Corel Painter 12 (Old Version)

3.1 3.1 out of 5 stars | 74 ratings

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Last update: 05-14-2024


About this item

Painter has a high-performance brush engine and the most realistic digital art tools available.
Of key importance, it was developed for artists by artists, with tools that look, feel and move just like the real thing, allowing Painter to deliver the most authentic digital art experience.
Start changing what's possible in art!
Digital art software with high-performance brush engine and realistic digital-art tools
Choose from hundreds of brushes and dozens of paper textures, watercolors, oils, pastels, and more
Control brush behavior, pressure, and color intensity; create custom brushes with 1 click
New navigator panel for easily maneuvering around large canvases; smart photo-painting tools
Customizable workspace and color palette; support for Adobe Photoshop
Painter has a high-performance brush engine and the most realistic digital art tools available.
Start changing what's possible in art!

Top reviews from the United States

ImageMD
3.0 out of 5 stars Try free trial versions of Painter 12 and Corel Painter Lite
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2013
The good news is that I only wasted a few hours trying to install  Corel Painter 12  on my Windows 7 64-bit Lenovo PC. There are reports on the internet of people wasting days. The bad news is that I was really looking forward to trying this software that I purchased from Amazon.

I first tried installing the software from the CD-ROM. This installed without problems but whenever I tried to run the program, Windows would crash with the banner "Windows has stopped working". I uninstalled the program and tried to install the free 30-day trial download from the Corel site with the same result.

I tried to contact the Chat support twice and got the message "Chat cancelled - no one available".

I have installed a lot of software on my computers over the past 30 years and seldom have been so disappointed. It's time to pack up the software and return it to Amazon and hope the next version will be better. I highly recommended you try the free trial software on your computer before you buy it.

Day Two:
I had budgeted several days to learn a new painting program and I was not willing to give up. I searched the Internet for other painting programs and I found Corel Painter Lite. This program was released in October 2012 without fanfare. I downloaded the software from the Corel Web Site and installed on my computer without a problem. I have 15 days to try it and then it will cost $69. Yes, that isn't a misprint, $69. My first attempt at using Corel Painter Lite has been very positive. This program appears to be designed for a beginner digital painter like myself. In fact, it may meet all my needs.

Day Three:
I hooked up my  Wacom Bamboo Splash Pen Tablet (CTL471)  and Corel Painter Lite failed to load. I checked several internet help sites. One comment suggested downloading updated drivers for the WACOM graphics tablet. I did this and Corel Painter Lite is running again.

Day Four:
With my recent success in finding the problem with Corel Painter Lite and installing the new drivers for my graphic tablet, I decided to revisit my failed attempts to get a satisfactory installation of Painter 12. Once again I downloaded the trial version of Painter 12 and installed it on my computer. Guess what? I got a normal installation and I'm enjoying the many new things I can do to a photo using Painter 12.

Summary:
I found that the Painter Lite is a basic painting program with few canvases, brushes and instructional videos. It also lacks tracing paper, cloning and auto-paint functions. If you want the maximum capability of transforming a photograph into a painting, you need Painter 12. I would have rated Painter 12 higher were it not for all the difficulty I experienced during installation.
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent- slightly buggy, but excellent!
Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2012
Right, so most people here have reviewed this already, so I'm not going to repeat what they said. Basically, Corel Painter 12's AMAZING. I'm not a professional, I'm a hobbyist but I've dabbled in quite a few programs and nothing comes close to Painter, not even Photoshop (which has its own advantages, so they can't be compared, really). The brush quality is brilliant, it emulates traditional media to near- perfection just like it claims to, and at the same time it's not overwhelming. User interface is very clear, explicit and tools and brushes are easy to get the hang of. Honestly it's the best painting software I've ever used.

The bugs are there, yes, like people have mentioned. At first the bigger brushes lagged, mirror mode also caused lagging, and a few times the program crashed altogether. BUT after downloading the patches on Corel's website, performance improved dramatically, and now I hardly ever notice any lag. No crash since, either. The only thing I wish I'd known before buying was the existence of an education edition. I'm a student, and like I said, and not a pro, so if you're not planning on using the software for commercial purposes and are in the education sector (teachers/ students), avoid spending money on the regular version, which is a lot more expensive.

Anyway, I'd highly recommend it to anyone who's serious about digital painting. It works beautifully with Photoshop and a lot of other apps, and it's mainly what I use for about 70% of my art. For me, the bugs don't prevent it from getting 5 stars. If there was a 4 1/2 option I'd probably rate it that, though.
Ned No D
1.0 out of 5 stars Holy crap, this is the laggiest
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2015
Holy crap, this is the laggiest, most defunct program ever. it lags, it creates schmutz when you try to save, etc. DO NOT BUY!
Ivan C.
2.0 out of 5 stars no real alternative to Painter, but Corel product support is awful
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2012
I'm a professional storyboard artist. I use Painter every day. There is no real viable competition to Painter when it comes to simulating brushes, pencils, etc, digitally. I'm stuck with using it. I just upgraded from Painter 11 to Painter 12. You can do some pretty amazing stuff with Painter. You will also get some pretty amazing headaches.

Painter is the buggiest software that i have ever used. And it has the worst product support i've ever encountered. Support is noneexistant. Even when you pay 20 bucks to call and ask a question, the chance of having a problem solved is minimal. If you point out a legitimate bug with Painter, Corel will confirm the bug--but then tell you that "the problem you encountered is not a product defect, however, [it is] a change in the new version".

that's an actual quote from Corel product support when i pointed out that Painter 12 was saving corrupted jpeg files. sheesh. Really, Corel changed Painter 12 to save corrupted jpeg files--on purpose?!

I'll say this, the phone people are polite and try to help, but they have their hands tied behind their backs because Corel isn't interested in solving any problems.

Once you buy into painter, they have you by the short and curlies. They know you can't go anywhere else and therefore corel doesn't have any motivation to make their product better. Check out Painter forums before you buy. You will see that people are complaining of the same bugs from version, to version, to version. they never get fixed.

the sad thing is, you'll probably have to use Painter anyway. Like i said, there's no real viable alternative. But at least you'll know in advance the hair-pulling that you are in for. sigh.

:(
Holly M. Young
4.0 out of 5 stars great buy
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2013
I already had Corel Photoshop and the price on this made the upgrade a super buy. Would recommend to anyone!

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