Part 4: A list of badly needed improvements

This is a list of the things that need to be improved in the next version of PSP:

New brush engine - I've noticed that even 1MB programs like OpenCanvas 1.1 now have better brush engines than PSP. The new engine needs to be configured especially for tablets and tuned by professional artists.
- brushes shouldn't lose quality as the pressure pen reduces size and opacity.
- the minimum brush hardness still isn't low enough.
- when an airbrush builds up in the same spot, you get a really unsightly picture.
- it's about time to change the old preset brush shapes with new ones, preferably more sophisticated strokes and spatters, rather than “twirly stars” and “pointy flowers”.
- the brush variance palette should be at least as sophisticated as the one in Photoshop

Text should be typed directly onto the picture.
Alt+dragLMB to change brush size is a very useful feature. It's only logical that Alt+dragRMB should change opacity. Also, MMB (pressing the mouse wheel) should work as Pan (or when set, to move the entire window).
Get rid of PSIService.exe and MediaCataloger.exe – this goes without saying. That element alone negates any improvements made in PSP and tips the scales towards “avoid this version”.
Vector editing needs to be rebuilt and simplified. My advice is to mimic the three most important tools in Flash: line, selection and sub-selection. Flood fill and snapping have to work with vectors as well. That's all you need.
Simulate pressure and brush strokes along vector lines.
3d rotation of vector and raster elements – move, rotate and scale any selected element along the X,Y and Z axis.
A “Channels” tab needs to be added to the layer palette. It should have RGB/CMYK channels, as well as Alpha channel. Editing CMYK and alpha channels is currently very hard to do.
Get rid of the Express lab or detach it as a separate program. There's a reason Painter and Painter Essentials are two different programs. There's no use having one within the other. Come to think of it, maybe Paint Shop Pro needs to be split into “Advanced” and “essentials” as well.
The flood-fill tool should allow you to change the direction of a gradient, pattern or texture. Dragging the mouse with the flood-fill tool should change the direction of the texture or gradient.

Improve the interface customization. Even with its outdated version 8 core, Paint Shop Pro still has better customization capabilities than Photoshop CS3 and 4. They need to be improved even further:
- My first and most important advice is to download the web browser Maxthon 2, study its interface carefully and use it as an example. To me that's one of the most customizable programs ever created. It allows users to put every element wherever they want it, to set any hotkey to any action the program can perform. That's the kind of flexibility that programs will have in the future.
- Users should be able to resize and move all elements within the tool options palette. I've managed to do this by “Res-Hacking” ToolObjectRC.dll; ToolTextRC.dll and ToolWarpRC.dll, but regular users should be able to do that too.
- hotkeys should include not only keyboard, but also key+mouse combinations
- hotkeys should work with tool options. For example:
- hotkeys to increase/decrease brush size, opacity, hardness, etc.
- hotkeys to change tolerance for Flood-fill, Magic wand, background eraser
- hotkeys to toggle antialias and change feather for selections, lasso tools, etc.
- the dock-to-icon feature in Adobe products isn't a bad idea.

More interface improvements:
- when windows are tabbed or maximized, the image shouldn't be fixed in the center. The pan tool should work regardless of the zoom level.
- make the “resize” window more compact
- it wouldn't hurt if PSP used a folder as an icons library

Other suggestions:
- keep a reasonable size and memory usage. In the previous posts I've stressed that PSP grows in size and memory usage, but not in capabilities.
- by default, PSP should use the program folder to store resources, not a MyPSP Files directory in My Documents- a portable version of PSP should be considered
- a simple animation palette could encompass the entire functionality of Animation Shop.

Feel free to add more suggestions to the Comments section.

Next: Part 5 - Flaws in the PSP brush engine