Skipping the Painter X Educational Version

Education Clip Art

In the last post, we explored some of the license options offered by Corel for Painter X. In this post, we’ll focus on educational uses of Painter. Being an instructor at Digital Art Academy, which is an authorized Corel Training Partner, students often ask if they should purchase the educational version of Painter instead of the full version. In my opinion, most students (at least for DAA) should skip the educational version and go for the full version instead.

First and foremost, the educational version limits using the software for commercial purposes. Chances are, if you’re taking a class to learn Painter, at some point you may want to sell your work. To my knowledge, Corel doesn’t have an upgrade path from Educational to Full [if this is incorrect, someone please point me in the right direction]. This means that in addition to purchasing the educational version, you’ll also have to turn around and buy the full version at full price as well.

Also, as noted in the previous post, once class is over and you’re no longer a student, the educational licence is void (terminated), and by the license “You agree, upon termination, to destroy all copies of the Product.”

Make the Most of a Trial Instead

For students (or potential students) who have not given Painter a try and aren’t sure if they’ll be able to get the hang of it, download the free 30-day Trial and sign up for a class (use the money you’d pay for the educational version for actual education). For instance, classes at DAA are 4 weeks long (28 days). This gives you the opportunity to test out the software, find all the good features and use them, and most of all cuts through some of the intimidation that new software often brings. At the end of class, you still have two days to decide whether or not you enjoy Painter and want to treat yourself to the full version.

Of course, this can apply to other software as well.

If using this method though, be sure to not install the trial until the first day of your class. It is also important to note that once a 30-day trial has expired, you will not be able to reset the time limit or extend the time limit by installing the trial version again.

Moving Forward with the Full Version

After you’ve had a chance to finish a class, and properly evaluate the trial version of the software, purchase the full version (if you liked the software) as an investment in your happiness and move forward with your goals. Take another class to improve skills, start marketing a new service, enter your work into shows, or just continue to have fun with the software. Skipping the educational version and going straight to the full version, you’re not held back by the license in terms of what you can and cannot do with the software. This opens up a world of possibilities, even for students.

The Different “Versions” of Painter X

First, we’ll start off with a simple truth about “purchasing” software – When you buy software, you aren’t buying the software itself [the software remains the property of the publisher], but instead you’re buying a license to use the software. Corel uses a single general license that covers use cases for specific “versions” of Painter X (and other software packages). The confusing part comes in because every “version” of Painter X is the same full software. That’s right – the trial, educational and full versions of Painter are all fully featured software. The difference between them is in the license terms that apply.

Selection of the beginning of Corel’s General EULA.
© Corel Corporation.

Are the different version of Painter X really different? Reading through the license provided by Corel, here are my impressions of the license and some helpful tips for those trying to decide which version is the right version for you.

Client Website Launch: MarilynSholin.com

As all of you know by now, Marilyn and I work exceptionally well together, and as a result, we work together often. When Marilyn was ready to update her branding with a wonderful logo created by Charmaine Check at Check Studio, she came to me. The goal was for something refreshing, new and “Marilyn.” My first instinct was pink all over the place because Marilyn loves pink. It is a color that’s in all of her paintings, in every piece of marketing material I’ve seen from her, and of course the color she chooses to use as her daily skin color over at the Digital Painting Forum.

The first concept for her site is the same as above, but only in a rich set of pink and burgundy. She loved it, but always having had pink as a central color, decided it was time for a little change, something fresh. We played around with color palettes from a paint catalog (color inspiration is everywhere) and chose to keep pink as a strong accent, but opted for the blue and teal for the base design’s background. To make it more “Marilyn,” we used one of her most popular paintings [Bourbon Balcony] for a splash of color in the header.

The result is a contemporary, layered design that meets all of the goals we set out to accomplish. Now if only she could slow down enough so we can sit down and finish filling in all the content! Not to worry though, we have it on our to-do lists [along with plans for more expansion]. An artist’s work is never done!

Speed Painting in Photoshop CS3

Not to be confused with the time lapse paintings available on YouTube often labeled as speed painting, real speed painting is a practice by which an artist gives him/herself a, usually short, time limit to lay out a painting or composition.

Speed paintings generally do not involve a beginning sketch. Instead the artist lays out block and shapes of color to begin to establish the basic composition, values and volume.

Playing with the concept, I created this painting in Photoshop CS3 [though the speed part isn’t quite there – it took around 3 hours to get to this point]. I plan to keep working with the process in hopes that it will help speed up my normal painting process as well [not to mention that these are just fun to do]. Some of the steps and a mini-tutorial for this painting are after the jump.

Brush Installer Beta Update (0.5.1b)

The Studio|chris Brush Installer for Corel Painter X has received its first update which is aimed specifically at Windows Vista users. This update brings compatibility with Vista’s User Access Control (UAC). If UAC is enabled on your system (which it is unless you’ve disabled it yourself), the Brush Installer will work “out of the box” by installing brushes to your specific user folder. Of note, this location is not a permanent location and custom brushes will be deleted by Painter if an emergency reset is needed (performed by holding the Shift key while starting Painter). In this event, at least you have an easy way to reinstall the lost brushes!

For those who have disabled UAC, the update still works out of the box for you as well, but you have an extra option. If the checkbox for “UAC is Disabled” is checked, your brushes will be installed to the Program Files directory as opposed to your specific user folder. Brushes installed to the Program Files directory are permanent and will not be deleted during emergency resets of Painter.

Sorry for the extra clutter in the interface, but a proper Settings panel is in the works to hide that checkbox when not needed and also to save whether the box has been checked or not between sessions. I felt it was important to release this intermediate update quickly without the Settings panel to ensure the installer is compatible with the majority of systems before moving on to more complex features.

SnagIt 9 Released!

The screen capture masters over at TechSmith released the newest version of their popular screen capture program SnagIt yesterday. SnagIt 9 brings forth many useful additions to the already awesome screen capture application! I’ve been working with SnagIt for a while now. I use it exclusively for all screenshots posted here on the blog and throughout the site as well as in my classes at Digital Art Academy. With the new functionality, I know SnagIt 9 will save time and make my screen capture process even more enjoyable.

From TechSmith, here are some of the new features in a nutshell:

Go with the flow

How do you want to snag? One capture right after another? Maybe pause during editing and capture again? SnagIt now plays along. Say goodbye to the old, linear workflow; say hello to freedom.

SnagIt 9′s new multi-image capabilities – Combine images easily

With multi-image capabilities you can work faster and always have a visual reference of your screenshots so you can easily capture, edit and share multiple images in any order or all at once. Now SnagIt makes it easy to combine two or more images into one. Recent captures are always visible in the new Open Captures Tray…just drag-and-drop them onto the canvas to create a composite image.”

SnagIt 9′s new media library – Save everything

SnagIt now stores every capture automatically. Don’t feel any pressure to name the capture or decide where to save it…until you’re ready for that kind of commitment. Effortlessly view all of your images and sort them however you like and share multiple images via email or FTP or print multiple images at the same time.

SnagIt 9′s new visual search pane – Find your stuff

Whether or not you saved it, find that capture later with the new Visual Search Pane. If you can remember even one detail-like the approximate date or the Web site you captured-you’ll find your capture with a click. SnagIt keeps track of these details, so you don’t have to.

SnagIt 9′s new custom tagging options – Get organized

As you capture images for next month’s big project, tag them with “big project” or set the “Important” flag. No need to save anything in folders…just come back next month and view all your big project files with a click!

SnagIt 9′s new sleek editing user-interface – Keep your tools handy

The Editor’s new menus make it quicker to get at the features you use most…and easier to discover the ones you’ve never used.

System Requirements and Availability:

SnagIt 9 supports Microsoft Windows XP, XP x64, and Vista. SnagIt can be downloaded immediately at www.techsmith.com. The suggested retail price of SnagIt is $49.95 for a single-user license. A 60-day upgrade price of $19.95 is available for current customers. Free trial licenses are also available.

TechSmith product box shot reprinted with permission from TechSmith Incorporated.

Corel Painter X Idea Lab at DAA

I know some of you have been waiting on this, so I won’t make you wait any longer… I am pleased to announce my first Painter class at DAA — the Corel Painter X Idea Lab!

Class Description:

Step into the lab and experience a completely new way to learn! The Painter Idea Lab is not a standard, run-of-the-mill class, but instead a completely organic, social learning experience. To put it in simpler terms – there is no set lesson plan. The class evolves week to week based on the needs of the students (with a few surprises added in to keep it interesting, of course).

This course is all about creativity and applying that creativity in Painter to learn the software “as you go.” The course is participation driven, so for the class to be a success, students must be willing to contribute questions, share their work with everyone, and HAVE FUN!

So how’s it work?

Each session begins with a set of random resource materials — these could be photos, sketches, incomplete paintings, custom brushes, fonts, short tutorials, videos, short music clips and basically anything else. These are to give the students a jump start and to get the creative juices flowing. The easiest way to get over the fear of Painter is to actually use Painter. Of course, my normal rule of, “Just do it — it doesn’t matter if the end result is ‘pretty’ or not. The key is to sit down and play!” applies to this entire course.

With resources in hand, students are released “into the wild” to conduct their experiments in Painter. Some students may choose to “paint in the sketch,” while others “complete the painting,” or “paint a set of photos.” As students have questions, comments, etc, they post them to the classroom’s forum. With the questions posted, the direction of the class starts to form and the instructional materials begin to materialize. The instructor will provide information and tutorials based on the interests of the students (Lab Reports), provide constructive critique, demonstrate techniques in video and more. The possibility for a variety of topics per class is limitless!

To keep things interesting, there will also be specific challenges for each week of class as “extracurricular” activities. These are simple suggestions that focus on different parts of the whole Painter experience and encourage the students to think outside the box. For instance, one week’s challenge may be, “What can you do with this photo and 15 minutes?” or “”Don’t touch that Cloner!” Of course, these may spur more questions and more topics to discuss as a class.

At the end of the class, all “Lab Reports,” important shared information and samples from throughout the weeks of class will be packaged and available for download by current students. Of course, students are also encouraged to save anything they wish from the classroom itself for their future reference.

Due to the nature of the class, a minimum enrollment of 10 students is needed (and the maximum is set at 60). Also, each session will be completely different, so if you come in for the first session (Session 4 @DAA) and again for the second session (Session 5 @ DAA) – you’ll have a completely different experience each time.

Course Enrollment Fee: $52
First day of class: July 5, 2008

What are you waiting for? Grab your lab coats and follow me to the lab!