Old Venerable MS Paint
Gets a New Makeover and Really Cool
Features
On March 27, 2022, Readers of the Dispatches were introduced to MS Paint. My most common use for MS Paint was as a place to which to copy and paste images from the Web. Minor image editing was always possible using Paint, but Paint lacked features that made the app a more creative tool. That has now changed for computer users with Windows 11 23h2 that was rolled out to all Windows 11 users over the past couple of weeks.
When Windows 22h2 was released, the first new feature added was the Remove Background feature. That new button on the toolbar is contained within the red square below. Then, at some time over the last couple of weeks, the Cocreator was added. The Cocreator is the Microsoft AI text to image generator called Designer now embedded into Paint. June 5, 2023, Readers of the Dispatches were offered a pretty complete tutorial of MS-Designer. This posting only discusses background removal and Cocreator.
When you click Cocreator, a screen with a text box opens to write the text you wish Cocreator to generate for you. Also, several styles of how you want your art displayed are offered. I choose "No Selection" style because I like to add my own artistic styles. An image of a clown dancing with a bear will be generated and shown below. Cocreator, like MS Designer, will offer you three choices for your image. Simply click the one you want and it will be added to your Paint canvas.
| The text prompt here was: "A Bear
and a Clown dancing together." I usually add this sentence to my text prompts: "The background is plain white." I add that to make it easier to make a plain background for layering more images on the first image. Paint now does that for you very easily and, also, quite effectively. See below. |
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| The Remove
Background button on the toolbar processes the image.
The background disappears. Next, Save and name the image. Usually the images generated by Cocreator are not exactly photographs, so the recommended file format to save the image is PNG. |
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| Next, we generate a new image.
The prompt I used was: "A colorful forest scene with trees on either side. A stream runs down the middle." Make your prompt as detailed or as simple as you think is appropriate. |
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| The images created will often have a
large border that needs to be cropped. I prefer to save the image, and then open the image in MS Photos and use that cropping tool. And then save that image. Of course, Paint has its own cropping tool, too. |
| To work with images that have already
been created, and combine the two images onto one canvas, we use the Click → File → Import to Canvas → From a file feature in Paint. |
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| To place our Dancing Bear and Clown
into the Forest Scene, we first add the Forest Scene in Paint.
Open Paint. Use File → Import to Canvas → From a file to add the Forest Scene in Paint. The Paint Canvas now shows the Forest Scene. |
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| To add the
Dancing Bear and Clown to this image, use File →
Import To Canvas → From a
file. Select the Dancing Bear and Clown and open the file. The transparent Bear and Clown are now added to the forest image. Drag the Bear-Clown picture onto the Forest Scene to position how you wish. Then save that image with a new name. Again since it is not a photograph. PNG format is recommended. |
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| To remove the transparent region, and
ensure the image is centered, simply open that saved composite image and drag the geometric pattern space to align with the right margin of the image. Save the new image. |
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| Now your masterpiece is complete and centered on the page. |
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As someone who regularly uses a more complete imaging application, MS Paint still does not offer all the features I use. If, on the other hand, complex imaging technology is new to you, then the new MS Paint will be a good introduction to the technology. With practice, it will come in handy. Also, using Paint to create more complex images might help you decide if a more full featured imaging application will be a worthwhile investment it to you.
Having the AI text to image generator as a standard feature within Paint saves several steps if all MS Designer is used for is to generate images, as I do. I don't have to copy and paste the images from Designer to Paint, which is what I used to do.
If you have Windows 11, then you probably have the newest version, Windows 11 23h2. And you also then have the new MS Paint.
I'm painting the room in a colorful way
And when my mind is
wandering
There I will go
— Fixing a Hole, The Beatles
Gerald Reiff