Microsoft Paint is Getting Photoshop-like Generative AI Fill and Erase Features (theverge.com) 26
Microsoft is bringing some new AI-powered Paint and Photos features to Copilot Plus PCs that could make creatives less reliant on more powerful image editing software. From a report: Generative Fill and Generative Erase -- which appear to be heavily inspired by similar AI tools in Adobe Photoshop -- are being introduced to Paint, allowing users to precisely add or remove objects in their images.
Both tools utilize a size-adjustable brush to "paint" over specific areas of an image to edit. Generative Erase will remove unwanted figures, objects like background clutter, and other distractions, similar to the Magic Eraser feature on Google's Pixel phones. Generative Fill allows Paint users to add new AI-generated assets to an image using a text description and select precisely where they should be placed -- much like the Photoshop tool that shares the same name. These build on the Cocreator tool for Paint announced for Copilot Plus PCs earlier this year that can generate images using a combination of text prompts and reference sketches. The company says the diffusion-based model powering these features has been updated to improve output quality and speed and now includes "built-in moderation" to help prevent it from being abused.
Both tools utilize a size-adjustable brush to "paint" over specific areas of an image to edit. Generative Erase will remove unwanted figures, objects like background clutter, and other distractions, similar to the Magic Eraser feature on Google's Pixel phones. Generative Fill allows Paint users to add new AI-generated assets to an image using a text description and select precisely where they should be placed -- much like the Photoshop tool that shares the same name. These build on the Cocreator tool for Paint announced for Copilot Plus PCs earlier this year that can generate images using a combination of text prompts and reference sketches. The company says the diffusion-based model powering these features has been updated to improve output quality and speed and now includes "built-in moderation" to help prevent it from being abused.
Can't they fix ... (Score:4, Insightful)
... the arrows keys moving the mouse pointer or at least add a way to disable this crap. I'm sure ALL the people using Paint want a "smart erase" feature. /s
The only reason I used MS Paint for so long is because it is fast to start and I can save .png and .jpg until I discovered ShareX.
Re: (Score:3)
They tried to make it tablet-friendly, but made it mouse-buggy instead.
MS, Stop Screwing With Paint!
They added that 3D gizmo to it, but then yanked it Google-style when people realized it was crap, and now they are adding an AI gizmo, and will probably F that up and have to remove it also, but create side-effects in the process.
MS, we use Windows for compatibility and familiarity. If you fuck with either, we will leave. You are NOT cutting edge, you DON'T know how to make decent UI's anymore, you are NOT ex
Re: (Score:2)
MS, Stop Screwing With Paint!
Incompetently screwing with things is all MS has left. They are somehow under the delusion that making Windows worse is good if what they do is "new" and "innovative".
MS, we use Windows for compatibility and familiarity. If you fuck with either, we will leave. You are NOT cutting edge, you DON'T know how to make decent UI's anymore, you are NOT exciting, but we don't want exciting, so fire the PHB's and artsy fartsy types and just fix your damn bugs.
Indeed. That is about the best summary of the Windows state I have read in a while. Fits perfectly.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes. Or mixing broken glass into food and claiming it improves the experience.
Re: (Score:1)
and we learn how to work around these flaws out of trial and error, such as "don't decline the chair more than 35% on Tuesdays". But when MS changes shit around, the furniture finds new ways to injure us.
Re: (Score:2)
I use paint to crop and then print screenshots. No other uses. Of course I "want" generative AI in there....not.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I can't answer for others but the reason I've used MS Paint for decades include:
* Fast startup. .png or .jpg.
* Nothing extra to install.
* Been standard for decades.
* No finger gymnastics needed. Alt-PrintScreen and Ctrl-V just works,
* Fast workflow to save to
For anything more complex I use GIMP of Affinity Photo.
Re: (Score:2)
That's pretty much describing Paint.NET, except that it's also got more than the bare-minimum features of Paint so you won't need to reach for GIMP that often.
It's actually such an obvious replacement for Paint that some Microsoft person wrote a blog post on it a few years back explaining why they didn't just toss Paint and replace it with Paint.NET. Apparently they get quite a few requests for this.
Re: (Score:2)
That's typical Microsoft. They get a good idea and never execute on it due to some bullshit politics.
Re: (Score:3)
How are you capturing the screenshots? Shift + Win + S will open snipping tool in region mode. You select the area and it will capture just that region. Click the notification and you have the screenshot and you can edit, save, or print right from there.
Hooking everything to cloud microtransaction tax (Score:2)
Microsoft seems intent on requiring a cloud login for every single product, tool and OS they produce with the long term goal of 'you will own nothing and like it' of taxing everyone via a trickle of cloud costs every day.
Consider, how office and other Microsoft products default save file to cloud and require multiple steps to save on the local disk.
A company's user base may not be able to save Excel financial spreadsheets in the cloud for security reasons.
And then there's the second attempt to force every s
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Some 30 years ago when I used MS Paint for pixel art (I do it now with Gimp), moving pointer from keyboard was an useful feature.
The Jack of Hallucination (Score:3, Insightful)
US: [for 30 years]: Hey, can we get layers and transparency in MS Paint?
MS: [for 30 years]: What? Lol, no. This program only ever existed to teach members of the Greatest Generation how to use a mouse. But Solitaire turned out to be way better for that. And now they're all dead.
[Later...]
US: Can you please not put AI in all the tools that we depend on to allow us to create valuable, salable business content?
MS: What? Lol, no. In fact, the only place we have left to put AI is the useless stuff. Like Paint. Which we'd forgotten about until now! (And don't worry, we won't forget Solitaire. Maybe the people on the face cards will try to sell you things. That's just for starters.)
Re:The Jack of Hallucination (Score:4, Interesting)
US: [for 30 years]: Hey, can we get layers and transparency in MS Paint?
Noting that GIMP has also run on Windows for many years ...
Re:The Jack of Hallucination (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
> can we get layers and transparency in MS Paint?
A work-around for transparency is to set the selected color to background color, then switch Transparent Selection on. But this generally only works on "flat" art, not photos.
Re: (Score:2)
US: [for 30 years]: Hey, can we get layers and transparency in MS Paint?
MS: [for 30 years]: What? Lol, no. This program only ever existed to teach members of the Greatest Generation how to use a mouse. But Solitaire turned out to be way better for that. And now they're all dead.
[Later...]
US: Can you please not put AI in all the tools that we depend on to allow us to create valuable, salable business content?
MS: What? Lol, no. In fact, the only place we have left to put AI is the useless stuff. Like Paint. Which we'd forgotten about until now! (And don't worry, we won't forget Solitaire. Maybe the people on the face cards will try to sell you things. That's just for starters.)
I dunno. I kind of think there might be a place in the OS for a rudimentary, one-click image up-scaler.
Can't you imagine Grandma clicking on the crappy Facebook image, clicking the "make bigger" button, then the "set as wallpaper" button?
I like the idea of things that come with the OS being simple but useful, and I think this could qualify. Just enough image tools to whet an appetite, but not so much that the basics are hidden in a sea of buttons and ribbons.
Re: (Score:2)
30 years ago I used to use Paint too, now I am on Gimp, but pretty sure Paint in Windows 11 has layers.
Shrug (Score:2)
What can I say, I like Paint - I am not a visual artist, so generally all I am doing is throwing a concept together, at most. Or pasting a screenshot and cropping it and circling stuff to show someone something.
95% of the time, I don't need a Photoshop or Gimp.
The new tools sound handy.
that reminds me (Score:2)
um paint from windows 7? (Score:1)