LazPaint — The Complete Guide: A Light Editor with Vector Layers, Even as a Portable App
LazPaint is a small image editor written in Lazarus, with an advantage that is unusual at this size: vector layers alongside raster layers. An arrow, rectangle or text you mark on a photo stays an object — you can move it, recolour it and fix it later.
LazPaint
LazPaint contributors (BGRABitmap)
A lightweight image editor with raster and vector layers, including a portable no-install version for Windows.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Vector layers — shapes, arrows and text that stay editable.
- Raster layers — normal work on the photo itself.
- Selection and filters — isolate an area, blur and sharpen.
- Colour corrections and resizing — prepare an image for a report or presentation.
- Portable version — runs from a folder or USB stick with no installation.
Who it suits
An engineer on a corporate computer without install rights who needs to mark defects or prepare a simple figure for a report. The portable version solves the permissions problem. Limitation: it is a small project that updates slowly, and its tools are less polished than those of GIMP or Krita.
Related tools
For a simple layered editor on any operating system — Pinta. For the familiar Windows editor — Paint.NET. For full vector illustration — Inkscape.
Pinta
Pinta Project
A simple Paint.NET-style image editor with layers, effects and unlimited undo, also on Linux and macOS.
Get it from the vendor
Paint.NET
dotPDN
A fast, simple image editor for Windows with layers — for cropping, marking up and preparing photos and figures for reports.
Get it from the vendor
Inkscape
Inkscape project
Vector graphics editor — schematics, technical illustrations, report figures and SVG, PDF and DXF editing.
Get it from the vendor
GIMP
GIMP team
Advanced image editing — site photos, perspective correction, marking defects and preparing images for reports.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
A small editor that is especially useful when you need markings you can edit again, or when installing software is not an option.