bitmaps

[glenngosack]

From what I've been reading (especially from Gary), XaraX is really worth the money and the time to learn. I've been using CDRaw for at least 10 years (I'm not a professiona artist, but I do create things for other people). I have my order in for the XaraX CD and can't wait to get it, but my question, ... I can see the functionality for bitmap handling in Xara, but what do all you Xara experts use for more serious bitmap manipulation if Xara can't do it?. (don't hit me if the answer is Xara.. I'm new to it). Does Photoshop or Photopaint work for you or is there a better (cheaper) solution that meets the requirements?. The sample pics the users have posted are phenomenal and one day, I'm going to try my hand at some photo-realistic art.
Thanks,
Glenn

[glenngosack]

From what I've been reading (especially from Gary), XaraX is really worth the money and the time to learn. I've been using CDRaw for at least 10 years (I'm not a professiona artist, but I do create things for other people). I have my order in for the XaraX CD and can't wait to get it, but my question, ... I can see the functionality for bitmap handling in Xara, but what do all you Xara experts use for more serious bitmap manipulation if Xara can't do it?. (don't hit me if the answer is Xara.. I'm new to it). Does Photoshop or Photopaint work for you or is there a better (cheaper) solution that meets the requirements?. The sample pics the users have posted are phenomenal and one day, I'm going to try my hand at some photo-realistic art.
Thanks,
Glenn

[amoore]

If you're looking for a new app, Paint Shop Pro may have everything you need. You can download a trial version at www.jasc.com. I would check that out before looking at the big boys.

OTOH, if you already have PhotoPaint, you really don't need anything else. It's way too complex for my purposes, but many people I'm acquainted with who use both PhotoPaint and PhotoShop prefer PhotoPaint.

Allison

[bjwe]

Hi Glen,

I expect everyone has their own favourite. Mine is Paint Shop Pro because I find the interface is better than Photoshop, it has a great smart edge selection tool, it has adjustment layers and is a good deal less expensive than Photoshop. Having said that, I only really use it for making selections and exporting them as transparent png files for import into Xara X, and for post-processing (eg. adjusting brightness, contrast, levels and such like). I do all my drawing in Xara X.

Other image editors I have seen mentioned in this forum are Photoline32 and Pixia. I do not have any experience with either of these programs but other folks in this forum have said good things about them.

Brian

[glenngosack]

I've got CD 10 already but it does suffer from some issues (bugs?)...especially in the speed department. I guess it couldn't hurt to keep them around for the occasional thing xara won't do.

[Erik Heyninck]

I use Photopaint, merely because it came installed on my first computer, and I bought an upgrade to version9. I have had the pleasure of playing with Photoshop6 a Sunday afternoon, and I had the feeling it worked more smoothly, but PhotoPaint does what it's meant to do. Another friend of mine has Paintshop pro, and that too is very good.

Xara can do great things with bitmaps, but at this moment, I use/learn to use it more for simply drawing. But you have to imagine that it includes a terrific Coreltrace replacement (incredibly good), and that you can import most Photoshop filters in it. I'll spend a free afternoon (when? what's that?) to playing with bitmaps in Xara. I'm shure there are some big surprises waiting for me.

By the way, as Jens advised me: use TIFF instead of the brand-dependent filetype (cpt, psd etc.).

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[tad]

I'll bet very few of you have only one or two "bitmap" programs. On my home machine, I have eleven, and that's not counting 3 Xara's or Satori (which I never comprehended). And, let's not forget the innumerable plug-ins & 3-D stuff, plus the wondrous Repligator, where you press the F-7 key until your image becomes Art.
We need them ALL !!! I do personally think that PaintShopPro is a great place to start, but if you intend to do professional color correction you WILL be using the dreaded Photoshop6. Now, If I actually have to do real "work" on an image, I quickly drop back to PicturePublisher5 (although ver8 has psychedelic macros). And, until Xara came along, GraphicWorkshop(verM) for DOS had the best Floyd Steinberg dither I ever saw. Now, Xara's 16bit reduction rules.
Whup !,,,I just remembered FauveMatisse ! I should reload that sucker and look at those amazing edge detection options. Bet there's some cool Russian shareware out there too......
Regards,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Tad... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Sean Sedwards]

Glenn

Most creative effects can be achieved in Xara and Xarans usually take pride in how little they've used other apps. I use Paint Shop Pro because it's simple and allows me greater control over the actual pixels, however PhotoShop is the choice of most professionals on compatibility grounds alone. If you have no specific needs at this point, I wouldn't rush into buying anything other than Xara X ;-)

P.S. to everybody: What about Pixia? I hear it's pretty good and the price is right (free).

Regards - Sean