About a month ago my laptop died. Well, not entirely – just the graphic card. Unfortunately the warranty expired years ago and screwing around with a laptop is what I imagine brain surgery to be like. Just opening it required the unscrewing of approx. 10 million miniature screws and when we finally got under the hood we took one look and gave up. I doubt I could even find the graphic card in that mess…
Right now I’m using Markus computer and my iPad, a combo that works surprisingly well! Especially now that I got old Ms Paint to work in Windows 7 (my laptop had Vista) :rock:
The new “fancy” Ms Paint they put in Windows 7 looks great, with a modern interface and lots of new features that might come in handy if you want a photo editing program – but for pixel artists it’s pretty much ruined. When pixeling it’s essential to have complete control over each pixel, which made old Ms Paint perfect for the job. I don’t want a line tool that turns the line into some blurry semi-vector shit and I sure as hell don’t want a paint bucket that does anti-aliasing :x If you could somehow turn it off I wouldn’t complain, but apparently you can’t (if you find a way do tell me!).
For weeks I’ve tried to get used to the new version or work around it. I also tried pixeling in Photoshop, Paint.NET and some other more or less obscure programs. Nothing beats Ms Paint. It has that extreme simplicity that you can’t find in any other program, and that what makes it the best.
Or maybe I’m just to damn old and set in my ways :P But really, when you’ve used something for over 8 years it’s kinda hard to have it taken away and start over with something new.
And then… salvation! *insert choir of singing angels*
Just go here and follow instructions:
How to get old Ms Paint working in Windows 7Note: You MIGHT have to copy the files to the en-US directory too EVEN if you have Windows installed in a language other than English. I have Windows installed in Swedish and only copying them to the Swedish language folder didn’t work. Just FYI.
The page explains it very well and have the old version files for downloading if you don’t have a copy of Vista or XP to take them from. It requires a bit of fiddling around before you’re all done, but the result is well worth it :D
I was so happy when I found this, for a while there I seriously thought I would have to give up pixeling. I just hope I’ll find time to actually sit down and pixel now…
Anyway, my laptop has gone to computer heaven and I honestly don’t know if I’ll bother getting a new one. I have the iPad, Markus computer, my (big and fancy) work computer, and now that I’ve figured out the pixeling business I think I’m set :)
That’s great that you figured out how to get the old MS Paint program. I hate it when they upgrade something you’ve been using forever and it doesn’t work the same way anymore.
As far as Microsoft (and many other software producers) are concerned, pixel art is dead. And really, what was MS Paint made for? The average person who just wants to doodle on the computer. *shrugs*
I, however, do not wish to think pixel art is dead. I am happy that Adobe Photoshop has kept its pencil tool the same as its always been. :)
What did you not like about Paint.NET? Have you investigated any other programs out there?
Pixel art will live forever! At least if I have anything to say in the matter :P
Paint.NET wasn’t that bad actually, the main problem with it (and with all other programs really) is that it doesn’t handle lines and foreground/background colours as easily as old Ms Paint. In Ms Paint you just have to draw and release when using the line tool, click to draw with the foreground colour, right-click to draw with background colour (erase). When I pixel I use the line tool almost all the time, and I also left/right click to draw/erase as I go along – and I found that VERY hard to unlearn. Old dogs and all that… ;)
I’m glad you were able to get your old program back! :D I hate having to re-learn a program because of an upgrade and it seems they changed the entire program around! I’ve never been into MS Paint except for doodling… I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro for about 10 years and not much has changed that I wasn’t able to learn real quick and easy :) I also hope you get your computer fixed soon!
I agree, MS Paint is the best for basic pixelling. I also use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7. Love that program. I never bothered with getting newer versions because it does everything I want.
Ah, I didn’t know Windows 7 MS Paint was like that! My friend says I need to reformat and he can let me use his Windows 7, but I dunno, I’m okay with Vista. I’m glad you found the answer to your aliasing problem! :yay:
I always pixel anything and everything in MS Paint lol, glad you got it back. :)