Paint.NET 3.31 – Free, easy to use photo editor with layers support
Paint.NET is an efficient, small, light photo editor with a minimalistic GUI. It’s impressive how it can have so many tools in just 1.8MB of space and it uses less then 55 MB of RAM to run. Although it wouldn’t be fair to compare it with Photoshop, it is true that many home users will find Paint.NET perfect for their needs and really easy to use.
Unfortunately, it limits you to edit only one image at a time and there are two major features missing: the magnetic lasso for the selection of objects in a picture and support for Twain-scanners/cameras. That said, the program is constantly updated and you can always find different ways to do things.
A very interesting feature is the possibility to install many different plug-ins that you can choose in the program’s forum. You can for example install a shape3D tool, a pack of custom brushes, a motion sharpen plug-in and or silhouette tool.
Paint.NET is a very promising photo editor which is good enough for non professional users. Although it lacks some important functions and limits you to work on one picture at a time, it’s useful enough for everyday use.
Review by Francesca Migliorini