Hi Aaron,

Welcome to Talkgraphics.

Reading the tutorial I do not see anything that cannot be done using CorelDraw and Paint Shop Pro or PhotoPaint.

Forget about "Smart Objects" for the moment because they do not exist in PSP or PhotoPaint.

When you make your blend in CorelDraw you will need to make it the size you want the final output. You need to do that because if you need to make the raster version that will be paste or opened (you could save the blend as a png with alpha) into PSP or PhotoPaint, it will become pixelated.

Which step in the Photoshop tutorial is causing you problems?

Could you post an image showing the results you have been able to achieve so far. That may help determine how we can advise you to achieve the output you are wanting.