When it comes to image editing, the vast majority of people use Photoshop, or Photopea if we need the first but without everything it offers. Those of us who prefer what is free and/or gratuitous tend to opt for GIMP, but GNU Image Manipulation Program is not designed for drawing. The software that is designed by and for cartoonists is that of KDE, who today has made the official launch of Krita 5.1.
This is a medium update, that is, one that changes the first decimal place. It doesn't include any major new features, but it's not just about bug fixes either. Among what has come along with Krita 5.1 we have improved support for different file types, such as WebP, which now includes full support, PSD, OpenExr, JPEG-XL or for ASE and ACB color palettes.
What's new in Krita 5.1
Krita 5.1 now supports operations on multiple layers. Other news includes:
- The dedicated color picker has been extended with a color preview for and an HSV option for RGB.
- Touch gestures (drag to scroll, zoom, rotate) are now configurable, you can choose which action does what.
- There used to be a very vague button that said something like "use pixel aspect" right next to zoom. What this mysterious button actually did was toggle the canvas zoom between displaying pixels at pixel size, and displaying the canvas at its physical size. The latter, if Krita has the information available, means that an inch on Krita is an actual inch on your monitor, which is useful for print, while the former is more useful for digital-only work like game graphics. This button has been revamped to communicate this more clearly.
- More settings for popup palette.
- Direct access to the double color picker.
- Added the ability to change scrolling by selecting predefined zoom levels for a "soft zoom".
- The recent files menu has been revised.
- Right-to-left layout improvements.
- Fixed various dialogs.
- hsv sliders to fit filters
- Reset and save state button for the digital color mixer.
- New zoom to fit option (with margins).
- Complete list of changes to the release note.
Krita 5.1 is now available from its official website and in the KDE Backports repository. It will soon arrive in most official repositories. To test it without installing, a version is provided in AppImage.