PDN for Digital Scrapbooking
PDN is short for Paint Dot Net, a FREE photo editing & image creating software.
Suggested Paint.Net Plug-ins to Get You Started Making Your Own Digital Papers
These are just some suggestions to get you started on the road of creating your very own digital paper. This page is also a work in progress for days when I have time, in between everything else, to add information. At this time, I am also using Paint.Net version 4.1.5. The 2019 release of Paint.Net will include more incredible features.
Know the settings to start with to make digital paper will be 300 dpi (resolution). When you first open your Paint.Net software, change your settings by going to the top of Paint.Net, click on "File", when the menu appears click on "New". Once the pop up box appears change some settings to 12 inches wide and 12 inches high, in pixels that will be 3600 pixels wide and 3600 pixels high. I use inches but use whatever measurement system you want. Also, change the "Resolution" settings, (sometimes called dpi) from 96 to 300. I then save that and name it "12 x 12" 300 dpi Template", or you can just keep making your templates from scratch every time you start using Paint.Net. You don't have to make your canvas 12" x 12". It can be whatever size you want it to be but your resolution/dpi setting needs to be set at 300 if you want it to be professional print quality for submitting to a company to print, print on objects like clothing, photobooks, professional standard size print work, blankets, a coffee mug, a fabric pattern using a seamless tile pattern, etc.
To install these plugins will be simple. Most of them will be a .dll file. Download the .dll file, save it to your desktop and put it into your INSTALLED directory of Paint.Net. Once you are in there, *most of the time*, that .dll file will go into a yellow file folder called "EFFECTS". For the few plug-ins that are slightly different, there is usually a text file inside the zip file that tells you where to install it.
A fast way to get to the location you install a plug-in is to right click on your desktop Paint.Net icon. (It's that picture on your computer desktop screen you click on to make Paint.Net open up, in order to use Paint.Net)
Once that new box pops up, go to the bottom where it says "Properties" and click on it. A new window appears. Near the lower middle area of that new window will be "Open File Location". Click on that. When the new window opens up, you'll see yellow file folders at the top of that new window. You're in the directory of the installed Paint.Net software location. Your Plug-ins will 959% of the time always go in the yellow "Effects" file folder. Occasionally, a plug-in will go to a different place. I always read a "Read Me" file that came with a .dll file, if one did. If it did not, and most of them will not, just put the dll file into the yellow file folder. If you are still confused, go to the Paint.Net plugin area of the Paint.Net forum. You MUST close Paint.Net after each plug-in is installed in order for it to show up.
I save my plug-ins into my own file folder that I created called "Paint.Net Plugins". From there, I just make a copy of a plugin, which will be a .dll file, then paste it into my yellow file folder called "Effects", within the Paint.Net directory. This way you have all of the plug-ins kept in an organized file folder to use and reuse. There are over 100, maybe 200 of them, at this time.
If you ever have to uninstall one or more plug-ins, for whatever reason, you can easily reinstall your plug-ins. Save them onto a disc, in a file on an external hard drive, flashstick or your online storage cloud area....or not. Just a suggestion. I have over 100 of them. Some I use a lot. Some I don't. Some might come in handy after I figure out all that it does and how that fits into what I use Paint.Net for. Just know, when you go to the official Paint.Net forum for a new plug-in, it will often be in a .zip file. You'll need a zip software to unzip it and here is a fantastic, safe to use, FREE one called PeaZip.
Seamless Texture Helper Plugin If you want to create a seamless tiling background image on your paper, this is a great plugin to use. Make your images different colors, various different images, space the images apart however you want, etc. You can make it a big tile or a smaller tile. It's easy to use. There's also a small and quick tutorial on that page. You look for the .dll file. It will either be near the top of the page or just below the explanation and example of the plugin. To find it within Paint.Net AFTER you installed your plugin, most of the time, the page that offers the plugin, it usually tells you the path in Paint.Net to find it and use it, the location of it. For example, it might say "Effects> Distort> Clouds. This particular plugin is located at the very bottom of the Effects menu, not within any sub-menu. Remember to create the second layer, in your layers area, to create your seamless tile on.
Parallel Lines and Patterns' Render Effect Plugin This is great for making papers with stripes on them, The stripes can go in any direction you want. Make the lines in any thin or thickness you want. Pick your color you want, too. It's just that simple. Remember to create a separate layer to make your lines on. That way you can see how your lines will look over the top of another color or pattern.
Texturize effect plugin This is great to make your flat looking layer of one color, or grungy looking colors look as if they are on an old piece of paper, wrinkled paper, on wooden boards, on a canvas, some kind of fabric. You can adjust the strength of it, too. Once you have installed the .dll file into the correct yellow Effects file folder, you should find it by opening up Paint.Net, at the top of the menu click on "Effects", then click on "Artistic", then look down near the bottom for "Texturize".
Fill Tool This is great to fill a selected item with any pattern or texture image you find on the internet. It's in a bundle of other very useful tools from one of the main, super star plugin developers at Paint.Net. If you find a beautiful image of a gold piece of foil, fabric, something with great colors, an image of wood, etc., whatever, you can fill it into an image with this tool. You might want to create a yellow file folder wherever you create your file folders and call it "Images to Create With"..or "Textures"...or whatever. Try to find the largest image as you can. It's often called a HIGH RESOLUTION image. Those will work best. Also know that hundreds of high resolution images can take up some space on your computer.
Photoshop Brush FileType This plugin allows you to open up .abr photoshop brushes in Paint.Net. The brushes can work great as templates to fill or do other cool stuff with. If you want to use the brushes the way it is supposed to be used, use the Brush Factory plugin (shown below). Create a yellow file folder and call it "Brushes" or ".abr Brushes" and keep them in there. Get rid of brushes you don't want or need. Look for HIGH RESOLUTION brushes as they will work best in 300 dpi resolution that you make your paper in.
Brush Factory This uses .abr brushes.It does not work right with 300 dpi. You cannot use a color palette/color wheel on it the right way and changing the color to a specific color takes forever. In the future that might be corrected but for non-high resolution work, the brushes work fine but not the color selection issue.
G'MIC - Is compatible with Paint.Net now, thanks to Null54. To learn more about G'MIC, go here. You can find the Paint.Net compatible plugin only at the Paint.Net forum right now. Maybe the download for Paint.Net will soon be at the G'MIC home page, too. For now, it's not. G'MIC, alone, has over 500 very cool special effects.
If you're feeling pretty good about things, you can download an entire pile of plugins, much easier by going to The Plugin Pack page of the forum. There you will see many plugins are placed together in one lump by many of the plugin developers. Each plugin pack will tell you something about each plugin you are getting.
There are other things you can do, like playing around the transparency effects. It's the gradient tool
