Painter 2020

FRESH COAT With its version number also being shorthand for perfect vision, does this mean Corel has delivered its best-ever version of Painter?

Now in its 29th year, Corel’s flagship painting software provides a raft of new and updated painting features, as well as interface improvements. And its one-off price tag will appeal to artists who want to avoid going down the subscription software route wherever possible.

Painter 2020 aims to get the most from your hardware with the new Brush Accelerator tool. This assesses your system and then applies optimal performance settings. Stamp brushes benefit from GPU acceleration, and you can choose which brushes receive a hardware boost. Corel states you can “paint up to 20 times faster” with its Brush Accelerator, and we certainly noticed a reduction in lag when painting with traditional media brushes. You can also use the tool to adjust CPU performance to improve the overall software experience, and gain insights on how best to upgrade your system.