HotPicks
DRAWING SOFTWARE
MyPaint
Version: 2.0 Web: http://mypaint.org
In mid-February MyPaint clicked over to version 2.0, and we could not pass it by. This drawing software is a prominent and well-recognised tool for digital artists, and in some ways it is also the main rival to Krita, another core FOSS drawing suite. We reviewed the earlier version of MyPaint here in LXF209, but since we have the major new release, it’s time to revisit the app.
This application continues to be a very user-focused software for anyone fond of digital drawing, painting and sketching. MyPaint features an ‘endless’ canvas, which saves you from worries about running out of pixels and megabytes – but watch that RAM usage if your canvas is really large. In most cases, getting started is piece of pie. Select the brush you want from the vast assortment of gorgeous MyPaint brushes, and you are ready to go. Panels, settings and all other auxiliary parts of the interface tend to stick to sides, keeping the main painting area in the centre clutter-free.
The new things introduced in the updated MyPaint are most visible to seasoned users, so to feel the difference you need to at least draw something. The default empty layer now has the ‘pigment’ type instead of ‘normal’, which changes the way brush strokes feel. The underlying compositing and blending mechanism in MyPaint has also been changed, which results in different perception of what you draw.
The developers claim that in MyPaint 2.0 artwork feels more like it has been made using traditional media, which is certainly a matter of taste and dispute. Luckily, there is an appropriate compatibility switch in the MyPaint settings that lets you return to the previous blending engine. It makes a lot of sense, since MyPaint saves artwork to the OpenRaster format (ORA), which is more advanced than a typical bitmap format. The same file opened in MyPaint 1.x and 2.0 will look different due to those blending and compositing changes,so the switch for preserving the ‘old-style’ look is a very welcome inclusion.
