Does anyone know of any good FREE painting programs? Also if you use one to paint your uv’s does the symetrical effect still work or do you still have to paint the other half. If it does still work does it disappear ounce you join the objects?
Power to the GIMP! (http://www.gimp.org/) That’s the free one I would recommend, it’s pretty powerful and I haven’t found something I can’t do with it yet … 
If you UV-Map to objects seperately and the join thier meshes with CTRL-J then yes, they do keep thier respective maps. The new mesh will have to matts however.
This is from experince. I don’t know what will happen however if you go in to the uv editor with the newly created mesh. Never tried it. Might ruin the magic… 
I use Piantshop Pro 4.12 for quick basic stuff.
I use Paintshop Pro 7.0 for detailed stuff including Alpha Channels, bezier curves, multiple layers, curved text, etc. This version has a great “resize” filter, so when you resize an image, it looks good.
Downloads for PSP 4.12:
http://www.traknet.com/files/win95/psp412.exe
ftp://ftp.worldtop.net.au/Multimedia/PS/psp412.exe
Always VIRUS Scan these EXE files
Use the GIMP. Great program. 
Is this legal?
Is this legal?[/quote]
Yes, it is shareware and gives you a reminder to register after 30 days.
ArtWeaver:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45501&sid=6358fc94730e6677eb1e35f60ba70ef0
OpenCanvas:
https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33116&highlight=opencanvas&sid=6358fc94730e6677eb1e35f60ba70ef0
Deep Paint:
ArtRage:
Pixia:
http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/
http://www.squirreldome.com/cyberop.htm PD pro (shame, dogwaffle sounded better.) You can use 1.2 for free. (simple and pleasant, if lacking some functionality…)
Don’t know how good it is for painting textures and stuff, but for just fun painting, Pixarra’s Twisted Brush is really nice. There is a free version available as well as a paid version. www.pixarra.com