PaintFE is a fast, native raster image editor. Single portable binary, GPU-accelerated, scriptable. Runs locally, no account needed, nothing phoning home. Download it once and it's yours.
The architecture choices that make PaintFE fast at 4K and lightweight on disk.
Compositing, gradient generation, liquify warping, and mesh warp displacement all run on GPU via WGSL compute shaders through the wgpu API. 4K canvases at interactive frame rates, with automatic CPU fallbacks.
No garbage collector. No JVM warmup. No Electron tax. Compiles to a slim native binary that starts in under a second.
Built because the developer wanted to learn Rust. What started as an experiment turned into something worth shipping.
edition = 2024 · wgpu 0.20 · rayon 1.7
Full layer stack, per-layer opacity, non-destructive compositing. 23 tools across paint, selection, warp, and utility groups. 15 languages built in.
Automate anything with the embedded Rhai engine. Pixel loops, 23 effect functions, live canvas preview, CLI batch mode.
Background removal via your own ONNX models. BiRefNet, U²-Net, IS-Net — auto-detected. Runs on your machine, offline, no API calls.
PaintFE includes background removal via ONNX models. It runs locally, it's optional, and you supply the model yourself. Nothing is uploaded. Nothing is trained on your images.
Point PaintFE to any compatible ONNX model on your drive. BiRefNet, U²-Net, and IS-Net are all supported and auto-detected.
ONNX Runtime is loaded dynamically. Install it once and it works offline forever. Your images never leave your machine.
Background removal works best on clear subjects. PaintFE gives you the result as a layer you can refine by hand. It won't be perfect every time.
PaintFE doesn't generate images or replace anyone's work. The only AI feature is background removal — a time-saver for tedious masking, nothing more.
// Dramatic B&W with vignette
apply_desaturate();
apply_brightness_contrast(10.0, 40.0);
apply_vignette(0.5, 0.3);
// Custom per-pixel effect
map_channels(|r, g, b, a| {
let warm_r = clamp(r + 15, 0, 255);
let cool_b = clamp(b - 8, 0, 255);
[warm_r, g, cool_b, a]
});
// Live preview while running
for i in 0..5 {
apply_hsl(0.0, -5.0, 0.0);
sleep(150); // canvas updates live!
}PaintFE embeds a full Rhai scripting engine. Write pixel manipulation scripts, chain filters, create custom effects, and watch them execute live on your canvas.
GPU compositing, 4K at interactive frame rates, sub-second startup. Single portable binary.
MIT licensed, no telemetry, no account required, no cloud, no "pro" tier. The full app ships for free.
Built-in Rhai scripting with pixel-level API, headless CLI batch mode, saveable custom effects.
25 blend modes, 23 tools, RAW support, animated GIF/APNG, local AI background removal.
No CMYK, no vector paths, no adjustment layers. If you need those, you need a different tool.
Rhai scripts extend it, but there's no marketplace or third-party plugin ecosystem (yet).
It's a solo project. It does what it does well, and the things it can't do aren't hidden behind a paywall — they just aren't there yet.
The rendering pipeline targets 4K canvases at interactive frame rates. The hot paths have been profiled and optimized one by one.
MIT licensed. No trial period, no feature gates, no "pro" tier that locks away the good stuff. Download it, use it, share it.
MIT licensed · No installer required · Portable binary