Software

[Dayspring]

<font="verdana">Ok, I know you guys have gotten this question before and I bet you guys are sick of it, but I must ask it since I'm new hehe. I'm looking for a graphics program, something that can help me them(since I am no good at it), but can also make animated graphics, and other things ranging from 3D to Navigation Menus. I know their are hundreds out their that is why I am coming to you guys to help me figure this out.</font>

[stlewis]

XaraX and Paint Shop Pro.

The former because it good for the basics and yet can also do some clever tricks, all fast and reliably.

And, for when you need to manipulate bitmap (as opposed to vector) images, PSP is a good basic tool.

Both - and indeed all graphics - tools have a learning curve, but you can learn the basics in a few days of playing. XaraX has a good set of movies which you get on the CD. PSP has a decent manual. Both - and other options - have good support here too!

Good luck.

www.thelondonhouse.co.uk

[dk_art]

I'd recommend PhotoImpact7 from www.ulead.com . Has great web utilities, paint and retouch tools, vector object creation, effects and a new z-merge tool for giving objects a location on the z plane which can give some interesting 3d effects. My favourite general purpose (vector and bitmap combined) program.

XaraX would be great if you really wanted design speed and functionality using vector objects (much better vector abilities and editing for design than PSP or PI). Very fast and efficient for creating and laying out the visual design of a site (IMHO) but don't expect to find any pixel-pushing tools (paint or image retouch) as it's designed purely as a vector object program (although some amazing almost painterly effects can be done with it using purely vector shapes). It does have some general effects to apply to bitmaps though.

David K ... www.dkingdesign.com http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/signature.jpg

[Wizaerd]

How about one package that can do all of these things? Canvas from Deneba Software (http://www.deneba.com)

It's an illustration program that rivals Corel, Adobe Illustrator, even XaraX. It's a paint program that rivals PaintShop Pro, Corel Photo-Paint, even Adobe Photoshop.

It's a page layout prgram rivaling Quark XPress, PageMaker, or Adobe InDesign.

It's a presentation prgram, rivaling MS PowerPoint.

It's a technical illustration application, it's a web design studio, it's an animation studio, etc...

It's all of these things and more, and it's one single integrated application. So you could go out and get 2, 3, 4, even 5 or 6 applications, or you could get just one.

[gidgit]

Canvas and Xara are cool but I think I would agree with DK on this one.

Ulead's Photo Impact is no doubt the most user freindly and robust app for the cost, to be found.

I have used quite a few apps but use PI as my mainstay. This app rocks. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[Kelly]

PhotoImpact 7 is awesome. Amazing set of tools, you may design and slice whole pages right in PI, create rollover buttons, etc.

http://www.photoimpactzone.com

[walkonmoon]

Simply the best