Photoshop vs PaintShopPro, which one to get??

[ablaye]

Hello,
I need a good graphic software and I have been contemplating buying either JASC Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.
Has anyone tried both softwares and can recommend which one to get??

[Nowire]

I'm using PS CS2 now, so my answer might be a bit bias, but I did try PSP looong time ago, and it's quite impressive.

Anyway, if you got $$ I would stick with the industry "standard"...

[jamesmc]

I own PaintShopPro. It is less expensive than PhotoShop and can do similar things.

However, in using plugins, PaintShopPro is limited to older photoshop versions it can use.

The other reason the PSD formats for photoshop are up to date always, while Paint Shop Pro doesn't have the latest version. You will see reference after reference to PSD file this and PSD file that.

If you want a generally inexpensive painter and some fairly reasonable vector works, that supports many formats for import and export, plus scripting, then PaintShopPro is a good choice.

If you want total comformity to today's standards, then Photoshop would be the best choice.

[BlueFlare]

Ablaye, it's important to know your own needs before you can ask us that question and whether you want to buy a car, a stereo, a house or graphics software doesn't make any difference.

Is web design important? Are you going to work a lot with vectors? Are you mosty going to use the program for retouching? Is it important to have many resource materials available (books, magazines, sites, tutorials, courses (video/class/books)? How important is color management? How important is it for you to work with standards? (reason why lots of people prefer products from the same manufacturer). Are you going to work with many very large files? Does price matter? Is there a possibility that you need the program in your professional carreer?

Just saying that you need graphics software and asking which one to get is not good start. I know, I've been there and I've wasted too many years by doing it the wrong way. I just want to avoid that you make the same mistake, a mistake that not only I but a lot of other people in the same situation have made.

[Llamaboy]

I have used both Photoshop and Painshop Pro, and I think Photoshop is way ahead. But they are both good programs and it really depends on how much you want to pay.

If you use Windows, it doesn't really matter so much, but if you use Macintosh, you do really need Photoshop to get that 'Mac Graphics' feeling.

[PsychoTeapot]

Personally, as a professional designer & illustrator I wouldn't even consider PaintShop. And that's not just "software snobbery", honest. Photoshop is the industry standard simply because of its rich feature set, intuitive interface and ease of use.

[BlueFlare]

it really depends on how much you want to pay.

More important; it depends on what you need. I never understood this Photoshop 'fanboy' thing, trying to convince everybody to use Photoshop no matter what his/her needs are.

[Cee]

Hello There, this is my first post on the forum.

Although i'm knew to the way these programmes work, i've played about with demos of them in the past and one thing I found out out of the two of them is you can get brilliant tutorials from photo magazines for photoshop that really helps you learn the basics.

After a long break from learning this i'm returning to them again for a refresher course and have to say I prefer photoshop now because of my understanding of it more.

[Danylee1000]

Hello, Danylee1000 here.
Funny you should say that. I've been asking myself the same question. Just when i was getting quite fluent with paintshoppro, i got the opportunity to get photoshop. So now, i got the two programs in my computer. i'm trying my hand with photoshop. I've spent so much time practising with paintshoppro, i'm a bit lost with photoshop. I do lots of images from my imagination, I like doodeling, and i found that photoshop has lots of different brushes with brillant effects that i couldn't get with paintshoppro. I think paintshoppro is more basic, although it offers more different saving options and the settings are simpler and easier to access.
But then again, i'm only starting with photoshop so there are surely stuff i don't yet know. So, in conclusion, i'd say: go with photoshop. It's brill! It's the way of the future. It's chuckablock with different brushes, effects, even different papers! Only talking about it makes me feel itchy to get back at it again.
So i'm going to do exactely that.
Good luck!

Danylee1000

[jamesmc]

Or you could get GimpShop (freeware) which is the Gimp with cloned Photoshop menus and styles.