Corel Painter 12, the newest version of the art studio software, is available starting today for Mac OS X and Windows systems. Among other enhancements, it sports a new, customizable interface.

Corel Painter 12 also comes with new real brushes, progressive art tools, customizable workspaces and faster performance. New features include Real Watercolor, Real Wet Oil, Mirror Painting and the Kaleidoscope tool. These brushes recreate the liquidity and viscosity of flowing and blending paint, water or solvent and textures with a new and astounding level of realism, says Andy Church, product manager for Corel Painter.

Corel Painter 12 offers new progressive art tools for creating designs. New Kaleidoscope or Mandala Painting enables artists to transform brushstrokes into a balanced spectrum of colorful shapes or blends from three to 12 planes. New Mirror Painting lets artists create automatic symmetry by mirroring the plane vertically and horizontally. Mirror placement can also be moved or rotated.

The new Navigator Panel, updated panel and palette behavior, custom workflow workspaces, enhanced preservation of colors and layers, and common keyboard shortcuts make Corel Painter 12 the perfect complement to any professional’s toolbox, especially when working with Photoshop, says Church.

American pricing is $429 for the full version and $229 for for upgrade customers. Commercial and education volume licenses are also available. For a full list of everything that’s new in Corel Painter 12 and to download a free fully-functional trial version, go to http://www.corel.com/painter .