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Paint reimagined for Windows 8

by Mark Tyson on 23 August 2012, 12:15

Tags: Windows 8

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A new blog post on Microsoft Technet draws our attention to the reinvented, re-imagined “Paint” program for Windows 8: Fresh Paint. The app is proving very popular in the Windows Store, today it became the No.1 app in the Store entertainment section.

Features of Fresh Paint:

  • Discover delightfully real paint that behaves like real paint where it should and better than real where you need it. Blend and mix colours to get just the look you want
  • Help your kids be creative and explore their imagination
  • Experience real painting and be creative without the mess and costly supplies
  • Relax and enjoy yourself. There is nothing to learn because you already know how to use it
  • Zoom in to see strikingly realistic details. Only Fresh Paint has an amazing, realistic paint engine developed by the company that brought you Kinect

Fresh Paint was originally created as a prototype application for New York’s Museum of Modern Art where it was used and interacted with by over 56,000 visitors. The app is said to create a realistic artistic environment with the traditional artist mediums working and interacting as you would expect by using “real time fluid dynamics on screen”.  Steve Clayton on the Technet blog post explains “Basically, the Fresh Paint engineering team developed a physics engine that simulates how mediums - think paint, pencil and pastels - are applied to a surface such as canvas or paper using a tool like a brush, pencil, etc. This provides a digital experience that is just like you’d get in the analog or real world.”

This really is an app that works great with touch and is eminently suited to touch screen enabled Windows 8 devices. One Windows 8 Fresh Paint user commented “The best app in Windows 8! Love it!” but another without a touch screen said “Looks nice - unfortunately very few people now have access to a Windows 8 touch tablet - on a desktop with a mouse it's not so useful.”

So if you are running Windows 8 and have a touch screen this FREE download from the Windows Store looks like a must-have if you like to dabble with paint. However Microsoft says it may not be available for you to download depending on your region/language right now as it is being localised for 12 markets/languages. Once localisation is complete it will be also be made available in English in the markets it hasn’t been localised for. There’s a good review (4.5/5) of the Fresh Paint app over at PC Advisor.

MS Paint from Windows 1.01



HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Remember I used to have 80286 (if am correct) PC with something like 30MB HDD and 8MB RAM (if not less) and broken FDD (plus no ethernet card or other input options) oh and black and white CRT. Used Paint 1 and drew some “3D” stuff when was really bored. Nobody I knew had a PC other than in office. Descent and Doom later on were most advanced games. When Carma became available we used to bunch up at friends house who had PC to run it :) Now its simple. Anyone with job and without any addictions can purchase PC or laptop.
I am quite puzzled and interested how will Windows 8 shape up. But even more I am wondering about Windows 9.. :)
Wonder if Kai's Power Goo will be revived.

That was a terrific program.
pctech2012
Wonder if Kai's Power Goo will be revived.

That was a terrific program.

It's part of Corel Paint Shop Pro now, and still fantastic fun!
Hi, this is Aaron Coldiron with the Fresh Paint team. I'm glad you are enjoying the app. I just wanted to note that Fresh Paint is now available globally for Windows 8 RTM users, and if you have the Windows 8 RP we are available in 12 markets including the UK. Please give it a try, rate and review it, and send us feedback via the settings charm. Thanks for checking it out.
How about releasing it for Windows 7?