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Paint Shop Pro 8, from Jasc Software ($87 street; with a $30 rebate for upgraders or users of competing products, it's $57). If you have been working with graphics on your PC for any length of time, you probably have used Paint Shop Pro ("PSP") at some point. It was one of the first graphics programs that had a heavy-duty feature set at a price that ordinary users could afford. PSP gave me and many other users our first taste of such capabilities as filtering (manipulation, correction, and special effects), layering (what it says), and anti-aliasing (shading square pixels to create the visual appearance of curves). Paint Shop Pro also long has been the Webmaster's Companion, allowing for the easy creation of buttons, shapes, backgrounds, and other Web components. All of this was long before digital cameras became commonplace, which drew the attention of the professional graphics software makers to the consumer market and produced a host of competitors. Jasc has stared down the competition and hit back with a new version with multiple killer new features.
Actually, let me take that back. "Killer" is an overused computing cliche. In this case, what Jasc has done is roll out ideas that once For one thing, after years of evolution, the number of filters and effects available in Paint Shop now totals over 600. So PSP8 now offers a handy browser feature to help you keep track of them through thumbnail previews of their effect. Plus, should 600 not be enough, not only are Paint Shop Pro filters user-customizable, there is a little dice (OK, it's one, so I suppose "die" is correct) icon. Click it, and the filter will generate random settings for its values. You look at the preview and see if you come up with an effect you like. Very cool and very handy. Encompassed among these effects and tools are pretty much everything from button-izing to resizing that you might want to do to put a graphic on a Web Page. The toolbox includes a one- step photo enhancement process that performs a series of color, contrast, and focus corrections -- in many cases, it's just what you need to fix common digital photo flaws. New deformation correction features make it easy to adjust pictures that Went Wrong. A straighten tool automatically fixes crooked images imported from scanners or cameras; there's a perspective correction tool to help fix photos you took at a bad angle, and very cool lens correction filters let you fix the distortions of fisheye lenses and the like. But PSP's real showstopper is its brand new macro scripting capability, which includes a recorder to let to easily devise your macros. This was a major "why hasn't anyone done that before?" moment for me. Because once you use it, the need for it is so obvious.
Scripting, on top on the ability to custom map keyboard shortcuts, plus the ability to save tool and paintbrush settings, plus the previously mentioned custom filter settings, give the user an extraordinary ability to tailor the product to his or her needs. And do not forget that Paint Shop includes Animation Shop, a lovely little application for making animated graphics, both animated .gif and .avi (Windows movie format). Blessedly, the program provides a nice range of the effects, from spinning to morphing, that most users will need, allowing you to automate the whole process. As a non-artist, I found Animation Shop a terrific way to produce animations to liven up my Web pages. Mind you, everything is not perfect. While Jasc improved the interface greatly, there are still gaps. For example, getting to layer options requires right-clicking your way into the layer properties dialog -- it would be better if key settings such as visibility and blending mode were right on the layering "palette" (toolbar). "Nudging" graphics (positioning them a pixel at a time) is not as intuitive as it should be. But the problems are relatively minor. Note that in highly recommending PSP8 I do not in any way take back my previous recommendation of Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. Both have their own particular strengths. Elements, for example, is better at handling fonts, working with Adobe Acrobat, and offers somewhat finer detail. Given the version and competitive upgrade deals available on both products, buying both is worth considering -- you still come out way ahead of the cost of a professional graphics program. One thing is very clear, though: if time is of the essence, if you have a lot of graphics production to do, or if you want to use a sophisticated effect for which you would be clueless without help from the program, Paint Shop Pro 8 will be a much- welcome addition to your software collection. ------ Jasc has a couple of supplements and compliments to Paint Shop Pro that also are worthy of note. Before getting to them, Jasc has just released a patch for PSP to Version 8.01. It fixes some bugs in the initial release, including a problem I saw with the crucial scripting function. It is a must download. As to the other products, Paint Shop Photo Album 4 ($43; a $10 rebate is available) is intended as a replacement for the software that comes with digital cameras. Album is a solid program with good integration with PSP8 -- and thus access to PSP8's features. It's not a "gee whiz" item like PSP8, and there are other album program I like as well or better. However, it works well as an adjunct for PSP8, and PSP users definitely should take a look at it. Paint Shop Photo Album has the kind of tools that digital camera users typically need and a user friendly interface. I particularly liked its photo "Adjust" wizard that lets you work out photo problems by letting you choose between alternative changes in the image. Finally, there is the Virtual Painter plug-in package ($45 downloaded; $49 in a box) available direct from Jasc.
I confess to being a hopeless addict to this kind of filter. On the fun agenda, it makes for interesting wallpaper and screensavers. For business graphics it can take boring stock photos and give them an artsy look. In general, Virtual Painter can jazz up dull pictures. Added Plus: Not only is Paint Shop Pro 8 a great work-expediting tool, it also is terrific as a work-avoidance device also. On top of the 600 effects in PSP, Virtual Painter offers another 2,600 permutations (7,800 if you go into advanced mode) to experiment with. And unlike Solitaire, when the boss catches you, you can alibi, "Absolutely, this is work; I'm just trying to create an effective graphic for the Smith report." (c) 2004 Al Gordon. In addition to his computer interests, Al Gordon is a principal in the Boston-area strategic consulting firm, Mary Fifield Associates, www.maryfifieldassociates.com. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can reach Al Gordon at: |
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This is supplemental information to the article:
you see
them your immediate reaction is "of course, I can't believe nobody thought
of that before." And thereafter you will EXPECT them to be present in
programs of this kind.
Take for example the task of reviving a faded photograph: One technique
involves duplicating the photo as a new layer and then "multiplying" that
layer back into the original, a process that darkens and adds depth to the
graphic. You then would run other enhancement tools to fine tune the result.
Do this for a series of old photos, and it's pretty tedious. With PSP8,
however, you click the recorder button, go through the process for one
photo, and save the macro. Thereafter, your retouching process is executed
with one click to run the script.
It does what it sounds like -- takes a photo and make it look like a
painting. There are 12 styles in the package. They tend towards the abstract
art realm, and if there is any weak spot it is that the color palettes can
be too garish requiring a color cast correction in PSP8.
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