Cutout

Cutout is a simple-to-use plugin designed for the Paint.net graphic editing application, which gives you the possibility to apply a cutout effect to your images in real time, as well as to make some tweaks.
It comes packed with an intuitive set of options that can be easily configured by all types of users, even the ones with little or no previous experience with such apps.

Easy integration with Paint.net

There is no installation pack involved. In order to get it up and running, all you have to do is copy the downloaded DLL file to the "Effects" folder of Paint.net's installed directory and relaunch the tool if it was already active.
This also works if you have a portable edition of the photo editor at hand. In the following step, it can be accessed from the "Effects" menu, which should be easily spotted by the small icon that resembles the piece of a puzzle, marking all external extensions.

Apply the cutout effect

After loading a local image into the main window, you can access Cutout from the menu and choose the amount of cutout by moving a slider bar, entering its numerical value, or clicking on two small arrow buttons to increase or decrease this value.
Worth noting is that the photograph modifications can be previewed in real time, so there's no need to commit changes just to be able to view results and undo the action or remove the newly created layer if you're not satisfied with the outcome.

Evaluation and conclusion

The plugin smoothly integrated with the latest version of Paint.net in our tests, although it hasn't received updates for a long time. No error dialogs popped up and it didn't hang or crash. CPU and RAM usage was minimal, so it didn't hamper the computer's performance or interfere with the runtime of other running programs.
Thanks to its approachable options, Cutout can be seamlessly handled by any user looking to apply a cutout effect to personal photographs for enhancement purposes.