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Paint Shop Pro clone for Mac

G

Gr8fulTed

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I have just recently made the switch to a Mac from a PC and am finding I am really missing my Paint Shop Pro. As I research JASC (or Corel) It appears as though there is no Paint Shop Pro platform for Macs.

I am wondering if there is some other software around that is very similar to PSP that I can aquire.

Thanks for any help.
 
Photoshop Elements?

But to be honest, I've never used Paint Shop Pro. Photoshop (the full version) has always been the tool of choice for me.

I'm afraid that you may just have to learn to use some new software unless you want to run Paint Shop Pro on Virtual PC.

Adobe Photoshop Elements runs neck and neck with Corel as the best photo-editing software. In fact, we've rarely seen two products so evenly matched in reviews. The latest version of this photo editor is Photoshop Elements 4 (*est. $90). Like Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop Elements is lauded for its advanced functionality combined with an easy-to-use interface. Since Elements is also made by Adobe, it shares some features with Photoshop CS2, including Healing Brush, which erases wrinkles and blemishes. Reviews note that the dust filter available through Photoshop Elements is the best available (aside from Adobe Photoshop CS), and several one-click functions such as red-eye repair and photo-repair (color, contrast and cropping fix) work very well. The helpful 'Hints' floating palette and tutorials assist first time users. There is also a tool for merging photos, which will resize, skew and blend multiple images. Experts say the layer adjustments are on par with Corel Paint Shop Pro.
Click to expand...

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/software/photo-editing-software/fullstory.html
 
Bring out the GIMP....

When I first came over the the "Dark Side" with Apple all that time ago, I have to admit I missed my Paint Shop Pro.

Try http://www.gimp.org/ it's pretty good software, GIMP is no Adobe PhotoShop killer but it is good for photos and basic web stuff, plus it's free which is always a bonus. (Make sure you install X11, you'll need it for running GIMP)

And there's always Adobe Elements which is always a good alternative.
 
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I've found PS Elements version 3.0 quite good as a functional replacement for Photoshop while I'm away from my desktop. I'm sure it would do a great job in place of Paint Shop Pro, which must have changed a lot from the shareware days.
 
When I switched, I moved to Elements too. The only thing I missed from PSP to Elements was the Colour Replacer tool which is only in the full version of Photoshop but it wasn't a deal killer.
 
Applespider said:
When I switched, I moved to Elements too. The only thing I missed from PSP to Elements was the Colour Replacer tool which is only in the full version of Photoshop but it wasn't a deal killer.
Click to expand...

Do you mean the channel mixer? PSE3 has a replace colors tool, in the sense that you pick a color in the picture, you pick a replacement color for it, and then you adjust the sensitivity so that nearby-to-target colors are replaced by nearby-to-replacement-colors....

The channel mixer is probably the key thing I wish I had. Although to be fair, using the color adjustment tool in PSE3 and then mixing down to B&W is usually quite sufficient. And B&W is usually not my thing anyway. 😱
 
Applespider said:
Ah... was that in PSE2? I never bothered upgrading to 3 since I got a copy of Photoshop from work.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, oops, sorry, 'Spider. It probably wasn't. 😱 I never used PSE2. But from what I hear, PSE3 was a huge improvement and the feature set became much more usable for the amateur set.... I bought PSE3, and then got PSE2 with my Rebel, but I never bothered with it.
 
its unfortunate but...there is no solution
2 things to remember
photoshop is a graphic artist oriented program
paint shop pro is photograhy oriented....yes stupidly inverse names

Photoshop has nicer more comprehensive (for the mostpart) effective tools, but the layout sucks, the menus have become way too nested and the interface looks like it was designed by newspaper men (not that it should matter). photoshop has much more user oriented support with a wide range of tools available...most of dubious quality. Oops did it crash again ?

Paint shop pro is simpler, much better layed out for intuitive learning (why did you buy a Mac again ?), requires less time to do the same operations. But it also has distortion correction tools for fisheye barrel and pincussion (only as addons for photoshop), You need this for a wide range of lens issues. colour replacement tool to take out those grey skies with a gradient blue and adjustable cloneing make the lawns look green again.

Nicely laid out features that work together such as saturation/lightness. Add to that the productivity the macro feature provides, giving you the ability to load and process 20 images ata time for operations that are the same. This would include the reliabilty of the One Step fix tool, noise reduction and fill flash. Then theres the ease to which you can correct perspective distortion, a feature that took me fully 2 days to find in Photoshop...and I know what Im looking for.

If I spend 5 minutes on a photograph I have wasted 3 minutes. I have the need to process the 50 to 90 images from a shoot and burn them to disc for the client to deliver the next working day. Productivity is the key, with ever so slight compromises on quality. If someone could figure out a way to run PSP on my Mac effeciently they would have all my money my undying love and gratitude. Well ok, my gratitude anyways 🙂

photoshop elements is nothing but a cut down version of photoshop
what the hells a gimp....
 
jive said:
Would Aperture not be more suited for you?
Click to expand...

In fact i am looking at Aperture, and LightZone
I am trying to discover the tools they have without the hefty download
Aperture does look to be a little hardware heavy for my dual proc G4

Both these aps are more database oriented than what I feel I need, but alas I am willing to try
 
If you're leaning towards GIMP but don't want to run it through X11, there's MacGIMP....


Or if PSP is the one and only for you, get VMWare and chuck Windows on it 😉


tominated said:
maybe pixelmator when it comes out soon?
Click to expand...

Would make sense, and I can't wait. However, it says it's being released late July and they haven't even emailed out about the private beta yet 😕
 
bigandy said:
If you're leaning towards GIMP but don't want to run it through X11, there's MacGIMP....
Click to expand...

Has anyone actually used MacGIMP? I'm very curious. Is there even any place to see screenshots? Navigating their site is very confusing to me... I've found it before and I just can never figure out where on the site I'm supposed to find anything. 🙁
 
It's been almost two years since the OP of this thread and still no PaintShop Pro for Mac.

I'm a new Mac user. Just got my Mac Mini a week ago and am having a ball with it. Have happily adapted to the new environment and new applications, with one exception. The graphics application I've had to make do with in lieu of PSP is a poor replacement. It literally is a time waster. So little of it is obvious.

When I first began checking out a graphics/image applications, back in the old days, I looked at PhotoShop. Seemed far too complicated and more than I could ever need. PSP proved the better choice. I'd never created images before then (not even by hand), but it didn't take long to learn how to use PSP. I cannot say the same with the application I'm having to use now: GIMP (with the required X11 installed).

No other program comes close to what PSP can do - a sad situation for we PSP fans.

I'd not heard that MacGIMP was on the horizon. I'll check it out. Not having to use X11 would be great.*

Will MacGIMP resolve my problems learning how to use this application? I doubt it, since the fundamental problem is with the GUI. It appears to have been designed from a developer's, not a user's, POV.

As for PSP for Mac, I've signed the petition and will squawk and squawk about the unfairness of it all. 😉

*Same deal with OpenOffice vs. NeoOffice. It's not all that clear on the OpenOffice.org website that there's a better choice for Mac users, rather than installing the version of OO that requires X11. NeoOffice is also OO, but it has been designed specifically for Macs - no X11 required.
 
Gr8fulTed said:
I have just recently made the switch to a Mac from a PC and am finding I am really missing my Paint Shop Pro. As I research JASC (or Corel) It appears as though there is no Paint Shop Pro platform for Macs.

I am wondering if there is some other software around that is very similar to PSP that I can aquire.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

You don't say what you use PSP for. If we knew this we could suggest a suitable replacement for PSP. Is cost an issue? Maybe not if you are looking at Corel? Let us know what your needs are. lot of thing might work.
 
I'm one of those that loved PSP on my PC, too. I miss it on the Mac. I've used Photoshop Elements, and it's decent, but somehow just not quite "right" to me. Maybe I just need more time to get used to it (I haven't tried version 3 at all, either, I should give it a whirl.)

I essentially stopped doing new website development (making all those little graphics) since I switched, almost solely because I was on a roll with PSP and suddenly I faced the prospect of re-learning and recreating everything.
The site I maintain is long overdue for a design refresh, so perhaps I should get cracking.
 
ive been a photoshop user even back in my window days... but for some reason i did enjoy paintbrush *grins* i realize there is a vast difference between the programs but i just got all excited when i thought i had an answer to someone's question. [paintbrush / paintshop pro... similarities are overwhelming - being that they both have the word 'paint' in title *meek attempt at humour* ]
but, just in case you are wondering...
i have found a version of paintbrush for mac! *hears the cheers of awe and admiration from fellow members* 😉
sometimes i just want a basic [and by that i do stress basic] program that i dont have to wait 5 minutes to load [okay, slight exaggeration 😀]
http://paintbrush.sourceforge.net/

the writing on the tombstone will say:
hey, but she meant well...
 
Freaks Like Me

i'm so glad that I have found others who have to deal with the daily trauma of life without PSP. My new Mac is ace - infinitely superior to the PC - except for image editing. My (admitedly dodgy) copy of Photoshop takes 3 days to load and is not as intuitive as PSP. Still - I even got upset when they moved on from PSP5 - which still gets booted up on the PC whenever I have images to edit.

GIMP is OK, and I persevere with it - but it is a stressful affair (as are all of the packages i have tried out on the mac) And don't even get me STARTED on fireworks...
 
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