Is Photoshop the Best?

[cityhawk 12]

I wasn't sure which thread to put this in, so I'm putting it in Off-Topic. Anyway, I know that many people on this site use photoshop to enhance their CJs, but I was wondering if any other pic-editing programs are just as good as Photoshop. ex. Paintshop, Printshop, etc. Please give me your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

[tag_one 133]

I use ArcSoft PhotoStudio 2000. pretty old, I know, but ATM I don't need something better. arcsoft can do all the things I want

[sloppet 3]

Is photoshop the best? No... MS Paint is the only one!

[metasmurf 705]

Photoshop is the best image editing software, but if you're unexpierienced with it I would rather go for Paint Shop Pro.

[callagrafx 3]

Oh Sloppet, you really make me laugh dude. I hope you were being sarcastic lmao

Photoshop is the de facto industry standard image/photo editor across the globe, mainly by being one step ahead of the pack and easy to use...when I first started in design, there was no such thing...the best I had was a piece of software called Lumena, which ran on a 486 with a 24bit Targa board, whilst the interface required a mono screen...

Photoshop when it arrived was a godsend, although then it was only available for Mac (Adobe didn't think that a PC version would sell, as the professionals it was aimed at all use Mac) so I got a Mac and was instantly hooked. With the advent of digital cameras, Photographers began to see the benefit of this powerful package.

It IS the best, as any person in the design and photographic profession will attest to. Open source versions do not perform as well as PS does, and that's a fact.

[Mienchen 0]

Well, callagrafx is right about Photoshop being the best out there. Yet it is too pricey for me (and even $1 is more then I would plan to spend as I'm not doing any professional work with it). The Gimp is not as powerful, but I think for non-professionals it's more then enough and it's free.

[Micah 16]

Well, I wish I bought Photoshop. Not for my CJ, but to create cool stuff. But it's not worth buying if I just want to do that kind of stuff during my free time. I want something free and downloadable off the internet. I'm too lazy to go to Office Depot or Walmart (I'm not truly talking about Photoshop now, just any picture editor of that sort).

[Mienchen 0]

@Micah:

If you don't know it already, you might want to check this out http://www.gimp.org/

It's free, downloadable, for many operating systems and doesn't need to hide behind Photoshop if you only want to use it as a free-time tool.

[Micah 16]

Hmm... no, I didn't know that. I went there, but where is the place that I go to to download something similar to Photoshop?

[Mienchen 0]

Actually, the windows installer is located here: http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

"My object, all sublime, I shall achieve in time,

To make the punishment fit the crime, the punishment fit the crime ..."  W.S. Gilbert

I have both photoshop and the Gimp.  Frankly, the Gimp is more user friendly.  I also have several other photo editors and animation packages.  I always choose the one for the task that most obviously suits the application I need.  I never argue about editors, photo or text.  Nor do I specifically recommend any.

My default office software is OpenOffice 2.0

My default photo editor is the Gimp.

[purpledaddy 6]

You know I was thinking about posting something in the MrCinatit's CJ guide myself to help w/ my Sim Diaries. I don't have Photoshop. I have MS Photodraw, Gimp, Picasa, and Irfanview. I like Photodraw b/c I like the automatic in Brightness & Contrast and the flexibility in Sharpen/Blur. I don't use Gimp or Picasa nearly so much b/c I haven't gotten the hang of layers yet. I've mostly been using Iranview latley b/c sizing pictures to meet ST and still keep the picture legible is relatively easy. I still can't but feel like I'm missing out on something of all of this though.

[hamsterTK 93]

I have gimp and photoshop(actually i have the entire creative suite). Ive figured out the advanced features of gimp some time ago, and i can do cool stuff with it. Im still a newbie with photoshop and i use it for the ready made styles...

My favorite graphics program is illustrator though. You can do cool stuff like make maps and also touch up things you might hand-draw. Its the tool many webcomic artists use after they scan in their drawings. Im still learning it though.

Theres a saying that the best instrument is as only as good as the musician. I think that sort of applies here. you should use whatever your best at.

[callagrafx 3]

If you have the lastest CS Hamster, did you know you can import Illustrator files into Photoshop as a Smart Vector which retains it's editable capabilities (you just re-edit in Illustrator and update the PS document)? It's that kind of integration and power that puts Photoshop to the top of the pile...coupled with it's automated system, the ability to open camera RAW files and correct/sharpen them BEFORE they are opened and a totally web-friendly system too....oh and yeah, you get ImageReady free with it too, which beats the pants off of Fireworks for creation of web graphics.

[toxicpiano 125]

If you have the money, it certainly is the best.

[Duke87 1,070]

You can pay several hundred dollars for photoshop... or you can get GIMP, which is just as good or better, for free. There's just no contest.

Still, GIMP and photoshop both take a bit of time to launch, so if you aren't doing anything fancy, MS Paint is the tool for the job.

...but for the purpose of CJ making, don't use any of those things. Just post the raw screenshots. It annoys me to no end the way people throw ugly watermarks on things, throw fancy borders on, and do other crap to their screenshots. It's a complete waste of time, and it's making things worse, not better.

When I read a story of someone's playing of SC4 (or any game), I want raw, unresized, unedited screenshots. Resizing reduces the quality (just post it as a link instead of embedding it if it's larger than 800x600), and other editing just mutilates the shot and/or covers up parts of it.

I used to like the CJ section a lot more than I do now. Back when I first joined, people often did just what I describe. Now, it's gotten all fancy and flashy and anyone that does that is looked down upon as lacking skill or effort. Unedited screenshots are just fine for the purpose, and we seem to have forgotten that. Seriously... if it works, don't mess with it!

[callagrafx 3]

MS Paint...yeah that's really a professional tool And the rest of ST really ENJOYS annoying Duke87

[cityhawk 12]

Okay, I have both Irfanview and GIMP. Irfanview looks pretty simple to operate, but the GIMP looks a lot more complicated. Are there any tutorials available for the GIMP?

[Mienchen 0]

Well, on their main page they have quite a lot of tutorials, might be interesting for you

http://www.gimp.org/tutorials/

edit: I don't do much editing in irfanview but it's very handy for me because of two features: First, I don't have that included lightweight picture show program that is used in winxp, so I use it to view my CJ pics, and besides it's able to batch-process images... like convert them to .jpg, rename then in a certain order to xxx.jpg and crop/resize them to xxx*yyy...

[MayorTim 16]

Yup.

[iquere 2]

Photoshop is the best. But it costs so much, and it's rather complicated for most of the users. But it's also the advanced things that make it so good.

I use a free (!!!) program called Serif Photoplus 6.0. I have tried Photoshop, and it's really no big difference (if you don't use Photoshop Pro, that's advanced!). I use it for almost everything that has to do with images. And sometimes IrfanView, for those simpler tasks.

But Photoshop is the greatest if you can afford it.

[Duke87 1,070]

Originally posted by: callagrafx MS Paint...yeah that's really a professional tool quote>

Never said it was professional. But for simple tasks, it suffices. No need to use a cruise missile to light a cigarette, ya know?

 

And the rest of ST really ENJOYS annoying Duke87quote>

...and I bring that on myself by having unpopular opinions and providing reactions to annoyances that tend to make people laugh either with me or at me. (usually the latter)

[Micah 16]

Thanks for the link to GIMP guys. I downloaded it Monday and it has really been a great help. There are so many cool features. The one I like the most is Supernova in the light effects section. There is one feature I keep trying to click on (engrave), but it won't let me press on it because it is faded and held back (if you get what I'm saying).

Does anyone have a manual or know of a manual on the web for GIMP? lol

[iquere 2]

I have a link Micah: http://docs.gimp.org/en/

Use it. Even though I don't use GIMP, I learned a lot of this.

Oops. Mienchen answered too.

[Mienchen 0]

Indeed, there is

http://docs.gimp.org/ hehehe

edit:

lol, that was close

[Simen 1]

its the best.

[Elton_Bush 0]

My school uses Photoshop and it is a very good tool to use but at home i use PhotoImpact 10 

but  out of the two photoshop is probably the better one

[Micah 16]

lol, thanks guys. Wow, the same minute too!

[Compromise 1]

Well I was eventually planning to get photoshop but I will try out gimp, thanks for the links guys.

[GingerBlokey 30]

http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/paint.net/

This is AWESOME. Its like Photoshop but free and it does everything needed to do most stuff.