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| Corel Painter Essentials 4 (Win/Mac) | 
 enlarge | From: Corel
Category: Software
List Price: $99.00
Buy New: $68.99
You Save: $30.01 (30%)
New (19) Used (1) from $68.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  88 reviews
Sales Rank: 1055
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Macintosh, Windows
Media: CD-ROM
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3
Dimensions (in): 9.6 x 7.9 x 2
MPN: CRLCD11637WM
Model: PE4ENPCM
UPC: 735163116373
EAN: 0735163116373
ASIN: B000WCQCE4
Release Date: October 16, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW, Factory Sealed, Never Opened, Never Used, Complete in RETAIL Package. PLEASE SEE MY FEEDBACK RATING FOR PURCHASE ASSURANCE
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| Customer Reviews:
 I'm glad I've used it April 17, 2008
This is a really unique item to me. I don't mess with pictures much but have always wanted to be able to craft a unique gift for someone on those "off" holidays where a small gift or card is expected, but I just don't get around to getting the card. This has given me a solution for Valentine's Day. OK, I hate buying flowers every year. I don't like buying chocolate in bulk shaped like little hearts. I don't like teddy bears. But this product provided me with a way to give my darlin' a picture of us that she hadn't seen before in a way that would more than likely cost a lot more than I have a tolerance for. It was fairly easy to use. There's a tutorial to take you through the steps, that I felt was very helpful. I jumped out about half way through and started playing with it myself. I couldn't stop messing with the photos. There were tons of options to select from. Brushes and types of paper and colors and styles and on and on. Every major style of art can be reproduced by me on my photos. I can change the colors, the size, the layout and if I'm stuck, well, you can just let the computer do it for you and then just stop it during the process at any time. Yes, they have an auto feature if you're not feeling very creative. I'm sure more experienced artists and photographers have very expensive tools at their disposal, but this is perfect for me. A small learning curve and great results.
I was really impressed and I didn't expect to be.
Fun in a Painting Program April 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Corel Painter Essentials is a wonderful entry level drawing and painting program. It is just plain fun to use. Even if you don't have a drawing tablet, you can still create a masterpiece. Select your color, select your brush and begin. The brush tool reminded me of tempra painting in kindergarten. The full wide brush strokes. Going over an existing line again, with a different paint color, to see how the blend looks. Results were just as good (or bad) as I remember them growing up.
If you prefer drawing to painting you can choose pen or charcoal.
You can scan sketches or photos and paint directly on them. You can even have the program automatically transform an imported picture into an oil painting, impressionist painting, watercolor sketch, pencil sketch or a chalk drawing. The included tutorials will show you how easy it is to transform and create beautiful works of art.
The program is easy to use. The auto transformations are useful and the results can be fantastic. The wide selection of tools and palettes will make almost anyone happy.
Definitely this is one program an art hobbyist should have. Even a professional could find this program to be a useful tool - the results are astonishing. Enjoy!
 Not up our alley April 13, 2008
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
Reviewing software can be tricky because people have different expectations and uses. So keep in mind that this review is from a couple who tend to use such software for picture and touch ups than for drawing or painting.
Overall, the program ran slow on our computer for some reason (note that our computer is new and is set up to handle high volumes of photo and video editing). Also, for someone who uses Photoshop all the time, the interface on Painter was not very intuitive. So we used the video help on Painter. It was detailed and helpful, but took longer than we had excepted. Finally, we could not get the mouse pen to work, because we kept getting a conflict error.
One project we attempted was to convert some pictures into nice paintings. We had tried this on Photoshop, but wanted to get greater detail than Photoshop allowed. Unfortunately, given the above issues, we could not manage any better results than with Photoshop.
This program may be more up the alley of someone interested in doing their own drawings or paintings. But for us, it was not the right choice.
 Good for intermediate to advanced user! April 7, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
While I found this software fun to dally around with, I also found it to be a bit difficult for a novice such as myself. That said, my teenage daughter, who is very good with this type of software, found it to be useful in conjunction with some other software she owns from Corel. I personally would like to see more interactive tutorials that explain a little more thoroughly; however, for the more advanced user, I do believe this software is very good.
 Perfect for Photo manipulation March 21, 2008
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
Painter Essentials 4 is an excellent program for anyone interested in creating digital art, without breaking the bank. With a host of natural media brushes one can paint on a digital canvas without fear of making mistakes, thanks to the ubiquitous "Undo" command.
Being quite familiar with PE 4's big brother, Painter X, I wanted to see what PE 4 was all about. This program is targeted towards beginners, but there are a lot of powerful features under the hood. Not an artist? No problem with Painter Essentials 4. One really nice feature the program has is the ability to take any digital photo and transform it into a wide-variety of natural media paintings. Want an airbrushed version of your favorite digital photo? What about charcoal? Water-color? No problem. Push a button and watch PE 4 digitally 'compose' your new masterpiece.
While Painter Essentials 4 doesn't have all the features of Painter X, I was able to do just about everything I typically do with the professional version. The interface has been overhauled - it's nothing like Painter X.
The program is divided into two modes: 1) Drawings and Paintings and 2) Photo Painting
You can mix colors on the fly, much like you would using a traditional artist palette, making it easy to select the perfect color for your composition. The overall user interface is intuitive and quick for beginners to grasp.
Painter Essentials 4 uses the "Real Bristle" painting system, which mimics natural brushes on a digital canvas. To really take advantage of painting with these brushes, you'll want to factor in the purchase of a graphics tablet (I recommend the Wacom brand.)
The most overlooked part of this program are the free video tutorials that are also included (clocking in at 135 minutes!). Painter master John Derry shows you the features in depth and also how to take the best advantage of them. Source images that are used in the tutorial are provided on the disc. It would be wise to watch the video to really get the most out of the program.
The program runs fine under both Mac OS X Tiger and Leopard. The package includes both Mac and PC versions.
Once again, to maximize your usage of this program, I would strongly recommend purchasing a graphics tablet. With one of these hardware peripherals, you can take advantage of painting and drawing with pressure sensitivity.
Painter Essentials 4 is a great value for the money. Recommended for beginner and intermediate hobbyists alike.
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