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

Adjusting a layer


Now that is looking pretty good! But we want to start adding some effects to it to give it a bit more style. What we want to do now is duplicate the Artwork layer. We do this by navigating to Layers | Duplicate layer, selecting Ctrl + Shift + D, or by selecting the Duplicate Layer button on the Layers window.

Now we have a second instance of the Artwork layer, one on top of the other, and we are going to add an effect to the layer beneath the first.

The next thing we want to do is add an effect. We are going to add the Frosted Glass effect (Effects | Distort | Frosted Glass):

This effect only happened on the duplicate layer. I spared out the refraction just a bit, so now it has this really interesting effect:

We are now going to create another layer. Double-click on the layer, get the layer properties, and rename this layer to Text Layer. On this layer, we are going to write Welcome to Paint.NET.

Now, one thing to keep in mind is when we write that text, before we do anything...