Following on from its beta release in September, the Pinta 3.1 release is now available for download with new features and plenty of fixes.
Pinta is, as I’m sure you know, a modest open-source and cross-platform image editor. It began life as a pseudo-clone of Paint.NET (the former being written in Mono, an open-source implementation of Microsoft’s .NET, which the latter was made in).
These days, it’s very much its own thing, serving as a simple yet capable raster graphics editor sitting below The GIMP in complexity, but above no-frills Tux Paint type offerings.
And the latest stable release adds a variety of improvements to its effects, tools and editing options to bolster its capabilities further.
Pinta 3.1: Highlights
Pinta 3.1 adds an axonometric grid option to View > Canvas Grid… dialog. There are options to dial in a specific grid size, and it can be used alongside the standard square grid. Axonometric grids are used when creating isometric art as its angled lines help maintain correct perspective.
Various improvements to the selection tool are included in Pinta 3.1.
The Lasso Select gains a Polygon Selection mode. When active, click to add point(s) to your desired selection area, and hit enter to set the selection for deleting, cutting, applying effects, painting, etc.
The old selection method is available, now labelled Freeform.
Selection outlines are now animated with marching ants to make them easier to spot on canvas; and the bounds of any selection area are highlighted on canvas rulers (if rulers are visible, of course). Both changes make it easier to select pixel-perfect regions.
Elsewhere, the Gradient tool adds on-canvas handles to adjust gradient length and direction; and there are improved layer context menus when right-clicking layers that only show actions applicable for the type.
Other notable changes in Pinta 3.1:
- New Cells effect
- Delete (entire) words in text tool using Ctrl + Backspace
- Toolbar tooltips list keyboard shortcut (if available)
- Repeatedly draw using Splatter brush by holding mouse button
- “About” dialog includes links to issue tracker and forum
- Dithering effect uses current palette colours (or not, your choice)
- Button to set new Random Seed value in various effects
- Twist effect adds radius percentage parameter
- Warning if saving image to format that doesn’t support layers
- Transparent palette colours now drawn against a checkerboard pattern
- Lower memory usage when using zoom tool
- New icon for macOS
- Bug fixes
For more details on the makeup of this release, check the change-log on the Pinta Github.
How to Install Pinta 3.1
Windows and macOS users can download Pinta 3.1 from the project’s GitHub releases page where, for the first time, a Windows on ARM installer is also available. Linux users can grab source code to compile it from the release page too.
Ubuntu user? You may prefer to install the official Pinta Snap package instead. Just search for Pinta in App Center (make sure it’s the Snap, not the repo DEB which is an older version) or fetch it from the command-line by running:
sudo snap install pinta
Once installed, launch from the Applications Grid.
You can also get Pinta from Flathub.