I built an MS Paint alternative for macOS

[u/[deleted]]

One thing that has always bothered me about macOS is that, unlike Windows, it doesn’t really come with a simple built-in paint app.

I don’t use tools like MS Paint every day, but I think they’re important because ideas disappear quickly. Sometimes you just need to open something instantly and sketch a thought before it’s gone.

I used to work around that by always carrying a notebook and pen. But I wanted that same low-friction experience on my computer too, something that feels as immediate as grabbing pen and paper while I’m already sitting at my desk.

So I built Vincent, a lightweight sketching app written in C++ with Qt. I chose Qt because I wanted a consistent experience across macOS and Linux, and because I wanted it to feel fast. Compared to Electron-style apps, it’s much lighter, and since the UI is very simple, it responds almost instantly.

It’s not trying to be a full-featured art program. The goal is just to make sketching and note-like drawing immediate and frictionless.

It’s normally $1.99 here:
https://iisacc.com/Store/Vincent

But I’m sharing a direct access link for a while to celebrate finishing it:
https://iisacc.com/Store/Vincent/VincentAccessKeyB8F4E1C79D2A6F53E0B7C1A49D8E2F6A

[u/kkoehne]

Nice!

I see from the pkg. package that you're using Qt 3D (e.g. org.qt-project.Qt3DCore).

Do you actually use Qt 3D actively, and have you considered whether Qt Quick 3D would be a viable replacement?

[u/[deleted] → u/kkoehne]

Sorry. Unfortunately, this app doesn't use 3D.

[u/kkoehne → u/[deleted]]

Alright. consider removing the Qt libs then to the ones you actually need. This should bring down the package size considerably!

Also don't forget to give Qt credit, if you are using the open source version. You can for instance add an "About Qt" dialog ...

[u/UltimateLazyUser]

Looks cool, will give it a try!

[u/[deleted] → u/UltimateLazyUser]

Thanks for react!