What was the last free full version of Corel Painter to download?

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

Just wondering, as I have an old Wacom and it would be nice to have a drawing/painting simulator to play with so I might get back to grips with such without leaving embarrassing evidence or wasting physical supplies. Hehe.

I did a quick search and couldn't be bothered sifting through all the illegal cracks or trial versions to find my answer, so I'm being lazy and asking here.

I'm not someone who likes tech'-centric menus and options in such programs, and remember getting a freebie of this with an old magazine and it seemed to go out of its way be intuitive for someone who just wants to get on with the job.

TIA.

[Kmany]

Just buy Clip Studio Paint Pro when it goes on sale..
you can get it for 15$ or 25$ sometimes on sale.. standard price is around 50$.
Worth it..

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

Thanks for trying, but I just wanted to have a play; knowing there is a free version out there.

I have financial priorities and constraints, which mean I'm stuck in a room/cell with a computer until I have enough reserves to escape the growing socialist experiment/trap that is London.

[Azza ☠]

I would suggest ArtRage: https://www.artrage.com/

This software is way cheaper for what you get and is pretty much a range of painting tools (plus pencils and pens, etc) and canvas which acts like the real deal. Anything you can do is pretty much up to your own art skills. They even use this software in school classrooms for teaching art.

Corel Painter is seriously overpriced, they do offer random discounts such as 40% off or more, and even then it's still pretty pricey.

[76561198293839267]

You can try {LINK REMOVED}http://firealpaca.com/ , or {LINK REMOVED}https://www.getpaint.net/

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

I would suggest ArtRage: https://www.artrage.com/

This software is way cheaper for what you get and is pretty much a range of painting tools (plus pencils and pens, etc) and canvas which acts like the real deal. Anything you can do is pretty much up to your own art skills. They even use this software in school classrooms for teaching art.

Corel Painter is seriously overpriced, they do offer random discounts such as 40% off or more, and even then it's still pretty pricey.

Looks nice but, as I suggest, I previously had a cover disc with a free version of Painter (probably because they had a major update or transition coming) so was looking for something free to play with.
Thanks, anyway.

[Vince ✟]

It was in a Humble Bundle recently. Make sure to keep an eye on their software bundles too.

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

Originally posted by Eşcinsel:

You can try http://firealpaca.com/ , or https://www.getpaint.net/

While FireAlpaca initially looks more like Painter, it seems to include other stuff I'm not looking for.

Which leads me to Paint.net...

I'm not looking for a fully featured Photoshop alternative like that or GIMP.
I'm after a pure drawing/painting program like Painter or the previous ArtRage suggestion.
Something that simulates materials and build-up and dragging through of strokes as one would experience in reality.

I was actually specifically asking if anyone knew of the free version of Painter, as I don't recall the cover disc having a magazine-linked licence code - as my old cover disc freebie of Paint Shop Pro needed.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it did, and there isn't a general use old free version out there.

[Azza ☠]

Originally posted by The Unconquered Street Sweeper:

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

I would suggest ArtRage: https://www.artrage.com/

This software is way cheaper for what you get and is pretty much a range of painting tools (plus pencils and pens, etc) and canvas which acts like the real deal. Anything you can do is pretty much up to your own art skills. They even use this software in school classrooms for teaching art.

Corel Painter is seriously overpriced, they do offer random discounts such as 40% off or more, and even then it's still pretty pricey.

Looks nice but, as I suggest, I previously had a cover disc with a free version of Painter (probably because they had a major update or transition coming) so was looking for something free to play with.
Thanks, anyway.

Ahh ok. I don't know about that then, just that they had 30 day free trial version of Corel software.

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

Originally posted by The Unconquered Street Sweeper:

Looks nice but, as I suggest, I previously had a cover disc with a free version of Painter (probably because they had a major update or transition coming) so was looking for something free to play with.
Thanks, anyway.

Ahh ok. I don't know about that then, just that they had 30 day free trial version of Corel software.

Yeah, that's what came up in the initial pages of my search, along with pirate copies and cracks etc.
I may try to have a more thorough investigation.
Cheers.

[Azza ☠]

Originally posted by The Unconquered Street Sweeper:

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

Ahh ok. I don't know about that then, just that they had 30 day free trial version of Corel software.

Yeah, that's what came up in the initial pages of my search, along with pirate copies and cracks etc.
I may try to have a more thorough investigation.
Cheers.

Yeah, be safe about that, end up with something virus riddened. Corel itself has a background service running 24/7 (PSIservice.exe) on your Windows OS (even if it's the legal purchased version) so a modified version could easiest exploit that service.

Perhaps look for Paint Shop Pro version 4.12 or something, that maybe freeware? It was original Jasc software back then, but got brought out.

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

I found my Paint Shop Pro cover disc.
It's version 5 and there was a patch for it to 5.03 (iirc)
I wrote the code on the disc in the likelihood the mag promo code page would disappear.
I even bought a tutorial book, but never got around to sitting down properly with it.
The idea behind that was that it would be an ease-in simplified introduction to concepts found in later, more complex, software like PhotoShop, but again, events in real life (tm) took priority.
Anyway, again, that's not the sort of thing I'm after this time.

I think the free version of Painter was X3.
It had its own jewel case instead of bundled with other freebies and demos like the disc with PSP that I have.
This is why it's not in my installation disc file and - if I do still have it - will be buried among my music CDs which are inaccessible right now.
It seems online downloads of it were all hosted by Corel but they seem to have pulled it.
It probably proved to be a marketing mistake, as non-commercial artists aren't that demanding and it was already fully featured and impressive from what I remember.
Artists are usually poor too.
It was good enough for someone like me to not consider being able to exhaust the features it already had and need to upgrade to a later paid version.

Anyway, thanks again to everyone.

I'll leave the thread open, just in case anyone else wants to pop in and suggest other painting/drawing alternatives that others may benefit from.

ps.
Interestingly, I just did a quick search under Linux (because it's always good for fully-featured free software) and Corel released Photo-Paint 9 for free on that platform before later pulling it. So it's likely that what I already suggested actually happened to Painter X3 for Windows.

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

pps.
As for viruses, they don't exist on my machines.
They've always been a false-flag for selling the concept of restrictions.
Sure, malware does exist, but I run a firewall and HIPS with no whitelist and no auto-response.
No-one does anything behind the scenes on my system without my say-so - not even MS... to a degree*

*can't stop everything when they're running your connections, though you can lock down dodgy ports and still disable and remove violations (and those sneaky WUs that there are now ~20 of) if you're still running Win7 - as I am.

[TransgressorOfTheUnspeakableWord]

I'm now going to make a contribution.
This name I remember seeing in Linux repositories accessible within distros I've had installed in the past: https://krita.org/en/
Looking good.
I think I've found a comparable enough solution to Painter X3 no longer being freely available.
Perhaps you others might like a look too.
Cheers, all.