Need some advice -Xara Xtreme vs PaintShopPro

I have been playing around with the trial version of Xtreme and viewed the tutorials, and so far I really like it, but I have been a long time PSP user and am not exactly thrilled with PSPX, and I upgraded to it without really testing it, unfortunately - too many unintuitive interface changes, what used to be easy to do is now more painstaking, the new features are not really new, just harder to use, etc etc..

What I would like to know from Xtreme users - is there anything PSP can do that Xtreme can't? For example, I see that the Xtreme Picture Editor is not as fully featured as PSP, but I can also see workarounds that appear to be more fun to play with...anyway I would appreciate any and all responses from more Xperienced users as to the benefits of buying and switching completely over to Xtreme, thanks! :)

I have PSP9 and Xara Xtreme. And, I use both constantly. I didn't upgrade to X for the reasons you stated.

PSP as you know is mainly a bitmap program. It has features that have no equivalent in Xara Xtreme.

With that said, you can do almost anything in Xara Xtreme that you could do in PSP. You just do it with vectors rather than whipping out the bitmap brush. However, you can make brushes in Xara Xtreme too.

Also, as a side benefit some of the plug-ins that PSP use that are photoshop compatible can be used in Xara Xtreme. You may need a plug-in manager like Commander to do so. Scripting in PSP is handy, there isn't much of an equivalent in Xara Xtreme that I'm aware of.

The Xara tutorials (about 80 videos) are absolutely top of the line. And the XaraXone ran by Gary Priester, a moderator here is absolutely the best single website for a particular product on the web. There are dozens if not hundreds of tutorials and tips.

If I sound like a salesperson for Xara, it's because I'm more than impressed with Xara Xtreme.

Keep your PSP X and fork out the 79 dollars for Xara Xtreme. You will be using both tools.

Beware though, Xara Xtreme is a strong suitor and may win your heart.

Welcome to the Xtreme Conference gmon

You can create great art with just about any application (if you have a lot of skill and talent). It is just that some programs are more intuitive and easier to use.

PSP, as James points out, is a bitmap application while Xtreme is primarily a vector based application that can also work with bitmaps but not to the extent of PSP. PSP describes an object with pixels while Xtreme uses vectors and outlines. The final results from each application may be similar but the method of getting there may be very different.

Gary

Thanks for the replies, I have played around more since I posted, still have not finished viewing all the tutorials either!, and discovered that while I will need both programs, I find myself opening files in Xtreme first just to see what I can do. Really a nice proggie, I will be paying for it, with the exception that this time I won't regret it. (and I am hunting for my old PSP9 setup so I can reinstall that ;) )