Awesome, downloading this now. Can't wait for the full release! 😁

The new one is SOOO much better than the 2011.1 version! I CAN'T WAIT!!

One question though. Is there going to be an option to use the old color picker? The new one is cool, but I find the old one a little bit easier to use. Maybe one with the sliders AND the color-wheel-with-a-triangle chooser at the same time?

Right now, I have no plans to make the new color picker configurable. In the future, I may make the text boxes smarter and there may be sliders that pop up when needed, but don't expect that feature soon.

You really used the sliders to pick colors? I found them hard to use - they were nice when just playing with the colors, but I had hard time thinking in the R-G-B color space. How were you using them?

I have three words for this. Yeah, it is great when it works. Amazing when it works, but:
Keeps-on-crashing
It constantly, and spontaneously, crashes when I'm using layer effects. My work is then lost unless I saved it.
I used it in Windows 8, and once it started crashing, it would keep on doing it a lot frequently when I would get back in. Restart computer, works fine again, but then the same thing. It crashes once, then keeps on crashing whenever I get back in.
I used it with Windows XP, and so far, it has only spontaneously crashed once, again in layer styles, but doesn't seem like a consistent thing there, so, if the problem persists on Windows XP I will update.

If you manage to find a repeatable scenario that leads to a crash (something like open this file, do this and then that and it always crashes), it will be most helpful.

Ok, I found something that makes it crash every time I do it. I don't think that this is related to the one that I was writing about before, but I tried this three times at it crashed every single time. Here it is:
Windows XP. Editing a .rli file....
I select line tool, then set the width to 2. I start making a line, then move the cursor back to the point that I started the line. None of the line is visible both endpoints are on the same place. When I let go, the thing freezes up it stops responding, then it crashes.

Oh, also I forgot to say, I run the beta 2 version off of my flashdrive.

on windows 8, it doesn't seem to mater if i release the mouse, once i move the mouse so the endpoints are on the same point, it crashes right away. also, i don't think that you really have to set the line width to 2.

the problem doesn't seem to occur with curve and curve with effects, but it does with line and line with effects.

i can figure out why it crashes with the layer effects thing though... but im trying to figure it out.

Ooops, the Line tool is indeed buggy, but easily fixed - thanks for reporting it.

Any more details about the layer style crashed? Was is in the configuration window or did it crash after you have clicked OK? Or did you open an existing style? Did it matter what effects you used in the style? Were there multiple layers? How large was the image? Was it a vector or a raster layer? 😉

Me again, the guy who asked about the selector. I found that the best method for me to get just the right color was to pick a general color, and then to tweak it slightly with the sliders after that. I guess it's really because I've gotten rather used to its setup though. The triangle one IS a lot easier to use, now that I'm kinda used to it. (When I wanted to get a darker shade, I'd have to adjust all 3 sliders, when I wanted a more muted tone, I had to move everything closer to the middle... Way easier now that the triangle thing is in place!)

Same dude. (Sheesh, I gotta get an account set up! Name's Mikey Z, btw.)

About the line tool. I noticed that it seems to me that if you click outside the window and back, the line's end is in the center by default.

YAY! GOT IN!

Oh yeah. Also should point out that it bugs me how if you use the text editor, you stamp it again every time you click on something that is NOT a... (what are those little balls that edit it called again?) I keep expecting that you can edit the text if you click in the middle of the word.

And about the Vector images: Is there a way to save it as an SVG yet?

Ooops, I forgot to include the SVG exporter in the zip. You can download it here and add it to the main app folder: http://download.rw-designer.com/2012.1/beta2/RWCodecImageSVG.dll Not everything can be exported with 100% accuracy, but most of the things can. Also, there is not import, so make sure you keep the .rli file.

You are right with the text tool, it is kind of greedy and eats all the clicks. It should not behave like this - I will look into it. (If you manually switch to the Select tool, it will work as expected.) (The little balls are called control handles or control points.)

I am sorry, I do not understand that sentence about the line tool. Could you please rephrase it?

@Vlasta, I can give you the details I remember about the layer styles crash plus I will try to recreate it later to see if I can find more information about it.
I was editing a .rli file, a totally raster image, with all raster layers, 40x40 pixels. It has 4 layers, and I was Modifying a style that I already had. Not a saved style from Open, but one I made and then I was Modifying it. The times it crashed were some combination of times that I was Modifying either one of two layers: layer 1 and layer 2. It's possible it only crashed when I was Modifying one layer, I don't remember. It would crash while I would either be on the add a new effect screen or when I was changing an existing one before I press OK. I downloaded the Beta to the computer (Windows 8 ) and it seems to work fine off of there (rather than my flashdrive), although it also worked fine at the beginning off of my flashdrive, too. Again I will update if something happens.

In the mean time, I also have another issue (or at least I think it is) to report. It's not too important/not too bad an issue, but here it is:
When I have a picture with multiple layers, if I try to crop it with the Crop tool on one of the layers, sometimes the result isn't right (or at least it's not what I want). It seems to change the picture sometimes as if the layers weren't all cropped the same way especially if there are layer styles, for example one that automatically changes the layer into an outline only image.

I also notice that the symmetry-x layer affect doesn't affect the first and last columns of pixels.... whether I use an even or an odd width of canvas.

And that causes problems when you save. If you use that layer effect in a .rli, save as .png, it looks fine (if you didn't use side columns), but then open the .png again, and.... the next-to side columns still get messed up.

Found a problem with the symmetry style - it was actually in the Mirror operation - and fixed it.

When cropping an image, it may slightly change, but not significantly. Some of the effect do take edges into account and some not. For example the outline will consider the top and left borders of the canvas to be edges and outline them. Is that what you are seeing?

Yes, it actually was with the outline effect.
Thanks. Also, before the new version comes out, is there some mirror tool file that I could update in the copy of Paint that I downloaded by getting the new one and replacing the old one...?

Sure, the file with fixed Mirror effect can be downloaded from http://download.rw-designer.com/2012.1/beta2/RWOperationImageRaster.dll

If the outline looks significantly different, it may still be an error.

thanks! it works! looks good.

Another thing, this is just about a layer style that I was actually using in the old version of Paint but it freezes when you use wood fill effect and set stretch to 0.

Good find. Although it does not freeze (just becomes really slow), it needs fixing.

Oh, ok, thanks. Also, is there a glitch in the raster image set file format layer effect? I never really use it but I tried it just to see what it did... added it, click on the file format selection box, selected something (I don't remember what but I didn't really plan on keeping the effect). Then I removed the effect and... it freezes.

I was wondering if you were planing on on upgrading a couple of things. Do you think you could create a modified shape selector with a blurred borders option? Also, it seems like in vector mode, the selector is a little ways away from the cursor. I really don't know how to explain this properly. I noticed this by redrawing my avatar pic using the vector tools, to get a feel for how it works. I used a square tile in place of each "pixel" (the large 8-bit style pixels), and the selector is always pointing at the tile one down and to the right from where I intend to click. And with the pattern fill, do you think you will set up a way to make your own 2-tone custom fill that uses the active colors? Kinda like the stripe ones you already have?

I see what you describe with the square pixel selection - it seems that the hit detection is 1/2 pixel off - will try to fix that.

I am not sure about the smooth selection (in the raster image, I presume). Isn't the "Blur mask" command in "Mask" menu enough?

I'll think about the custom re-color-able pattern filling - it may not be in the final version, but it may come later. Something similar works with the custom brushes now (if you use a black and transparent custom brush, you can recolor it).

You know, a "fill shape" tool could come in handy too. Or if filling the way it's done in raster images, maybe you could find a way to convert a closed line into a bordered shape!

Same dude. I meant "if filling that way is too complicated". Darn laggy internet...

I know what you mean, but I am afraid it won't happen in the near future. A big redesign will be needed. The conversions are a bit easier, but few more missing steps will be needed first.

There's also a glitch in rotate. The image turns all right, but not the canvas, thus the ends get shaved off.

how do I leave the rectangular selection tool the old way? because this new line has just the corners, it disturbs when I select something that has no corners, it's not to see the line in the middle, so I end up choosing wrong 😞

I will fix it...

Think of creating a new function?
"A log of actions that can be undone in future image."
What do you think? 😉

Hey, there's a problem with the print plugin now. Can that be fixed?

All of the plug-ins most likely do not work in the beta. There will be new versions of the plug-ins when the final version is ready.

Marcus, how would such a function be used?

it saves the deeds done and can undo something that was done before.
Because the ctrl + z it just undoes recent thing, if you close the program to continue after, I can not undo something I did earlier.
understand?

Yes, I understand now, thanks. It would be a useful thing (and I believe Photoshop has it), but it won't be in the upcoming version. Too complicated to implement and the size of saved may grow a lot if you save all the history.

yes, this increase the file size, but could be an option to save or not save the person who would choose whether to save

I have a problem in this beta, when I create a layer, I copy an image larger than the layer, and paste to be a new layer, the size does not change, remains the first size

That is intentional. You can then change the canvas size, for example by clicking Image->Remove border.

That makes it difficult, but ok, I have to get used to the new 😞

I understand that change is usually a bad thing, but in this case, I hope you'll find it eventually better than the old behavior, where every layer had its own size and switching between them was sometimes confusing.

have any option in the program settings that allow me to enable or disable this feature for each layer have a size?
I know it's hard to please everyone, but if you had an option for enabling or not the size of each layer, would please anyone who enjoys wearing every layer of a size, and will please those who like that are all the same size.
There is the possibility of future have this option for the person to choose?

Well, in the new version, each layer actually still has its own size, but there also is a master size and that determines the size of the visible canvas. Some of the content of the layer may be outside of the visible region.

Could you explain why you consider having the size of each layer visually different? I have hard time imagining why would anyone want that. If I undetood that perhaps I would be able to recommend a better way to achieve your goal.

I made a video showing one of the things I do with it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKZ3_IelBec
the video was just an small example, of one of the things I do with layers of different size

I see. For this task, it would be better to use the Crop tool instead of the Transform tool. It allows you to adjust the cropped region after you release the mouse - just press Enter after you have selected the region to crop. If you still want to use the clipboard, I would recommend to close the document (the smaller cross button on the menu bar) after copying the selection and using the Image from clipboard wizard. That will also prevent you from accidentally overwriting the original file.

I'll try to fix the missing context menu.

ok, I had never used the Crop tool but really, I think is a good solution.
Thank you very much! 😁

how do I make a curved line with flow and blur, using the curve tool?
example

I kinda miss the color pallet thing on the color selector. Could it be brought back?

Oh! I just thought of an even better idea! What if the certain Vector objects could be painted variable colors? When you change color themes, the variable color objects change color to match the new theme! I imagine that it could be done by coding the color to go with pallet color 1 (plus or minus a splash of white or black) instead of an RGB code like usual. What do you guys think about that?

I mean palette. Stupid spellchecker.

You know, the color assortment?

Well, I knew that removing the color swatches would annoy some people, but there were too many problems with them. They may make it back eventually, but in a different form. For now, you have the color history and there are some a couple of colors that depend on the current one in the popup of the main color box.

The other thing you have mentioned would certainly add a lot of power to the application. To re-phrase it, you want to be able to parametrize the drawing. Instead of having a red circle in your drawing, you would have a circle of color X and X would be given from outside by the user. (BTW: This is how the U3D/R3I files work in the RWIconEditor.) I am afraid this is not an easy thing to add to RWPaint - the main problem lays in the user interface - how would it look like on the screen when designing a parametric drawing, how to do it without frightening newbie users.

Also, I forgot to reply to marcus's last question. I presume, you have drawn that with the Brush tool. At this moment, the Brush tool cannot be used in a vector layer (maybe in the version after this). Right now, you can try the Curve tool and apply Blur as a layer effect.

could also have a tool curved line, with the possibility of one piece thicken or thin the line

Awesome idea! What if you modify the Vector editor's shape list so that instead of the typical icon showing the shape type, you make it show the shape itself! And folders could be useful too. I get confused on which one is which, and I don't exactly care to name it because each shape is hard to name. When I try to draw a character, there are no less than 75 shapes I use on a simple one! You have outlines, fillers, shadows, creases, freckles... I used 15 shapes alone on the guys SHOE! I need to have a tool to get organized.

And I totally agree with anonymous dude who suggested the advanced color picker. That sounds really cool!

Oh, and also, there's a bug with the animation system if you used vector graphics. I don't know what's going on, but the error says something along the lines of "You can't save there", even though I tried each of my drives! I think something else is going on... but what?

And, do you think you could fix the bug with the text editor? Particularly the one where if you click anywhere besides on one of the... editing buttons... ? (I just KNOW we covered this already...) , it pastes another copy? I guess it can be useful sometimes, but most of the time it drives me nuts! Maybe putting a switch on it would be a better solution, but I think it needs changed.

OH YEAH! I mean control handles! HAHAHA! I gotta start taking notes on these things...

Hey, I noticed that the copy and paste functions don't exactly cooperate. I get an error whenever I try it.

@Mikey Z, Why not just make a new layer instead of wait for folders?

Hey, can you import SVG's yet? I know you can export them, but how about edit them?

OK, the release date is really close now, so all enhancements would have to wait, but at least the text tool is fixed.

Showing previews of shapes is an intriguing idea and I think it is worth at least looking into it right now.

If you could tell me more about the error in the animation editor and possibly describe how to reproduce it, I could try to fix it.

Copying and pasting should work, but be aware that what is being copied and where it is pasted depends on what was clicked last. You can copy a shape, or a layer or a selection in raster editor or a frame in an animation. When pasting the results may be also different (new layer, floating selection, new frame).

A curve tool with variable width would have to wait. There is a problem with the user interface - I am not sure how to represent it. But in the future, you'll probably be able to at least draw a curve and then convert it to Shape and adjust the outline manually.

SVG import would have to wait. SVG is incredibly complex and would be really difficult to import with at least decent compatibility.

Folders (or groups) for vector shapes would also have to wait. As mentioned above, the feature overlaps with layers and the issue needs to be solved for both of them at once.

Well, I drew an animation of a movie countdown using Vector text, and then tried to export it as a GIF animation, but it failed. "Saving of file failed. Please try a different location". So I move it to another drive, and another failure. Then I tried rasterizing every layer, and I get similar results. But if I edit a GIF that was already there, it works as long as I don't use Vector tools.

And I found Anonymous guy's glitch too. I right-click it, hit copy, and hit paste, and nothing happens. I also noticed that Layer Merge automatically rasterizes vector graphics. Is that supposed to happen?

This program is AWESOME, by the way! Keep it up!

Clipboard and saving to .gif will be fixed.

The rasterization during merge will occur if the conditions mentioned in the blog post are not met. Was that your case?

Sorry I didn't check back for a while. Internet trouble and couldn't get it fixed until last week. Anyways, that does seem to make things work better, but I did have a problem with copying a rectangle and pasting it in the same layer. I had the shape selected, and copied it and pasted it, and... nothing happened. I eventually figured out that it works if I duplicate the layer, move the shape over, and then merge them, but it was a bit complicated to figure it out. I also had to remove everything else to do it, so it didn't really cooperate.

I assume, you are using the final version now. If you copy and paste an object in vector layer, it will be placed at the same position as the original object - you can drag it with a mouse to a new position to see it. Was that the case?

Actually... it was, but I tried to move it over, but nothing happened. And today I tried to move it from one file to another using another window, and I couldn't copy it over. I just downloaded it again too. I'm not sure what's stopping it, but there aren't any error messages or anything. I tried CTRL-C and the right-click thing but both didn't work.

Hmm, I still cannot replicate the error. Does it still happen when you download a new, portable version and unzip it into a clean folder?

Yeah, it does. But my computer is also pretty glitchy so I wonder if it's just mine. I also had some errors on other apps that nobody could figure out... Like flash games where the arrow keys don't work... Maybe I just need to upgrade. I dunno. It does work when I bring it to my friend's computer, though, so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

I wonder what was going on...