Graphics Software at an affordable price
by Alan Zisman (c)
1999.
First
published in Toronto Computes,
December
1999
Paint Shop Pro 6.0
Jasc Software (www.jasc.com)
US$99
Requires Windows 95/98/NT, 32 meg RAM, 30-75 MB drive
space, Pentium
or better processor
For a while, computer graphics software has tended to
fall into one
of two camps?either it is inexpensive, and aimed at the novice user,
with
a dumbed-down interface, or it?s wildly expensive, and aimed at the
professional
market.
Jasc?s Paint Shop Pro, places itself squarely in
between. Available
both from on-line shareware sources, and in a professionally-packaged
version
available in stores, it offers much of the power of pro-products like
Adobe
PhotoShop at a relatively affordable price. Think of it as ?PhotoShop
for
the rest of us?.
The new version 6.0 stays firmly in that tradition. It
adds a wealth
of features, while retaining the look and feel (and price) of previous
versions.
Version 6.0 takes a big leap forward. Like Deneba
Canvas, but unlike
products like Photoshop, it allows users to mix smooth vector lines and
fills with the more traditional bitmap painting tools in a single
picture.
Like programs like Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator, vector objects can
be individually resized and edited.
Also new to version 6.0 is fully editable text?every
individual character
can be formatted separately. Text can be flowed onto a vector
path.
Pictures can support multiple gradient fills.
The program can optimize JPEG and GIF files for
improved performance
over the Web. Multiple pictures can be printed at once on a single
sheet
of paper (hoorah!), while the program offers built-in support for a
wide
range of digital cameras.
Back in this version, much to my pleasure, the Save
Files dialogue box
can be set to remember the last file format used?in the previous
version,
every save reverted to the default (and proprietary) Paint Shop Pro
format.
JASC would rather you left it that way, since saving in a format such
as
JPEG loses many of the program?s features?collapsing layers, and during
vector lines into bitmap lines, for example. (They?re right?users
working
on creative projects should keep their work in the PSP format as long
as
possible?only saving as, for example, JPEG when they?re done with the
file.
And while users are working on a project, they will
appreciate new improvements
like the multiple-level undo/redo and the Command History, allowing
them
to quickly get back to a previous version of the picture. And the
improved
colour control and special effect dialogues make it much quicker and
easier
to preview the effects of proposed changes.
Also included in the package is Animation Shop 2?which
can be run on
its own, or in conjunction with PSP. Animation Shop is designed to
create
those little animated buttons and banners that make it hard to stay
focused
while visiting far too many web pages. (Or am I letting my prejudices
get
the better of me?) In any event, Animation Shop offers a filmstrip-like
environment for creating bitmap animations. It includes a collection of
transitions between frames, along with image, and text special effects.
Animation Shop can be purchased on its own for about $60.
True to its shareware roots, fully-functional trial
versions of both
PSP and Animation Shop can be downloaded from www.jasc.com and other
on-line
sources. But after trying it out, if you?re going to continue to use
them,
register them?helping to keep this feisty company in the business of
offering
high-quality, lower cost alternatives.