I use Photoshop 7 right now, and Adobe 6 (full)

I am looking to "get with the times" and upgrade to newer versions.

I am also looking for a vector based program, I have Corel Draw / PhotoPaint 8  Which works well, but i see many new features in the CorelCX3 version.

The prices are a bit high for these, around $600 for photoshop, and $500 for Corel CX3

I put in my numbers for Corel and Adobe for the upgrade, but they aren't "new enough" to qualify.

My question is:

Do you guys that know everything about anything (and be right) have input on going to a middle version of the software?

Like corel 10, or whatever is between Photo 7 and CS

I have been told those are sold cheaply (the Suites are what i am looking for), and I don't know where to look for them and not get ripped off.

I think the software I have doesn't work because I bought it "used", so it was registered to somebody else.

I would prefer legal channels, I guess they are taking away your computers and houses if you have a invalid copy.  

Advice/Input/Alterntives?

I've been working in the design business for circa 10 years..

I recommend only the following:

Entire Adobe Creative Suite

or

Photochop CS
Illustrator CS
In design (Quark Xpress = too $$$)

In all honesty these are simply the best and worth every penny. I've never used any corel draw apps in a professional studio, and don't know any design professionalswho use corell products.

I concur with JohanLondon, save that I would recommend CS2 rather than CS, as it's the latest version. But then again, I'm not a pro designer, just amateur.

I am a hobbiest, not a pro.  I dont' make money from my playing around.

For those who can aford CS2 and use it casually, how do you justify the cost?  That is an AR!

There can't be THAT much difference between versions, can there?  I only want some of the new "wizards" I saw a "pro" had on his Corel CX3 Suite.   Like autotexturedesigner, fractal paint, etc...

Get the CS suite, CS2 is a bit better but atm not enough to justify the added cost (and it runs quite a bit slower than CS). Not sure what you mean by Adobe 6, Adobe is the company that makes most of the best graphic software (including Photoshop). Do you mean Acrobat? Nice program but it's not made for creating documents.

The three most useful would be Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign (and yes, InDesign is WAY better than Quark Express, cheaper too). If you wanted to cut some cost you could try Photoshop Elements, it's pretty much a stripped Photoshop but most people don't use half of what Photoshop can do.

The Corel software is a "suite" and it's not too bad in terms of capabilities. Compatability is one of it's main issues as no professionals use it. Adobe CS is lightyears ahead of it and worth the cost if you are a serious user.

For vector work use Illustrator, though Freehand is decent too.

Know any students???


www.studentdiscounts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=3355

The student thing can often be played "legally", and save you a bundle of money. The local community college I attended has many software discounts available. In many instances, it is possible to pay $45 for a rinky-dink 1-course-hour class (that you never attend), and possibly qualify for many hundreds of dollars of software discounts.

Two important things to find out before proceeding!
1) For some software there are student requirements (such as being in a particular degree program, or attending a minimum number of hours per semester) but many titles have no other requirements besides "currently a student".
2) For some software titles, the "student" versions are crippled in ways that the commercially-sold versions are not. You need to go searching online to find out if this is the case for the particular software you are seeking, and (if anything is missing) if you can live without the missing features or not. For example--when I was attending there, I bought MS Office 2K at a deep discount. The main things the student version was missing were some workgroup features--but using it at home, I never needed them anyway (I can't recall what I paid for Office2K). The Adobe creative suite I bought (back in 2000) had Photoshop 7, Illustrator 10, GoLive 6, LiveMotion 2, Acrobat 5 and InDesign 2,,, and isn't missing any of the features I've ever needed. I paid $300 for the whole Adobe bundle, when a single regular copy of Photoshop cost $550 retail.
~

Quoted: Get the CS suite, CS2 is a bit better but atm not enough to justify the added cost (and it runs quite a bit slower than CS). Not sure what you mean by Adobe 6, Adobe is the company that makes most of the best graphic software (including Photoshop). Do you mean Acrobat? Nice program but it's not made for creating documents. The three most useful would be Photoshop, Illustrator & InDesign (and yes, InDesign is WAY better than Quark Express, cheaper too). If you wanted to cut some cost you could try Photoshop Elements, it's pretty much a stripped Photoshop but most people don't use half of what Photoshop can do. The Corel software is a "suite" and it's not too bad in terms of capabilities. Compatability is one of it's main issues as no professionals use it. Adobe CS is lightyears ahead of it and worth the cost if you are a serious user. For vector work use Illustrator, though Freehand is decent too.

All of what Sumo said = correct.

Illustrator is lightyears ahead of any Corel stuff, Freehand is good and I used to swear by it, but oh my, Illustrator is just so excellent in every way that I only use it.

Quoted: I am a hobbiest, not a pro.  I dont' make money from my playing around. For those who can aford CS2 and use it casually, how do you justify the cost?  That is an AR! There can't be THAT much difference between versions, can there?  I only want some of the new "wizards" I saw a "pro" had on his Corel CX3 Suite.   Like autotexturedesigner, fractal paint, etc...

I, like you, am not a pro and I do not make money from my photoshopping. This is why I worry less about using borrowed versions/copies. My advice is to pick a platform and get it. If borrowing is an issue, look into the student license route. Oh, I really like CS2(and all Adobe products) and there are ZILLIONS of free actions on the web that can automate things, if you like that stuff.


ByteTheBullet  (-:

Quoted: I am a hobbiest, not a pro.  I dont' make money from my playing around. For those who can aford CS2 and use it casually, how do you justify the cost?  That is an AR! There can't be THAT much difference between versions, can there?  I only want some of the new "wizards" I saw a "pro" had on his Corel CX3 Suite.   Like autotexturedesigner, fractal paint, etc...

None of them actually buy it, they just download it using bit torrent or get it through other means.

Quoted: Quoted: I am a hobbiest, not a pro.  I dont' make money from my playing around. For those who can aford CS2 and use it casually, how do you justify the cost?  That is an AR! There can't be THAT much difference between versions, can there?  I only want some of the new "wizards" I saw a "pro" had on his Corel CX3 Suite.   Like autotexturedesigner, fractal paint, etc... None of them actually buy it, they just download it using bit torrent or get it through other means.

Learn to use the alt.binaries.* newsgroups and you'll never have to pay for software again.  Not that I would do anything like that, because we all know that this is wrong.  But I've heard of other people doing it.

I don't get USENET or news with my ISP, what program do you use for torrent (sp?)   I had Kazaa for music until it all turned into junk/fake tunes, is there something new?

Of course, I would only be looking for a trial edition to evaluate in order to justify spending several hundred dolloars.


Has anybody bought the "1 Version Old" OEM programs from online stores?  Are those real, or do you get jipped?  

That would be the method I would prefer to go, so I could get the books and support and upgrades.

Quoted: I don't get USENET or news with my ISP, what program do you use for torrent (sp?)   I had Kazaa for music until it all turned into junk/fake tunes, is there something new?

No ISP that I know of has a good news server any more.  That's why it's well worth the $15/mo. for an outside NNTP account like EasyNews, Supernews, Newscene, or Agent Newsgroups.  Or so I've heard from other people.

Of course, I would only be looking for a trial edition to evaluate in order to justify spending several hundred dolloars.

Of course you are.

Try The Gimp. Its great for the non-pro graphics designer, and free. It can do some amazing things.

Quoted: Try The Gimp. Its great for the non-pro graphics designer, and free. It can do some amazing things.

I was just about to post the same.  It's pretty amazing for a free program. I use it all the time.

Quoted: Try The Gimp. Its great for the non-pro graphics designer, and free. It can do some amazing things.

I installed it and like it, but it does everything my version of Photoshop does.  I am looking more for the texture/effect wizards/plugins available.

Is there a vector based version of The Gimp?    I am happy with my current raster based, but would like a couple of the new bells and wisles, but I am most interested in the Vector creation with built in fractal/rendered texture fills.   Not to the point of 3DStudio or anything, but for a cool looking brochure type thing to get printed for advertsing a local handgun course- IDPA, no money in it for me, just helping and would like it to make it look professional.

Weekend input?

I am looking at the older version suites, Adobe 7 photoshop/illustrator/etc for $50, are those OEM 1-olds good?  

Anybody know a good software internet store?

Quoted: I don't get USENET or news with my ISP, what program do you use for torrent (sp?)   I had Kazaa for music until it all turned into junk/fake tunes, is there something new?

Bit Torrent Client - Azureus

Stay away from Kazaa... piece of crap. I use LimeWire for the majority of my mp3's. Everything else I "obtain" through Torrents.

-d

I'm a freelance professional illustrator, and I use Photoshop CS1 (the equivalent of version 8) for all of my digital work.  I don't do any vector based work in Illustrator.

If you buy it a lot cheaper than what Adobe would charge you, you are buying a bootleg copy that someone pirated and burned to disc.  These often do not come with all the manuals and documentation, and have no guarantee of working.  This does not apply to the student software; Adobe wants graphics students to learn and become comfortable with their software, so that when they graduate and join the workforce, they will use Adobe products at their jobs.  Thusly, a student discount can often get you the software you need for cheaper than you would normally be able to legally obtain it.

Several of my peers use a program called openCanvas.  It's fairly inexpensive (less than 100 USD) shareware that seems to work well for them.  Others use Corel Painter, and it also works well.  However, this is all for illustration and character drawing; I don't know how well these programs will suit your needs.  You should at least try openCanvas, as it is shareware and thusly try-before-you-buy (though it is Windows-only, so if you're on a Mac like I am, you're SOL).

Quoted: I'm a freelance professional illustrator, and I use Photoshop CS1 (the equivalent of version 8) for all of my digital work.  I don't do any vector based work in Illustrator.

I am ok in using photoshop 7 for graphics and the photoshop stuff for fun like forum photos.  For this handout/flyer thing, it seems the text tools and getting any effects on them are much harder than in a vector program.  Using photoshop, I am writing it with a new layer for each section of text, and then aligning them for the folds and stuff is a PITA, I haven't quite figured out how to keep track of my layer names, since I have about 10 paragraphs and 7 graphic objects and not much for description when renaming layers, other than intro, about us, etc.  Taking 30 seconds to decide which layer, then jumping to the wrong layer to make an edit is telling me I am doing it wrong.

The logo and the thumbnail photos are basically the only graphics if I want to make it look plain, I think I will just make the graphic parts in photoshop and the rest of it in OpenOffice.  Am I overcomplicating it?  I don't know if the printshop will accept a word/rtf/etc document, or how it would turn out.  Is there an internet printing company that takes word files?

Quoted: Bit Torrent Client - Azureus

I must be an idiot.  When I try to run the .jar file, it says "Java runtime not found".  I have the java runtime installed, I did everything in the order they mentioned on the sourceforge page, and uninstalled/reinstalled the java environment, but it says I need to install the java environment.  Firefox and OpenOffice work fine, which both require the JRE.  

I guess I suck at the haxxor, and the price of the software is my stupid tax.

Quoted: Quoted: I don't get USENET or news with my ISP, what program do you use for torrent (sp?)   I had Kazaa for music until it all turned into junk/fake tunes, is there something new? Bit Torrent Client - Azureus Stay away from Kazaa... piece of crap. I use LimeWire for the majority of my mp3's. Everything else I "obtain" through Torrents. -d

Ditto that.... and hit up mininova or torrent spy

Quoted: Quoted: I'm a freelance professional illustrator, and I use Photoshop CS1 (the equivalent of version 8) for all of my digital work.  I don't do any vector based work in Illustrator. I am ok in using photoshop 7 for graphics and the photoshop stuff for fun like forum photos.  For this handout/flyer thing, it seems the text tools and getting any effects on them are much harder than in a vector program.  Using photoshop, I am writing it with a new layer for each section of text, and then aligning them for the folds and stuff is a PITA, I haven't quite figured out how to keep track of my layer names, since I have about 10 paragraphs and 7 graphic objects and not much for description when renaming layers, other than intro, about us, etc.  Taking 30 seconds to decide which layer, then jumping to the wrong layer to make an edit is telling me I am doing it wrong. The logo and the thumbnail photos are basically the only graphics if I want to make it look plain, I think I will just make the graphic parts in photoshop and the rest of it in OpenOffice.  Am I overcomplicating it?  I don't know if the printshop will accept a word/rtf/etc document, or how it would turn out.  Is there an internet printing company that takes word files?

you're doing things the hard way. Photoshop is not the proper platform for laying out brochures.

having said that, any print shop can handle a pdf.

Aye.  You'd be better off doing the purely graphical work in PS then exporting it and doing the layout and text in MS Word.  For the brochure thing, you really want something like Adobe InDesign.