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2007-12-05 23:06:06
Last author: Yncke
Owner: iippo
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Graphics Program Spiels



This is a wiki to discuss the pros and cons of different raster graphics programs:
Photoshop
Paint Shop Pro
GIMP
Painter
MGI Photo Suite 8.1
Corel Photopaint
ArtRage
OpenCanvas
Something I missed? Tell me?

Free photoediting programs:
http://graphicssoft.about.com/cs/imageediting/tp/freephotoedw.htm

The point is to express your opinions on the different tools and features in different programs and versions, get tips and help when having a problem with misbehaving programs and to be able to make an informed decision in case you want to switch into something else than your current program.

The only qualifications you'll need to participate are
-proper English (no 'u-speek', I can't understand that) 
-some previous use of a raster graphics program (you can ask questions even if you've never used one, if you want help to decide which one you should buy).


The discussion will go on in the comments, from which points and arguments will be lifted to the wiki for all to see. You can do that yourself if you want, if you promise not to get upset if I delete it (I won't, don't worry :P)


Programs to discuss
(Feel free to point out any I forgot. I don't think Paint qualifies, though).

+ Positive things are mentioned after a plus sign
- Negative things are mentioned after a minus sign
+/- Things that can be both positive and negative, depending from the view-point, are mentioned after plus-slash-minus sign

GIMP
+/- works on Linux, Macintosh and Windows
+ It's free :D [iippo]
- Program opens as several windows (one for the program itself, one for the image, one for the layers-dock, one for the brushes-dock, etc...) [iippo]
+/- Brush-size stays the same even when changing tools (so if you want a tiny smudge-tool and a massive burn, you need to keep swapping, but if you want to keep swapping between tools while not changing the size, it's handy) [iippo]
- Occasionally when clicking from the active drawing-window to the main-window to change the tool, you don't actually change your tool just activate the main window (annoying as hell when you go back to your work after thinking you did change the tool, when if fact you didn't). [iippo]
- No adjustment layers (yet?) [Yncke]
+ Infinite undos. [iippo]
+/- Saves as 31 different filetypes (including Photoshop's .psd)

Paint Shop Pro
+/- works on Windows
+ very efficient usage of screen estate (version 7) [Yncke]
+ fairly easy to use [Veltzeh]
+ affordable [Veltzeh]
- rough lines (with the brush tool) [Veltzeh]
+ very convenient zooming with only the plus and minus buttons on the right-side numpad [Veltzeh]
+ infinite undo (hard disk space permitting), with options to save single brush strokes or a collective usage of one tool [Veltzeh]
+ (infinite) redo [Veltzeh]
- slow file-handling when the image is very big [Veltzeh]
+/- Saves as 32 (PSP7) / 41 (PSP9) different filetypes (including Photoshop's .psd)

Photoshop
+/- works on Macintosh and Windows
- expensive [Veltzeh]
+ very smooth drawn lines (with the brush tool) [Veltzeh]
+ fast selection processing [Veltzeh]
- slow to load [Veltzeh]
- the tools subwindows are nearly always floating so that either a lot of the screen goes unused, they're very inconveniently over the drawing or are inaccessible [Veltzeh]
+ fast brush-size change with right-clicking on the drawing (version 7 and up) [iippo]
-/+ Zoom with the scroll-button thing. Sometimes a handy, fast and small-steps-at-a-time zoom, sometimes annoying as hell when you mistake it for scrolling or touch it by accident. [iippo]
- slightly inconvenient zooming with having to press Crtl+plus/minus on right-side numpad [Veltzeh]

Painter
+/- works on Macintosh and Windows
+ imitates all sorts of natural media almost perfectly without any special effort on your side (like creating custom brushes in Photoshop), none of that "CG-look" unless you want it [Nita]
+/- you'll probably need a tablet to use Painter to its full potential, but a tablet is good for any CG work anyway [Nita]
- expensive [Nita]

MGI Photo Suite 8.1
+/- Photo editing program. Also doubles as an art program. Not good for photo manipulations. Is okay as an art program. There are no pre-set textures or patterns. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+/- Utilizes a very nice spray-paint function with soft features. Underlying colour tends to bleed through though. Very different colours spray-painted one over the other will have a very noticeable border between them. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ All drawing tool points can be resized, 1 being the smallest and 25 being the largest. Drawing tool points include round, square, and angled (both right and left). [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ Has many different image effects such as swirls, blurring, reflection, water ripple, and scratch removal. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ Program has many different tone colour effects such as blue moonlight, sepia, fog, etc. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ Images can be resized using pre-set sizing or may be changed by the user. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ Colour palette can be changed from grayscale to 256 colours to 16 million colours. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ You can create magazine covers and place frames around finished pieces. [Dark Side of the Moon]
- Only one undo/redo is allowed. [Dark Side of the Moon]
+ Image colour/hue balance may be manipulated by the user. [Dark Side of the Moon]

OpenCanvas 1.1 (Older version.)
+/- Windows [Yncke]
+ Free. [Yncke]
+ Lightweight program. [Yncke]
+ If started from scratch, you can replay your entire drawing process. [Yncke]
+ Nice behaviour of brush strokes. [Yncke]
- Strange behaviour off add and substract layers. [Yncke]
- Very limited layer functionality. [Yncke]
- English translation not complete. (Mainly error messages, but it doesn't error a lot.) [Yncke]

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2006-05-01 [Yncke]: Paint Shop Pro (7) + very efficient usage of screen estate.

2006-05-01 [iippo]: What does that mean? :P (*is helpful to the newbies today* also *is a newbie today* XD)

2006-05-01 [windowframe]: *haunt*

2006-05-01 [Yncke]: It means that the tools and such don't take up a lot of screen you really want to use for something else. (For example, I think that The Gimp can use a whole lot of improvement there, if you're stuck with just one desktop on one screen. <img10*0:http://elftown.lysator.liu.se/stuff/CG%20programs%20-%20The%20Gimp%20screenshot.jpg> vs <img10*0:http://elftown.lysator.liu.se/stuff/CG%20programs%20-%20PSP%20screenshot.jpg>.)

2006-05-01 [iippo]: (Those screenshots are the same image?) But yeah, I got you now. The thing I don't like with GIMP is the way it's several different windows, when as in Photoshop for example is just one window and all the subthings (like layer-dock and the image itself) are windows inside the PS window.

2006-05-01 [Veltzeh]: [Yncke]: totally agree with you there. PSP 9 had issues with that until I managed to make the toolbars like they are in PSP 7. X)

2006-05-01 [Veltzeh]: I added Painter. Haven't used it myself but it is a proficient graphics program.

2006-05-01 [Yncke]: Oops, the images are not the same anymore, now. :)

2006-05-01 [iippo]: Thanks Vel. And feel very free to fix any typos or such. :3

2006-05-01 [Yncke]: Does The Gimp have adjustment layers yet? (that's the main reason why I stopped my The Gimp experiments.)

2006-05-01 [Veltzeh]: Heh, with respect to that "lots of different windows or subwindows" thing, GIMP is worst, then PS and then PSP. I've used them all enough to say that XD

2006-05-01 [iippo]: The computers I use have version 2.0, and I don't think they have adjustment layers.

2006-05-01 [iippo]: In GIMP it's sometimes convenient to be able to get rid of the tools and all other shiz with minimise. But if you want to do stuff while drawing, then the amount of windows starts to be off-pissy.

2006-05-01 [Veltzeh]: That's something that's especially great with PSP. The tools windows can be set to automatically minimize and they expand when you hover the cursor over their titles :D

2006-05-01 [Yncke]: Yeah, I really love that feature. I could mimick that function with Enlightenment for the Gimp, but it wasn't really the same.

2006-05-01 [Zab]: *starts watching* :P

2006-05-01 [iippo]: GIMP should learn from the PSP-zoom. It's zoom is '+' and '-' but the numpad ones don't work o.O

2006-05-01 [Yncke]: I just prefer the scroll zoom of PSP. :) Handy to navigate over the canvas too.

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