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PhotoStudio X for .Mac Members

Originally posted by Powerbook G5
It's funny that so many people are complaining about something that Apple is offering .Mac subscribers for free. It's not like they are forcing you to stop using Photoshop or to even download it. This is insane, I for one have found .Mac to be one of the best things I've used with my Mac and every so often Apple throws its users a bone and give us yet another goody that it did not have to do. I love when Apple releases new benefits, it just goes to show that I got some good value out of my $70 investment on top of all of the awesome features that I originally bought it for. I've gotten 4 free games, two free utility programs, a load of discounts, and now a free photo editing program. Sure, it may not make me ditch Photoshop Elements, but I for one am looking forward to taking it for a spin and seeing what its like.
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Totally agree.

I wasn't expecting a Christmas gift from Apple and then...boom...I opened Mail and saw this.

I played around with it, resized some photos, added "artistic" touches to exisiting photos, etc. It was fairly easy to use and let me do things that iPhoto can't do. And it was free! (Well, you know.)

Thanks, Apple.

Squire
 
And Adobe PSE 2.0 comes bundled with some scanners, like the Canon LIDE-50 which sells for ~$87 on Amazon.com right now.
 
Another Freebie for .Mac

OK so I'm no Photoshop user, that's not how I make a living.
I've had .Mac for more than a year and was really expecting a Christmas Gift from Apple. I've been looking into low end image editing (used ColorIt 4.01 for years). Now I got it, for free. I paid for .Mac for other reasons.
I've tried this a bit on a pretty ghastly picture and it made it better, fast and easy.
So I could get Photoshop Elements for €99 (no €50 bargains here) or bundled with a scanner. I already got a scanner (which I don't use much), remember this is FREE. I'd pay €50 for this, not 99.
 
so here's what i wanna know -- i'm no graphics pro, and i don't make a living with my mac. i do have the gimp, and i love playing with it. where does photo studio stack up to the gimp? i'm gonna try it and form my own opinions, but i'd like to know what others think. thanks
 
Originally posted by me_94501
First impressions: It has some decent tools, but a crappy, un-Mac-like interface.
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The interface was pretty bad (just used it last night), and the help was downright stupid (also took about two minutes to show up), but it is a pretty good *free* alternative to Photoshop (if you don't have the money, like me). Of course it won't be as intuitive or fast or helpful as a $700 professional graphics application.

I kinda like it. 🙂
 
Originally posted by homeshire
so here's what i wanna know -- i'm no graphics pro, and i don't make a living with my mac. i do have the gimp, and i love playing with it. where does photo studio stack up to the gimp? i'm gonna try it and form my own opinions, but i'd like to know what others think. thanks
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On my G4/400, it's a little bit faster than the GIMP in processing time, looks a little cleaner, and doesn't require opening X11 (not that there's anything inherently wrong with that).

I would give it a shot if I were you.
 
ok, so i've tried it, and i gotta say i like it. otoh, i may only be showing my ignorance with that statement. but for me, it's gonna be a ball to play with.

i was initially less than impressed when i first saw the download because these are (if i'm not mistaken) the same people who provide the software for epson's scanners, and i've always been underwhelmed (to say the least) with that. but my short time with this was fun enough.

most importantly, it's free for my kids to dive into and grow up with, especially in light of the fact that these apps are always very similar. learn one, and you've gone a long way toward learning the paradigm followed by all. when they turn professional at this stuff, they can buy their high-end, high-dollar software and that's fine. but i don't wanna be compelled pay for the option for them to learn. 🙂
 
Originally posted by geerlingguy
The interface was pretty bad (just used it last night), and the help was downright stupid (also took about two minutes to show up), but it is a pretty good *free* alternative to Photoshop (if you don't have the money, like me). Of course it won't be as intuitive or fast or helpful as a $700 professional graphics application.

I kinda like it. 🙂
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Student discount. High school and college - photoshop is 299, the creative suite premium is 399 vs 1229

If you or anyone you kow is a student -- use that to get the good stuff
 
Originally posted by Duff-Man
Duff-Man says.....that is ridiculous. I am *far* from a beginner, very very very far....and I find my .mac account extremely useful and convenient, worth the money easily to me....being a professional, my *time* is worth $$ and .mac features like isync save me more $$ in unwasted time. As for this piece of software, it's just a little bonus, not likely to make me ditch photoshop elements or anything, but I'll give it a look......oh yeah!
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I like this guy!
 
Originally posted by sketchy
Student discount. High school and college - photoshop is 299, the creative suite premium is 399 vs 1229

If you or anyone you kow is a student -- use that to get the good stuff
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For many people. $300 is still way too expensive. For me it was and even at $45, I had to convince myself I really needed to get Photoshop Elements. If this were offered for free two months ago, I would have not purchased Elements and just used Photostudio instead.
 
What about GraphicConverter?

In a sense, Apple is "endorsing" certain programs with these deals. I bought iBlog a couple days before Apple started giving it away for free (I don't have a .mac account anyway), and I think that by dramatically increasing the userbase the quality of the program should increase further.

That said, GraphicConverter has grown from being a simple format changer into a fully useful image editor (much faster to load than PS on an older Mac), and I use it often when I only want to crop or adjust brightness and contrast or gamma. Doesn't anyone else out there think that GraphicConverter might have been a worthy alternate choice (and totally battle-tested)? Also, it currently enjoys a 4.8 overall rating on VersionTracker.
 
I remember using Graphics Converter on OS 8.6 nearly 5 years ago when it was still a very simple shareware program used to change file formats more than anything. The new version came preinstalled with my computer I believe and from what I saw of it, the program has become quite the impressive tool for a little of anything you may need done to touch up an image. That being said, I have also noticed that 10.3.2 has done a lot towards cutting startup times for Photoshop nearly in half.
 
Just downloaded Photostudio X. Played with it for a while. It's a usable basic photo editing program, but doesn't offer the tools I need--bezier selections, channels, masking, etc. I'll stick with GIMP for my free photo editing needs.
 
whoever complains about this is an idiot.....

Obviously this is offered for the crowd that uses iPhoto and does not own Photoshop.
I actually can not afford Photoshop at the moment, nor Elements, because I have better things to spend money on as I do not do much photo work.
If the program is no good to you, then whoopdeedoo who cares, it will be good for some people though and that is what matters.
 
ghuuud

.mac looks like a really sweet deal, been thinking about signing up after I get my hands on an ipod, in february or march, depending on what comes. Free anything's always good, I could find tons of use for the photo editing software as well as all the other bonuses Apple's given. I would also suggest getting a .mac to a new computer purchaser or a mac virgin. Or even an old person who has trouble with computers. Doesn't mean.mac is for begginnerrs. I've used apple computers for over 90 percent of my lifetime, I wasnt a begginner when mice came out.
Even though I know photoshop I'd still rather get a free program I could have some fun with, than pay money for one I don't need.
 
no iPhoto update?

if it hasn't already been suggested...i'll bet this means iPhoto will not see an update any time soon.🙄
 
Re: no iPhoto update?

Originally posted by kangaroo
if it hasn't already been suggested...i'll bet this means iPhoto will not see an update any time soon.🙄
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I disagree. iPhoto is primarily an organizational tool, with some VERY limited editing functions. Many users complain about iPhoto's limitations as an organizer: slow when using large libraries, inability to natively use multiple libraries and the like. I would never really expect iPhoto to have any significant additions in the photo editing features department.
 
ditto.

I think Apple will somehow figure out a way to speed iPhoto up (hopefully quite a bit), then add some good picture titling features. After that, maybe work on the way they organize the pictures, then speed it up some more. Someday it may be as fast as the Finder!
 
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