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Image Software Comparison Maureen Shannon, NJPCUG **New releases of many of the products listed below are now available. I will make some notes at the bottom of the sections and theres is a review of Paint Shop Pro 7 in the reviews area and CorelDraw 10. I am leaving this older article up because many of the programs mentioned are still available at reduced prices and worth consideration if you don't want to purchase the lastest releases at a higher price. At our September meeting, we held an open forum discussion and one suggestion from a member was that he would like to see a comparison of image software. He made this request because he stated he purchased MGI PhotoSuite II and then decided he didn't like it in because he saw something else. I don't know what the other software is that he is referring to or what he expectations of the product were but I will attempt to give you some insights on various imaging packages. I have reviewed some of these software packages in the newsletter in the past few months, some will be reviewed in the newsletter in upcoming months. The opinions stated are based on my experiences with the products. I don't know whether this will be published on the web site, in the newsletter, or both. But I hope that I can help those of you who want to work with graphics and imaging software to make more informed decisions when purchasing products. The first thing I have to point out is that there is no singular perfect graphics/image software package. No matter what product you think is the best, you will find another that offers something else. None of them have all of the same components, features, and style. What you the user have to determine is what you want to do with the software, how much you are willing to pay for the product, and forget the hype you hear and focus on what it really has to offer. You also have to determine how much you want to do and how much you want to learn. The better known software packages have much more in the way of support to help you go from novice to power user. If you want to dabble or just want to be a casual user than this to should influence your purchasing. I have no less that a dozen imaging products installed on my computer. Actually more than a dozen but some I have barely looked at or haven't had the time to fully investigate their potential. A few of these programs are used simply for photo manipulation. If you only want to edit or enhance photos, than you have other considerations as well. I do not and cannot work in one program. In order to achieve the effects I want, I have to use multiple programs. So which ones are my top choices? Survey says….Micrografx Picture Publisher 8 (singular)/Webtricity 2 (suite), Corel Photo-Paint 8 (singular)/CorelDraw 8 (suite), JASC Paint Shop Pro 5. These three are my favorites bar none. They are used for much more than enhancing or fixing a photo. They range from more expensive to slightly more expensive products but offer limitless possibilities for imaging and graphics work. There is no quick fix in graphics work. No one solution application if you are serious about working in graphics. If you really want to get into designing and editing, you will mostly likely need several applications and then add plug-ins to them. The more you experiment with products; the more you will want to add on to them. Micrografx Micrografx Picture Publisher has very powerful tools and effects which enable you to make beautiful photo and graphic imagery. I have combined parts of photos into banners and large images with the tools and effects that are offered in this package. Used plug-ins and spray tool images to make graphics that look like a photo. The support for this product is unbelievable. There a places on the web where you can get excellent tutorials that will show you how to use this product. From basics to advanced techniques, step by step, all aspects of creativity are explored. The tutorials included in the software are also designed to increase your skill level and advance you abilities. Webtricity 2 is an excellent value pricewise. It contains several components, Draw 6, Simply 3D3, and Picture Publisher 8. The tools are high level (Picture Publisher), work very well, and the software is not difficult to use. This product is capable of much more than simple photo adjustments and not a package used just for playing with photo ideas. It's not simplistic in its abilities. Most plug-ins are compatible which increase the product's usefulness. If you are looking for software that will add special effects, combine images, use to design custom graphics, design web pages, plus many other extras, this is on the top of my list. It can also be found in most stores and the price has come down to make it extremely affordable. **This is still one of the best buys around with some of the best tools that you can find. www.webattitude.com for excellent tutorials and links to other sites, there are also tutorials on Micrografx web site, www.micrografx.com The latest products from Micrografx are the Designer/Image line that combine other components and are supposedly aimed at the corporate level of users. This line is called iGrafx with a very confusing collection of levels for various users. Devout users of Micrgrafx have continued on and added this package not without some bitter disappointments. The price to stay with the top of the line product has more than tripled. Some small but extremely useful features are gone. Some new tools have been added but I have not had the time to use and test it enough to say whether or not it's worth the upgrade. Many people have complained about the Business Draw package but I found it interesting. The image package in the iGrafx Business is extremely limited as compared to Picture Publisher 8 and Designer Image. I already have the basic Draw and use it, so this was another thing that increased the usefulness of Draw. Version 8 was so good and I have had so much success working with it by taking advantage of the free tutoring, that I can't really see why at this point, I would recommend version 9 over version 8. Price is a very large factor when considering which one and I don't believe the image portion has had that many changes that a new user would really want to start out with Designer. I have also encountered problems with it that cause it to crash and there is no fix for it as yet. I have also heard that this is being pushed out because there is a much better version, Version 2, waiting in the wings to be released this winter. It will be interesting to see if those of us using version 1 are offered the upgrade for free. Corel CorelDraw 8 (full suite) or Corel Photo-Paint 8 is another number one choice for anyone who wants to work with images and graphics. Corel has some easy to add special effects that are not found in the Picture Publisher products. It will add a page curl by selecting the size of the curl, the corner and the color of the curl and background. Vignettes are also customizable and easy to add to a finished image. The image spray tool is excellent, it can be added to as can the Micrografx spray tool, but there is software available that will greatly increase the usability of this tool. I use these two products constantly and could not work at the level I do without both of them. Picture Publisher has a special text wizard that is not available in Photo-Paint. Photo-Paints Rollup tool gives me complete control over the tool I am using. This is very necessary when working with graphics. If I am creating an image, spraying in elements I want to see what image I am using which this shows me, control the transparency of the image, whether I want all the choices, a few, or one. Each of this is adjustable on the tool setting window. By controlling the elements I am using, I am able to make the image more realistic or more artistic, depending on the effect I want. Many tools have the same name in the two products but create quite different effects. The variations between the two are worth noting and exploring. Between the two applications, you're able to come up with enough variety to keep your designs exciting and original. As a suite, this is one of the most desirable software selections to own. The Draw component is the best I have used. This product has offered tools and techniques for years that are just now appearing in other illustrating packages. The combination of illustrating and imaging software is unbeatable. The support for the user is incredible. There are professional designers and enthusiast of the products taking the time to publish tutorials to help other users advance their knowledge of the products. I have purchased books, training tapes and CD's, filled stacks of loose-leaf binders with printed instructions, and still I have not learned all there is and probably never will. Support for graphic instruction on the Internet allows anyone to take full advantage of the software and gives us extremely creative ideas. www.unleash.com , http://www.xaraxone.com (this site has designs made with Corel Xara & Xara2 and the new XaraX but they can be easily adapted to CorelDraw). I have recently added CorelDraw 9 to my graphics arsenal. This product has undergone some radical changes and has many new tools. I am not happy with the changes. The look of the product has changed and some of my favorite tool options are no longer there. Before I can comment on whether or not I like this new package, I have to adjust to its new look and feel. This is not something that is accomplished overnight. I don't take easily to a completely new design and wonder why when the last version was so wonderful and worked so well, they felt they needed to redesign it. For the time being, I would have to say that if you want to add CorelDraw to your applications, choose Draw 8. It is an extremely powerful package and has more than enough features to keep a new or experienced user very content and right now it can be found at greatly reduced prices. If you want to move on to 9 you can then upgrade at a lesser price. Also if you have questions and need help, I know of plenty of places to find it. While it is always nice to have the latest version of a product, I have learned from experience that the latest version is not always the best. One new change in Draw 9 is that is will work with your digital camera. You no longer have to have a separate software package download your images for you. To be fair since I started this comparison, I have worked more in version 9. While I still like the look of version 8 and version 9 can be reset to look like CorelDraw 8, I have used it more and had less difficulty than when I first started to use it. I still prefer the setup for the tools that was in CorelDraw 8. **Version 10 is now available. Review **New Fall of 2000 JASC PaintShop 7 - The best release so far. It has new tools and effects. Full review can be found in the review section. JASC PaintShop Pro 5 Here's another great product. Inexpensive and it offers lots of useful tools. You can do everything from create and image to retouch a damaged photo. But again, there are things this won't do, that I have to have, and so I combine it with my other two favorites. It also offers other options that I can't get in the others. They work together for me. For instance, Paint Shop Pro doesn't do a lens flare! Imagine that. How I can live without my lens flare? To me, it's a very basic feature and one I really want. Photo-Paint offers a lens flare that is fairly basic buy very easy to understand. Picture Publisher offers a fabulous lens flare tool but it's a little more difficult to get a handle on. Paint Shop Pro has a spray tool, they call their images "tubes". Visit their web site often, they release new free tube updates all the time. They have some very unique tubes that I use for holiday creations. I have also found sites with lots of free tubes to add the collection. Paint Shop Pro has been around a long time. It has steadily increased its functionality and continued to be a very good and reliable product. It's an excellent place to begin and a very handy extra tool to have. One thing I don't care for is that I don't have the control of the spray image that I get in other software. I can't see the image, can't adjust the transparency and I still haven't figured out if I can select a single image rather than the entire set. It's a small inconvenience but since they support the tool so nicely, I would have thought they would have more flexibility in this area. It's a small point but important to me. This is why you have to determine what you want from a product and then buy the ones that meet your needs. I will continue to use and upgrade the product because I like what it offers despite things I wish it did. I also find that the "mask tools" are not as flexible as they are in Picture Publisher 8. I wish they had a few more features. But what is does do compensates for the things that it doesn't. * The Paint Shop Pro Blue Moon tutorial is much easier because all the settings are under one drop down menu and the screen shots were taken with PSP's capture. Because this is another well known and dependable product, you can find tutorials to teach you more about how to use it too. It too is another product that you can start using right away. It's not too difficult for the average user. There is also animation software in the Paint Shop Pro package. www.jasc.com you will also find links to other sites here, tutorials, and free tubes I have seen product demonstrated. The presentation showed a great detail how to use photos and add to them and enhance them. Adding other images to a photo, creating a vacation or advertising photo that isn't what is appears to be. The gentleman who demonstrated the product had a photo of himself on his deck at home. He writes for a golfing magazine and needed a photo of himself at the golf course. He took the photo of himself and cut of the background and then put himself in the picture of the golf course. Here's a product that may do a little less in one area and offer a little more in another. The photo editing tools may not be as advanced, but they are easier to use. This is another important consideration. This software also has a capture feature that work very well.
JASC Paint Shop Pro 6 Newly released Fall of 1999, this offers more tools and effects and now supports digital cameras. The animation software included is also upgraded to a later version. The tools added are interesting and fun to use; they can add some unique and/or special touches to images. More control has been added and the Picture Tubes are now easier to control , the tube image is visible so you can see what you are adding, but still I would like to see a little more added to it transparency-wise. That is to say, in the manner in which the transparency is applied. I find it a little more confusing than in other products. *(Now that I have become more accustomed to this program, I ifnd the transparency no more difficult to do than in other products, except for the fact that this reverses the transparency setting. The lower setting is the higher transparency & the 100% is full strength. I have now seen this in other programs as well. It still doesn't have a lens flare effect but they are offering a plugin package from SPG, SPG Web Tools 4, for sale with Paint Shop Pro 6. I am not quite sure if this is a redesigned version of SPG Web Tools 4 Pro, which I have, with slightly less tools than the Pro version or the full package. One thing indicates that it is and one looks to be the whole package. Either way it costs less than what it is sold for on the SPG web site and it has some very nice tools in it including a terrific lens flare tool. However, I am not complaining about the differences between this and other products. I am merely pointing out what may or may not be included. What it lacks in one area, it excels in another. So it is up to you to determine what you need from the software always remembering no one item will do it all. Start with one or two and experiment. Even if you go to a store and stand all the choices side by side and read the features, you still won't know all there is to learn about the particular product. If you sat 10 graphics designers down together and asked them to tell you what features they had to have, I would bet they would come up 10 different necessities. This is why software companies listen to consumers and try to update their software often to meet their demands. Now if they would listen to me, they would have my idea of perfection! If a single feature made a product worth the purchase price, it would be the screen capture feature of Paint Shop Pro. I have never had one work so perfectly and with such high quality results. It's settings are customizable to the area or entire screen and single or multi captures. Each time I have used the capture features I have had outstanding results. It sets up easily and works with a single mouse click or cutomized key setting. One thing I found this product did was to color correct a photo with ease. I took a picture of the fall foliage in upstate New York. The colors were exquisite when I was taking pictures but when I downloaded the photo the colors were dull. With a single adjustment, the photo was full of color and brilliance and looked like what I was seeing with my eyes but the camera didn't capture. Paint Shop Pro has support for many digital camera choices, over 120, and I found my camera right away. It is so much easier to download your photos into the product you want to use instead of using camera software and then saving your pictures and opening up the product you want to work with. It will also do retouching of damaged photos. This is another product that I like and use often. I made the upgrade from 5, like the changes and additions, and will continue on when future upgrades are released. PSP Revisted: I have worked almost exclusively in this since writing the initial review and the information above. I am very happy with the program. I have learned how to work more with the brush settings and how to use the patterns the make or "papers" as they call the pattern or texture. By combining brush papers with tubes from the spray images, I have been able to create some very nice images. I have added links on the Links page to a web site that has so much graphic content that it is a must see. It gave me links to humdreds of additional tubes and brushes to add to the ones I am using now as well as tutorials. I have tried to limit what I take to those that are totally free because of the difficulty of linking back to or thanking the person who has so graciously provided these items for our use. It gets difficult to remember who had which item when there are so many. So I have put links to some of the sites that I found great things on. The amount of offernings out there is just incredible and I wish to thank anyone who has shared their tubes, brushes, and tutorials, so that the rest of us can learn more about PSP and make more beautiful designs because of their generousity. Microsoft Picture It! Microsoft offers Picture It! I probably go to this more than anything else when I need to touch up a photo. It is fairly simple to use, has all the basic tools and does quick fixes. You can create lots of photo projects, like albums, cards, posters, invitations, etc. It a product designed to allow the user to have fun with their photos and correct any problems that they photo may have. It's a very nice little product and works very well. It is not difficult to use and one of those must have items if you work with photos and want something that's simple to work with. It is not a high end imaging software package. There are several versions of Picture It! available. Newer versions now available. PhotoDraw 2000 Version 1 PhotoDraw 2000 is the higher end product. It offers more tools, more productivity and can be used for more than just simple photo projects. This can be used for web work, graphics projects, and more advanced design projects. There are lots more tools and it is much more creative but it also has kept the basics for photo touchups. This is an excellent choice if your want to do more than what Picture It! offers and not interested in all the things offered in the larger combination packages. For my work, I would not choose it as a single item. This is why I have added it to my collection of graphics applications. It enhances the tools I already have. If you are looking for something somewhere in between a simple photo program and high end graphic imaging, this is a very good place to start. *Version 2 of PhotoDraw is now out and it has many more features added to it . Since V2 was release Microsoft no longer makes this product. MGI PhotoSuite II This is another all around basic program that will work with your photos. I found some very nice effects in this program and used them in photos that I wanted to add dimension to. It works nicely, is not difficult. This will also capture the photos directly from a digital camera. As with other productivity software, you can do business designs such as letterheads, business cards, posters, flyers, etc.; fun stuff like collages, body switches, adding things like text balloons; and home items like greeting cards, calendars, stationery, and party invitations. It will warp images or remove red eye. It's another well rounded, medium priced, photo editing and enhancement product. Others I have all the other basics and some other more expensive items too. I have Ulead's Photo Impact. It's a higher end package, more expensive with a lot of excellent features. It is another
application that you can consider when searching for another alternative. They currently have a new release of this product and it will ship in a few weeks. I use most of Ulead's products and I intend to get the current
upgrade. www.ulead.com **Version 6 has been released. I bought the upgrade and do not recommend using it to publish web pages. Print programs that can have photos added to them such as Sierra Print Artist Platinum, Corel Print House Magic, Microsoft Publisher, Broderbund Print Shop Premium & Publishing Suite, Micrografx Business, Holiday Store by DogByte, Parsons Complete Creative Collection, and Microsoft Greetings Deluxe are all fun to use. Medium priced, they add variety to your choices. All of these creativity packages allow the use of photos in their projects and some offer higher degrees of photo editing and use. These programs come with lots of fonts, clip art, and templates for things like calendars, greeting cards, etc. Some may not even be available from the original manufacturers now but often can be found at computer shows. More expensive and higher end applications are Satori Film FX and Satori Photo XL. They go back to the image capabilities of the better known Corel and Micrografx products but offer
different formats to work in. Satori is supposed to process images better than Photoshop and has a vivid interface, I haven't quite mastered these programs yet and can't really say if they are something I will continue using in
the future. I can say that what they offer is very interesting but it takes time to learn completely new products and I have used them enough to evaluate them properly. I was impressed by the fact that the are constantly
improving and notifying users of updates and new tools have been added, all for free. The original product was offered at $79, online as a download and a free upgrade worth several hundred dollars. I have found many very nice
tools, available by download, from i-us. For graphics lovers, this is a great place to hunt for tips, tutorials, and great software. Adobe Photoshop This is an extremely well designed application, it has very high end tools and capabilities, it is widely used. My findings are that it is very difficult learn. It doesn't have the
same familiar look and tools and other products. It you know one of my three favorites, then you can move around and work quite will in the others. Not so here. I still have a problem with the cost of this software. Particularly since they would like the have the majority of graphics people work with it. How do they justify the expense? Suggested retail of $995! Give me a break. It way out of line for the average user and therefore everyone claims that they use it. It also annoys me that they come out with this half product upgrades. They too cost a small fortune. I would rather see another version in a year of so, that offered many new things that a half upgrade that tosses another application just to get you to buy more products. If big price tags don't bother you, then this is one of the best applications around. I have invested in a lot of books to try and help me get an idea of what to do with this software. I would like to know it better and take advantage of the things that it can do. I believe that now that I am starting to understand it and am more comfortable with it that I will be able to take advantage of the wonderful books and tutorials that are available to Photoshop users and improve my skills. Having found the proper tools to help me learn how to use this software, I now have to admit that I was wrong in some of my earlier beliefs. Yes, the software may seem very hard to understand at first but if you follow the tutorials and lessons offered by Adobe, you will find that this is a very impressive application. Perhaps I also needed to learn more about the other products I use and that helped me to get a better understanding of what Photoshop could do. Either way by going back and trying again, I have learned how to work with Photoshop and with time may learn even more about it Version 6 is now out....7 coming soon (Spring 2002) Notice I said one of. I don't think I can say one is absolutely the best. You have to weigh what the applications can do against what you want to spend. You have to decide what features you must have and what you can live without. Decide if it's worth it to spend more for features that are automatic and time saving or whether you can create your own effects and have the time to do this. Do you simply want to make greeting cards and add your family photos? Or would you want to make beautiful graphics? How much power do you want? How much value are you getting from a single application or is a suite more likely to offer you the tools you need? Can you begin as a novice and really grow with the product or will you give up because you can't understand what is going on? www.adobe.com for tutorials/tips & tricks |
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