Paintbrush is a simple little image editing application for Mac OS X. The developers intend it to fill the space that used to be filled by MacPaint when Apple launched the very first Macintosh machine. It might also be compared to Paint, the basic image editing application that Microsoft include with their Windows operating system.
Highlights of Paintbrush
Some of the main features of Paintbrush include:
- Very simple and accessible user interface
- Open and save to the most common image formats
- Selection of drawing tools
- Reasonable range of options for adding text
- Shallow learning curve
Why Use Paintbrush?
There is no pretense about Paintbrush being an alternative to more high end image editing applications, such as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop. Paintbrush really is a basic little application designed to allow users to very quickly produce simple images. It could be compared to a visual version of a basic text editor, giving users the ability draw simple images very quickly, perhaps to help clarify a written message.
The included type features also allow users to directly include written notes within images and it could be a very easy way to apply annotations to photos or other image files.
The simplicity is likely to also appeal to younger users who will have little trouble finding their way around the straight forward user interface. Even the most basic of computer users should be able to get to grips with Paintbrush very quickly.
The Limitations of Paintbrush
Considering that Paintbrush is designed to fill a very basic niche, it has few limitations within the role that it fills. It's simplicity is a feature rather than a limitation and if you need more power than Paintbrush offers, then you're probably trying to use it in a way that it isn't really intended for. While it can open several common image types, meaning that you can work on your digital photos in JPEG format, there isn't much that you can really do with them, other than doodling or writing text on them. If you want to enhance your digital photos before sharing them, then Paintbrush is not the application for you.
System Requirements
Paintbrush 2 requires OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later to run, but the earlier Paintbrush 1.2 is still available for download and will function on OS X 10.4 (Tiger). There are no other system requirements listed and the simplicity of this application means it should be perfectly responsive, whatever type of Mac that you use.
Support and Training
While there is a Help item in the Help Menu, in my case it just opened an alert to tell me that there isn't any help available. There is, however, a link to the Paintbrush forums in the Help Menu. While the forum isn't particularly busy, it does offer the opportunity to see problems that others have had and, if necessary, ask for assistance with any problems that you may have.
Paintbrush can be downloaded from their pages on Sourceforge.