For artists, Corel Painter IX is a dream come true. The software is designed to replicate the traditional artist's painting experience.

Painter has been around for quite a while, and back when Fractal Design owned the product, the software even came in a real paint can to emphasize the point that Painter is for people who want to literally paint with their computer. Corel has added a number of new features to the product, and if you have an artistic vision, you probably can realize it with the tools in Painter.

With the hundreds of brushes and the different textured surfaces and tools, you can create a wide array of "painterly" effects. You can make images that look as if they were created with oil paints, watercolors, crayons, chalk, pastels, pencils, felt pens, and many other media. Painter includes more than 30 media options and lets you create an infinite number of customizable brushes. Painter even includes a Sketch Effect tool that lets you convert photographs to pencil drawings. Because of the nature of all these artistic tools, you really benefit from using a pressure-sensitive pen tablet to get the most out of Painter.

The Mixer Palette is yet another feature that continues the painting metaphor. With it, you can create paint colors interactively using Brush and Palette Knife tools that simulate the experience of mixing real paint. (Unlike real life, however, you can save the palettes and load them again later.) Painter IX also includes new "Artists' Oils," which mimic traditional oil paints. With them, you can pick up blended colors on your brush, mix paint on the canvas, and apply paint that actually runs out as you paint. Along the same lines, Digital Watercolor now has paint that remains "wet" much like real watercolors do, so you can fringe edges.

Even though Painter specializes in simulating many types of artistic media, it also includes standard image-editing features. You can correct colors, retouch images, and add effects such as embossing and color overlays.

You also can work with video and create animations in Painter. Using the software, you can clone, trace, edit, and combine movies and then export them to QuickTime or AVI format.

Pros: Fantastic artistic features
Cons: Can be complex to use for novices or non-artists