Hornil StylePix, Like Paint.net Without The .Net
Paint.net is an incredibly powerful image editor for Windows. Some Windows users are not installing the program because of its dependence on version 3.5 SP1 of Microsoft's .Net Framework. While that's bundled in newer Windows operating systems, it needs to be installed separately on older systems. Enough to keep users from installing and using the application.
Those users, and everyone else who is looking for a lightweight image editor, might want to take a closer look at Hornil StylePix. The free program is available as a portable version and installer. And with a setup size of less than two Megabytes it is a lightweight application by all means.
The features it offers appear to be very similar to those of comparable image editors like Paint.net. I have to admit that I have not used image editors for anything but basic tasks like resizing images, batch processing or filters, which makes me an amateur dabbler at best when it comes to image editing programs.
Experienced users who need more than that find a large assortment of tools, from histograms and layers to objects.
Hornil StylePix supports JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIF, TGA, BMP and TSP image formats. PSD is unfortunately not supported.
Hornil StylePix Features:
- Tabbed image browsing - You can open multiple images in tabs in the interface and switch between them at anytime. The keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Tab can be used to switch between open images as well. It displays thumbnail previews of all open images.
- Slideshow - You can watch picture slideshows
- Histogram and waveform
- Multi-layer & grouping support
- Selection tools - Everything is supported, from automatic range selection to square, circle, polygon and lasso selections.
- Image filters - More than 50 image filters to work with.
- Drawing tools - The usual assortment of drawing tools are supported, brushes, lines, fills, shapes or gradients for instance.
- Text tool - You can add text to images. The tool supports font, size, width, color and other selections.
- Transform images - Change orientation or alignment, among other options.
- Enhance and restore tools
- Crop tool
- Batch Processing - Supports sizing, rotation, renaming, formats and filters.
I suggest you look at the overview page at the developer website for a detailed feature list.
You can also watch this video introduction which showcases some of the image editor's features (unfortunately without sound).
The program has been translated into 53 different languages. It will run on all versions of Windows from Windows XP on.
Windows users can download Hornil StylePix from the developer homepage.
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I just tried out Hornil StylePix and the interface is kind of clunky and hard to get used to. Also, for some reason it wouldn’t let me undo any filters that I applied or perhaps I just couldn’t figure out how to undo things since the usual CTRL+Z didn’t work. The filter that I use alot with Paint.NET is the noise reduction filter which I didn’t see. For a small portable image editor, I still prefer PhotoFiltre over this.
You have Noise Filters under Filters > Noise, or if you click on F9 to display the filter selection in the sidebar. A list of keyboard shortcuts is available here http://hornil.com/docs/manual/hornilstylepix/spKeyboardShortcuts.html
Just press the Cancel button.
.NET is the “wave of the future” on Windows machines so why fight it? Win7 and Vista both have it installed, and is included in XP SP3 (?). Frankly, the naysayers should upgrade their obsolete XP or 2K machines or just convert to Linux (except Gnome distros which have Mono!).
And BTW, the “portable” version leaves program settings in the host machine, not in the application folder. The program launches quickly, though. I could find a use for this for very light image editing.
nice, shame no psd support,, ahh but microsoft cant even implement it in latest windows, i know theres ‘other’ downloads that enable it for a cost, but microsoft andaodbe need to sort this joke out , its gone on toooo long
Ahhh, how refreshing to get away from that bloody .NET
Dear Reginald Poppin ….
oh how I agree lad! We do not need that nasty .NET on our Windows XP machines mate! Just slows our XP down!
Down with the bloody .NET
Carry on!