Krita 5.3 surge: Blender vs Krita comparison

The Technical Transition

Krita 5.3 delivers a complete rewrite of the text tool and object. Users edit text directly on the canvas with support for IME, wrapped text, text in shapes, and text on paths. In conformance with SVG 2, the text flow area can consist of multiple shapes, adding or subtracting from the final flow area. The text properties docker manages over 50 editable properties and hides those not set on the selected text or paragraph to prevent clutter. The font selector allows selection of all types of fonts, from postscript to modern opentype variable fonts. Krita 6 provides a Qt6 port to maintain compatibility with Linux distributions that drop support for Qt5. This transition brings Wayland support, specifically the Wayland Color Management protocol, which provides HDR support for the Linux version of Krita. The new Wayland Color Management Protocol provides the information needed to provide color managed views of images, including every requirement for HDR display, though it requires an up-to-date window manager like KWin 6.4.4 or higher to function correctly. This update also brings support for fractional scaling and 10 bit display. Krita 6 remains in early access and is not available for Android yet. Krita 5.3 and Krita 6 share all the same features.

Features and Workflow Efficiency

The text tool overhaul includes several specific improvements for layout and typography. Users can now use the Type Setting Mode to edit font size, baseline shift, line height, and dominant baseline directly on the canvas. The glyph palette allows for the selection of alternate glyphs or unicode character variations. New selection toolbars provide a floating bar when a selection remains active. The fill tool also includes a Close Gaps functionality to close gaps in line work when determining fill areas. The software works well for 3D texture editing because it integrates with Blender via the edit externally feature. Krita 5.3 includes a new Propagate Colors Filter to modify images with colors and transparency, which expands colors into transparent areas for better alignment in 3D or game texture workflows. Krita 5.3 also supports Radiance RGBE (.hdr) files and Jpeg-XL files with multi-layered or multi-page support. The assistant widgets received an overhaul that added a duplication function to the on-canvas widget. A new curvelinear perspective assistant uses arcs instead of ellipses for alternative fish-eye point assistance. Stroke smoothing can be adjusted based on speed to address jitters during slow drawing. The pixel art stabilizer provides much better results when drawing with a single pixel line. The transform tool draws a bounding box around the selected area, and users can rotate this box with Ctrl + Alt to fit the visual angle of the selection. The liquify mode in the transforms tool also received speed improvements. The pattern option now includes a Soft Texturing mode and an Auto Invert For Eraser feature to maintain texture cohesion. The Fast Color Overlay Mask helps artists prepare sketches for inking. If you already know how to navigate a layer docker, the new workspace customization tools should feel familiar. However, users report constant lag that makes the software frustrating to use. The installation process is unusable for some because it requires a system administrator-level account and lacks portability.

The Comparison of Open-Source Suites

Krita competes with professional tools through its deep brush engine and animation capabilities. While the software supports 2D animation and provides a wide range of brushes for various art styles, many artists rely on it for texture creation in 3D workflows.

The software handles PSD files by loading shapes and vector masks. It also loads text and guides, including advanced information like text on path. The tool supports many brushes, but some users find the vector tools buggy and the process of importing brushes for 3D models irritating. The Python API includes a way to paint brushstrokes, and new workflow buttons dockers allow users to configure their own buttons. The software supports CSS palette support and allows users to load .css files with classes representing swatches. Color history can be saved globally or per document. The new multibrush mode includes a "Copy Translate at Intervals" mode to draw multiple brushes at set intervals. Users can also use the marker blend mode to prevent building up opacity across multiple strokes. The software includes separate eraser cursors for non-brush tools and provides pen tilt tweaks for different handedness. The recorder docker uses multi-threaded capturing to allow for real time recording. The version 5.3.2.1 release fixed a pervasive bug where the layer docker caused unsynced layers or crashes. Will the developers resolve the lag issues as quickly as they address the text tool updates?