Microsoft Kills Any Hope of Installing Windows 11 on Older Hardware Quick Links Create Polished Artwork From Rough Sketches Generate AI Art With Text Prompts Add Objects to Your Images Remove the Background From Your Photos
Microsoft Paint, bundled with Windows since Windows 1.0, has been a simple, rudimentary tool for four decades. However, recent AI advancements have transformed Paint from a basic drawing program into a surprisingly powerful and versatile image editing application.
1 Create Polished Artwork From Rough Sketches
Gone are the days when Paint was limited to hand-drawn stick figures or rudimentary shapes -- at least, that's what most of us probably managed to create.
The Cocreator feature in Paint leverages AI to transform simple sketches into detailed, polished artwork. This feature analyzes your initial drawing and then fills in the details to create a refined and professional-looking image.
This allows you to enter a simple text prompt and draw a basic outline of a landscape or a character. Then AI will intelligently fill in the details, like adding textures, shading, and other elements. It's a godsend for people like me with poor drawing and sketching skills.
To try out Cocreator's helpful functions, follow the steps:
Open Microsoft Paint, click the Copilot icon on the top ribbon, and then click Cocreator to open the side pane. In the Cocreator interface, you'll find a text box where you can describe the style and elements you want to add to your sketch. Note that Cocreator is optimized for text prompts in English -- other languages may experience degraded performance. Start drawing on the canvas with your mouse or stylus. This can be as simple as basic shapes and lines, but you can also use any tools or colors you want. For best results, use the colors you desire in the output. As you draw, you will see the AI generating artwork in the side pane based on your text and sketch. Adjust the Creativity level by moving the slider. Lower creativity means less AI input and the output will be closer to your sketch. Higher creativity means more AI input and a more imaginative and diverse output. Select a Style option from the drop-down menu to choose between art styles like watercolor, ink sketch, anime, pixel art, and oil painting to customize your artwork even more. You can also click Try again to have Cocreator generate several variations of the artwork till you come across something that you like. When you are satisfied with your artwork, hit Apply. It will appear directly on the Paint canvas, allowing you to refine it using Paint's standard editing tools.
It's a handy concept visualization tool for creating design prototypes if you're brainstorming ideas or creating illustrations from basic outlines. Plus, artists can quickly refine their concept sketches without switching to more complex software.
The Cocreator feature requires Copilot+ PCs, the new class of Windows 11 AI PCs that are powered by a turbocharged NPU.
2 Generate AI Art With Text Prompts
The Image Creator feature in Paint offers similar text-to-image generation like what we've seen across other AI-powered services and chatbots. It's pretty straightforward, allowing users to create entirely new images simply by describing them in text.
With Image Creator in Paint, you can use the DALL-E text-to-image model to generate realistic images through natural language processing and AI art generation.
Follow these steps to try out Image Creator yourself:
Open Microsoft Paint, click the Copilot icon on the top ribbon, and then click Image Creator to open the side pane. In the text box, enter a description of the image you want to create. Be as descriptive as possible to generate results matching your expectations. After you enter the text, choose a Style in which you want to create your image and then select the Create button. Image Creator will generate three different variants of the image you requested; you can click on any of the variants to apply that image to Paint canvas.
Image Creator can help you create unique images for your articles and marketing campaigns as well as illustrations for presentations and visual aids for trainings. I even use it to ocassionally create images for my social media posts to make them more engaging.
To generate images using Image Creator, you would need to sign in with your Microsoft account. Each time you generate a set of images, you spend one credit -- make sure you use Copilot's features wisely to make the most of your AI credits.
3 Add Objects to Your Images
Generative Fill in Microsoft Paint allows you to enhance your artwork or any images by adding AI-generated objects seamlessly into selected areas. Whether it's adding a missing cloud in the sky or an object to balance the composition, this tool lets you enhance your photos using AI. There are more than a few great AI photo enhancers you can try, but Paint works so well because of its simplicity.
Here's how to start adding objects to your photos in Paint:
Open your image in Microsoft Paint. Using the Selection tool in the ribbon, make a Rectangle or Free-form selection to mark the spot where you want to add the new object. Upon selecting the area, you will see a small menu pop up anchored to your selection. Click the Generative fill option in the menu. Use the text box that pops up to describe what you want to add at your selection and select Create. If you don't like what was generated, you can refine by editing your text prompt or by asking to re-generate by selecting the Try again button. Once you are satisfied with one of the images generated, use the Keep button to apply it to your Paint canvas.
The Generative erase feature works in the same way. Click the Generative erase option in the menu that pops up on selection, and the selected object or element will be removed, and AI will intelligently fill the area to match the surrounding background.
These generative features are perfect for photo enhancements, artistic modifications, or even fixing mistakes in digital drawings.
It's a good way to experiment with adding unexpected objects to images for creative effect and whimsical objects to create surreal or artistic compositions. It also allows you to remove unwanted objects or distractions from pictures (or that ex you may not be friends with now).
Like Cocreator, Generative fill is only available for Copilot+ PCs only.
4 Remove the Background From Your Photos
Isolating subjects in photos from their backgrounds is a common task in image editing. The Remove Background feature in Paint simplifies this process, allowing you to accurately remove the background from a photo.
Whether you want to create transparent images, replace backgrounds, or isolate objects, the Remove background feature makes it incredibly easy. You do not need advanced image editing skills or to rely on dodgy online services to achieve it.
Open your image in Microsoft Paint. Click the Copilot icon on the top ribbon, and then click Remove background. Paint will take a few seconds to analyze the image, automatically identify the subject of the photo, and separate it from the background. Alternatively, you can use the Selection tool in the ribbon, make a Rectangle or Free-form selection to specify the area where you want the background to be removed. Upon selecting the area, you will see a small menu pop up anchored to your selection. Click the Generative erase option in the menu.
The Remove background feature is a handy tool that can be used in a myriad cases. You can isolate and cut out subjects for use in graphic design projects, multimedia presentations, and photo collages. You can also create professional-looking headshots and portraits with clean backgrounds and remove backgrounds from product photos for neat e-commerce listings.
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The integration of AI features has breathed new life into Paint, making it a compelling option for both casual users and those seeking quick, efficient image manipulation. These Copilot features have not only simplified complex tasks but have also opened up new creative possibilities, making Paint my go-to Windows photo editing app -- years after I had abandoned it.
