC being mired in licensing and patent royalty costs. If you want to find some HEIC images, look no further than your recent iPhone (7 or newer). Many newer Android devices also support it.

 

Most of the other built-in file types — BMP, GIF, PNG, JPEG, and TIFF — have been internally upgraded from using GDI+ to being built on top of WIC (Windows Imaging Component). BMP can now save 32-bit images with alpha transparency, while JPEG and PNG can now load and save much larger images, and TIFF now supports saving at 24-bit and 8-bit color depths ("Auto" is also now included).

 

On the performance side, I’ve rebuilt the data structures inside of the rendering engine that are used for keeping track of invalidation regions. These hold information about what parts of the image need to be rendered and then redrawn on the screen, either because the image has been changed (like with drawings or effects) or because of scrolling and zooming. In previous versions you couldn’t really work with very large images, starting around 32,000 x 32,000 pixels. Zooming in and out would result in a lot of slow performance, lag, and even complete hangs of the app for seconds — or more (at 60,000 pixels it could hang for 30-60 seconds or more!). Now this should all be completely fluid

 

Please note that a previous beta, 4.2 build 7121, included functionality that would automatically apply an image’s embedded color profile, thus converting the image to the sRGB color space and "fixing" its colors. The complexity of color management was much higher than expected, and thus it has been removed for now. It may come back in a future update but in a more substantial form. Check out Jeffrey Friedl’s excellent Digital-Image Color Spaces article for a good read on this subject.

[Arthur]

v4.2.11 released

 

https://blog.getpaint.net/2020/05/20/paint-net-4-2-11-is-now-available

 

This update adds XMP metadata support, 3 new translations, some UI improvements, and several bug fixes.

 

I’d like to point out the addition of a right-click menu that’s now available from the thumbnail strip at the top of the window:

 

[Arthur]

v4.3 released.

 

https://blog.getpaint.net/2021/09/22/paint-net-4-3-is-now-available

 

This is a big release, with a lot of performance improvements across the whole app. Some of this is due to the migration from .NET Framework 4.8 to .NET 5, which may not sound like much but is actually a huge deal .NET 5 is a massive update to the .NET runtime, and brings a lot in terms of performance with its improved code generation (JIT). It also enables me to optimize code even further via the use of SIMD intrinsics (SSE* and AVX* on x86/x64, and AdvSIMD on ARM64), which I’ve started putting to good use. In addition, effects are faster, plugin loading is faster (especially for shapes), the Magic Wand and Paint Bucket tools are significantly faster, and overall performance is just plain better. Even installation and updating are faster because I was able to remove the "Optimizing performance" stage from setup (via ReadyToRun / crossgen instead of NGEN).

 

There was also a lot of work that went into how Paint.NET is built, packaged, downloaded, and installed. The older systems were showing their age and were not only long overdue for an upgrade but were actually starting to fall apart. This presented an opportunity to modernize things with a web-based downloader/installer, self-contained deployment (no more .NET to install!), portable ZIPs, and native ARM64 support.

 

One thorny topic that came up was the issue of plugin compatibility. There were many plugins, mostly older ones, that just did not survive the migration to .NET 5 due to various changes that were made in .NET to shed legacy shackles which were holding back progress. I’m happy to report that most of these plugins were coerced into working. Some plugins needed only simple accommodations, while many of them required going much further with literal hot patching of their byte code at load time to detour them away from crashes or other bad fates.

 

Now that the migration to .NET 5 is complete, Paint.NET will also be moving to .NET 6 in the very near future. It’s due for its final release in November and you can expect a Paint.NET update shortly afterward. This will improve performance even further, and will be a simple upgrade.

 

This has been a 5-month long project, but it’s finally time to download, install, and enjoy! Big thanks to everyone who downloaded the alphas, reported bugs and broken plugins, and patiently suffered through various bugs and performance problems.

 

Continues...