By Ron Eggers

September 21, 2004 — Corel Corporation is taking pre-orders for the October release of Painter IX, the popular natural-media and illustration package. Designed to give photographers, professional artists and commercial designers the benefits of both traditional art tools and the power of digital imaging, Painter, version 9, features improved speed, new brushes, more animation controls, and a new oil painting system. It also supports snap-to-path painting, better watercolors and a quicker clone tool.

Painter IX is fast. In fact, its brushes are two to 10 times faster than those in previous versions, and its brush control palettes now support on-the-fly changes by simply dragging sliders. The application includes improved oil paints and watercolors that behave like traditional media. They blend, mix and apply like the real thing.

Additional new features include snap-to-path painting, which gives users the ability to draw a perfect curve or shape; a faster clone tool and a frames-per-second tool that lets animators preview their work from one to 40 frames a second.

Corel Painter IX can be pre-ordered (www.corel.com/comingsoon) through Corel and select partners. A free trial version is available for download. The SRP for Corel Painter IX is $429.

(Contact Ron Eggers at Newswatch@earthlink.net)