Corel has released a Service Pack for Painter 12.2. This pack has added optimization for the Mac platform. You may read specific details about this on Andy Church's blog. Several issues have also been addressed in  this service pack and you may read about those in the release notes here.

If you have the program set to automatically update then you probably don't have to do anything. You can verify whether you are up to date by going to Help>About Corel Painter. Look at the number in the upper left corner of the popup. It should be 12.2.1.1212. If the version number is other than this, you will have to download and install the Service Pack manually. 

The Service Pack may be downloaded here. Note that there is one download for the Mac and another download for Windows.

After downloading and installing the Service Pack, and before you launch Painter for the first time, export your current workspace, and any other workspaces you enjoy using so you don't lose any of your "goodies".

After you export your workspace(s), hold down your Shift key. In the dialog which appears, choose "All Workspaces", then OK.

When Painter launches you will have to import your favorite saved workspace, but otherwise you should be good to go. :)

Elaina

Wow! It's already January 6. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza or whatever else you may have celebrated during the holiday season. The Holiday Open Studio at DAA was a resounding success and thanks to Karen and her wonderful 25 days of Christmas brushes, I was able to paint a gorgeous image (well I thought it was gorgeous...LOL) for my Holiday cards.


Karen provided these phenomenal brushes to make trees with. I was so pleased with the way they turned out. The deer in the background is from a freeware font named "xmas_tfb_christmas" available from the maker of the font here.

Happy New Year to you all!

I know, I'm a bit late, but that's because registration opened at DAA on New Year's Day and I've already got a bunch of busy and eager students in my classes. I've been busy answering questions and looking at homework assignments...it's wonderful!

So, without further ado let's get down to the business of the beginning of the January session. Karen Bonaker, our fearless leader, is offering a new Painter Focus class this session, all about learning to use color effectively and correctly in your paintings. Karen's classes always provide such helpful information and she really knows her stuff. The class will run for one week only, January  19th through the 26th and is open for registration now. Be sure not to miss it. These special focus classes are very feature rich and well worth taking.

http://www.digitalartacademy.com/courses/painter-focus-painting-with-color-harmony/

By popular demand, Karen has put her Fall Open Studio class Landscapes and Water into the "Open Registration" format, so you can sign up and take this class immediately. It's a great class...I know, I took it. :)

Skip Allen's fabulous Basics of Brush Making, Painter 12 class is back and open for registration now. If you want to learn the ins and outs of Painter Brushes and all the different methods for tweaking them, this is the class to take. Skip has created some of the most versatile Painter brushes out there, and he continues to make more of them all the time. Occasionally, I worry about Skip and his addiction to Painter brushes, but then there are much worse addictions he could have... :)

If you're interested in learning to use Watercolor in Corel® Painter™ 12, take a look at Skip's Basics of Watercolor in Painter 12. This is another "Open Registration" class so if you have the time, by all means, enroll now!

Last, but certainly not least, all three of my Corel® Painter™ 12 Introductory classes are open for registration. The classes have already begun, but because they are set up in the "Open Registration" format, you may sign up and begin them at any time through October, 2013 (I haven't firmed up the final date yet...but, October is a long way away...I have to do my Income taxes first...groan...). Here are the links to my three classes:

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 1 

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 2

Introduction to Corel Painter 12: Part 3

For a complete list of all DAA classes, go to this page:

http://www.digitalartacademy.com/courses/

Scroll down the page a bit to see everything.

Hope to see you soon in the halls of the Digital Art Academy, the Internet's #1 school for learning to use the fabulous natural media brush program  Corel® Painter™ .

Elaina

For friendship, family, and fun. Karen Bonaker has taken care of that last one in her latest blog post. She is giving away 25 Painter 12 brushes, one each day from now until December 25th! Read about it here:

http://karenbonakerart.wordpress.com/2012/12/01/ho-ho-ho-25-days-of-christmas-tree-brushes-for-painter-12/





...and I am wishing for all of you a Holiday season filled with friendship, family, fun, joy and peace.

Elaina

Well folks, once more it's "That time of year" and registration is open for Holiday Open Studio 2012, at the Digital Art Academy. There are fun things being planned for you this year by me, Skip Allen, and of course our very own Karen. In the first week you will join Karen and learn to paint a gorgeous Autumn landscape using special brushes, and since the class begins on November 17, it's the perfect thing to get you in the mood for the beginning of the Holiday season.

Week two will be my class and I will be teaching you how to construct your own personal greeting card using a template and materials I will provide especially for this year's class. I'm going to teach you some new tips and techniques using Painter, and I'll also teach you how you can embellish your card digitally, or by using a combination of digital and real life materials. Your final card will be a unique and personal gift you'll be happy to share with friends and family.




In Week Three, Skip Allen will show you how to paint a pot of Poinsettias and Holiday Florals using his Buttery oil brushes (another great possibility for a greeting card!). Skip's lessons are always so creative...I can't wait to see what he comes up with this year.



Finally, week four goes back to Karen who will provide an additional card template for you and teach you how to paint a winter scene which you can print on your template.

So...that's the general syllabus, and when you've finished all four weeks (on December 14th) you will have the makings of four different and unique greeting cards to send out this year. 

Holiday open studio will be great fun as usual, so please join us in this annual workfest and celebration to help get you into the mood for days of fun to come. It's going to be a very special time.

 

Today the Corel Corporation released the second major update for Corel® Painter™ 12. This update fixes some previous bugs, but the most exciting feature is the introduction of Flow Maps for Water Color enthusiasts. There is a descriptive post over at the Painter Factory which explains this new feature and why if you love Water Color and the new Real Wet Oils, you're going to love it.


You can go directly to the download page which contains all updates and patches for Painter 12 here. Additional information is available at the Corel site, and the detailed "Read Me" may be accessed here.


Skip Allen has created two excellent videos on the subject of Flow Maps. There is an overview video available here, and a more detailed video available here. Download this valuable update now, and start having fun with Flow Maps!

Don't forget! Before downloading and installing any update for Painter 12, export all your workspaces to a folder which resides outside of the program to ensure you do not lose any of your custom items.

After you've backed up your custom items by exporting the workspace, install the update, then reboot your computer. After rebooting, hold down the Shift key while launching the updated Painter 12 for the first time. In the dialog which appears, choose "All Workspaces", then click "OK". After Painter launches, Import your workspaces, and you'll be good to go. :)

The following information is being published courtesy of David Gell.

There is currently an issue in Corel Painter 12, whereby Custom libraries which have been exported on the Windows PC platform are greyed out in the Import Library dialog and cannot be opened when attempting to import them on the Apple Mac platform, due to missing codes.

The Set P12 Library Import droplet application (link is below) will automatically add the necessary codes to the Windows PC Painter 12 exported libraries, based on the file extension name.

Note: For OS X 10.7 (Lion), you need to use the Snow Leopard version of the droplet script.

Using the Droplet Application

1. Download the script from this link:
http://www.jitterbrush.com/images/Set_Droplets_OSX.zip

2. Unzip the file and place the droplet script named "Set P12 Library Import" on your desktop.

3. Drag and drop any of the custom Painter library files with the following extensions from the finder onto the droplet script icon.

• Paper Library File extension:  .paperlibrary
• Pattern Library File extension:  .patternlibrary
• Gradient Library File extension:  .gradientlibrary
• Nozzle Library File extension:  .nozzlelibrary
• Look Library   File extension:  .looklibrary
• Weave Library File extension:  .weavelibrary
• Script Library File extension:  .scriptlibrary
• Image Portfolio Library File extension:  .imageportfoliolibrary
• Selection Portfolio Library  File extension:  .selectionportfoliolibrary

On my Mac, the screen tends to flicker momentarily as the script operates on the file.

4. To use the library, open the options menu on the respective Library panel and choose "Import (name of library) Library".


Note: Any custom Painter library which you download from the internet should be supplied to you by the provider inside a zipped folder. After unzipping the folder, locate the enclosed library file (for example, a paper library will have a .paperlibrary extension), then drag and drop the library file onto the droplet script icon in order to automatically add the correct Mac codes.

I have found that if the libraries are not first placed in a folder by the provider before zipping, neither the script nor the Import Library function will work.

In addition to the droplet script, you can also download some fabulous, unusual, and  innovative custom brushes for Painter from David's web site at: http://www.jitterbrush.com/

The Open Enrollment classes at DAA begin today, June 1, 2012. This is a brand new type of format at DAA and as I mentioned in my previous blog post "Open Enrollment" means that if you enroll today you will have full access to all lessons, lesson materials, and the classroom forums.

At the present time, the available Open Enrollment classes are:

Introduction to Painter 12: Part 1 


Introduction to Painter 12: Part 2


Introduction to Painter 12: Part 3 


The above classes are all taught by me, Elaina Moore-Kelly, but wait there's more! (I really do like saying that don't I? Too many infomercials...LOL)


There is a class specifically geared toward those who have used prior versions of Painter, particularly Painter X and painter 11. The class is taught by Painter Master Skip Allen and will give you solid insight into the many varied and wonderful changes which have taken place within this latest version of my favorite graphics program.


Painter 12: A New Beginning

Painter Master Karen Bonaker will be offering two Art Rage courses in the Open Enrollment format:

ArtRage Pro-Brush Course-Watercolor and What’s New in ArtRage 3.5

ArtRage Mixed Media

and also one of her wonderfully creative Open Studio classes:

Open Studio Street Scenes

Last but not least, Skip Allen has converted his Painter 11 classes to the new format:

Introduction to Corel Painter 11

Corel Painter: Beyond the Basics-Painter 11

Painter 11-Advanced Techniques

The regular, instructor led classes will open for registration on June 30 and will begin on August 4. You can read more about those here.

Meanwhile, I hope you will take advantage of this new format at DAA, I think it will be particularly advantageous to new Painter users, and as time goes on, more courses will probably be added using this format. So, stay tuned.