Corel Painter Essentials 3

Painter Essentials isn't exactly a new product; the "lite" version of Corel's $429 Painter IX application has previously been bundled with related products like the Wacom Graphire pen tablet. But with Painter Essentials 3, Corel has decided to release the product to the world as a standalone application. If you're at all curious about digital painting, this affordable ($99 direct) program is a very good way to get started.

Version 3's chief innovation lies in three new palettes that consolidate and simplify the process of applying a hand-painted look to digital photos. You start with the Underpainting palette, which can perform simple image enhancements, add an important touch of "smart" blurring, and apply edge vignettes. Then choose a Cloner brush from the Brush Selector bar and it's on to the Auto-Painting palette, where the fun begins. You select a stroke type from among 19 different choices (such as Hatch, Scribble, and Short Dab), tweak the settings as desired, and then watch Painter Essentials automatically "paint" your photo with random strokes. If parts of your image end up looking too smeared, the Restoration palette lets you selectively restore details.

Source/Full Article: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ZDM/story?id=1179519