Best Image Design program - Photoshop, PSP, others?

I mess about with loads on graphic programs but always seem to come back to PSP for the little things...
JP

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The Webmaster Promotion and Resource Center.
http://www.what-next.com

I have psp 5 and photoshop 4, I use them both because some of my plug-ins don't work in both (strange) I found another paint program --- very painty called "deep paint" haven't mastered it yet but it has a lot to offer (effects not found in other paint programs) And I'm not pluggin it because I'm going to work for the company either ok, maybe I am
here's the url:
http://www.righthemisphere.com
there's a downloadable version
I love corel draw 7 too!!! just getting the hang of exporting graphics--- older versions of corel ruined my graphics during the export but I'm getting it down now

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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437

If I had to recommend an overall graphics program, it'll be the underated Corel Photo-Paint 7/8/9. Sure it doesn't have all the features of the bigger brothers (CorelDraw and Photoshop) but it bridges the gap between those and Paint Shop Pro. It's also a lot easier to learn and use! Also it offers 48bit color for .cpt images. If you have a powerful enough video card you will see the difference!

CorelDraw offers something Photoshop doesn't - vector based graphics (this will become more popular in the future when it becomes more standardized - check out PC Magazine's current issue on this topic). With Photoshop one has to buy Illustrator to get that option. Which means open your wallet for a whopping $600+ bill. What's so hot about vector images? Scalability without jaggy edges. With bitmaps you try to hide it with anti-aliazing which blurs the edges - horrid on text. Vector images are sharp as a razor at any resolution. CorelDraw usually accepts Photoshop plug-ins, so you're not missing much. Photoshop is the bitmap king, but CorelDraw offers the above all for about the same price. Plus a ton of other add ons.

Another program for graphic artists who want the feel of RL media, I'd recommend Painter 5.0. I haven't used the program too much because my tablet is on the blink, but what I did like about it was the natural brushes. It's also one of the few programs that performs best with a tablet (a mouse just doesn't cut it). That's my main beef with computer graphics - it doesn't perform like real media.

For the newbies out there, Adobe's Imagestyler (you can d/l a free 30 day demo from the Adobe site) is a perfect choice. It's on my list to buy, not so much that I need it, but because it makes certain tasks a breeze. For the webmaster who doesn't have much time, and want to create something fast without a large learning curve (complete with mouseovers) that has richness you expect from Adobe, ImageStyler is worth the $130 price.

For the webmaster wanting to reduce graphic sizes to the barebones. Get PicoBello Light (they offer a free 30 day trialware too). It reduces pics like you wouldn't image. For $40, it's a small investment. What you save on bandwidth will pay for it. They have a professional version that does more, but the Light version gets the job done for less.

And believe it or not, there's another very underated program that can do simple graphics that comes with Wordperfect, called Presentations Drawing. Before I got the professional programs I used it. It lacks polish, but it's simple (great for beginners) to learn and offers two-tone blending, bitmap fill and text with the same. Besides if you have Wordperfect you don't need to buy anything more for simple buttons and banners.

Of course this is my personal opinion.

Luc

Who uses:
CorelDraw 8
Corel Photo-Paint 8
Corel Presentations/Drawing 8
Painter 5.0
Kai Photosoap
Paint Shop Pro 5
PicoBello Light

I agree about the draw programs Luc, there are so many things that you can do with an illustration program (vector images)-- text styling, line editing etc... that are impossible in paint programs. I'm a big fan or corel myself, dont have photopaint on my computer because I'm just "plum outa room"!!! Price wise corel is a great choice. I don't mind being one version behind and the older versions of corel are easy to find and very affordable.

take care,

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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437

Hi,

how about MM Fireworks. I use both PS 4 and Fireworks, but fireworks is just great for webgraphics.

Peder L.
iNetdesign
Sweden

I agree with inet. I am new to web design and web graphics and Fireworks has been a good program for me to learn everything at once. You can also get a free 30 day trial of Fireworks at Macromedia.com.

Chris

Hi,

I hear you crying "just another geek", but I prefer the gimp.

It's free.
It's fast.
It's scriptable.
It has Wacom-Support.
It has all I need and more.

ciao
Anti

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ps:watch my work in progress at
http://webhome.nu/

Hi all,

Have been using Fireworks for about a week now and it has some great features that PS doesn't have or at least I haven't figured them out yet.

For one thing, it lets you design your animated banners, etc.

It also has more control over making your backgrounds transparent. Gives you a color grid of all colors used and you can pick and choose which colors you want transparent.

Haven't tried it yet, but supposedly you can use PS plugins with it also. Anyway, not getting rid of PS, just supplementing and just thought I would put my .02 in.

macromedia.com

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Dan
http://cds-computers.com

Yeah, the banner thing is one of the bad parts about PS. But it really makes making user interfaces easy. Anyway, what I do when I want to make a banner is use photoshop anyway, then animate it in GIF Construction set or Microsoft GIF animator. I think PSP has a tool to do this, and I will be getting that program soon. Anyway, I made this banner with photoshop and microsoft gif animator, and think it turned out pretty good anyway... maybe not all the animation/transition effects, but it still does what it needs to
infostardesign.com/banner.gif

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InfoStar: Web Design - Hosting - Programming
http://www.infostardesign.com

Personally, I like Corel Draw 8 for image design. However, I use Corel Paint 8 and Adobe Illustrator to add effects, touch-up, etc.

If you are playing at making professional graphics use fireworks or PSP. If you are serious and in the business profesionally you will have

a dedicated bitmap manipulator/creator- PS5
a dedicated vector prog- Ill6

I use other prog for batch processing -Image bot pro- vector animations- Flash etc but with a copy of the two Adobe products you can do virtually anything

Hmmmm,
Wonder which is better, IE or NS?

Sorry JP and Brian, devil made me write that! Consider my hands slapped!!

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Dan
http://cds-computers.com

I use Paintshop Pro 4 for almost all my graphics. It's wonderful for simple graphics, and it works with Photoshop plugins, which is great. I have considered upgrading to Version 5, but the trial version I tried was so unstable....

cds: Netscape! I'm eagerly awaiting the release of version 5.

Hi, Dan. No problem... as a web surfer I personally like Netscape better, although it is sometimes more picky with code. However, as a web designer/developer I wish that the companies could all agree and set a standard on how browsers interpret HTML code... so the page would look the same in both browsers. This is one of the main problems... I'm not against competition in the browser market at ALL, but I REALLY would like that to happen for us web developers!

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InfoStar: Web Design - Hosting - Programming
http://www.infostardesign.com

In my opinion Photoshp is top dog. I've used only the trail of psp and couldn't stand it! It seems to try and copy photoshop but never quite gets there. The tools in PS are just much more powerful. Again this is only my opinion and could be based on the fact that I started in PS. I always tend to favor the programs I use first.

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Thanks, Shai1
http://www.blacklightdesign.com

Shai,
I agree about photoshop being "top dog" I learned on that program too (long long time ago). The thing with PSP is that it is very close to photoshop the usability/similarities of the two excede the price difference which is HUGE. Unfortunately, many web designers, myself included, don't have the budgets for the adobe family and need a low cost alternative to be competative. I can do ALMOST anything in PSP and the adobe plug-ins work).
One last point, I had a problem with PSP and e-mailed them expecting never to hear back. I got a very detailed response complete with easy fix for the problem within a half hour .

take care,

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Carolyn Jones
icq# 5351437

Oh, wow, this is a reeeeaaally old topic! How in the world did you find it? A nice bit of history

Check here for a current discussion of graphic design software:

http://www.webmaster-forums.net/showthread.php?t=31475&page=6

That's alright, there's not a big problem with bringing up old threads. It's sometimes good to revisit a topic after some time has passed.