While I can load a 16 bit grayscale png image into Corel Photopaint, it is always imported as an 8 bit grayscale image. This is very annoying. I have confirmed with the operating system (Windows 7) that it is a 16 bit image. I want to have 65336 different shades of gray so that the heightmap I am editing:
1) will be as detailed a resolution as possible. 256 different values just plain sucks.
2) can be fine tuned (in terms of brightness and contrast to allow for creating a depth to water areas) without losing a significant amount of difference in height in the overall heightmap.
I cannot remember X5 and I have removed X6. X7 does open a 16-bit gray image as 16-bit gray as can be seen in the title bar.
Unfortunately the source files are png not tif. Perhaps it will open a 16 bit tiff as a 16 bit greyscale but it won't help. I discovered a workaround for now. While a bit annoying it is still effective and doesn't take TOO much extra time. I create a new 16 bit greyscale photo paint project. Then I import the pngs and the import is done properly. I don't think it will allow me to export to 16 bit grayscale png but luckily I can do that with another tool. So after editing, I export as a 16 bit grayscale tiff and import it into the other tool which allows me to do the necessary heightmap adjustments and export the final png image. Still, it is rather annoying that a professional tool does not seem to have this capability.
I have been pushing for increased 16bit support from Corel for some time. What workflow I.E. end placement is 16bit grayscale required? I would like to prove to them that there is a sufficient need to justify the cost of these filters,