PDN Fanatics

I`ve just been on the main forum and 3.5 is ready.
Downloaded and installed without a problem.I used the internal updater in PDN.
Lets hope there are not too many broken plug ins.

Thanks to Rick for all the hard work.

Just installed it and I like it already. I also like the new tools and drop down menu icons. They look more modern and clearer. v3.5 seems to be working nicely so far. I hope they also fixed the long time it took to load Paint.Net, but we'll see.

Got a bit confused at first when I used the selection tools as there are no longer any marching ants, just a solid line.
But you do get a smoother edge than before once you have deselected it. Very nice.

I would recommend updating all of Pyrochilds plug ins to the 3.5 compatible ones. The previous Curves+ was blocked because it caused errors in 3.5. I have decided not to bother with that one this time anyway as I never used it any differently to the standard one.
The one plug in I will miss though is Evanolds Octagonal/quad reshape matte. It`s not compatible so has been blocked. Even though the file is installed in the PDN Effects folder you won`t see it listed in the program. I used that one in my last spacescape when I made the terrain of the moon. Let`s hope it gets updated.

Other than that I really like the look of the updated version, especially the new icons for the various tools and functions.
Nice one Rick.

I downloaded it, too today and I like how the selection tool is much smoother now than in the Beta version. I also like how the PDN interface is easy to understand than other programs. And Goonfella, thanks for notifying about the plugin because I like reshape matte one, too.

Make sure you all use the Utilities and check for Plugin Errors. I had to manually remove all the Ed Harvey's effect since it was built in the new build. I also went ahead and downloaded all of Pyrochild's plugins and they work like a snap. Be sure to remove what the Plugin Errors list.

I have found that all of Boltbait`s plug ins need updating as well. It`s just a straightforward swap to the new ones. On his plug in thread it says they are for 3.5 Beta 3 but they seem to all work fine in the final release as well.

I just started to do a few more projects on PDN and found that it lags big time when it loads and to use the paintbrushes (the bigger the brush width, the more it lags to cover the area), then to scroll down or up, etc. It's basically overall slower than before I upgraded. I also don't like the new outline for the 'Rectangle Select (Shortcut key: S). It's harder to see where it is once you set it, especially in lighter GFX. It also lags when you set a given 'effect'. I'm thinking of uninstalling PDN and installing a fresh new copy. Any suggestions on what would be best to do in my situation?

I recall reading pyrochild's suggestion when someone mentioned similar situation with the smudge plugin. He said if it was bigger than 34x34 pixels, it would lag. It sounds more like you have an issue with the brush size, which, fortunately, could be resized. Uninstalling and reinstalling probably won't solve your issue. The reason Rick took out the marching ants when you make a selection was it was supposed to be faster and easier on the CPU to use Xor blending. I brought up the same thing when v3.5 was in its first alpha stage. If you are having difficulty seeing the selection, my suggestion is to adjust your monitor contrast/brightness. I have no trouble using the selection tool. It takes a bit of getting used to, but then it becomes second nature.

I would also go to the main board, and let Simon Brown know in his plugin section. Also, make sure you are using the current version of his plugins. I had custom brush crash the program because I used an outdated version, but since then, it has been working fine.

BTW, what's your RAM size? I would also suggest to increase your virtual memory if possible.

First of all, thanx for the help Lance. My RAM is 1G and I have lots of disc space left as well as an external HD. I have no problem whatsoever with any of my other programs. PDN is the only one that takes a long time to load and when I have it open and I don't use it for more than half an hour, it sort of goes into this semi freeze state and causes all my other open programs to do the same as well. I would have to start tinkering with it before it starts to respond normally again. One time it totally caused a huge freeze on my computer and I lost 2 important projects that I was going to save right before the freeze. I had spent hours on them too.
I'm not sure I know of this 'smudge plugin' you speak of though. I don't know if I'm even using that plugin. I checked, but don't see it on my PDN. Then again, I only upgraded to the newest version, but I never updated any of the plugins I DID install. I didn't think that I also had to update every plugin I installed in the past too. That's going to be a bit of a hassle.

Now that I think about it, it was lagging the same way even before I upgraded to the newest version.

Have you run any defrag program? That usually helps me a lot. Are you seeing any crash logs? Have you open Utilities>Plugin Load Error? That will give you a list of what kind of problematic plugins you may have, and may have to remove/update some of them. It sucks, but PS has the same issues too.

Actually I haven't run my defrag program for a couple of months now. I'll do that today and see if that helps a bit. As far as crash logs go, I'm usually too lazy to go through the trouble of looking into that lol. But the lagging and freezing is getting pretty frustrating. I'll try the defrag program and see if that does anything. If not, then if I'm going to go through the trouble of checking and finding which plugins are the culprit, I might as well just start fresh and add the plugins I need. The only thing I'm going to miss are my saved color palettes. But oh well.

Sorry to hear about your problems with PDN Chito. I can`t really help as I`m not exactly expert with computers , I just thought I would wish you luck and hope you can get things sorted.

Thanks Goonfella. Well, I ran the defrag and all that juicy stuff and my PDN still lags with the paintbrushes and semi freezes when left alone for more than half an hour and causes all my other programs and windows to semi freeze as well. It's too risky to keep like that. I don't want to end up losing another important project over another freeze by PDN so I'm just going to uninstall it and install a fresh new copy of it. Hopefully a fresh start won't have these problems.

I definitely think you need to update your plugins. I just played with custom brushes with several converted PS brushes, and there wasn't a lag. The only lag I see is when I change color, but that's it.

The only time I have experience performance sluggish and freeze is when I had been running the program for a long time, and having multiple layers. I think, and I'm not a 100% computer technie, it is may be there's a lot of swapping going on behind the scene between the memory and the hard drive (virtual memory).

I also noted you said you experienced the same thing with v3.36. I experienced that, as I just said, so I think it's true with a lot of programs. If you are running multiple apps at the same time PDN is open, that may be another culprit. I usually leave PDN open and Firefox, but that's it.

It sounds more like you have a hardware performance issue more than PDN itself. I would go ahead and update any plugins you may have, remove the ones you hardly ever used to another folder on your hard drive, and then keep a minimum number of apps open.

I wish I could help some more, but my experience is pretty much limited. I encourage you to post your experience on the main board, especially in the troubleshooting forum.

Edit: Chito...I now see what you meant by freezing. It is definitely being caused by the Custom Brush plugin. The color changing and then pushing Ok is causing the program to hang. I had to use the Task Manager to close it, and got a very interesting dialog box that said the program was waiting for me to do something. I was trying to use the elliptical selection tool to move something. Very good problem for Simon Brown. Now I'm off to the main board to let him know.

I posted my issue in the 'Troubleshooting & Bug Reports' Forums. As I did, I noticed that many other members are also experiencing a similar issue as mines. I uninstalled it and reinstalled a fresh copy with all the same issues. I just now also noticed that even a small sized images lags when I'm using the paintbrush on it. For example, I started with a 200x150 white BG image as a test. I then zoomed in as close as I could and set the paintbrush width to '1'. I then picked a color to try to make a straight line, but the paintbrush keeps lagging and coloring the other pixels around it instead of just the one pixel line I want to color. Sometimes it'll go as far as not even coloring anything. I click a color and the paintbrush, but nothing will happen. I have to sometimes save my work, open it up again and then the paintbrush will work again. Another total frustration. Also, the new paintbrush tool tip guide was changed to this:



What part am I suppose to be guided by? The circle or the '+'? I tried both ways and they both don't work too well. I'm starting to wish I could downgrade back to the way PDN was back a year ago or so. IMO it was much faster, smoother and easier to work with.