Paintshop Pro - Wishlist for version X6

[Athena]

I'd like
- an intelligent 'fill' so that when you want to remove an object from an image it looks at the surrounding area and makes a good guess at what it should use for the replacement

YES!! If Digital Imaging from Microsoft could do this 5+ years ago, why can't Paint Shop Pro? I've been looking for this in every PSP version and I'm very disappointed to learn that it's not in X5

[SJS]

The inability to retain customizations & workspaces from one version to the next is HORRIBLE. And tacky!

Yes, things change, but with dozens of customizations / settings available, and with most the same from version to version, tossing all preferences for each PSP upgrade is appalling, and lazy programming. Put the settings in a DB, and toss those which really change from version to version. RETAIN the user customizations which take hours.

Resetting preference using screenshots and lists of settings from previous versions is like "sneakernet". Yes, I can write it all down on a piece of paper too! But we are all using a COMPUTER here, not an abacus!!!

I have spent an hour purchasing and installing PSP X5, ONLY because I don't want to be left behind without bug fixes, etc. All this from a reminder when I started PSP X4 to fix & resize a photo of Mother to send to family... only to find PSP X5 unusable due to starting over with the black screen ... manage ... no palettes, etc. So back to PSP X4 until I have another 2 hours to waste reconfiguring my settings!

[Joelle]

X5 is not the same as X4
Different tools, settings etc.
There is no way the saved X4 workspace will work in X5.

I always take screenshots of all my X4 settings and customized menus, so I can re-do it all in X5 without leaving anything out.
It took some time, but not too bad

Joëlle

[SJS]

A decent programmer can find a way to retain which palettes are displayed, where they are docked, etc. Also to retain warnings, automatic actions, and other settings. When the software changes, throw out only the settings which become obsolete or compromised by the upgrade. It is simple. Keep the information separate from the implementation.

[el48tel]

X5 is not the same as X4
Different tools, settings etc.
There is no way the saved X4 workspace will work in X5.

I always take screenshots of all my X4 settings and customized menus, so I can re-do it all in X5 without leaving anything out.
It took some time, but not too bad

Joëlle

That seems an eminently sensible idea - why didn't I think of it

[Scannit]

How about a link to a video tutorial in the learning center for the selected function. Example: If the Color Changer tool is selected, a video that was produced by a Corel expert could be viewed, limit it to 5 minutes.... I know there are links to web pages with step-by-step instructions, but having a video window open with PSP open, allows me to follow along with the video as it plays. Having the visual cues can be a greater help than a written step-by-step.

[ehume]

How about a link to a video tutorial in the learning center for the selected function. Example: If the Color Changer tool is selected, a video that was produced by a Corel expert could be viewed, limit it to 5 minutes.... I know there are links to web pages with step-by-step instructions, but having a video window open with PSP open, allows me to follow along with the video as it plays. Having the visual cues can be a greater help than a written step-by-step.

Now that makes great sense. I've not seen that in other Help sections. Have you?

[el48tel]

How about a link to a video tutorial in the learning center for the selected function. Example: If the Color Changer tool is selected, a video that was produced by a Corel expert could be viewed, limit it to 5 minutes.... I know there are links to web pages with step-by-step instructions, but having a video window open with PSP open, allows me to follow along with the video as it plays. Having the visual cues can be a greater help than a written step-by-step.

There are other software houses which do exactly as you propose

[bang]

'write meta data'
(i) within an image it is possible to write additional data
what I would be seeking would be the settings used to create an image in post, automatically written into the image on save
in that way at some point in the future, I could recall or have the app recall and execute the actions used on a new image that I would like to 'look' similar

(ii) why is this better than saved images?
photographers are visual people
they remember and can find an image that had a particular look or solution
but they wont remember saved macro or settings xyz from a whole list
after finding 'the' image the exact styles and settings can be recovered

(iii) what else could be done with it?
As a learning tool people can see how things are done
just download an image, lets say it is formatted with a particular font style
lets say something like a font with a different colour line around it for beginners
all you have to do is access the data on the file, and watch how the font is prepared on another image
complicated image border styles could be similarly disposed

'tints'
sometimes with some cameras white balance can be very difficult to achieve due the the type of light
my 5D is like this in tungsten light, especially if not shifted from AWB
without proper pre-sets for particular cameras, issues with colours are becoming more prevalent a problem
examples are, having undesirable blue shadow tints in snow
greenish skin on 5D is another common issue, cyan skies instead of blue

It would be a useful dodge to have available a selection of tints to apply to an image to counteract the adverse tint
perhaps simpler than other ways of trial and error, just view the image on a sheet of a dozen or two grades of tint
select, apply, click and you're done..

'custom buttons'
perhaps there is something I do often that I could assign to a 'vacant' button to regular operations for items that a nested in the menus
some examples would be 'merge all layers', or 'merge visible', or 'select none'
programmable /nameable buttons would be a useful time saving customisation feature for me

'find corner'
often in larger images there is work to be done on edges or corners
when images are smaller its less of an issue, you simply centre the mouse and use the scroll wheel to get into a corner

the problem with large images is that the application doesn't respond the same when trying to get into an extreme corner
it will always tend to leave the extreme edges beyond the margins of the 'desktop'

the only way around it is to use the scroll bars and individually pull the corner up
it would be nice if some other way to work around this could be engineered
especially if it gave you enough edge clearance to the margin to enable you to work right on the edges of corners
that margin could enlarge as you scroll into a corner.

[Athena]

How about a link to a video tutorial in the learning center for the selected function..

Before we go there, how about having some locally installed help? The requirement to be web connected to get even the most basic level of help is very annoying. It used to be that I could take a manual with me when I thought I'd have an hour or two of downtime. I could use waiting time productively by reading up on a new product or version. Now I can't even do that if I take my laptop with me because Corel has this stupid "web-only" help policy.

[el48tel]

How about a link to a video tutorial in the learning center for the selected function..

Before we go there, how about having some locally installed help? The requirement to be web connected to get even the most basic level of help is very annoying. It used to be that I could take a manual with me when I thought I'd have an hour or two of downtime. I could use waiting time productively by reading up on a new product or version. Now I can't even do that if I take my laptop with me because Corel has this stupid "web-only" help policy.

An eminently sensible request - on-line is fine if you are within access distance of a web connection - but if you're away from base - you're basically stuffed from the outset

[LeviFiction]

X4 and X5 both come with offline help files. Admittedly they don't always startup properly, still wondering why that is, but PSP when it finds itself offline should open up IE to display the local installation of the help files.

[el48tel]

X4 and X5 both come with offline help files. Admittedly they don't always startup properly, still wondering why that is, but PSP when it finds itself offline should open up IE to display the local installation of the help files.

Not rocket science I think but........................
PSP can check to see if there's an update to the software, so why couldn't the off-line (as in off the disc when you installed it to your HDD) version check to see if the help pages needed updating and then download them to your HDD? So it would be a check and a download, rather than a search and a read of one page - at some vacation locations I've had little access to the web if the 3G service is down or slow or you're in the air at 11 000m. Think I'd rather have help on my HDD than have to access the web and pay the data charges too

[narrowgauge]

If it must save temporary files let it do it 'in the background'. It is stupid to have a machine with multiple processors and have the job come to a stand whilst saving temporary files. X5 does this. Earlier versions didn't.

[el48tel]

If it must save temporary files let it do it 'in the background'. It is stupid to have a machine with multiple processors and have the job come to a stand whilst saving temporary files. X5 does this. Earlier versions didn't.

Agree - especially when your files are large