Quick App: Paintr Lite 10

Creative types of applications in the App Catalog have tended towards the anemic side of functionality and usefulness, but as time progresses, that trend is beginning to change. We took a quick look at Paintbox ($0.99 in the App Catalog) not too long ago, and if you were excited about the prospects of that app and what it had to offer, you’re in for a real treat here.

Paintr Lite (Free in the App Catalog) offers a 16 color paint pallet, 3 types of brushes (hard, soft, and dry) with selectable brush size, opacity, speed sensitivity, with the brush textures created being very lifelike.  The color options are nearly limitless, as the user selectable opacity allows for the mixing of hues to create colors that aren't available in the color picker.  Like many of application’s contemporaries in the Catalog, there’s no way to export your canvas other than taking a screenshot of your work (option key + symbol + P). 

The program, as basic as it may seem, has allowed people to create some rather striking images considering that they were done on a 3.1” touchscreen using  an app that utilizes nothing more than web technologies . To show off what the app is capable of, there’s an integrated gallery (where the above screenshot of the Marylin "painting" came from) allowing users to showcase their work.

The developer is said to be working on a “Paintr Pro”, but the webOS development framework currently lacks the features needed make to make a paid version worthwhile to the end user. That will all change, hopefully, when the masses can release PDK enabled apps into the Catalog.