Installed an registered on a Win 8.1 64 bit system without problems. Requires .netframe.

I have to admit, that I never heard about this software and the company behind.I have a big wacom tablet and I paint from time to time with a well known program. Being a Corel customer from the very first beginning of that company. That said, I am a good tester with a basic knowledge of painting programs and no knowledge at all with this GiveAway.

The interface is quite familiar compared with other painting programs and you can start immediately your art work.

I would like to tell more about that, but ...

I changed the canvas, defined a large airbrush, defined colors and brush shape and began to draw. The result was the same as I have learned. I switched to ... and then the program didn't react any more.

Right click, left click, no information, moving the cursor stll works but is simply does not do anything, no paint, no erase, nada. I tried to undo the last steps, tried to get help.

As the last exit, I saved the picture to the default .tga file and reopened the file. O wonder, I could work again, brushes came back and colors and...

Well, this is the first paint program, where I completely got lost within a short test drawing. Not a good sign for the program, not I good sign for me either.

With the surely high learning curve I will stick to my well known painting program.

Thanks GOATD and Dogwaffle

Karl  –  10 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+72)

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Hubby first stumbled across PD Particles many years ago. It's a standalone VERY addictive brush package from Project Dogwaffle that's been included in Howler Pro since I think v7. Particles was given away once via GOTD, but now that it's bundled in Howler and Howler's been given away here twice in just the past half year, OMG this gets an unqualified thumbs up from both of us.

Don't claim that another package is "all you need" because that's just dumb, and don't ask if how it's different from something else because these packages all bring treats and different options to your canvas. Also dumb are the clowns giving thumbs down to #4 or anyone else praising this software, IMHO. It IS one of the best programs I've ever had the pleasure to use.

Only negative is that this is crippleware but beggars can't be choosers. I see one person wrote that they'd never heard of Project Dogwaffle so this type of advertising works for both the vendor and us users since it generates feedback they need to improve. E.G. - their web site has always been a confusing mess, but don't let that fool you, the software is awesome. I am not a pro so I can't explain why PSD support is limited (to one channel I think) but if you ask on the GOTD Forums, bet you can get a great answer and maybe even a workaround idea or two.

Although GIMP is a powerful free art package that should be in every artist's digital repertoir if only because it offers a free and compatible workarounds for alpha channels and virtual world viewers, I honestly don't know much about using GIMP as I have Photoshop plus Howler (thank you GOTD) plus Twisted Brush, all with steep learning curves but tons of jaw-dropping features you may only discover by viewing tutorials and video tuts on the software vendor's sites, YouTube and the many other art sites where people share their discoveries and techniques.
For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEYvD2tM1iY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sD_NSvcZ_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llgV4hpxy9o

Warning, if you have a predisposition to addictions, avoid Howler, Particles and Twisted Brush at all costs because I've lost a good half year of my life just playing with the options! :)) The addition of Orbicles to Particles (and Howler Pro) just adds to the fun.

GreeneyedNewbie  –  10 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+54)

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I downloaded this last time it was offered, a truly superb piece of software that as a developer takes my breath away.
I love the way the brushes work and although they do extremely complicated things they are always visually attractive.
A quick way of testing if this program is of any use to you is to try a few.

Under file in the top menu bar you can choose a number of brushes, I suggest you try "Particles" and then maybe "Joshua Tree," under Watercolor you have some excellent brush washes, in fact a huge number of amazing brushes with which you can express yourself in a way no other program allows.
Go to their site as presented on this page you'll be able to view some of the work done by this program.

An incredible opportunity for anyone of an artistic nature to add to their arsenal of tools, get it while you can.

XP-Man  –  10 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+50)

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I've not had a good chance to test this yet but there are nearly 400 tutorial videos on the vendors Youtube channel, so hopefully that will allow folk to learn about all of the program features in a useful way.

PhilS  –  10 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+42)

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#15: "And this is why I asked – how this is better than GIMP? $99 (or 89) is a lot of money. Even painttoolSai is cheaper – so what excatly I will pay for?"

There's are all sorts of graphics software out there, and you can always use some sort of pen or touchpad instead of a mouse, but when you open & look at today's GOTD what makes Dogwaffle Howler different is its focus on painting. Autodesk has something similar in its Sketchbook -- Sketchbook Pro was the cheaper, reduced feature version, though I didn't see the more expensive version on their site just now, so maybe they folded the tech into something else? Amazon US ran it for a couple of days during the holidays for around $20. Corel of course has the Painter apps, which have been around for years & years, though the full version is a lot more expensive than Dogwaffle Howler. There are several cut down versions of Painter that Corel's come out with in recent years, sometimes as a free, value-added offer bundled with something else, sometimes as more of an app that people might actually buy. I 've got Painter Essentials & Painter Photo Essentials that came bundled with something else, & Painter Lite which I paid less than $10 for last fall. None of those 3 come close to Painter or Dogwaffle Howler really. If you browse the dogwaffle site however you'll see that if you upgrade to the latest full version you'll also get some video, animation, & 3D capabilities -- stuff you will not see in your average image editor.

As far as the GIMP goes, you can certainly draw & paint there, but while I'm no GIMP expert by any means, AFAIK it doesn't provide the same drawing friendly environment as say Corel Photo Paint or to a slightly lesser extent P/Shop. Software that's more about image editing rather than painting might let you use the full capabilities of a Wacom tablet, with things like tilt in addition to the standard pressure & velocity you get with cheaper tablets. You might also be able to set the painting surface as well, so it mimics drawing on textured paper or painting on canvas. But with something more tailored to image editing you usually don't get stuff like the more involved brush modeling. That said, here's a neat example of what you can do with the basic Microsoft Paint http://youtu.be/v2g5qbvb7F4

Drawing tablets themselves have faded quite a bit in popularity -- unless you buy Wacom pretty much all you'll see are smaller versions, though there are loads of those. And along with that lapse in popularity there have been fewer apps with a focus on painting -- the popularity of tablets & touchscreens however might be reversing that trend. Head over to Google Play & do a couple of separate searches for drawing & sketching and you'll see loads & loads of apps. I would guess that many of them will find their way to the Windows store if you don't mind win8.1, Intel has demoed new hardware that runs Android alongside Windows, laptops & such that dual boot Windows & Android are coming, and AMD is putting more resources behind BlueStacks, which lets you run Android apps on the desktop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueStacks .

As far as needing a tablet goes, there's something to be said about actually physically holding a pencil or pen, especially as compared to using a mouse. Some people value the feel of pen on paper enough that they scan their work rather than draw digitally, & companies continue to develop different sorts of pens that let you draw on paper but digitize everything at the same time -- the latest I've seen written up uses ultrasound if I remember correctly. And then there's Samsung continuing to develop their tablet models that let you use a much more accurate stylus vs. the cheap things you can use with any touchscreen. Not all of that is because there's a bunch of old timers around who can't quite master using something like a mouse accurately. OTOH if you're not one of the folks who likes holding a pen, or if you just don't want to bother, for most purposes a mouse works just fine. Many [myself included] use a higher rez, more accurate gaming mouse for 99% of everything -- the only thing I haven't figured out is how to manage a sort of dabbing/stroking move I use touching up faces & such, so that's when I move the coffee cup out of the way & plug in the tablet. It's not that I mind using a tablet -- it's just less convenient, taking up more space than a mouse... and I have to clear off space somewhere for my coffee cup. :)

mike  –  10 years ago  –  Vond je deze reactie nuttig? ja | nee (+41)

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