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best photoshop alternative? free?
- Thread starter jamays00
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Buy a Wacom graphic tablet. Adobe Photoshop Elements is bundled for "free" in the box with the tablet. If you don't need the tablet Elements is only about $80.
I have no doubt about that, but by then Adobe could do a massive rehaul of elements.
OP: If i were you I would get pixelmator, It has some nice filters and effects. The program is always getting more features.
i would go with pixelmator. it's cheap and pretty awesome really. i have photoshop but there are sometimes and somethings, that i just WANT to use pixelmator for. I mean, i don't know why, just want to use it. it's nice.
-je
-je
thanks the all the advice... I downloaded the trail of pixelmator last night and I am quite impressed, I plan on purchasing it ($60). I don't need everything photoshop offers, I mostly use it to make textures, backdrop images, and touch ups of renders. The biggest problem that I can see is the lack of typography features... by lack of I mean none. But other than that this program is very easy to use, has a very pretty interface and runs extremely fast.
I always liked Gimp and used it for a long time before i found a really cheap copy of PS on ebay. when i first got my Apple i installed gimp (b/c my copy of PS was windows) and thought it ran a little slow and buggy, but it is still a really good software.
A vote here for Pixelmator.
Its not free but very good. Another item is that it is very fast and a small footprint compared to the alternatives. They update it very often too.
Its not free but very good. Another item is that it is very fast and a small footprint compared to the alternatives. They update it very often too.
Considering the fact that the UI is the means of interacting with the program, that's a pretty significant caveat.
I've used Acorn and it's not a bad option. I think it's either free or cheap shareware (ie donation requested). Photoshop Elements is my favorite if you're going to pay - worlds better than iPhoto IMHO
Is it with the next version that they're planning on re-achieving feature/release parity between Windows and OS X? That would make things a lot better... they need to end this process of having the Mac version be a cycle or two behind the Windows version.
Granted that PSE6 is a year old and Pixelmator 1.3 is only a few months old, PSE6 rides on top of a much longer development process with Photoshop. If you went back a version or two in CS, I don't think anyone would argue that Pixelmator is better than Photoshop CS because it's newer. It does have a much prettier interface, and they have caught up somewhat in features.
Yep.... most probably and guess it'll be PSE8! They wont bother with porting the version 7.. Poor of Adobe...
Photoshop whether the full version or in its elements avatar will always remain photoshop.... with a mightily more powerful engine and amazing flexibility!
You're stating that Pixelmator has the same functionality as PS for moderate users... based on what's in the standard toolbar... are you joking or serious?
This is like observing that my apartment and the White House both have a door, windows, and a toilet. Hardly any of the useful features in Photoshop are in the standard toolbar.
You're stating that Pixelmator has the same functionality as PS for moderate users... based on what's in the standard toolbar... are you joking or serious?
Not to be rude but LOL...
Beautifully answered...
You're stating that Pixelmator has the same functionality as PS for moderate users... based on what's in the standard toolbar... are you joking or serious?
Quite true. I agree in many ways.
I'd just say that these aren't really tools you find in Microsoft Paint if thats what anyone thinks Pixelmator is all about. I'm a moderate Photoshop / Pixelmator user, and all the functions I use in PS, like gradients, masks, layers, effects, filters, etc etc can all be done in Pixelmator too, easily, in a more user friendly way.
For a professional user, things are totally different - 3D for example.
All right, all right, I'll stop being snarky. Pixelmator has come a long way. When I first tried it, I thought it was pretty but useless, because it lacked even basic features I'd need every time I edited a photo. I don't think that's true anymore. I do think that PSE provides better value for money, but continued development and use of Pixelmator is a really good thing for the community (just like the fabulous and free Paint.NET really raises the bar in the Windows world).
Pixelmator has come a long way. When I first tried it, I thought it was pretty but useless, because it lacked even basic features I'd need every time I edited a photo. I don't think that's true anymore. I do think that PSE provides better value for money, but continued development and use of Pixelmator is a really good thing for the community (just like the fabulous and free Paint.NET really raises the bar in the Windows world).
Seashore doesn't seem to be very well maintainted. The last release was 0.1.9, and that was over Apr 2007!
Seriously, what's wrong with Gimp?
The Gimp has a Horrible Interface, and it doesn't handle large files very well.