Book Image

Getting Started with Paint.NET

Book Image

Getting Started with Paint.NET

Overview of this book

Paint.NET is a free, reliable program that rivals the most expensive photo editing programs currently on the market.Paint.NET supports plugins, which add image adjustments, effects, and support for additional file types. They can be programmed using any .NET programming language, though they are most commonly written in C#. This book will teach you everything you need to know to edit and manipulate images. Written with very clear walkthroughs, hands-on tutorials,and amazing resources, this book will turn you into a photo wizard with Paint.NET. The book starts with simple tool-based tasks, introduces you to the workpane and then builds up to more complex areas taking a deep dive into the commonly-used features of Paint.NET. With this book, you will learn how to do everything from making simple adjustments to full artistic rendering with tools not available in any other program. Starting with the very basics of photo editing, you will gain an understanding of the basic principles of manipulating images. From layering to special effects, this book will give you all the knowledge you need to create images that leave a lasting impression. This book has everything you need to make amazing, artistic photos using completely free software. Filled with fun exercises and valuable information, you will learn how to master every tool and every effect in Paint.NET. Within minutes, you will be able to resize images, make adjustments to brightness and contrast, and apply color correction. By the end of this book, you will be working with layers and effects to create images that rival some of the most advised and expensive pieces of software. With simple exercises and information, this book will take you from absolute novice to an accomplished photo editor quickly and easily.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Getting Started with Paint.NET
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Work area windows


Let's take a look at the Paint.NET work area:

Paint.NET is comprised of a series of windows, each with their own function to help you with your workflow.

The following is a list of the various windows available on Paint.NET; the numbers correspond to the labels given in the previous screenshot:

  1. The title bar

  2. The menu bar

  3. The toolbar

  4. The image canvas

  5. The Colors window

  6. The status bar

  7. The Layers window

  8. The History window

  9. The image list

The title bar

At the very top, we have the title bar. When you first open the program and before you import an image, the title bar will look like the following:

Once you open an image in Paint.NET, the title bar will look like the following:

The title bar will show you the name of the image that you're working on; in this case, that would be Motorcycle.jpg, the image we have imported here. The number in the brackets shows you the size of the image. Right now, this image is 22 percent of the actual size. This is followed by the version of Paint.NET you are...