News & Updates

Check this page for the latest Rainbow Painter news and updates.

News

JUNE 26, 2010
Manual Updated
The many changes in version 3.2 required some of the manual pages to be updated. Manual

MARCH 31, 2009
Rainbow Painter 3 Officially Released
Aimed at professionals and amateurs alike, the new version for Mac and PC comes with exciting new features and technologies.
It supports 32-bit float/channel HDR, which permits adjustments to be made back and forth without losing quality.
There is also a revolutionary new pattern editing mode, which puts the old technique of using a so called "Offset Filter" to achieve seamless tiles to shame.
When switching on the repeat function in Rainbow Painter (horizontally, vertically or both), not only will the image be displayed repeatedly, but all effects support this mode and brush strokes will continue over the edges when drawing.
Rainbow Painter 3 can be downloaded here and may be purchased online for $29.95 here.

DECEMBER 13, 2008
Open beta launched
The beta version of Rainbow Painter 3 is finally ready to download for both Mac and PC.
We decided to make it an open beta, so everyone is welcome to give it a test drive!
Get the beta here
The look of this site has also been improved and some new pages have been added.

OCTOBER 19, 2008
We have now added a manual/help section to the website: Manual
This might not be of much use to you until you can get your hands on the actual program, though...
Speaking of which, we expect to have a beta version ready within a couple of weeks.
If you haven't done so already, you can still sign up to be a beta tester here.

MARCH 3, 2008
We have enhanced the look of the website and added this page: Professional Uses
We have also released an old (as in really old, we're talking early 90's here) version of Rainbow as freeware.
More info can be found at the end of the left column on this page.

OCTOBER 24, 2007
As promised earlier, we can now present the first official screenshot of Rainbow Painter 3!
Go here to view it.
Please note that the screenshot may differ from the final product, since it's currently in a pre-beta stage.

OCTOBER 10, 2007
We have started redesigning the rainbowpainter.com site and we have included some information about the upcoming Rainbow Painter 3.
More information and changes to the site will follow soon.

Updates

AUGUST 9, 2010   -Version 3.2.1
[New Feature] You can now choose between several different user interface color schemes in the View menu.
[Improvement] The animation of the user interface buttons is now optional and can be toggled in the View menu.
[Improvement] Clicking on the title of a window or menu to close or minimize it will now work only if it's the currently selected window, to make this feature more intuitive.
[Improvement] You can now choose between soft and regular versions of the rectangle and ellipse tools found in the Shapes and Selection categories.
[Improvement] The selected tool is now displayed in a larger font and you can click it to change to a different tool.
[Bugfix] In Fullscreen Mode, the inactivity handler put extra load on the CPU (the opposite of what it was supposed to do).
[Bugfix] Sometimes when quitting, the program would freeze and wait for additional user input.
[Bugfix] Some tools (Painting, Distortion, Airbrush) could produce faulty HDR colors if used with a large brush with high softness.
[Bugfix] The color adjustment dialog could cause the program to freeze if displaying extreme HDR values.
[Misc.] Some other minor improvements and bugfixes.
Download Rainbow Painter here

JUNE 26, 2010   -Version 3.2.0
[Improvement] Rainbow Painter is now fully compatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7.
[Improvement] The user interface has received a major overhaul.
[Improvement] The panels have been divided into three sections, all of which are now retractable! When retracting a panel section, the free space will be taken up by the picture editor/viewer.
[Improvement] When the mouse pointer is over the picture, the 'zoomer' panel now temporarily increases in size by borrowing space from the adjacent panels.
[New Feature] A new menu bar panel has been added, with familiar menus such as File, Edit, View etc. In most of the menus you will find some quick actions, like 'Contrast 125%' and 'Export As HQ Jpeg', in addition to the normal actions that often open a window with settings (e.g. 'Contrast...' and 'Export Picture...').
[Improvement] All windows and menus can now be closed by clicking on its name/title (unless it's been made 'permanent', in which case the size will be toggled instead). This is especially useful when navigating the menus of the menu bar panel.
[Bugfix] Noticeable gamma deviation could occur when importing, exporting and displaying a picture.
[New Feature] Internal clipboard that supports cut, copy, copy merged, paste and delete.
[Improvement] The tool settings panel has been improved and a new 'complement tool' option has been added which automatically selects a suitable tool for the right mouse button if you want, based on which tool you have selected for the left button.
[Improvement] You can now bookmark more than one picture in the portfolio for quicker access.
[New Layer Operation] Scale.
[New Picture Operation] Turn.
[Improvement] The spray tools have been improved.
[Improvement] The GUI renderer has been optimized.
[Bugfix] Picture operations only updated the layer thumbnail for the selected layer.
[Bugfix] A buffer overflow bug could cause the program to crash.
[Bugfix] The layer operations Flip and Clear didn't add undo steps.
[Bugfix] The layer operations Destroy and Merge could cause a crash.
[Bugfix] The Magic Wand tools could crash if a deactivated selection alreday existed.
[Bugfix] Some of the effects could crash.
[Improvement] The manual has been updated to reflect recent changes.
[Misc.] ...And countless other minor improvements, additions and bugfixes.

FEBRUARY 9, 2010   -Version 3.1.2
[Bugfix] The Mac version had a serious bug that could cause crashes during import/export.
[Improvement] You can now toggle sub-pixel precision on/off in the Coordinates panel.
[Improvement] The Zoomer panel now remembers the magnification level.
[Bugfix] The Rectangle tools were not working correctly with Softness set to zero.

FEBRUARY 2, 2010   -Version 3.1.1
[New Feature] The application can now be used in a window, as well as fullscreen. (Mac only for now, PC version will get this feature soon.)
[Improvement] The Mac version is now based on Cocoa instead of Carbon.
[Improvement] Improved stability.
[Improvement] Improved memory management.
[Bugfix] Starting a brush stroke (or shape) inside the editing area and ending it outside did not work properly.
[Bugfix] The tools Smear, Smudge, Oil Paint, Fingerpaint and Pastel could cause unwanted 'scratches'.
[Misc.] Lots of minor bugfixes and improvements.

MAY 15, 2009   -Version 3.1
[New Effects] Bloom, Laplace.
[New Tool] Clone (alt-click to set the source point), found in the Photo category.
[New Blend Modes] Inverse Subtract, Color With Kept RGB Sum, Brightness Using RGB Sum.
[New Selection Operations] Flip, Scroll.
[Misc.] Minor bugfixes and improvements.

MARCH 31, 2009   -Version 3.0
[New since v2] Lots of new features and technologies.
[New since the last beta] Various improvements and bugfixes.

FEBRUARY 22, 2009   -Version 3.0 beta 3
[New Effects] Brightness RGB, Saturation RGB, Sharpen, Erase.
[New Tools] Sharpen (in the Adjust category).
[New Picture Operation] Export, supporting Rainbow Painter's own format, PNG, Jpeg, Tiff, Photoshop PSD, Portable Float Map, Radiance RGBE, Targa, Bitmap BMP.
[Improved Tool] Scroll now uses Strength and can be limited by a selection.
[Bugfix] Import failed to load images correctly on some computer setups.
[Bugfix] Some effects affected the alpha channel when they shouldn't.
[Bugfix] The Picture Operation Duplicate had some issues.
[Misc. Bugfixes] Several, including a few serious ones.
[Misc.] Some other minor features, improvements and optimizations.

JANUARY 23, 2009   -Version 3.0 beta 2
[New Effects] Channel Mixer and Mother Of Pearl Splash.
[New Tools] Dodge and Burn (in the Photo category).
[New Tool Setting] Draw Mode, where you can select Standard/Freehand ('S') or Line ('/').
[New Selection Features] Splash (in the Selection panel's Create list). Grow, Shrink, Blur, Contrast and Invert (in the Selection panel's Modify list).
[Improved Effects] All Splash effects now have an optional 3D look.
[Improved Coordinates] The Coordinates panel now shows the coordinates with subpixel accuracy and also displays additional data (width, height, length) when applicable.
[Improved Import] Added new file formats (including PNG and Tiff), and improved the support for Jpeg.
[Bugfix] The two Unsharp Mask effects could cause a crash.
[Misc.] Some other minor features, improvements and bugfixes. We also fixed a problem that prevented the (Mac) .dmg file from being downloaded/opened correctly in some cases.

DECEMBER 13, 2008   -Version 3.0 beta 1
The first public beta of Rainbow Painter 3.