I`m looking for a digital painting program to use with Blender

I have seen people using Photoshop with various 3d programs. The problem is that I cannot afford any of the photoshop programs.

  1. Do you know of any programs that are affordable (150$-)??

  2. One that will allow me to paint with good color.

  3. Has enough tools to make it worth while.

  4. Has a big community to back it.

  5. And perhaps an artist who uses it, if you know of any??

I know I am asking alot for such a small price.

But I would greatly appreciate your help.:RocknRoll:

There are GIMP and “Paint.NET”, they are both free. The latter is windows only, unless you have WINE (in case you use GNU/Linux). “Paint.NET” is the one I use (and I don’t use 2d bitmap apps much) because it has a really simple interface, and is quite sufficient for my needs. There are plugins for it, you can locate them in the relevant subforum.

Site: http://www.getpaint.net
Forum: http://forums.getpaint.net/
Plugins subforum: http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/7-plugins-publishing-only/

Paint.NET is very good, but i believe GIMP has more features, especially compared to Photoshop

True. But if you don’t need those features it makes sense to use Paint.NET because it’s much cleaner and simpler.

Krita (win, linux), PixLr (online), Pixelmator (mac), Mypaint (mac, windows, linux), Pinta (mac, windows, linux), SumoPaint (online)

How about Photoshop Elements? Or Photoshop Student?

I find that MyPaint and GIMP, both free, do the trick quite nicely on both the Windows machines at work and my Linux boxes at home.

GIMP is more for single image post processing, and MyPaint is great for painting (especially with a drawing tablet).

MyPaint http://mypaint.intilinux.com/
GIMP http://www.gimp.org/

You should check out David Revoy’s blog: http://www.davidrevoy.com/blog
He was the concept artist for Sintel and Project Mango. He writes a lot about different painting programs and how to use them.
Also check out his DVD Chaos and Evolutions from the Blender estore. It’s really good.

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Also make sure the app you use can handle not only 8bit per channel, but also 16bit per channel files (preferably also 32bit per channel). Gimp’s 16 bit support is still kinda wonky. Even Photoshop has trouble with 16bit files and a large chuck of its filters will not work in this mode.

Some of the reasons you want 16bit per channel support:

  1. for high quality displacement maps in Blender (16bit greyscale supports 65,536 levels, while 8bit only supports 256 levels)
  2. same for high quality bump maps
  3. for HDR (High Dynamic Range) images. Also to edit HDR colour textures based on your own DSLR Raw imagery.
  4. to be able to open and use 16bit/32bit passes from Blender

The only app I have found so far that fully supports 16bit, has adjustment layers, advanced layer blending like Photoshop, full masking (even multiple layer masks for on layer), LAB/RGB/CMYK support in 8/16/32 bit per channel, HDR, layer styles, and much more, is Photoline. The painting tools are okay, but Mypaint is superior in that respect. 64bit version is available.

Photoline is the only serious image editing app I have found so far that can hold its own against Photoshop (minus the 3d tools, movie tools, and painting). It actually outperforms Photoshop in a number of areas:

  • as many layer masks per layer as you want (finally!!!)
  • all filters can be applied to 16bit per channel layers, and they work in 32bit as well (though I am not certain if floating point operations are actually used in 32 bit)
  • each layer can have its own colour mode: this means one layer stack may contain any number and combinations of rgb(8/16/32bit), LAB(8/16/32bit), CMYK, greyscale and monochrome, and each layer can have its own resolution and image size! Amazing.
  • full vector tools
  • multi-page support (very handy for importing a pdf for rasterization: PH only supports one page import)
  • 90% of the filters are non-destructive - no smart objects required, unlike PH
  • virtual copies of layers (like alt-d in blender)
  • a noise filter that is actually usable (and non-destructive) (most filters that are comparable are superior to PH’s versions)
  • image adjustments can be applied directly to LAB/HIS without having to switch image colour mode!
  • full document support: it can be used as a DTP app as well (though obviously not as powerful as InDesign)
  • opacity slider for each layer can be set to a negative value, as well as more than 100% (up to 200%)! This is surprisingly useful, and would require additional steps in PH to create similar effects.
  • the curve adjustment layer icon actually displays the curve in use! Hah! Useful.

The main drawback is the interface - it looks old-fashioned, is inconsistent at times, and the translation from German can be harrowing at best (“Levels” translates to “Histogram Correction”, for example - not exactly industry standard). The help file is unhelpful (no pun intended), and badly structured and written. The forum has been very helpful, though. Some things are just very different compared to Photoshop (But hey, haven’t we heard that before :wink:
Also: no OpenEXR support.

http://www.pl32.com

I only found out about Photoline a month ago; and as a professional Photoshop user for many years (heck, I used to be an Adobe Certified Expert!), my requirements are pretty hefty. I do miss some workflow enhancements that are available in PH, but so far Photoline is quite amazing for 50 euros. Add in Inkscape, MyPaint and/or Krita for free, and you are good to go.

I tried to try MyPaint several months ago but clearly it didn’t want to work in XP. Most UI buttons did not respond at all and I think the same goes for the menu bar. These days it seems it’s devs of many open source software (yes, MyPaint is far from the only one) rather than MS that are putting the last nails in the coffin of XP. Welcome to the Dark Source !

End of rant. I may try MyPaint out when I buy a laptop soon; something I say each year of course, only to be frightened by user reviews of so-called promising models, like for instance the Asus N76x(x)/N56x(x) models. End of laptop rant.

Yes! Mypaint and Gimp are great programs to use!!!

I really like Krita. Last I looked the windows version had some issues (random crashes) but the linux version is awesome.

Indeed, Krita is gaining a lot of popularity. Gimp seems to be a popular choice.

Lately I’ve tried Paint Tool SAI, it’s very convenient for drawing line arts and coloring. It’s not free, but not that expensive.

I also tried another program called CLIP STUDIO, it seems to be very elaborate. It’s not free, but not that expensive.

Ha, this post is so serendipitous. On the C4D forums earlier today I made a quick demonstration of how Clip Studio Paint works well with 3d models rendered into line art. (BTW This is a really old thread. I no longer use MyPaint, and switched to Krita and CS Paint for any digital painting/inking years ago).

Here is the quick example I posted today on the other forum (the question was how to convert a 3d model to a colouring book plate for a client):

Model import and scene setup in CS Paint:

Settings for the vector line art conversion:

Raw outlines generated by CS Paint:

Quick redraw and overall cleanup of the Elf’s face, adjustment of strokes here and there in Clip Studio Paint & 1 layer tone raster shading toned down in CS Paint.

The entire page is rendered at A4 portrait size @1200ppi - so ready for black and white print.

CS Paint is fun to work with, and 3d models easily integrated in the workflow.

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http://www.pdhowler.com/Download.htm

Another one to check out. Quite extensive but obscure.
For a preview:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pdhowler

Missed what the OP’s os is; this is windows only.

Oh, and/or look at the Affinity stuff. It’s what most are hoping can take the place of their former favorite program.
Robert

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That’s wonderful Herbert. It’s a great program that isn’t very well known among artists. I also suggest trying Paint Tool SAI because when used with the stylus, I found art lines to feel more natural and more beautiful.

In addition, if you’re constantly downloading reference materials, make sure to watch this thread of mine because this tool is extremely powerful: [Crucial App] Smartly organize your Blender assets and ref materials

Quite the opposite: Clip Studio Paint has been actually quite well known among artists outside of Japan for a while now - even when it was still sold under the Manga Studio moniker.

I would add Pixia/Phierha freeware for Windows. Phierha is advanced Pixia and I used Pixia for a while. It i.a. supports layers. Pixlr is free but for the full benefit you need paid Pixlr Pro as its free trial is just 7 days.

Mari is a texture painting software but I believe worth a mention. Substance Player works very nice with Blender. You can download and tweak dozens of materials from community. Everything free.