Why I no longer use PSP

[fishcake]

I'm a professional artist and here's why I've jumped ship to Photoshop for my everyday work (believe me, I've been a loyal PSP user since the early JASC days and I would very much like to return):
- PSP's brush engine has remained largely unchanged for about a decade. Working with a tablet is a pain - pressure support, brush settings, brush smoothness - everything's as it was when tablets were still a novelty. You should hire professional artists for quality assurance on this. Ask them what they want. Even small or open-source projects nowadays have quality brushes and modern features like stroke stabilization (PaintToolSAI).
- The program has focused too much on photographers. I understand the photo craze, but Photoshop isn't popular just for photo-editing; it's used by many artists who create incredible work with it. Search Deviantart for paintings made with PS or SAI and then ones made with PSP.
- The UI seems cluttered with too many add-ons and too little free space. There's nothing wrong with copying Photoshop.
- In Photoshop everything looks seamlessly built into the core program. With PSP it has been more and more mini-programs built inside, taking over the workspace.

With Adobe's switch to subscription software, PSP has an opportunity to compete again, please take the chance and make something we can be proud of next September.

[Joelle]

You don't say which version of PSP you are no longer using.
Photoshop is popular because it does a lot of things well.
Photoshop is also very expensive.

PSP, in the right hands, can also do a lot of things very well.
The UI can be customised to look less cluttered.
Mine is very 'empty'.
Photoshop on the other hand cannot be customised.
Yes, it is a shame that the vector tools and brushes etc in PSP have not been touched since Corel took over from Jasc.
Have you tried Xara PGD9?
Here is this month's magazine in case you've not heard of Xara:
http://www.xara.com/us/outsider/september13/
A brilliant program with excellent support.

Joëlle (using PSPX6, which is excellent)

[photodrawken]

I wasn't going to say anything, but since confession is supposed to be good for the soul....

About a week-and-a-half ago I discovered PhotoLine. After experimenting with the trial version for a few days, I purchased it and it has now replaced PSP as my primary image editing application.

I like all the adjustment layers that are available (including Blur and Sharpen!) and its layer styles that rival Photoshop's; and it always starts without a problem. (PSP will randomly freeze at the point of "Resetting the Application".)

I'll still keep PSP installed for some of its more esoteric features (like the Seamless Tiling effect) and because the KillWhite plugin does not work in PL, but it's no longer my "go to" application.

[fishcake]

You don't say which version of PSP you are no longer using.
Photoshop is popular because it does a lot of things well.
Photoshop is also very expensive.

PSP, in the right hands, can also do a lot of things very well.
The UI can be customised to look less cluttered.
Mine is very 'empty'.

I've used every version since Jasc PSP 4. I think 13 is when I finally gave up, and the latest one is pretty much the same. There are free, open-souce project with better brush capabilities, so the price is no excuse.

[Joelle]

PSPX3 was never beta tested and it shows.
A shame you feel that the subsequent versions are the same, they're not.

But as you are determined not to use PSP there is not much point in me trying to convince you that X6 is worth having.
Also, as you point out, there are many freebies around.
Initially, Corel, trying to cash in on the good name of the Jasc version of PSP, neglected the program for too long.
They're trying hard to catch up, but the market has changed, it's an uphill battle and maybe too late.
This will likely mean the end of PSP as if there are too few customers, there is less income, ie. no money for more development, so no program
Very sad, I hope it doesn't come to that.

Joëlle

[hartpaul]

Fishcake " The program has focused too much on photographers. I understand the photo craze, but Photoshop isn't popular just for photo-editing;"

It is my understanding that PSP was a program for photographers in the first instance, while Photoshop was more for graphic artists that was picked up by photographers as they became more digital.
Now both programs have been trying to cater to photographers and graphic artists and any others. There was an aeseops fable about the boy the man and the donkey that has a moral that applies here:
http://www.experienceproject.com/storie ... ne/1214451

[fishcake]

PSPX3 was never beta tested and it shows.
A shame you feel that the subsequent versions are the same, they're not.
But as you are determined not to use PSP there is not much point in me trying to convince you that X6 is worth having.
Also, as you point out, there are many freebies around.
...
This will likely mean the end of PSP as if there are too few customers, there is less income, ie. no money for more development, so no program
Very sad, I hope it doesn't come to that.

Joëlle

The free and open-source projects I mentioned have created better brush capabilities with no budget. I'm not really "determined not to use PSP" (I actually owe a lot to it and I'd like to use it again - PSP 5.0 inspired me to become a graphic artist), and I hope this is seen as constructive criticism.

[LeviFiction]

Hartpaul - that is not my under standing at all.

Photoshop started as a photo editor as well. It was originally a program to display greyscale graphics. It was later licensed with a scanner for slides. Finally licensed by Adobe for and used mainly for photo retouching at a time when such a thing was not cheap to do.

PaintShop Pro started as a file conversion software. Many of its first functions were basic editing adjustments. It gained the same basic tools of any "Paint" program from the 90s. And during the late 90s early 2000s I found it and it was being touted as the program for web graphics designers even though a great majority of the tools were still photo specific. Jasc had this tendancy to be more distributed with their updates. You would get both graphics and photo updates, not just photo specific ones.


fishcake - As per brushes. I agree with you, to a point. Corel somewhat hinted that they thought their brushes were unable to get better because they were still 32-bit. Whether they meant that or not I don't know, could have been a slip that didn't come out right. But the idea that they might think so was heart-breaking.

Now you're right that these free projects don't have great brush handling because of a budget, but MyPaint and GIMP do have a small budget. They would need to. And the use of GSoC which pays $5000 to students to code new functionality for these products doesn't hurt either.

[trueblue]

I use an Intuos 4 with PaintShop Pro. Since the updated driver for Intuos I had major headaches using the pen and tablet in PSPX6.
Each time I need to use Paintbrushes in PSPX6 I have to open the Wacom Properties and untick Windows Inking. Once I do that, the brushes work perfectly. If Windows Inking is ticked and I use Corel Painter the pen and tablet function as they should, but not PSP. So, I don't know who's at fault here, Wacom, PSP or both!

I do agree that Corel really need to update the brushes as they are inadequate as they are.

PaintShop Pro is a photographic software. Painter is the painting software. CorelDraw is the graphics software which also has photopaint software.

[fishcake]

PaintShop Pro is a photographic software. Painter is the painting software. CorelDraw is the graphics software which also has photopaint software.

Photoshop and PSP are both photographic and painting software. It wouldn't have custom brushes and a brush variance palette if it was just photo-editing software. PSP simply neglected their painting functionality for 10 years

[Pixel Ninja]

"Why I will never use Adobe Software"
"Why I will never use Subscription-Only Software"

The original poster of this thread is free to go wherever he wishes, but when I write a book, it will have one of those two titles. I think Photoshop is $10.00 per month now. For software that I use infrequently, I typically get by just fine with old versions, and if I begin to use that software more often, then I'll pay to upgrade it more often.

I see that CorelDraw now has a subscription-only option. But the key word here is "option", because you can still buy the box or download version. As long as Corel doesn't go over to the dark side with Adobe, I'll be back.

But alas, it looks like I am too late to the game to upgrade my CorelDraw 8 to X6; it's full price for me... I might do it around Christmas, if they have a sale and a pretty lady elf delivering them!