iCPainter 4+

I only found this app recently and have been using it constantly since then, but after the recent update I’ve been wishing I could use the old version again. The controls and layout are definitely an improvement in this version but I feel that the new rendering is way too “tidy” now. Previously, my favorite aspect was that the image started very abstract and messy and then would tighten focus and detail as the rendering continued. I feel that the rendering is now far less expressive, and there’s no way to restore that element of the process. (Maybe most people only want the end result from the rendering, but I really enjoyed the images that were created ‘during’ the rendering process, and now I feel that those qualities have been lost). Given this, I can only hope that a future version will include a way to increase the abstract/ messy/ painterly aspects during the rendering, or that the rendering will go back to how it was in terms of starting out loose and abstract and then becoming increasingly precise. For example.. previously if you were rendering a face, the brush strokes would extend beyond the edge of the face or eyes, lips, etc. but now the brush strokes are all contained and don’t really extend beyond the edges of the face or eyes, lips, etc. and the edge of the face is now more of a hard line and is never blurred by brush strokes, so the rendering comes out more rigid because of that.

12/17/19

I had to abandon the app after the last update, as the algorithm was completely changed and the results now look like every other painting app. This app had a very unique abstract impressionist look and I spent HOURS on it. I would love to come back.

With that said, I would be over the moon if the algorithm was changed back to whatever it was in December of 2017. That’s when I first discovered this app and the look that it was putting out then is what kept me on this app for hours at a time on a daily basis.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I used this app. I only keep it on my phone in hopes of not missing out on an update that might take the app back to where it was. Other than that it’s sitting on my phone collecting dust.

2/7/19 This particular update took away what I loved the most, the slight abstract look. Now everything comes out nice, clean and painted within the lines. Boring. There are a million apps out there that already do this. You've taken away what truly made you unique.

----—--------------------

Trying to decide if I still love this app. The new update from a few hours ago changed the look and feel of the brushes...I like it, but I’m not crazy about it like I was before. Also, it now takes literally 3 times as long for your painting to render. I kid you not, I now sit and stare for what feels like a full minute before I see the finished product. Honestly, this wouldn’t be a problem if the app wasn’t super fast prior to this update. I haven’t given up just yet, as to me this is app is one of the top tier painting apps if not the top tier.

It opens. Poc selector opens. But totally unable to select photo because it crashes as soon as the library appears. Bummer.