Originally designed as a simple replacement for Windows Paint, the former student project Paint.NET has since grown into one of the best and most powerful free photo-editing programs around. It offers most of the features you'd expect to see in paid-for software, including layers, levels and curves, and a wealth of effects and filters. Best of all, the program also supports plugins, so if you can't find a particular feature or effect, you may be able to simply download it. There are hundreds of free plugins available to download from http://forums.getpaint.net.and we've hand-picked a few of our favourites here.
Although some plugin packs come with built-in installers, most plugins require you to add them manually. Just browse to C:\Program Files\Paint.NET and copy the plugin's .DLL file to the Effects folder. You'll need to restart Paint.NET before you can access the new features. If you decide you don't like a plugin or it crashes, you can simply delete it from the folder and restart the software.
About Paint.NET and plugins:
Paint.NET is available to download from getpaint It requires Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, but this will be automatically installed if you don't have it. To save you trawling through the forums, you can download a regularly updated PDF list of all available plugins from getpaint.net
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