View Full Version : graphics software
I'm getting into graphics designing and was wondering what the best software for it is? Does anybody know?
bailey
03-01-2003, 08:38 PM
adobe photoshop is pretty good.
something a bit cheaper is paintshop pro
and just as good
lil Jimmie
03-01-2003, 08:49 PM
Adobe Photoshop is the top graphics program in electronic graphic publishing, but Jasc Paint Shop Pro is a great graphics program as well, but is not near as powerful as Photoshop.
Force Flow
03-01-2003, 10:38 PM
Once you get into photoshop, you'll never leave it again. It's a great program.
By the way, I think you can download a trial version at www.adobe.com (30 day limit or something like that) if you want to see how it is. ;)
bailey
03-01-2003, 11:19 PM
lil jimmie:
that is called paint shop pro
lil Jimmie
03-01-2003, 11:23 PM
:D opps sorry bout that, musta had photo on the brain. Thx bailey
Nuclear Krusader
03-02-2003, 01:29 AM
Ammo, Adobe has a Design collection that is really worth the price if you are really getting into this thing.
It comes with Photoshop, PageMaker, Acrobat and some others. Drop by the Adobe web site to learn more about it.
mairving
03-02-2003, 12:17 PM
It all depends upon what kind of graphic design you want to get into. If it is for the web, then Photoshop and Illustrator are needed. If it is for print, then you would add InDesign or Quark to those two. You can use Paint Shop Pro, but you are going to have to know Photoshop if you want to do anything professionally. Not that PSP is that bad, it is just that no shop would hire you if you didn't know Photoshop.
The bad part is that if you bought 3 of the Adobe programs, it would run you nearly $2000 retail.
Force Flow
03-02-2003, 01:57 PM
Originally posted by Nuclear Krusader
Ammo, Adobe has a Design collection that is really worth the price if you are really getting into this thing.
It comes with Photoshop, PageMaker, Acrobat and some others. Drop by the Adobe web site to learn more about it.
Illustrator, Premiere (video editing), and Adobe Effects are three more.
If you want to get into 3D work, Bryce and Poser are too progs I like to use. Max3D is another one, but I've never tried it.
Yeah I'm going to be doing computer animation and character modeling
Force Flow
03-03-2003, 09:51 AM
Bryce and Poser envolve animation. Poser's for character modeling ;) Both great programs. I like them both. :)
Lightwave does do, but that costs something like $12,000. I friend let me play around with his, but I couldn't figure the darn thing out. Waaaay to complicated.
Mac Medic
03-03-2003, 10:42 AM
Dont forget Corel Draw. Never used it as i'm and Adobe guy, but just throwing it out there.
Eaglefeather
03-04-2003, 01:14 PM
Sorry to throw a monkey wrench into the fire folks, but Paint Shop Pro is just as powerful as Photoshop and will do anything Photoshop can do and just as well if not better, depending on the experience of the user. The big difference between the two programs is price. Adobe Photoshop costs more than PSP and unfortunately many people equate cost with quality, which is not always the case.
My suggestion, try both before you buy. Both can be downloaded for trial. Once you have them downloaded go to your favorite search engine and type in each name one at a time. The search will take you to hundreds of tutorial sites for each product. The easiest way to figure out how to use either program is through these tutorial sites.
For 3d character modeling you would require Bryce or Poser. Neither Photoshop or Paintshop Pro have that capability.
Serifdraw and Ultimate Paint are also very good graphics programs but are not really in league with those mentioned above.
The only reason to use Photoshop over Paint Shop Pro in my opinion would be compatibility with the professional graphics world. It's just like Quark and Pagemaker in the desktop publishing world - there are other much cheaper desktop publishing apps out there that do a fine job, for my use M$ Publisher is adequate.
pillainp
03-05-2003, 04:25 PM
The only reason to use Photoshop over Paint Shop Pro in my opinion would be compatibility with the professional graphics world.
IMHO this whole Photoshop thing is more the result of Adobe's near monopoly in the DTP world.
PSP is so much easier to use. Anyone remember the first time they tried to use Photoshop?
Force Flow
03-05-2003, 05:13 PM
Yup. :)
It wasn't too bad on my first use. I figured out how to use the main tools within a few minutes. It took me a about an hour to figure out how some of the filters worked.
I'm always learning or finding something new about that program. :D
TwoRails
03-05-2003, 10:59 PM
Speaking of Paint Shop Pro, version 8 is due out in a couple of weeks or so... maybe April. I've already contacted Customer Support to pre-order it.
TwoRails
pillainp
03-05-2003, 11:35 PM
what's new in version 8?
TwoRails
03-05-2003, 11:43 PM
Not really sure, as it's still in BETA testing... Here are a few features:
http://www.jasc.com/pbeta/psp/product.asp
pillainp
03-05-2003, 11:58 PM
well, the interface is almost totally revamped. not that the 7.04 interface was bad.
and a few hot new tools. that is a lot more thatn the Photoshop 6 to 7 upgrade.
btw, tworails, what versions of PSP and photoshop are you using?
Eaglefeather
03-09-2003, 01:32 AM
I have both PSP 6 & 7, my preference is version 6. It has a much more friendly user interface. Version 7 can be extremely frustrating to work with after the ease of 6. I very seldom use 7, doing most of my work with 6. If I want to take advantage of one of 7's features I simply open the image in 7, use the feature then go back to 6.
I doubt very much I will bother with version 8. I have been tinkering with the idea of doing the beta test though. Trouble is it will take about 3 or 4 hours to download on my dial up connection. Finding that 3 or 4 hours is the problem.
Again I highly recommend that if at all possible, try before you buy.
TwoRails
03-09-2003, 01:44 AM
Originally posted by Eaglefeather
Trouble is it will take about 3 or 4 hours to download on my dial up connection. Finding that 3 or 4 hours is the problem.
What I used to do, Eaglefeather, is to start the download before I went to bed, and hope it didn't mess up by the morning!
TwoRails
pillainp
03-09-2003, 02:18 AM
wouldn't it be easier to just try to find a mag with a trail version on CD?
don't get me wrong, I have a cable connection at (get this) 39 kbps, and a DL like that would take ages.
(That is true pain, downloading 3 CD's of Redhat 8 at 2.5 KBps)
Eaglefeather
03-10-2003, 12:12 AM
yeah, that's another problem tworails, sometimes the dumb connection will disconnect on a long download like that. A real pain in the petubies. :)
Not very likely you will get a trial version of the beta in a mag Pillainp. On a good day I might get a connection up to 44bps, but doubt very much I am really getting that. But I am often as low as 22/24bps, so even small downloads take a long time. Nuttin' I can do about it so's I just bite the bullet and live with it.
You might want to check out Maya (http://www.aliaswavefront.com/en/products/maya/index.shtml) ...the FREE version.
The full, $5,000 version of Maya is used by computer animation and character modeling professionals and is considered by many to be the industry standard.
Doobie
03-11-2003, 01:40 PM
I have been using Paint Shop Pro 8 now for about a month and I like it…. It takes a little while to get used to it but it does seem to have some of the features that Photo Shop has. It’s a great program and I use it more often than Photoshop.
mountaineer
03-13-2003, 08:52 PM
Photo shop is not for the novice. The learning curve is very big. What kind of "graphics" are you talking about? Arc Soft Photo Impressions is a good program to gat you feet wet with. It has some very powerful tools, but it is very easy to master. Ive used it for a couple years and my photographs would stack up against anyone's. I also have Photoshop 7, but for most jobs, I still prefer Photo Impressions.
vBulletin® v3.7.0, Copyright ©2000-2008, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.