Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop? I can only afford one.

[lildreamer316]

I am putting text on photos and creating banners and gifs for myspace pages now. Later on I will be designing my own webpage. Opinions? Sorry to put this here; figured I'd get quick responses so this can drop. Thanks....

[Chan790]

1. GIMP is free.

Not quite as good but a free image manipulation suite is still a cool thing.

http://www.gimp.org/

I figured I best include the link, that's one potentially iffy Google search.

[lildreamer316]

4. Thanks! n/t

[NJmaverick]

26. I am another GIMP user

it's a little tricky at first, but it's free and it should do the trick.

[democracyindanger]

2. Gimp's free, and I think Adobe

has free 30-day trials.

[lildreamer316]

5. Thank you..will check that out. n/t

[Kutjara]

3. I second The GIMP.

Sure, it may be missing a few of the more esoteric Photoshop plugins, but it can handle most image manipulation tasks as well as its commercial rivals. It's certainly adequate for anything you're likely to do on a webpage.

Get it here:

www.gimp.org

[lildreamer316]

6. Thanks..

;)
Hope you are well...

[Kutjara]

7. Doing fine Ms. Lil.

How about you? :hi:

[lildreamer316]

14. Pretty good.

Husband decided to go with a different workplace, so we're a bit in limbo atm; but I am just taking it a day at a time.
:hi:

[Kutjara]

15. I hope it all comes together for you soon.

You've had enough hassle this year to last a while. :hug:

[lildreamer316]

17. Aww..thank you!

It's still better than the last few years, by far. I think we are headed toward calmer waters.
That's what comes from dating someone since he was age 25....sigh. LOL. He had to get a bunch of stuff out of the way.

I hope you are not in much pain these days.:hug:

[Kutjara]

18. I'm pretty good on that score.

I lost about 40 lbs this past year, which takes a real load off the old muscles. I'm not going to be running any marathons, but at least I can do ordinary day-to-day stuff without feeling like I'm wearing a backpack full of rocks. :)

[ghostsofgiants]

8. Of those two, definitely Photoshop.

GIMP would be my second choice.

[Zavulon]

9. Photoshop is better than Paint Shop Pro, but no so much that

I'd spend the money when Gimp is free.

[Callalily]

10. Irfanview is free too!

http://www.irfanview.com/

[lildreamer316]

12. Actually, that's what I've been using, but I need a better text color choice.

Do they have plug-ins?

[valerief]

11. I'm still using my Paint Shop Pro by Jasc version. I chose that

because it was so much cheaper than Photoshop. Now Corel owns it, but it's probably the same. I think it's terrific.

[lildreamer316]

13. I've got the trial version of the newest one, X2.

I like it, but am having a hard time finding tuts for it. Also, of course the trial version dosen't let you do everything, so the Learning Center isn't enabled.
Ak! :)

[valerief]

16. The price is right, so you might as well buy it and spend some time

playing with it. Heck, I think I discovered something not too long ago and I've been playing with it for years (different versions). Of course, I'm no graphic artist, but it does what I need it to do. And, yes, there's a learning curve.

I bought Corel's PSP at Christmas for a friend who lives out of state. I know she hasn't even opened it up yet, so I can't tell you how hard/easy it is.

Don't know about the free stuff mentioned here. I'm always leery of anything free. Malware fears. 9-11. Terra.

[Ghost in the Machine]

27. Check your PM inbox....

:hi:

[billyskank]

19. Get the Gimp and spend your money on something else.

:hi:

[Arnold Judas Rimmer]

20. Didn't even know they made GIMP for Windows.

Hell I learned something today at DU! (besides all that PUMA shit going on in GDP)

[BlueIris]

21. I think Photoshop is more user-friendly.

But I'm biased (I'm a photoshop woman at heart).

[MrSlayer]

22. Why not just download them both and buy some beer?

There are a million warez sites out there.

[ghostsofgiants]

34. I don't drink, but that's definitely the smartest choice.

[cabbage08]

23. I prefer photoshop

[jeff30997]

24. I f you never tried Photoshop I suggest Paint. Shop Pro .

I started using Photoshop about 12 years ago when it was a simpler software and managed to learn the basics by myself but it was a pain in the ass because their interface is confusing.Today I use Photoshop 8 (CS1) and if I didn't started back then I would be totally discouraged.All Adobe's products are like that.Confusing messy menus and tools.

[keroro gunsou]

30. however

if you learn one adobe interface, the others come easy. especially illustrator and indesign.

been using photoshop since 3.0.5 and yes it's gotten a bit on the bloated side, but what program doesn't.

what i've learned is paintshop pro and corel are toys, photoshop is a tool.

just my two cents.

[jeff30997]

39. I have to admit that paintshop pro...

is a toy compared to Photoshop but now I'm trying to learn how to use Adobe Premiere and all I can say is OUCH! :)

[suninvited]

25. Paint Shop Pro

does almost everything you can do with Photoshop at a fraction of the cost. I have been using Paint Shop Pro for about eight years.

[DS1]

28. By that description, you'll probably never use more than 2% of Photoshop's capability

So there's no reason to invest that much money in it. Paint Shop Pro will do nicely.

However, you can download a 30 day demo of just about all of Adobe's software packages, so give both a try. And yes, there are many more tutorials online for Photoshop, but that's partly because of its learning curve.

[ghostsofgiants]

35. But if she has Photoshop on hand and decides to expand her endeavours, she'll be set.

[LostinVA]

29. Haruka uses Gimp -- it's free

You can get manuals and tutorials for it online.

It's really similar to photoshop.

[ChickMagic]

31. I routinely use Photoshop

but, in your situation, I'd go with Paint Shop Pro. It's a powerful program - just not as deep as Photoshop. One of our Docs prefers it.

[Rob H.]

32. Have you considered Photoshop Elements?

It won't do everything the pro version of Photoshop will (saving photos as CMYK is one thing that springs to mind), but for the price it's a great program. If you do a little digging online, it's possible to find Elements for $60 versus $649 for the full version of Photoshop CS3.

[JCMach1]

33. Just download both cracked programs on torrents!

:spank:

[EstimatedProphet]

36. Paint.NET - it's free.

[blogslut]

37. GIMP

:)

[lob1]

38. I've used Photoshop for 14 years, and I haven't used the other programs, so

I can't speak for those. Photoshop can do ANYTHING. It's a wonderful program, but it has a long learning curve. That doesn't mean you can't do simple things immediately. Text on photos can be done the first day. I don't know how the other programs are concerning the internet and making websites, so check into that. There's no problem on that count with Photoshop. If you take digital pics, the Photoshop bridge is the best way to process RAW files that I know of. I have tried other programs to process RAW files, and Photoshop is far superior.

Photoshop is expensive. However, if you are a college student (or if you know a college student who'll buy it for you), you can buy Photoshop at school for about $150. If you'd like to see how I use Photoshop, please visit my art website at www.dalemcraven.com and let me know what you think. Good luck on finding a program. No matter which one you pick, you'll have fun with it.