need a good graphics program

[rjeffers]

Hello all, this may be wrong place for posting this, but here goes. I'm looking for a good design program with good fonts, nice effects such as gradients, drop shadows, outlines, etc. Whether your creating a lable, greeting card, or whatever, I like to draw a text box, enter text, grab the corners or sides and drag it to any size or move it to any place I want. I had a simple program with my Cannon printer on my old computer called Cannon Creative. It was excellent. But it hasn't been updated to XP, with no plans to do so.

I've wasted a few bucks on Print Perfect Gold, since you can't tell what your getting by reading the jewel case. So thats why I'm asking you guys. I'll spend 30 bucks........maybe up to 50. I'm considering getting Photoshop off of file sharing, but I'm not into file sharing, especially downloading huge files.

Any suggestions?
Thanks in advance.

[GR Web FX]

Not really sure of any really good graphics programs for 30 - 50 bucks but i can certainly recomend Photoshop. I think if you spent the extra money on Photoshop i think it would be a good investment :)

There are other packages like illustrator which im told are good. I have never used it so i personally cant comment. Not sure of the price either!

[Mr. M]

I've had good luck with Paint Shop Pro 7 for photos and Fireworks for graphics. Have also used Photoshop but for simple, quick and dirty graphics, PSP is a lot smaller of a program, quicker to load and much much cheaper.

[cdt1983]

Hello all, this may be wrong place for posting this, but here goes. I'm looking for a good design program with good fonts, nice effects such as gradients, drop shadows, outlines, etc. Whether your creating a lable, greeting card, or whatever, I like to draw a text box, enter text, grab the corners or sides and drag it to any size or move it to any place I want. I had a simple program with my Cannon printer on my old computer called Cannon Creative. It was excellent. But it hasn't been updated to XP, with no plans to do so.

I've wasted a few bucks on Print Perfect Gold, since you can't tell what your getting by reading the jewel case. So thats why I'm asking you guys. I'll spend 30 bucks........maybe up to 50. I'm considering getting Photoshop off of file sharing, but I'm not into file sharing, especially downloading huge files.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

PhotoShop is the way to go. It has everything you will need and more. It is also fairly easy to learn. There are plenty of tutorials online as well as books. There is also PhotoShop Elements, which is a lot cheaper but doesn't have all the features as PS 7 or PS CS (8.0). However, for what you are suggesting, I think PS Elements would be sufficient.

Good luck

[cdt1983]

PhotoShop is the way to go. It has everything you will need and more. It is also fairly easy to learn. There are plenty of tutorials online as well as books. There is also PhotoShop Elements, which is a lot cheaper but doesn't have all the features as PS 7 or PS CS (8.0). However, for what you are suggesting, I think PS Elements would be sufficient.

Good luck

Also meant to mention, The Gimp. Very similar to photoshop and it's FREE!!!!!!!
Download it at download.com

[MasashiMikamida]

I'll spend 30 bucks........maybe up to 50. I'm considering getting Photoshop off of file sharing, but I'm not into file sharing, especially downloading huge files.

Well, I dunno how long it would take, but you can use something like Alcohol to get Photoshop 8 if you so desired. That's how I got it. It works wonders and costs nothing...but that's if you're into that sort of thing.

[kc0arf]

Hello,

The problem with GIMP is that it is limited to 256 colors... a lot of photo touch-up work should be done in the thousands or millions of colors range. I tend to use thousands, as well, the eye cannot detect more subtle changes. Then again, some of the more artsy people will want millions, and have room for alpha channels and other perks.

Photoshop is the industry leader in picture manipulation, but it lacks CAD-like tools to draw a straight line! You have to use Illustrator to do the line work... but then again, there are times, such as when you are drawing a map, that the Illustrator tools do not work so well either.

I would encourage you to take a look at Canvas... it has a blend of the raster (photoshop) and vector (illustrator) and can save an a lot of different formats. It has a 15 day demo program online... download it and check it out. If you do go for it, you will invest about $350 or so for it (not $800 that photoshop wants). FOr making maps, it was a great program to work with.

Give it a run.

Christian

[cscgal]

Huh? /me confused
I can draw a straight line in Photoshop just fine?

[Killer_Typo]

Hello, The problem with GIMP is that it is limited to 256 colors... a lot of photo touch-up work should be done in the thousands or millions of colors range. I tend to use thousands, as well, the eye cannot detect more subtle changes. Then again, some of the more artsy people will want millions, and have room for alpha channels and other perks. Photoshop is the industry leader in picture manipulation, but it lacks CAD-like tools to draw a straight line! You have to use Illustrator to do the line work... but then again, there are times, such as when you are drawing a map, that the Illustrator tools do not work so well either. I would encourage you to take a look at Canvas... it has a blend of the raster (photoshop) and vector (illustrator) and can save an a lot of different formats. It has a 15 day demo program online... download it and check it out. If you do go for it, you will invest about $350 or so for it (not $800 that photoshop wants). FOr making maps, it was a great program to work with. Give it a run. Christian

what version of gimp are you in? the version that i use has lots and lots of colors...more than 256 i believe...its the newest out yet. and the free version of it too. ill give it a run right now...yep ive got millions of colors.

[kc0arf]

Huh? /me confused I can draw a straight line in Photoshop just fine?

Hi,

A straight line on a 30, 45, 60, 90 degrees will work by holding down the shift or control keys... do not remember which at this moment. But try to trace out a line that changes directions, such as tracing a rastor image of a map, and tracing the highways out. You will find that the tool does not do a clean job of it at all.

Or try to do a Visio like document in Photoshop. It is just not designed for the vector graphics that are desired.

Christian