Workspace
When you open Paint.net, you have a workspace like this…
In the top right corner you can show/hide the panels…
The menus are on the top left…
All the tools are in a panel on the left. If you click on “Tool” you can see the list and select one that way too
Layers
The advantage of Paint.net vs regular MS Paint, is that you can use Layers. To start with it looks like this…
you can use the buttons at the bottom of the panel to do the following actions:
- insert a new layer
- delete a layer
- duplicate/copy a layer
- merge/combine layers
- properties – or double-click on a layer to change the name or blend mode
Colors
- Default colors: black & white.
- Primary = front/foreground, Pencil/Brush color; outline for Shapes
- Secondary= back/background, fill for Shapes
- Switch colors using the arrow
You can choose a color on the color wheel in the middle, or one of the color squares (bottom left). If you click on More>>
…you see more options for changing your colors. You can set the color to a specific RGB or hexadecimal number; you can also play with the hue/saturation/value amounts, and the opacity amount on the right…
Shapes
To draw with shapes, first click on the Shapes tool, then go up to the tool options bar and choose which shape you want to draw with…
You can change what is drawn. Outline = foreground color; Fill = background color.
- Draw Shape Outline (no fill)
- Draw Filled Shape (no outline)
- Draw Filled Shape with Outline
