Program advice

Hello, I have been playing with my PSP 8 for about a week now, made some outfits using alpha channels, and generally discovered that I seem to be becoming addicted to making spiff clothing in SL.

My problem is that, while there are some excellent tutorials in Sl on PSP, the vast majority are aimed at PS. I am beginning to think that, as someone who needs all the help she can get, I might be better served to bite the bullet and buy PS. But I can't justify the $600 to myself for the full version. Elements, however, is certainly reasonable enough.

So, the short version of this question is--would PS Elements do the trick and allow me to use the tutorials and downloads available for PS proper?

I wouldn't bother with PSE. Its similarities to PS are pretty much just cosmetic. It's limited in a lot of ways. The PSP you already have is far more powerful. If you've got a hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket, I'd recommend upgrading to the latest PSP before I'd recommend PSE.

For amateur digital photographers who just want a few basic tools to process their photos, PSE is great, but for more broad endeavors, it's pretty lacking. Its only real strongpoint is that it has a similar basic layout and workflow to Photoshop. As far as the amount of bang for the buck, PSP wins hands down. (And that's saying a lot coming from a die hard Adobe fanboy like me.)

While you'll unquestionably be able to follow Photoshop tutorials more easily initially with PSE than with PSP, you'll find that you won't be able to finish many of them. There tons of Photoshop functions that PSE simply doesn't have, some of which border on stupidly basic.

With PSP, the menu layout, the names of certain functions and tools, and the workflow, will be a little different, but at least you'll be able to finish what you start. By no means can it do everything Photoshop can do, but there's not a whole lot specifically SL related that you won't be able to do with it. It's really just a question of learning how Photoshop terminology translates to PSP terminology, and discovering how all the menus and tool options are laid out.

You might want to download the free 30 day trials of Photoshop, PSE, and the latest PSP, and compare them.

Try GIMP. Its free. For $30 US you can buy a good GIMP book from Amazon to help you translate between PS and Gimp

True...there are some clumsinesses...but you save L$160,000.

Point taken. I have to admit I'm a tad surprised that everyone else in the universe has Photoshop. Were they passing copies out for free when I was sleeping in?

But, yes, I'll stick with PSP for now, then. Or perhaps GIMP--does GIMP have any advantages over PSP 8?

Are you a teacher or student? You can get some pretty good buys using the educator's discount. I buy the academic versions of software and save a lot of money. Sometimes I have to fax a copy of my teacher’s ID or proof of employment. But, it is worth it, considering how much I save.

Jen

I reccomend getting on ebay and looking for photoshop that is one or several versions back from current. These are much cheaper than list price for the current version and you still get most of the great features and power of photoshop.

Good advice--shopping around I have found Photoshop CS for about 70$, and CS/2 for a bit under 100$, both affordable enough for what one gets.

I am not sure my system will support CS/2, however--would I still be able to use all the tutorials and what not with CS?

Photoshop for $70? This IS a pirate copy, which presents several problems: a) it might not work, b) it is theft, and c) why would those software pirates stop at just stealing software when you provide them with your credit card -- you are giving your credit card # to thieves. And even if it does appear to work, you don't really know what is installed on your system.

Either pop $600 for a *real* copy, or go with Gimp for free. Buying software from thieves is going to cause you grief.

Caveat Emptor.

P.S. One way that might work a little cheaper and is legal is to find a really old copy of Photoshop (5 will work I think) on eBay or whatever, and then purchase the upgrade.

P.P.S.: I swallowed the pill and went for CS, even though I am not an artist (I dabble, and use it for photos), and while I did find the price steep, I'm glad I did.

Thank you for your concern--I assure you I would never knowingly use pirated software, for both the reasons you cite and for personal ethical reasons.

The copies I was looking at are here
http://www.ankhsoft.com/info-Adobe_Photoshop_CS___Adobe_ImageReady_CS.html
A few minutes of poking about on Froogal found the listing.

For now, I'm holding off purchase from that source until I find out more about the firm. The academic discount is another good idea I may pursue.

But leaving that question aside, CS works fine for SL, I gather? (ie. there is no real SL need for CS/2?)

Failing that, I do have PSP8. Does GIMP have any advantage over that?

ANKHSOFT.COM is registered in Russia:

Registrant:
Boris Tsirlin +7.2122466144
starNt
Leninsky prsp-t 145/5 apt 59
Moscow,Moscovia,RUSSIAN FEDERATION 123745

Although their web servers apparently resolve to the Philippines.

Additionally has no SSL certificate (and here their website is just plain lying, they claim they do have an SSL certificate).

What does this mean? Boris, in Russia, wants you to trust him to give you your credit card information over an unsecure web connection for software at prices that are too good to be true, just 10% of the price in the US. Furthermore Boris will provide the software via download... you get the idea.

Also this "business" has changed its name and web domain *coughs for effect* at least 12 times in the past. Hmmm.

Well, I feel just a little bit foolish now. Thank you very much for looking that up--my cursory google search hadn't found anything of the sort. All I'll say in my defense here is that as someone whose entire RL wardrobe consists of remaindered and second hand items, a software equivalent of same didn't seem absurd.

So....I am looking at a variety of options here.

-Just keep using PSP 8, in all its clunky, unsupported glory
-Upgrade PSP 8 to PSP XI
-Download and use GIMP
-Buy an Academic version of PS (I can do this legitimately, although it's still expensive)
-Buy an old version of PS and upgrade it, as you suggest.

I think I like the last option best, but having just nearly gotten my fool self burnt, I am now cautious about buying old version of software

I would recommend downloading and using GIMP. It's free with no strings attached (that I'm aware after reading the EULA), it's pretty powerful too. The main problem I found when I first got and tried the program is it's a graphics program written by many real geeks............and the help manual reflects that. . I read all over this forum about Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro and the tricks and tips for getting some "problem" resolved and I have found none of those "problems" with GIMP. But, I'm no graphics nerd either and probably am not experienced enough to even know if I have a "problem". The point is, it's free, it's readily available for download to PC, Mac, and Linux platforms (I use Google to search for "the GIMP" and it works in SL.

I would imagine anyone with Photo Shop or Paint Shop Pro skills could and would adapt to the GIMP quite easily.......and vice versa. The learning curve is quite high at first but with experimenting and trying different (even bazaar) things the help manual starts making sense and begins to really help with details as you learn. Don't be afraid of the program after reading the help as I did (it just sat here on my hard drive for a couple months after I read the first couple of chapters).........break it out and play around with it. It took me probably 6 hours of trying different things with layers and alpha channels until it started clicking in my head what that manual was telling me.

Give it a shot........on a reasonable broadband connection you can download it and install it in less than a half hour. It can't be any larger a program than Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro (though I can't say that for sure ). What do you have to loose except a few minutes of your time and possibly few more minutes to uninstall if you find it not to your liking or not of any use for you?

Take care and good luck
Peggy

I've tried Gimp, and think it is equal to Photoshop in terms of features, it just has a higher learning curver (meaning you must invest a bit of time instead of money), and is more idiosyncratic. The big reason to get Photoshop is that if you do translate your hobby into a semi-profession or profession, Photoshop is basically the only standard. Hey, and if you think turning your hobby into a profession is an idle pipedream, then we need to talk: this is exactly what I did (not graphics though).

I've only skimmed this thread, so pardon if this has already been mentioned, but there's an add-on for GIMP called GIMPshop that changes the user interface to more closely resemble Photoshop's. It's been mentioned here several times in the past and those who use it seem to recommend it highly. It might make following Photoshop specific tutorials a bit easier, and you can't beat the price of the GIMP.

Yes, there's an add-on for GIMP called GimpShop, well worth getting.

As for learning curve - well, it took me a couple weeks of serious off and on effort, but it really makes sense now that I'm past the hump. Google for the free online book "Grokking the GIMP" - that's the basic intro you need to really make good use of the program.

Its nearly as powerful as photoshop, and where its lacking (from what I understand) is mostly in the photographic pre-presss areas needed for printing CMYK and other nerdy stuff like that - if you were being paid to work professionally as a graphic artist you'd want Photoshop, otherwise GIMP will answer most of what you need to do.

Where its going to hurt is, a lot of the add-ons need to be compiled, and for that you need Linux. But for everything I've needed to do so far, the basic windows install is more than enough.

I've also heard good things about Pixia (another freeware graphics program) but I have not looked into that yet.

Online Help Manual for the GIMP-can be downloaded to disk:
http://gimp-savvy.com/BOOK/
Grokking the GIMP - Learning Advanced Image Editing Techniques

My bedtime reading lately has been,
Beginning GIMP: From Novice to Professional, by Akkana Peck.
$34.49 from Amazon including shipping. Its pretty good. Written from the point of view of a Photographer, not an Artist or computer tech.

If you work for Adobe or an authorized reseller you get a massive discount.