14 DAY TRIAL // Krita, an application that is used to make digital painting files from scratch, has received a major update, bringing the version number up to 2.8.
Software developed for professional designers and artists is hard to find for free, if we take a look at the Windows and Mac OS counterparts, but the developers of Krita are offering an amazing application at no cost, with features that would make a lot of other developers jealous.
Surprisingly enough, one of the biggest features in Krita 2.8 is the fact this is the first version for the Windows platform. When Linux users hear about Krita, it's mostly because it's part of the KDE greater family, but it doesn't mean that it needs KDE in order to run.
Also, the developers have also decided to bring their application to Steam, making this the first software to be released on the Steam for Linux platform. The Windows and Mac OS X platforms already had a great deal of apps ready on Steam, and Linux can now be part of this particular group as well.
In any case, besides the Windows support that is almost central to this release, the developers also improved the tablet support, by managing to submit their code to X11 and Windows, making the drawing functionality work a lot smoother.
Another important change is the new high-quality scaling mode for the OpenGL canvas. It seems that OpenGL may provide great performance when rotating, panning, or zooming, but the rendering quality was not up to par. This problem has been corrected, and the high-quality scaling option should provide a much better experience for the end user.
An issue tackled and solved in the new update was about the way the interface can be grouped together. If you ever used GIMP, you might have noticed that it has an option called single window. The Krita developers have done something very similar and it's called Wrap Around mode. Basically, all the tools and the main window are grouped together in a single window.
“The Wrap Around mode (activate it with the W key, or in View > Wrap around mode) tiles the artwork on the canvas border for easy creation of tiled textures. It is only visualized in OpenGL mode (Settings > Configure Krita > Display),” reads the announcement.
Other changes include new default presets, a new layer-picker, custom transparency checkboxes, a new palette docker, new options for the crop tool, a new Color balance filter, and much more. You should check the official announcement for more details about this release. You can also download Krita 2.8 from Softpedia.
The developers of Krita submitted their app to the Greenlight program on Steam and it was voted by the community. It's not available on Steam yet, but it will be very soon.