Corel Painter 2016 for Mac

By Corel
Trial version
User Rating

Used Corel Painter 2016 for Mac? Share your experience and help other users.

Editors’ Review

Download.com staffOctober 3, 2025

Corel Painter 2015 is designed to emulate the painting experience on a computer. Painter integrates with digital tools like the Wacom tablet, and through a range of features, Painter allows you to synthesize hundreds of techniques, brush strokes, and styles on your Mac.

Pros

Massive library of digital-painting tools: Corel Painter 2015 offers hundreds of options for brush strokes, paint styles, textures, and additional media. An impressive new feature called RealBristle simulates the effect of what a bristle paintbrush looks like on paper. Another new option, Jitter Smoothing, brings a more natural feel to each stroke.

Very fast and responsive: Corel Painter is very fast. While it requires a decent amount of power to run at peak efficacy, it operates most of its basic features efficiently, from extremely large canvases to quick zoom-ins.

Cons

Steep learning curve: This isn't new for a Corel Painter program, but it's an issue that newcomers must face: The learning curve is steep. If you've used previous versions, it won't take long to navigate the updates and additions. But for those without previous experience, or those who have used only Photoshop, the learning process can be frustrating. Additionally, you may find that the most powerful features are best used on a tablet.

Bottom Line

Corel Painter 2015 is the best iteration to date, bringing in a number of new features; powerful, memory-friendly tools; and physics-based painting that in the hands of a master can create true masterpieces. This is a great piece of software for any digital artist.

What’s new in version 2020

Redesigned Welcome Book

New flexible UI color scheme

New high DPI, presentation mode and workspace customization

New Brush Hints and Visual Tooltips to fine-tune your brushes to match your style

Corel Painter 2016 for Mac

By Corel
Trial version
User Rating

Used Corel Painter 2016 for Mac? Share your experience and help other users.

Explore More

Full Specifications

GENERAL

Release: October 20, 2015

Latest update: October 3, 2025

Version: 2020

OPERATING SYSTEMS

Platform: Mac

Operating System: Mac OS X

POPULARITY

Total Downloads: 37,713

Downloads Last Week: 3

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Descargar Corel Painter 2016

Last Updated

User Reviews

3.3/5

32 User Votes

crap so far
storyboarderAUMarch 22, 2014
Pros
I don't know why I keep updating to the latest version of this, I guess I always hope it will be better than the last. I started using painter in the days of version 4 . It was wonderful and I used it exclusively for my work. Then came the dark days of version 6, 7 and 8. It got a bit better after Corel aquired it, but these annoying selection problems started to happen. And let's not talk about the dreaded "Painter Poof" where the program runs out of memory and quits suddenly leaving you in tears at 3am in the morning. In version 12 they finally fixed the selection problems that plagued 9-11 (at least). But it became SLOW. I changed to Photoshop for my work 2 years ago. Now I'm on Mavericks and I thought I'd take advantage of the nicer pricing for upgrades and got Painter X3. Alas, it is REALLY SLOW. I've wasted my money again. Corel, no more fancy new features. What we want is FAST and STABLE.
Cons
SLOW. SLOW.
Summary
Don't bother.
Lousy Version
ethanfgDecember 3, 2012
Pros
Not bad if you've never used this software
Cons
Poorly designed interface, crashes, omitted features
Summary
I've been a Painter advocate and serious user for more than 15 years. I suppose if you are new to the program this release appears to be a wonderful program. However, I use this program 7-8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It is THE production software I use as a professional illustrator. This latest release, while adding some attractive features, is the worst release Corel has ever put out. The software's programmers have yet to resolve many of the earlier version's crash problems, the interface redesign makes me question if anyone knows what they are doing, or perhaps they are simply outsourcing everything to India. Here's just a few of my issues: 1. You can not longer accurately place a layer flush to the top and left of your image in the layer attributes pop up. You must spec 1 pixel from top and 1 pixel from the left, then move the layer manually one pixel at a time. 2.If you created custom palettes of brushes, colors, commands, etc. in prior versions, be forewarned: you will have to recreate every one of them again in this new release. 3.If you rely on the portfolio feature (create portfolios of images or layers for reuse) be forewarned: you will run into problems importing many of them into this program. 4.If you typically use the "paint inside or outside a selection" feature found in ALL prior versions, it inexplicably no longer exists in this version. 5.You can no longer shift select multiple layers in the document!! You must go to the layer's menu and do it there (absolutely ridiculous-what are they thinking!!). 6.The Layer's Menu is poorly designed and glitchy. 7.The brush size in the "Dab Profile" menu no longer updates in real time as you adjust sliders in the various brush control menus. 8.Layer position in the Layers Menu is not always accurate. 9.Selecting existing text in a document no longer forces the text menu to update to the size and style of the selected text. 10. There are inconsistencies in the highlighted buttons on pop-up menus ("OK" vs. "Cancel"). I could go on, but suffice it to say, if you are a long-time user of this software, you will run into more problems and issues that drive you crazy and question your continued use of this software. Do not purchase this version, wait for Painter 13 and see if they correct their Painter 12 blunder.
Good so far
pagewiseAugust 11, 2011
Pros
Opens my really old (1997) Painter 4 files
Cons
None because I just installed Painter 12 today
Summary
I tried the trial, albeit in a limited way, and things worked fine. My experiences with the original Fractal Painter, which then became Metacreations Painter leads me to believe this is a 5-star product. We'll see!
Overpriced and Useless
coracleJuly 14, 2011
Pros
None, couldn't even open a file created by Painter.
Cons
Repeated freezes, crashes and not enough memory errors.
Summary
Absolutely dire and careless development. I only used his to try and open some old Painter files that I created years ago. Painter 12 failed at every turn. This application generates a proprietary file type that no other application can open, and even the application that created the useless files cannot open them. Terrific thinking!<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Jul 14, 2011<p/>Absolutely dire and careless development. I only used this to try and open some old Painter files that I created years ago. Painter 12 failed at every turn. This application generates a proprietary file type that no other application can open, and even the application that created the useless files cannot open them. Terrific thinking!<br /><br /><span class='notifyMsg'> Updated </span>on Jul 14, 2011<p/>Oh and I nearly forgot, unless you first buy an incredibly overpriced license, there is absolutely no support available from Corel, which demonstrates precisely how much they care about Customer Service!
Painter X working with Leopard!
IllostraightMay 8, 2008
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Painter is a wonderful program that does what no other paint program can do. I've heard back from Corel's tech support via customer service and they said it will run slower if you have more than 4 GHz of memory. With 4 Ghz, it works like a charm. I'm running a MacPro 3.2- Leopard 10.5.2 - 4 GHz ram
Intel at last but...
paulduclacFebruary 6, 2007
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I don't get how corel managed to make an universal application slower than roseta (painter IX) on an intel macintosh... Instead of bringing the "divine numbers" (how useless is that?), corel should work on the real core of the application. I'm using painter for over 7 years now, I'm not upgrading.
A Great Program for Natural-Looking Brushstrokes
Justin NormanOctober 27, 2006
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I've used Painter since version 5, and it's been my most-used non-animated graphics application (even more than Photoshop) for print and Web design. The fact that it can emulate real paint brushes and other art tools so well is what sells it for me. Although the brushes function very nicely with a regular mouse, when using this with my Wacom tablet, it works even more realistically and effectively. Of course, there are a few quirks that I really hope will be fixed soon. For instance, when using the magnification bar (in the lower left of every document window) to zoom in or out, I cannot return to a 100% view. Instead, I can only get back to 99.75%, which causes the image to look slightly jagged. Another annoying thing is that when I open a document by double-clicking in the Finder, it often gets hidden behind the toolbar on the top of the screen, rather than opening beneath it (as it would when using the File > Open comman). Hence, you have to drag the toolbar out of the way in order to reposition the document window. Aside from a few minor issues, this program runs speedily and stably on my MacBook Pro and continues to be a regularly used program in my daily design tasks.
Wonderful program for digital artists
gimme_mailMarch 23, 2006
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Painter just gets better and better. I had no problems with the update, but guess I just did as I was told by the installation notes. The new automatic painting scripts are fun to play with and so are the new art pens for calligraphy, but best of all is the improved rotation of canvas that now works very fast and with no glitches on my flat panel iMac. Thanks, Corel!
Installer quits at update 14
mrpicasso2March 11, 2006
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I add my complaint to the other recent reviewer's complaints that the 9.5 upgrade installer quits with error 11500:2-14 when it gets to the remaining update 14. The program seems to run OK, although I have not tried out much yet. The Welcome info screen in the program indicates I still have version 9.1, although in the Finder, the Info screen indicates version 9.5.324. So who knows? I sent an email to Corel, we shall see...
Quits, Quits, Quits
VersionTrackerUserOpinionMarch 2, 2006
Pros
Cons
Summary
This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I followed instructions to the tee, went to the Corel sight and downloaded the one for registered users 108 componets to download every time it gets to 14 Quits. Wrote Corel nothing no reply.Tried even the one that loads the whole application, wont except my registration no. This is not a good situation.Is it just me but does'nt it seem like software companies are just releasing whatever wether it works or what ever. And of course a new version comes out every 8 to 9 months wether its worthy of an upgrade or not, and that was the big boys. Now even shareware deveopers are doing the same thing. It use to give you a great feeling supporting the little guys, they would give you upgrades for life or for a long time Now they want money every upgrade wethere its a piece of S__t or whatever. Sure do miss the old Days.

Developer’s Description

Bring your imagination to life with the complete digital art studio.

Explore an impressive sensory selection of realistic Natural-Media that perfectly emulates real life art materials and imaginative art materials that can't be found in the real world. With Painter 2016, you can experience the incomparable harmony of Audio Expression, smart photo cloning, killer composition tools, physics-inspired Particle brushes, and in-app learning--all in high DPI.