Right, I'm in a sticky situation. I need to create some digital content for a demo, but the trial version of Paint Shop Pro X I was using has expired, and I've just spent a couple of hours exploring the severe limitations of the GIMP (goddamn, that program needs redesigning from the ground up, it's a HCI nightmare). As the GIMP won't cut the mustard, I need to buy a decent art package that will last me for the forseeable future. I'm looking at buying Paint Shop Pro X for £49.99 on Amazon, but it seems that since Corel took over, Paint Shop Pro is becoming a digital photo tool, and I'm wondering if I should get something that's more geared towards content creation, like Corel Draw or Photoshop Elements. Will Paint Shop Pro be sufficent for content creation? X seems to be, and £49.99 is a very decent price (actually, the Amazon price is lower than the Corel online price [grin])...

I wish I could answer your questions, but I can't--in fact, I'll be watching so that I can benefit from answers you get.

I wanted to concur, though, with your assessment of GIMP. It's good for filtering, cropping, etc., etc., but the hell if I know how to draw a line with it. [headshake]

Photoshop is really the mother of image-editing. It is hands down the best photo editing/manipulation, and if you have a traditional background second to Corel Painter for digital painting. If Photoshop is out of your budget, I'd still go with Paintshop Pro. CorelDraw and PSElements aren't really fully featured, as far as I know, so I'd stay away. I'd go with Paintshop Pro, its definately the biggest bang for your buck. I knew someone at Valve that skinned for Day of Defeat with PSP for years, until finally learning Photoshop when he began working on DoD:Source.

how about a modded GIMP to look/feel like Photoshop?
GimpShop

I haven't had the chance to try it out but it looks promising.

If you hate Gimp I doubt you'll like Photoshop since they're fairly similar (although I agree that Gimp's UI is worse.) I unfortunately have never used Paint Shop Pro X so I have no idea what would be similar. But I heard Microsoft Expression Graphic Designer is supposed to be nice. The have a demo you can download.

Thanks for the replies. I've decided to go with Paint Shop Pro X; it seems to have all the features I need, and I found a company on Amazon Marketplace selling it new for £39.95, which is a discount of about 60%, and very reasonable.

Thing I like about PSP is the intuitive toolbars and palettes. They autohide, float and dock, which means that run-of-the-mill tasks like manipulating layers, selecting tools and picking colours are close at hand. You don't have to Alt+Tab off to a hidden window, like with the GIMP. I did have a look at the Photoshop try-before-you-buy version a while ago, but I don't think it's system appealed to me as much as PSP's does. Had to move around a lot of toolbars and palettes a lot of the time, if I remember correctly...

Photoshop is much more powerful than Paint Shop in many ways, but PSP is much easier to get the hang of. PS has a number (a LARGE number) of actions that can only be triggered by key presses... which are listed nowhere. Anyways, PSP (for the price) cannot be beat.

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Original post by Avatar God PS has a number (a LARGE number) of actions that can only be triggered by key presses... which are listed nowhere.

I don't really want to get off topic, but what actions are you speaking of? I consider myself a photoshop wiz and know almost all of the shortcuts, even the very obscure ones, and I can't think of any that can't be accessed directly from the menu/palettes.

psp and photoshop is the same to me i use photoshop and painter ix i would get the adobe package and stick with that