Corels latest Paint Pro is 66 percent off today

[shortylickens]

at Amazon.

Its the full day sale, not the one hour thing, so you can spend the day researching online if you like. I checked it out on Youtube and it seems nice. The have separate tabs for the manager, quick editor, and full editor so its easy to do what you want.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX78cEbrjl8

I know you folks who consider yourselves serious photo leet haxors will prefer to steal Photoshop or buy it cheap when you go to college. But Corels suite is actually pretty darn good and a great deal for the money. And at a much lower price its acceptable for amateurs who want to step up from free programs. Of course if you have already mastered Gimp I see no reason to switch now.
I started editing with Corel back in the Windows 3 days and just got used to it. One day I came across the full suite version 8 at the Navy Exchange for dirt cheap (the first Win98 version) and picked it up. Been using it ever since. Think now that they have some genuine improvements I may go up a version.

Oh, and they are also selling the video suite too.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=cs_top_nav_gb27
I know nothing about that, so I wont comment.



EDIT:
Deal over.
How many took advantage? Or do you think folks would rather pirate better software?

[Gooberlx2]

PSP is definitely full featured for the price. Last I used it (X2) it was kinda buggy and unstable though. Reading user reviews, that still seems a common complaint. My other irritation was the phone-home protexis licensing DRM service that was installed.

I find it perplexing they still haven't moved on to 64-bit. Is at least 16-bit output support in yet?

[shortylickens]

Version 8 could make 48-bit images. Or is that not what you meant?
Did you mean the app itself? I've been doing plenty with the older 32 bit apps and they are plenty fast.

[Gooberlx2]

Originally Posted by shortylickens

Version 8 could make 48-bit images. Or is that not what you meant?
Did you mean the app itself? I've been doing plenty with the older 32 bit apps and they are plenty fast.

Apparently some of the plugins, as recently as X4, only operate on 8-bit/channel images, so an image would be converted and subsequently lose information in that operation.

Yeah, 64-bit processing isn't a huge deal or anything, but it certainly does have it advantages as well.

My biggest gripe was always the phome-home DRM service. It just bugs me.

[shortylickens]

I blocked it in my Firewall. But still had to activate it the first time and be online.


Oh, yeah, I got it, the online version. Maybe the disc version doesnt need to call home (doubtful).

So far I like it, but I'm coming from a 14 year old version, so obviously there would be improvements. Things run much smoother and the program isnt big at all, even after the huge service pack. Only 172 megs, the older version I had was actually bigger.

The manager/thumbnail portion is slow and clunky compared to ACDSee, but it gets the job done. They make you import shit into albums and collections, which I dont like. Its easier for me to just navigate folders on my hard drive. I hate tagging and keywording stuff. But it is fast once you get into your albums. And also has basic editing options, like rotate, resize, and those stupid instagram effects so popular today. Theres like 60 of them and you can make or download more.

http://i.imgur.com/S2EcG.jpg
(also has light grey and blue themes, if you like)

In fact I get the impression they were strongly aiming this at the casual market, with the Facebook, Myspace, and other social network plugins. But overall its acceptable, I would not swap back and forth between ACDSee if I was editing/fixing images. I could just use this.

The Adjust tab has most of your basic photo fixing stuff, color correction, noise reduction, and all that other junk. Also by default it still has that instagram filter nonsense on the side, which of course can be closed or moved, or replaced with tools you actually need.

http://i.imgur.com/xm3XM.jpg
A little more comprehensive than most other basic image correcting apps, but probably not as good as Photoshop Lightroom or whatever the hell you folks prefer to use. The most advanced thing there is the color histogram which is probably what most users dont need. But again, it can be disabled.

I do like that you can go back and forth between tabs (modes) while always looking at the same image, and you arent forced to save & close & reopen again.

Speaking of which I will review the editor later.

[foghorn67]

Nice passive aggressive opening.
Can't you accept there are plenty that buy Photoshop for a reason. The third party support is incredible. That alone justifies the purchase for me.
I demo'd Corel's suite a year ago. And it was slow and buggy.
Photoshop was on sale few months ago for less than 250 on Amazon. Full, non-upgrade.
Lightroom is untouchable. You can't go wrong for its frequent sale price of 100 bucks.