PSPX7 trial users

[OldRadioGuy]

I have the script that another user put together as a work around which I might try but it seemed like old radio guy suggested they would work without this script or I read it wrong. It's important that I clarify this before I buy X7 because Corel doesn't have the greatest track record on upgrades.

No, you have to use the script. Just modify for each Google Nik standalone.

Bob

[MikeFromMesa]

I have purchased X7 Ultimate so I have the extras bundled with the Ultimate version. In particular I have the Perfectly Clear plugin and have been testing it.

The Perfectly Clear plugin for X7 is a variation of the same version as the current Perfectly Clear product (1.7.3 C vs 1.7.3) and contains all of the functionality of the full product, but the displayed dialog box is completely missing the text for the Light Diffusion checkbox. The checkbox is there and functions properly but, unless someone knew about Perfectly Clear and was familiar with the proper dialog box display they might not even see the Light Diffusion checkbox and, if they did, they would not know what it was for.

This is the normal Perfectly Clear dialog box

[raven4ns]

Thank you, Bob, I appreciate the clarification.

I have the script that another user put together as a work around which I might try but it seemed like old radio guy suggested they would work without this script or I read it wrong. It's important that I clarify this before I buy X7 because Corel doesn't have the greatest track record on upgrades.

No, you have to use the script. Just modify for each Google Nik standalone.

Bob

[hartpaul]

Bit disappointed that this thread has been more about compatibility of X7 with various plugins rather than the base program.
Keeping that in mind as I mentioned in another thread :

Layer Drag and Drop is Damaged
1. In all versions of PSP, you can drag the layer thumbnail onto another image on the workspace (Untabbed docs) and you get a one click and drag copy and paste as new layer - not in X7 nada . no effect .

2. In all versions of PSP and not present in PS - you can drag a layer thumbnail into a blank part of the workspace and it makes a copy of that layer as a new image ie Copy and Paste as new image. Again this does not work.
3. This is also useful for where you have extracted an image or letters against a transparent background. In that case dragging and dropping to the workspace copies only the opaque material effectively doing a best crop and paste as new image.
Note:
The text cutter and shape cutter options on the Text tool and Shapes tools now allow the a similar result to 3 except that you now have new layers added to your image as well.
To do 1 you now must use tabbed documents and have to drag a layer from the layers palette of one image, go up to the tab of the second image til it becomes active, then drag back down to the layers palette of that image and release in its new position. Man what a drag!!!!

Mirror AND Flip Commands
In PSP8 through to X3 Flip effectivly did a Mirror Vertical and Mirror did mirror Horizontal - a squiggle on a transparent background near the margin was reflected and finished against the opposite margin.
From X4 through to X6 the squiggle was changed in place rather than mirrored. they were Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical.

With X7 we now have it standardised and both options.
Mirror (Vertical / Horizontal ) places the squiggle across on the opposite side of the canvas
Flip (vertival/Horizontal) keeps the squiggle on the same side of the canvas and changes its orientation.

Magic Fill
Is a bit like the Blemish Fixer / Scratch remover in that you havs a central section which is replaced by a sample similar to the sections bordering and within another margined section. The difference is that the section to be replaced can be any shape and not just circular or rectangular and the part it is sampling from is not defined by any margins.

Materials Palette
I miss the rainbow selector which is very much reduced to just a strip below the "HSL map"
Using the rainbow selector I could choose two different contrasting colors quickly with a left and right click for the Foreground and Background colors.
The materials palette is a bit more advanced with the ability to choose complimentary colors. You can use a color wheel or sliders to choose the colors. Unfortunately thay have not allowed the sliders and values to be controlled by the mouse wheel as with many other tools and values. With a Logitek Gaming mouse I find I can get very fine control of changing the units by single digits

Smart Edge for Brushes
This choice is imperfect and needs to be improved.
It is meant to allow drawing within a line / edge of part of an image and also can be applied to the clone and eraser brush as well. Its function is similar to the background eraser but lacking the tolerance and other features of the background eraser. The background eraser also has right left button functionality in that you can erase with the left and unerase with the right mouse buttons.

[MikeFromMesa]

I am guessing, based on the previous post, that people's response to this thread depend, at least partially, on their level of experience with PSP. As for myself, I have been a Photoshop user for several years and am changing because I do not like Adobe's new subscription service and hence my response to X7 will almost certainly be different from someone having years of experience using PSP. As for myself, I have the following comments.

Things I like:

1) PSP opens dng files. Not all image processors do.
2) The PSP interface seems clear and well organized to me. While some things seem to be a bit hard to find, everything does seem to be there.
3) The Ultimate version comes with Perfectly Clear which I have found to be a very nice addition.
4) Magic Fill seems to work very nicely. In fact I have generally found it to be more suitable for my uses than the equivalent Photoshop functionality.

Things I think could be better:

1) PSP seems to be very slow in doing some things. Copying an image to create another layer takes a long time.
2) There is no interface to allow the use of tools like OnOne software. Photoshop provides an Automation interface, PSP does not.
3) There is no external editor call to allow calling other software.
4) I have not been able to find functionality equivalent to Photoshop's Patch. That allows the user to select an area and move it around on the image. As the user moves the selection the software automatically fills in the original area with whatever is below the current location, thus allowing the user to find the best texture to match the original selection.
5) Camera Raw could offer more controls. In particular it is missing a Highlights Protection control (Highlight Recovery settings is not the same as a Highlight Protection slider).

On the whole I am very pleased with PSP after having been a Photoshop user for a long time.

[pinobot]

Things i like:
Starts maginally faster.
Larger canvas size, from 20,000 to 40,000 pixels.

Thing i don't like:
It still takes longer for PSP to start then for Windows 8 to start, crazy.
Canvas size is still a far cry from being useful for gigapixel panoramas.
Lots of actions use ony one cpu core. Resizing seems to use all cores (but still takes forever), things like unsharp mask and gaussian blurr only one.
Advertisement, Google toolbar 'option'.

[LeviFiction]

MikefromMesa - I think the only thing PSP has that comes anywhere close tot he patch tool is the Object Remover tool.

[MikeFromMesa]

MikefromMesa - I think the only thing PSP has that comes anywhere close tot he patch tool is the Object Remover tool.

Thanks. I have tried using that tool and it seems to work well, but it allows the software to choose what to use to fill in.

The thing about the Photoshop Patch tool is that you can slide the selected area all of the photo and pick whatever replacement seems best to you. It is a very nice tool. If there is nothing really matching in your photo then, of course, it is not of any use. But if you are on some relatively uniform texture and color, like the Arizona desert, then it is a very nice way to replace a whole selection.

In a sense the Patch tool is like the Clone tool except you select what to replace and then can move all over trying to find the best replacement for the selected area. The Clone, of course, requires that you select the area to use for replacement first.

[OldRadioGuy]

1. I have found that PaintShop Pro X7 will not correctly render TIF files produced by onOne's Perfect Photo Suite 8. This occurs even when the layers have been flattened within PPS8 before saving.

2. PSPX7 fails to reopen immediately after being used for several minutes then closed. Try restarting 30 to 60 seconds later and PSPX7 will start. I suppose this occurs because some pieces of the code are still shutting down.

Bob

[caspia1]

Not upgraded from X6 Ultimate yet..........
I need to know more about "magic fill" and the new "smart edge"

One good example is trying to cut out a face with masses of stray hair around it. Will either of these new tools enable me to do this ideally, perfectly?

Happy to go for it if it makes life easier<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<1
Thanks for any advice.

[Kathy_9]

Not upgraded from X6 Ultimate yet..........
I need to know more about "magic fill" and the new "smart edge"

One good example is trying to cut out a face with masses of stray hair around it. Will either of these new tools enable me to do this ideally, perfectly?

Happy to go for it if it makes life easier<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<1
Thanks for any advice.

I would highly recommend you download a trial of X7 before buying it. You could then try to do the cutout you described. Personally, I have found Topaz ReMask to be an excellent tool for this type of task.

[LindaSue]

I just found something that crashes X7 every time. Go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Add Noise. Try to change the setting to "Gaussian" and PSP locks up. "Random" and "Uniform" work fine.

[MikeFromMesa]

1. I have found that PaintShop Pro X7 will not correctly render TIF files produced by onOne's Perfect Photo Suite 8. This occurs even when the layers have been flattened within PPS8 before saving.

2. PSPX7 fails to reopen immediately after being used for several minutes then closed. Try restarting 30 to 60 seconds later and PSPX7 will start. I suppose this occurs because some pieces of the code are still shutting down.

Bob

PaintShop Pro X7 has a problem with psd files.

I did some testing by producing layered files using Photoshop, PaintShop Pro and the OnOne suite, all in psd format. The result was very interesting. Both Photoshop and OnOne would open all psd files and display both layers. PaintShop Pro would open both files (the ones from Photoshop and OnOne), but displayed them with only one layer. Of course PSP could open its own file and displayed both layers, but good luck with any complex psd files from another editor.

This seems like a real bug to me.

[OldRadioGuy]

Go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Add Noise. Try to change the setting to "Gaussian" and PSP locks up. "Random" and "Uniform" work fine.

Seems to work fine on my system.

Bob

[LindaSue]

Go to Adjust > Add/Remove Noise > Add Noise. Try to change the setting to "Gaussian" and PSP locks up. "Random" and "Uniform" work fine.

Seems to work fine on my system.

Bob

That's bad news if it's just happening to me because I use that option all the time and couldn't live without it. I've tried quite a few times and it locks up PSP every time.