Windows 7 First Look: MS Paint
Posted on March 4, 2009 at 6:14 am
MS Paint hsa gotten a major facelift on Windows 7. Although still aimed at basic painting needs, the updates to the interface is a clear improvement from the older Vista and XP versions. Below is screenshot of MS Paint in Windows 7:
As you can see, all of the tools and buttons are neatly positioned at the upper part of the window. This is consistent with what we have seen on Office 2007’s Ribbon interface wherein the grouped controls are positioned on the header and not on the side. Compare the new version with the Vista version below:
And of course we all remember the old but reliable XP version:
The image menu had been restructured to handle image selection, cropping, resizing and rotation:
Brush stroke types now have more better and exciting choices:
More shape selections are available too:
The effective colors palette did not change:
You can use the view rulers and gridlines capability to guide you in drawing:
The more organized Ribbon interface is a major improvement. Not only does it look better, it is easier to use too. MS Paint users who are used to the old versions will not have a hard time adjusting to the new Windows 7 version.
An in depth comparison of the MS Paint versions are located here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ms_Paint#Version_comparison
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Ben Carigtan show’s you how it’s done.
» Filed Under Windows 7
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Won’t have a hard time?!?! I can’t even draw a circle, have you tried to pixel art in this crap? It is garbage, I am searching for a way to switch to the old one, if I wanted this kind of stuff, I’d get Paint.net or GIMP… Or even lightroom or photoshop for that matter! The new paint, is garbage.
-Daniel
Daniel, Windows Paint was never intended to take over most paint programs. Windows Paint has both good and bad points.
Other programs may make a better circle, but at the same time, they can be very annoying at certain tasks as well.
YES!!! PAINT WILL ACCOMPLISH WORLD DOMINATION!!
I have Windows 7 myself, and I must say the paint is awesome.
The anti-aliasing is my biggest concern. While a great feature to have, you simply can’t turn it off. That, and the fact that it auto-selects any object (Line, curved line, circle etc) as soon as its drawn is also very annoying. I’d have no issues with most of the features, so long as I could just turn them on and off at will!
It’s funny that I find this as I was googling how to get Vista’s paint back. Major facelift? I really don’t see how. It is a completely ruined Paint, and now a heavily nerfed Photoshop, and we all know that pixel art and spriting are EVER SO FUN on Photoshop. Double that with no transparency support. Seriously, go try make a sprite for a game on MS Paint in both Vista and 7 paint. Vista’s for everything imaginable proves to be easier, faster, and far more delivering in terms of artwork beauty, especially when you’re making a sprite, as it produces a faster, cleaner image with no blur around it.
I guess to sum it up, I just felt the upgrade was extremely unnecessary, ruining what felt made Paint, paint.
The new version of Paint is an utter disaster. It’s a flaming PoS. XP Paint was not pretty, but it was functional and let me do what I needed to do at a very basic level. I’d get and learn to use a “real” program if I needed to do anything glitzy, and I don’t. I don’t always want my lines anti-aliased and I’d like to turn that off. I’d like to draw lines point-to-point-to-point, but the new version insists that it knows better than I do and instead wants to drag the just-placed line some place else. I can find transparency for text, but not for drawing (pretty irritating if I want to cut ‘n paste).
I know it’s there, because I’ve used it before, but I’ve spent the past 15 minutes looking for it and I can’t find it. The “Help” file? Yeah, it opens the help file for Windows, not for Paint. Seriously, MS, this is why people hate you. For every new feature and/or upgrade you’ve managed to add in the new edition, you’ve managed to royally screw up something that worked well in previous versions. Whoever signed off on this garbage deserves to be fired.
This new MS paint is a failure in my opinion. What I think would be better is a user interface that integrates the ribbon UI into the traditional menu system, and I think the menus should be stored at the top of the screen like in Mac OSX.
For example, my system would work such that you could click on say Home, which is at the menu bar at the top of the screen and that will open up a toolbar right below Home. Then if you click Home or another Menu in the Menu bar that will hide the Home toolbar.
The reason I think it should work like this is Microsoft’s current system is not very friendly to non-maximized windows, further, the ribbon UI is not useful in all applications, such as Paint. In Paint the ribbon UI has not helped at all.
Ok…
Paint is a tool for … Artists. And being an artist this overhaul is Unneeded and is simply a tragedy.
Also, every artist i know is highly pissed about this.
If we want photoshop, we will use photoshop
But as others have said before… forced anti aliasing, a clusterfu&@ of extra features that are still sub par to what photoshop or paintshop can do. Loss of so many basic functionallities that were really only possible thru the original paint program.
For example pixel by pixel cut out. You used to be able to do it with surgical level precision in paint.. but now its no better than photoshop.
Transparency image layering has also had a big dump taken on it.
Quick resize of canvas, images is basically gone. Drawing a series of straight lines quickly is gone now to the fact that each line you draw it wants to force you to line it up.
Fact is.. one of two things is going to happen once 7 releases. Either Microsoft will see how much this pisses people off and in a service pack that will incorp a standalone Paintlite that will be basically the original paint program. Or… if MOJAVE was any indication they wont, and people will end up having to code work arounds to accomplish and distribute the original paint program.
Seriously MS… if you got tired of seeing adobe make money with its only real revenue generating product and wanted to horn in on that market… you could have added your version of photoshop as an add on to the office suite and no one would have batted an eye, and some would have paid for it. But now youve continued to cram that friggen ribbon down peoples throats just to compete with the 10% of people who like Macs
Do the right thing MS… patch in PaintLite, instead of forcing the public to fix your mistakes.
I used MS Paint because i preferred the simple and basic, to the more sophisticated.
I tried copying over the executable from XP, seems to work at first, but has problems saving and others.
i am often editing maps (canoe, hiking) in which i want to control/limit the number of colors, so a feature i really appreciated was NOT to have anti-aliasing.
It would be so simple, i think, to have some Tool, Properties, in the menu, in which a couple params could be configured:
- anti-aliasing on/off
- default value (at startup) for “Draw Opaque”
- enable old menus
Another problem, i cannot get lines of size 4, which i used as my standard for around 100 canoe maps produced yet.
There is the basic and functional, that was MS Paint on Windows XP. Existed before, not longer exists.
There is the sophisticated. That existed before, the new MS paint is just another of the so many flavors.
As a software developer, i am telling myself… with so much effort they could simply fix it and add a couple configurable params to make everyone happy…
Charles
Is there a way I can download the new Paint but without downloading Windows 7.
The new brushes are a good idea but they should have left the old brushes that painted solid colors, at least the paint bucket worked with them filling in solid colors. WITH THE NEW BRUSHES the paint bucket does not work & drawing with the new brushes has a bad grainy artificial look.
My hands were injured in a car accident years ago & menuvering the mouse is quite hard. The palettes were movable in the previous paint softwares, making the palettes stationary was a big mistake. I paint pictures that are 4225 by 2228 pixels & constantly going to the top to change my colors is a painful effort.
I started using paint when windows 3.1 was launched in 1995. I have been using paint ever since. I loved the paint software as it was until it was changed in windows 7 & I miss it. Now I can not draw & pain like I used & I am disappointed.
MICROSOFT, you made windows vista which was a disaster, you finally make windows 7 & the paint software is a useless software & WORTHLESS. When are you folks at Microsoft are going to REPAIR the paint software so I CAN ENJOY TO PAINT AGAIN?? I guess I will be forced to reinstall WINDOWS XP in order to paint again. XP was the best windows Microsoft ever made.
Please restore the old brushes with their solid painting abilities, perhaps you can add bigger ones for faster painting on large areas, you could leave the new ones as well.
The thicker pencil lines was a good idea too.
The sequence of filling in solid colors in the shapes should be restored, now you have to make the extra effoet by filling the color in with the paint bucket.
New paint is bad, new look for a loss in functuality…get real, I want my old paint back!
I have done the following, not perfect and a real pain, but i end up getting what i want.
- copied over the Paint executable from XP to Windows 7. works, but for some reason (like missing dependency) it crashes when i save.
- when i edit a document, i open both the XP Paint and the Windows 7 Paint. I do my edits with the XP Paint, and from time to time i copy-paste to Windows 7 Paint, and i save.
- also installed getpaint.net. For some tasks, Paint.NET does better, for most tasks, XP Paint does better, and Windows & Paint is ok for at least one task: saving.
I appeal to any one who is having trouble using the new Windows 7 Paint to write to me at elygoldart@gmail.com.
I am in touch with a TECHNICIAN who shares my views on the new faulty MS Paint & he may take up our complaints with the MS Paint designers.
Please also write to Vijay at v-6vijap@mssupport.microsoft.com
In order for your complaints to be heard & responded to we need you to voice your complaint & maybe they will listen.
In the mean time if you own a mac computer it, temporarily, it is possible to have 2 windows operating system at the same time. So you can paint from Windows Vista.
Thank You All kindly
I personally dont like the Windows 7 Paint as much as Windows Vista Paint D;
I have to agree with some of the others up here. When I was first trying this new Paint out. I was all excited. But now I’m noticing new annoying little hiccups with some of the tools.
The loss of the old solid pixel brushes is really a huge blow to pixel artists. I used that all the time for my work. You used to be able to place down pixels with near surgical precision, but now they took that away! The pencil tool is not reliable for that sort of thing, but now I’m forced to use it.
The new Paint is nice, but they took away some vital stuff for pixel work. Big mistake, Microsoft…
The feature I miss the most is the transparency when pasting some objects in to a scenery. Now its useless for me. I want the vista or xp version of Paint back.
Hi to all
I invite everyone who has problems with the new MS Paint to write to James McClelland at this email address
a-jmccle@microsoft.com
or call James at (469) 775-7882 & make your complaints be known. The more people who write about this the bigger chance is of getting this mess with MS Paint corrected.
Please share your thoughts & advice.
ELY
Windows 7 is truly a disappointment
I’m in the process of making an entire comic book in MSPaint. Yes, it’s a gimmick. Yes, I’m insane.
And Microsoft just pissed off an insane artist. Everything is a pain in the butt! Why in God’s name can’t they just leave stuff alone? Seriously, MSPaint really hasn’t changed since the days of 3.1 except for a few minor, relatively insignificant thing.
And what do we complain about? The lack of ability to make transparent images and the lack of layers.
And what does Microsoft change?
EVERYTHING EXCEPT WHAT WE ASKED FOR!!!
Honest to God, I just got this new computer because I didn’t want to spend money fixing a Vista laptop. Now, because I’m halfway done with this comic book, I have to go get that damn computer fixed because Windows 7 Paint is all jacked up.
I can’t believe I’m going to pour $300 into having a version of MSPaint that actually works. Will somebody please kick Microsoft in between the legs? I’m going to be busy waiting in line at Best Buy.
vbdotnetscks
How to fix paint ==
Take windowsXP paint{
Bring back Choosing the desired line thickness to any setting using the + – keys;
Bring back scaling an image 2x, 4x, etc. using the + – keys;
Add “Transparency” (meaning the transparent background option will only be as transparent as the % you set it to be)
Add Layers;
}//TA!DA!
Optional features:
Add “magic crop” feature that automatically adjusts your free-form selection based on % sensitivity but also keep the regular free-form selection.
Add “stretching” an image as well as scaling it, the same way windowsXP stretches an image to be placed on the desktop (position: stretch).
On the flip side: Good Job with Windows 7 Calculator…
I understand that next, Microsoft will be updating Notepad to handle podcasting.
Revised: fixing paint: The most popular demanded features. 2nd revision…
(Features under F and paint will now how layers are the most demanded)
Starting with all exact features of windowsXP paint:
A.) The selection tool gets a new option called stretch as well as scale. In stretch mode, paint stretches the image instead of scaling it the same way it stretches an image to be places on the desktop.
B.) When you make a selection, you can re-size it, scaling or stretching it 2x, 4x etc. using the plus key on the keyboard.
C.) When you re-size the selection using the mouse, if you hold shift: It will keep the width-height ratio the same as the initial selection as you re-size.
D.) Paint will now how layers. Displaying a certain layer can be turned on or off. The selection tool will work across all visible layers on the copy, re-size and cut commands. Paste will only affect the top visible layer. The top visible layer is the layer under editing…
E.) Each layer has a color which will make that part of the layer 100% transparent. Similar to the way transparent background works. This feature can also be turned off for each layer.
F.) Each layer has transparency: Based on the % value, tells paint how much this layer blends with layers under it. 0% means a fully green layer on top of a fully blue layer will become green. 100% means a fully green layer on top of a fully blue layer will become blue. 50% means a fully green layer on top of a fully blue layer will become teal.
G.) There will also be a new magic-select tool, it will work like free-form selection, but it will auto-snap to painted objects based on % sensitivity. For example: if you draw a circle on a pure white screen, and then you magic-freeform-select it with 100% sensitivity it will make the selection fully circular around your circle. The sensitivity will work across multiple layers.
H.) You can SET LINE WIDTH and pencil (works like a re-sizable filled-circle-solid-brush-tool at higher sizes) width to ANY setting using the + – keys on the keyboard. It will be cool to have re-sizable brushes to ANY SIZE as well.
I.) Paint will now rotate objects to ANY angle. As well as flip them and skew them.
J.) Keep the windows7 brushes, but Bring Back the Classic Brushes.
K.) Paint will save 10 custom colors into the registry or a special file so you can instantly access them in any new drawing ONLY if you press the SAVE AS CUSTOM button for each color you invent or color-picker.
L.) When you color picker a color, you can edit it by double clicking on it in the colors ribbon, if you double click on any exciting color paint will edit that color itself without adding it to the custom color list.
I know 12 ideas is a lot of reading and programming time, but I hope it will make paint into truly superior software.
http://www.sheeptech.com/downl.....ssing-copy
XP Paint file for download! Works like a charm.
The paint bucket isn’t very functional on my version of paint. I am an animator for youtube and I used ms paint as a quick alternative to Photoshop. On Windows XP the paint bucket worked fine in my opinion but now it doesn’t fully cover everything inside the part of the drawing I am trying to color in. Is there a secret to using the paint bucket?
Microsoft should just buy Adobe Photoshop and claim it as theirs.
Try making a fsjal or a solid color picture with this crap! Nonsense!
I miss the old Paint as well. I don’t like the new one and hope this is just because I’m not used to it (yet) and not because it REALLY stinks.
thomas d. said on : November 24th, 2009 at 1:39 am
The feature I miss the most is the transparency when pasting some objects in to a scenery. Now its useless for me. I want the vista or xp version of Paint back.
——-
Just click on “select” and then click on “transparent selection”.
For myself I want to see the words “Edit” and “File”, so I can make a printscreen the old way Prt Scrn>mspaint>Paste etc. etc.
Sorry! I must have felt the pain of the new MS Paint so much that it affected my typing.
Should have been: “I miss the old Paint as well.”
I think you’re being kind of harsh. Granted, Microsoft did mess up Paint, but you have to look at it this way:
As an OS, Windows 7 would ideally be used by everyone with a PC. Microsoft (or anyone for that matter) couldn’t develop an OS that fits everyone without putting loads of time, money, and research into the component softwares; therefore, they focus on a generic user: not artist, programmers, gamers, etc. A generic user wouldn’t use paint for something detailed. They’d use it sparingly for simple things like a doodle pad. Microsoft just made it easier for the generic user to make a detailed image. In that, they succeeded.
The problem for us, is that we found a dedicated purpose for Paint, but Microsoft failed to consider us who use Paint for its limited features. They look at it as: if we want a program for a specific use, we would get one. They aren’t trying to be a nerfed Photoshop, because that would be something that would appeal to a certain group, and would be sold seperately.
Just look at the people in the Windows 7 commercials. None of them say what they are using the computer for; they just run a lot of programs, want security, monitor they’re children. Those are pretty generic things. And instead of being average, Win7 is just generic.
What do I mean? If the old paint is a 1, and the original photoshop is a 5; The old paint was the generic, and 3 is the average (i dunno, let’s call it DrawerX). 3 could do everything a 2 or a 1 program can, and 5 can do anything a 1-4 program can. But as Photoshop moved up to a 7, and DrawerX moved up to a 5, Paint moved up to a 3 (Win7), the setting a new standard for a generic, but cutting away everything below it.
Did that make any sense? I’m not quite sure what I’m trying to say. I guess, basically, that Windows 7 (and Paint in particulary), is only a baseline for users, and though they’ve definately moved that line up, they left behind some of the features that have been around so long, and are so often overlooked, they’ve formed a cult following.
Those generic users who wanted the new changes in paint, will enjoy them, and many won’t even notice or care that the older features are gone. But I’m sure there will be just as many who will. But as a generic user, they’ll just learn to move to the new standard.
We are not the generic user. It was creativity that made the old generic Paint into a useful tool, and convient that it’s always been the generic. Now that the generics moved up, we’re left find our own specific user software.
Was that clearer?
But I was also thinking…
People always tell Microsoft what they want added or changed, but how many tell them not to change anything. We sort of assume that they’ll just add or improve features without lossing it old functionality, but sometimes it’s just easier to replace the feature with a better one–You already had a 1, you asked for a 3, and instead of getting 1 + 2 = 3, you just got 3, no going back. You didn’t say anything about 1, so obviously it isn’t important; it’s not 3 and that’s what you wanted right.
Was that confusing enough? I’m going to sleep now, I’m tired.
As a sprite artist and gif animator myself, I have experimented with this program inside and out and noticed many of the functional hiccups the community has pointed out. The lack of transparency via selection made it extremely difficult to manipulate images.
I believe this refers to the “Draw Opaque” from the previous version of MSPaint. The extra brushes were nice, but if we wanted watercolor, textured lines and oil paint, we’d use photoshop for that purpose. When I used the different brushes on MSPaint, I noticed that there was no option on stroke length.
But then again, MSPaint was designed to be simple and functional, which was not quite true on the newest version. It feels just as complicated and overdone like MSWord and Powerpoint. Although I don’t mind the look, the options are just all over the place and I still have trouble recalling where certain tools are. The MSPaint in XP was simple and functional and I still use it to this day.
If MSPaint was upgraded with some additional features without removing the essential features that made it “Paint” in the previouis versions, we would not be here pointing out the essential flaws on MSPaint. I am sorry that MSPaint in Windows 7 did not turn out as well as many of us had hoped, but that can be fixed with just a little bit of programming.
I have been a windows consumer and always have been. Macs are surely tempting, but it is MSPaint from windows XP that drew me in when I was growing up. A little bit of kindness goes a very long way, especially with software that many people grew up with. God bless you all!
yeah, the paint program in windows 7 is garbage. please bring back the old paint.
Such a shame that paint doesn’t include any line sizes between 1, 3, 5 and 8. A total waste of time even getting Windows 7.
Plus the fact that it is full of bugs, I would have been better off keeping Windows XP.
I am surprised no one mentioned the fact that the color eraser has gone away. Am I missing something? I often use paint to crop out backgrounds and replace with other colors, textures and such. The old paint allowed me to save a separate version of the drawing under a lower color count, then erase unwanted areas one color at a time using the color eraser. This new “mask” could then be pasted back into the original drawing to clear the background for painting new colors. I now cannot find this feature on my W7 new laptop. My only option now is the tedious process of manually erasing such areas without removing the good parts. I agree that all the older features should have been retained. What ever happened to the concept of backward compatability?
New Paint is stinking f***ing crap ! I always used old Paint to icon and mask drawings. Now, I can’t even do a simple thing !
This new shi**y Paint is for stupid kids !
I must agree, Its VERY buggy, and it does the same things… It just requires MORE clicks. Pisses me off!
Anyhow, heres a link for the OLD mspaint:
http://www.askvg.com/how-to-ge.....windows-7/
And if you cant copy to those folders because windows 7 is being a bitch, this shows you how:
http://www.ehow.com/how_552694.....vista.html
Aaron
Chadrick said on : January 3rd, 2010 at 11:27 pm
“As an OS, Windows 7 would ideally be used by everyone with a PC.”
“A generic user wouldn’t use paint for something detailed.”
_____
Then do what I do when I make Video Games:
I have two versions of the game.
One is basic for beginners. (Simple controls, game complexity, etc.)
The other one is complex. (But more fun.)
Why not make something like “GenericMsPaint” and “MsPaintClassicPlus”? Make “GenericMsPaint” in the standard OS package and “MsPaintClassicPlus” a free download…
Once again: Thanks for your programming time.
Windows 7 Paint is an abomination!
So many people hate that Ribbon toolbar, but they just want to keep ramming it down our throats. Funny really, With Windows 95 Microsoft introduced a start button…why? So that all the people who were overwhelmed with all the program groups in Windows 3.x would know where to start. With Windows 95, they started at the button aptly named “Start”, and then navigating through the sub menus, they would/could find their way to what they were looking for. To this day, Windows 7, Microsoft’s latest and greatest still has the Start button.
The ribbon toolbar completely goes in the opposite direction of the Windows Start button. All the features you are looking for are spread all over the bar and in different tabs. You have to come up with a visual map in your head, essentially memorize in visual space where your commonly used features icons are located. Very inefficient for someone that uses the program regularly, for someone that has never used it AND is prepared to literally peruse and look at every icon and every tab and wait for every tooltip hovering over obscure icons – this is the equivalent of walking up and down every aisle in the grocery store looking for your everyday items.
If Microsoft thinks it is so great, then give us users the option to still have the old menus and toolbars vs this amazing new interface and let us vote that way. By definition a successful interface change is one that is intuitive and just makes sense. One that builds of existing concepts, one that implements a best of breed. Typically there would not be anything bad that could be said about changes of that nature. Think about this…think about the keyboard…it is said that our QWERTY keyboard layout is not the best or most efficient.
So imagine if all the keyboard manufacturers stopped making QWERTY keyboards and said “just learn the new keyboard layout, it is much better”. Is that new layout change really worth the anguish that millions and millions of PC users will go through trying to undo years and years, or even decades of typing skills that they have acquired over the years, no longer needing to hunt and peck at the keyboard looking for the key they want to press? This Ribbon toolbar is the onscreen equivalent of changing the keyboard key layout.
The color interpreation in Windows 7 Paint is completely different than older versions. Also, you have to select the assigned colors on the mouse buttons individually to change them, while in the older versions you could left or right click to assign colors.
honestly, i like the fact that the menus take up barely any space in the previous versions. is there an option to get rid of them in the new version? there probably isn’t, and that sucks.
that having been said, there are tons of free programs that do exactly what this version tries to without any fuss or bugs. paint does not need transparency or anything fancy. it’s bloody /paint/. trying to fix something that isn’t broken isn’t a very smart idea.
I didn’t like the new upgrade at first, but I’m quickly getting used to it. The only thing that REALLY bothers me is the fact that I can’t change the color of a line with the eraser tool anymore.
Used to, you could select the color you wanted to be changed by left clicking, then select the color to change it to by right clicking. Then, after choosing the eraser tool, you could right click over the color to be changed and voilà!
Now, when doing pixel art, I have to HAND change each pixel color.
i168.photobucket.com/albums/u177/martikalyle/Emi.png
This is the first art I’ve done with the new upgrade. While still of the same, of not better quality of my previous art, the fact that I can’t quickly change the color of those lines is going to severely put a damper on time…
Oh well though…I supposed I’ll just have to work harder for longer. DX
I’m not fond of this new MS Paint at all! It’s way to complex. I know that the old MS Paint wasn’t as great, and was a bit basic, but this new MS Paint is WAY to complicated! The old MS Paint was a little dull, but it still got what I needed done easily, unlike the new MS Paint considering it was hard to find the tools I needed. I’m sticking with the older version of MS Paint. Sorry -_-
Is there a way to get everyone together who are complaining about MS PAINT in windows 7 to write to the better business bureau to take action against microsoft to force them to correct the faults on paint??
Many artists livelihoods were ruined as a result of what microsoft did to MS paint. Action should be taken against microsoft.
Please respond
I upgraded to Win7 mainly to see the new MSPaint. (I use it with students.) Awful! Why did MS take away the black/white document choice which was a great tool for making patterns?
Damn
MG
NO JOKE PEOPLE MICROSOFT PAINT ON WINDOWS 7 IS REALLY REALLY SEXYYY !!!! NO JOKE I GOT A B**ER OVER THE PAINTBRUSH TOOL !!!! x