PSPx5 Bugs and Fixes.

[Joelle]

Corel has yet again become the most annoying software company in the photo business. They release product with stupid bugs and lots of them. Absolutely no quality control and now no way to contact them about the problems. Post something here and maybe someone will give you a hint or maybe not. I use X4 and my trial version of X5 will not read my Sony RAW files. How stupid is that? The Corel web site is just a big circle jerk unless you want to pay to tell them the product is crap. Yeh, I'm fed up and you should be too. I'm going to download elements and try that.

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Oh my, you're not a happy bunny, I can tell.
I agree that Corel could do a lot better, but wouldn't quite use the description you are using
I use X5 every day and have very few problems.
This might be because I have Canon cameras and use their RAW converter DPP.
I only use X5 to edit, none of the other 'extras' are worth having.
Paint Shop Pro was never designed to be a file manager or a RAW converter, so that part of it is best avoided, no matter what Corel say
You are also right about the Corel website, which is no help to man or beast, or even a photographer..
Try using the software that comes with your camera.

Joëlle

[hartpaul]

Couldn't agree more Joelle. We have a lot in common. Yes PSP has some flaws, but they are not critical and there are work arounds in many cases and we live in hope that Corel will listen to the most common complaints and perhaps fix them rather than adding new features which a lot of the power users don't want.
One of the problems that many software manufactures make is that they try to be the be all and end all of programs and try to do so much that they lose the concept of what they were originally designed to do.
I also use mainly the more powerful Edit mode and would love to see Corel concentrate on getting the edit module totally fixed first , forget the Manage and adjust functions for the present. A streamlined Edit mode that works efficiently would be the bonus. After they have that then work the Manage and adjust as separate modules that the user can have loaded or not. Anything new or changed in the Edit mode must be thoroughly checked to make sure it does not interfere with already working functions.
I think that Babble will find that Elements is a step down from PSP, pretty well any versions. Yes it may have some inherited features from photoshop that PSP does not have but PSP has many features that Elements (PE) AND Photoshop (PS) lack.
As well ease of use in basic functions has PSP far ahead.

eg try editing 10 images in a row and just correcting the horizontal or verticals. In PSP the line level will appear on each image as you minimise the previous image and straightening is a breeze.
In PS it is a complicated procedure for rotating based on hand operations or using the crop tool and hand rotating.
I challenge PS and PE users (based on an earlier version of PS ) to hold a cup of coffee in their left hand and do some cloning using just their right. Impossible in PS and PE , easy in PSP because of the intelligent use of the right mouse button and the mouse wheel. As said I cannot verify that in the latest version of PS or PE as I cannot afford the $800 + (in Australia) nor will I pirate it.

[photodrawken]

One of the problems that many software manufactures make is that they try to be the be all and end all of programs and try to do so much that they lose the concept of what they were originally designed to do.

Yes, yes, and yes again!

I'm a big fan of using software targeted to specific functions: I'll use PSP for image editing, Raw Therapee for some precision colour correction, IMatch for image organizing, and CDR for vector graphics.

I was an avid user of PSE, but uninstalled it after discovering how many more powerful features PSPX5 has. PSE still has a few functions that I've detailed in my wish list for PSP, but PSE is still too limited in general than is PSP.

[Joelle]

Corel's problem is that they need to sell the software to survive. Anything with a title will do..
Most potential customers aren't power users.
Professionals use the Mudhut product, because they're taught to use it at college and then the companies they work for.
A few might use PSP (at home) for ease of use. Easy to customize and thereby streamline the workflow (very important in my book and the main reason I won't touch anything made by Adobe).
Corel don't innovate any more since they got rid of their excellent development team, to save money. A serious mistake and it shows in the software.
New features aren't really new, but mainly scripts given a fancy name. Re-hashed features with a different name and badly assembled don't get the user excited either.

It seems to me that as long as it 'sounds' good, they think people will buy the product.
The slow decline of a once excellent product makes me weep. Of course Corel and Vector Capital aren't interested in weeping users If they were, the product might just get better again.
Sad.

Joëlle

[photodrawken]

Corel don't innovate any more since they got rid of their excellent development team, to save money.

What's the story on that?

You're right that the lack of innovation shows in their products -- the latest releases of CorelDraw, PhotoPaint and WinZip have new "features" that are marginal at best: I don't want to send anything to TwitFace or CrapBook when I unzip a file....

[Joelle]

Corel don't innovate any more since they got rid of their excellent development team, to save money.

What's the story on that?

You're right that the lack of innovation shows in their products -- the latest releases of CorelDraw, PhotoPaint and WinZip have new "features" that are marginal at best: I don't want to send anything to TwitFace or CrapBook when I unzip a file....

Don't cry, it makes your mascara run..
I don't use TwitBook, either.

The story:
When Corel bought PSP (Bob Voight didn't get huge amounts of money as shares in Corel were part of the deal), from Jasc in 2004, the offices in Minneapolis were closed just before Christmas (something to do with the end of the financial year I believe). The staff were told they had no jobs and that was that.
Version X still survived Corel input, but after that.. well, you know the rest.
I am sure the current team are trying their best, but it's more a fix this and that, than anything else.
We'll just have to wait and see what turns up next.

Joëlle

[photodrawken]

Don't cry, it makes your mascara run..

Only when I'm on stage, doll, only when I'm on stage....

Makes one wonder, though, just what kind of "development" operation they have. My suspicion is that if the current owners are trying to cut expenses to the bone, then development is outsourced on an ad hoc basis offshore to add in a few piddly bits of code.

[henrisart]

Oops, wrong version... never mind!

I have installedPaintShop Prox5 three times and when I go to the tool bar I can,t find the removal tool?

[SJS]

I use an Epson scanner frequently within PSP, and sometimes after scanning, I close the Epson s/w window, and PSP freezes. Sometimes I can click on the desktop and/or start Task Manger, and PSP "wakes up", but other times I have to end it with Task Manager.

Of course I lose what I just scanned, so have to do that over again.

PSP X5 up to date w/SP2 seems to behave about the same as SP1

[df]

Oops, wrong version... never mind!

I have installedPaintShop Prox5 three times and when I go to the tool bar I can,t find the removal tool?

The Object Remover? It's hidden under the Clone Brush or Scratch Removal tool, just click the little down arrow next to that and the submenu slides open and you can pick the Clone, Scratch Removal, or Object Removal tool.

[suespahn]

I am also having Freezing problems using Vista Home Premium. I downloaded the SP2 from Corel but it did not help any. My old PS3 worked much better. Any ideas as to what the problem is? I view one posting about changing the profile but I can't find where there is a profile.

I need help

[SJS]

PSP X5 , did the new service pack changed my preference?

I am pretty sure that my preferences --> Auto Actions --> flatten image was set to "prompt", I forget when I add borders all the time, but rarely want to flatten my image...

Glad I noticed before saving!

[SJS]

Paintshop Pro X5 (before and after SP2) hangs fairly frequently. Sometimes I have to kill it via task manager (Windows 7) where it shows as "Not Responding", other times it "comes back by itself" several minutes later. Sometimes it seems to respond to tabbing through the various app. windows & desktop, but this may be only an illusion since this is not reliable.

I often have problems when I attempt to restore PSP from my Windows toolbar after iconizing it with more than one image open... From the PSP icon, I must choose one of the open images to restore. If I immediately select and try to work with another open image in PSP, it continues to display the information for the first file/image in the layers & history palettes. OR it just starts display the restored PSP window, but then hangs without completing the display ...
If I choose to CLOSE one of the images from the Windows toolbar PSP icon (the Windows "x" is operable the app. is restored from icon state for each open image) it always? almost always? hangs.

Not sure if PSP always "comes back" if I just wait long enough... sometimes I wait five minutes... but generally close via task manager.

Very annoying, and it happens several times/day.

[SJS]

Select All & Select None don't seem to work as expected in vector layers.

Select All & Copy for vector objects does not let me paste as VECTOR, only convert/paste as raster.

And Select None in vector layers does not CLEAR the select bounding box(es).

[photodrawken]

Select All & Copy for vector objects does not let me paste as VECTOR, only convert/paste as raster.

Use Edit...Paste As New Vector Selection (Ctrl+G), first creating a new vector layer if you wish.

And Select None in vector layers does not CLEAR the select bounding box(es).

It's not supposed to. "Select None" clears the selection (the marquee is removed), but the bounding box of a vector object does not behave quite the same as a selection area.