Multi-Lingual Support
JS Paint is now largely localized into 26 languages.
How am I releasing so many languages at the initial release of multi-lingual support, you may ask? Well, this project has the somewhat unique opportunity to reuse localizations from an existing program, since it's primarily a remake of MS Paint.
I downloaded and installed 26 versions of Windows 98 in virtual machines, and extracted text from mspaint.exe in each one of them, using a set of scripts that I wrote to to help me automate the process.
Well, this project has the somewhat unique opportunity to reuse localizations from an existing program, since it's primarily a remake of MS Paint. I downloaded and installed 26 versions of Windows 98 in virtual machines, and extracted text from mspaint.exe in each one of them, using a set of scripts that I wrote to to help me automate the process. The long-running collection of webcomics, MS Paint Adventures, were originally created using the program. Paint's simplicity as a program belies the amazing creative results that it can achieve. Anyone looking for an alternative to MS Paint, however, will find a whole range of similar programs that also offer simple tools and functionality. Well, this project has the somewhat unique opportunity to reuse localizations from an existing program, since it's primarily a remake of MS Paint. I downloaded and installed 26 versions of Windows 98 in virtual machines, and extracted text from mspaint.exe in each one of them, using a set of scripts that I wrote to to help me automate the process.
Free Programs Like Ms Paint
To change the language, go to Extras > Language. Your prefered language may already be detected, if specified in system or browser settings.
For Arabic and Hebrew, right-to-left layout is supported!
I tried my hand at some Arabic calligraphy..
If you want to contribute translations, get in touch! I need to do some technical work to set up for community translations on a public platform, but I'm glad people have already expressed interest in helping translate! (I also want to simplify the language in various parts of the UI before asking people to translate them.)
Eye Gaze Mode
Eye Gaze Mode lets you control JS Paint without using your hands.
It's intended for use with an eye tracker, head tracker, or other coarse input scenario. Imovie adjust title duration iphone.
You don't need a thousand-dollar eye tracker device to play around with this, just a webcam and some free software.
I recommend Enable Viacam, which is not an eye gaze tracker, but rather a general video movement tracker that you can set up to track your head movement (or your torso or hand or anything else).
Eye tracking via a webcam has a ways to go, but it's also pretty amazing in its own right. Try GazePointer.
Eye gaze tracking requires significant calibration, and if the callibration is off, it's hard to use because you can't look where you want to look to interact with things. This is why I recommend head tracking (if that's an option for you), because then you can freely look around, and control the cursor independently, so if it gets offset, you can just tilt your head a bit.
Eye Gaze Mode is built mainly for people with movement disabilities like ALS or Cerebral Palsy, but it can also just be a sort of magical experience. It can also be frustrating, and takes some practice to master.
A good place to start is coloring lineart using just the Fill tool ():
- Find coloring pages online, and copy and paste them into JS Paint.
- You can convert them to black and white in Image > Attributes, and then switch back to Colors. (This makes it work better with the Fill tool.)
- Enable Eye Gaze Mode with Extras > Eye Gaze Mode and note that it will start clicking where you hover. You can disable this dwell clicking with the eye icon in the bottom of the screen.
- Make the image fill the screen with View > Zoom > Zoom To Window.
Bonus: Since I implemented a vertical color box for Eye Gaze Mode, I decided to make this available as a separate option. Access with Extras > Vertical Color Box.
Speech Recognition
Using only your voice, you can switch tools and colors, pan the view, click on buttons on the screen by name, and use most menu items. You can even say 'draw a cat in a party hat' to have JS Paint try to sketch a cat in a party hat.
This feature pairs well with Eye Gaze Mode for a more complete hands free experience.
The feature is only available on Chrome, and only understands English. Note that Chrome sends your voice to Google servers.
Access with Extras > Speech Recognition. If this option is grayed out, your browser is not supported.
JS Paint will show what it thinks you said in the status bar at the bottom of the screen.
There are many synonyms for commands, and often you can do things with very short phrases like 'Curve' to switch to the Curve tool. If it's not recognizing your voice for short commands like 'Curve' or 'Cut', you may want to try longer phrases like 'Curve tool' or 'Cut selection', as this helps it distinguish the sound as speech, rather than a cough for instance.
Edit Colors Dialog
I also implemented the Edit Colors dialog. Previously this used the native system color picker, and didn't work for some people.
Access with Colors > Edit Colors or double click a color in the palette to edit.
Keyboard shortcuts are supported in this dialog, and for mobile devices with small screens, I made it treat adding custom colors as a separate screen.
Conclusion
JS Paint is way more accessible now. And futuristic. And cool.
Of course there's always more that could be done. Eye Gaze Mode could use brush stroke smoothing, and Speech Recognition could use general artificial intelligence.
I'd love to see people using JS Paint, especially the Eye Gaze Mode and Speech Recognition, so please, if you don't mind, record yourself on video and send me the video through this form. Maybe I could even make a compilation video. But mainly this lets me know what's actually important to people, and what's confusing, and it gives me motivation to work more on new features.
There isn't any doubt Microsoft Paint or Paint, whatever you may call it, is nostalgia. At least I can remember those days when I used to paint all rubbish on Paint and saved them. Yes, that was creativity! Not only for me but also a number of other MS Paint users of that time. Yes, I am talking about the last decade. We can never forget MS Paint. It handcrafted our childhood in some way or the other. Today, we use MS Paint once in a blue moon. But we all need MS Paint alternative software no matter you are using Windows 10, 8.1, 7 or Vista to edit our images according to our different needs. Most users don't know, MS Paint is also capable of doing a number of advanced tasks, though limited.
MS Paint will also be moved to Microsoft Store, which means, it might not come pre-installed with Windows 10. There isn't any indemnity about whether things will be changed within MS Paint or not. Ipad logic pro 9. But it is better moving to a different platform, lest MS Paint does not remain the same old MS Paint after moving to the Store.
That being said, you might be looking for an application, which offers all the functionalities of MS Paint, along with something extra. Yes, an alternative for MS Paint, with some extra cool set of functionalities. If you are the one searching for that, you are in the right place. I will be discussing the best alternative for MS Paint, which even offers a number of cool and extra functionalities that can be handy for you. The application is free to use, and the functionalities, which you can get, can surely do your tasks if you do not do a lot of professional photos or image editing.
The Microsoft Paint-like program, which I am talking about is PicPick. It is completely free to use MS Paint alternative. But PicPick also comes with a premium or paid version, which do not offer you extra functionalities though. You will only get support, and lifetime upgrades. Moreover, the premium version is also meant for commercial uses. Thus, you can use PicPick for free, as long as you are not using it for commercial purposes. You can download the free version here. There is even a portable version of PicPick, which you can downloadhere.
Before proceeding into the functionalities of PicPick, you should have a look at the user interface of PicPick. It can be enough to make you understand, why I am calling PicPick the best MS Paint alternative.
From drawing images to the use of brushes! You can have access to almost all the basic functionalities of MS Paint on PicPick. Apart from that, you can even apply stamps, use brushes, which are also some common features in MS Paint. I am not discussing the common features of MS Paint and PicPick, as there are many of them. You can just download it and check everything.
The extra functionalities
This pc specification. What you cannot find in MS Paint is, the option to apply effects. You can apply different effects to the complete image, or on a selected part of the image. The common effects, which you can get include, Grayscale, Pixelate, Invert Colors, Blur, and many more. Apart from that, you can even change or customize the brightness, sharpness, contrast and other properties of the image to make the image look according to what you want. Thus, you can quickly edit pictures just like other photo editing tools, with PicPick. You can even work with multiple images on PicPick, as it supports tabbed editing and viewing.
When you open PicPick, you can even get a number of extra options, which make PicPick one of the best image editing programs.
Screenshot taking functionality
You can make PicPick run in the background to capture screenshots. You can customize different hotkeys to capture the complete screen, a part of the screen, current window, and many modes. Thus, PicPick can even double up as a screenshot taking tool. You can configure the program to save the screenshots directly to a previously defined folder.
What Is Ms Paint
I have written an article on Greenshot, which is a great screenshot taking tool, as well. You can check that here. But PicPick packs a number of bonus functionalities in itself, making it even better than Greenshot for a niche of users.
The additional graphics accessories
MS Paint alternative PicPick even comes with some graphics accessories, which can make your life even easier. You will get the following start screen on opening PicPick.
PicPick offers a Color Picker, which can be used to capture any color on the screen for adding it to your images or for development requirements.
It also comes with a dedicated Color Palette to copy the code of any color you want, for your development needs or other purposes.
The Magnifier with PicPick can also be used as a normal magnifier to have a proper and deep look at any part of the screen.
The Pixel Ruler with PicPick can be used to measure the length between two points in pixels, and other metric units like a centimeter, millimeter, etc. It can be handy for different image editing requirements if you want to get a hardcopy of the images.
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PicPick also comes with a virtual Protractor to measure the angle between two points on the screen, and also a WhiteBoard to draw things on the screen. The WhiteBoard feature can be handy for illustrating different things on a touchscreen device.
Thus, PicPick can be the best solution for all your basic image editing requirements. Just in case you want an MS Paint like user interface, with additional functionalities. The best part is, you can get everything for free.
What is your view about MS Paint alternative PicPick? Surely let me know about it in the comment section down below.
See also: Best 10 Opensource and free Download managers you should try
