Flare - Photo Editor 26.9 for Windows is out. Copies from this site offer it through Help › Check for Updates…, and the Windows page has the new installer and ZIPs. This release is about one thing: a canvas that works on every PC.
Two graphics engines
- Flare draws the canvas with Direct3D 12 when the PC has it, and otherwise draws it with the processor on its own: on PCs without DirectX 12, in virtual machines, or when the graphics card stops responding in the middle of your work.
- Every feature works either way; with the processor, large pictures and filters are slower, and the status bar says “Software rendering (CPU)”. A DirectX 12 graphics card is now recommended, no longer required.
- Choose the engine in Settings › Performance › Graphics engine: Automatic, Direct3D 12 or Software (CPU). The same page tells you which engine each window is using.
- When Flare switches to the processor, a yellow strip on the canvas says why; it never blocks your work, and “Don’t show again” hides it.
Steadier on integrated graphics and large photos
- Opening big photos and Image Size no longer close the app on Intel integrated graphics.
- If the graphics card refuses the work, the canvas moves to the processor instead of closing the app, without losing your document.
- When the graphics card is lost or reset, the windows come back by themselves.
Updates that install by themselves
- Help › Check for Updates… in the copy installed with the installer from this site now really installs the update and relaunches Flare, and says clearly why if Windows refuses.
- If you installed 26.6, 26.7 or 26.8 with the installer from this site, update by hand once: download the new installer from the Windows page, double-click it and choose Update. From 26.9 on, updates install by themselves.
Also in this release
- Select › Subject keeps the solid surfaces of the subject fully opaque, also on shiny metal and paint.
- Settings… now sits in the File menu, right after Print….
- A crash on some pen taps is fixed.
Keep the reports coming through Help › Send Feedback… or on Discord.