What graphics art program does everyone use?

[metomeya]

I was wondering cause right now i'm using macromedia Fireworks, cause it came with the bundle i purchased. While it is a powerful graphics program, it has a few faults that I really hate. One being the text it puts on any computer has horrible resolution.



Anyways graphics program does everyone use? And which is the best?





I used to only use photoshop, but I lost it and its an old version now anyways. I've been hearing good things about adobe's stuff.
:confused: :eek:

[Gargoyle]

Try the Gimp (http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net/). It's free and has many of photoshop's features.

[primesuspect]

I use photoshop. There's just really nothing else. Once you know how to use it, you can't imagine using anything else. It's expensive, but worth it.

[Gargoyle]

If you or someone you know is a student, you get one heck of a discount on it too :D

[floppybootstomp]

Photoshop. Still struggling to come to terms with it though :confused:

Two years ago, I bought a coupla books for Photoshop, one was a course with lessons, came with a CD that had programmed one hour lessons. The other was a quick guide at how to get fancy results quickly.

The latter was quite good, managed a few good text thingies, but it wasn't really teaching me, I was just following the instructions.

One day, I'll actually set some time aside and learn this thing, all I use it for now is basic rotate/resize/change contrast & tone etc.

I have only one person and one reason to blame for my ignorance of this program - myself & my laziness :o

[RWB]

Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Fireworks... I have the whole Macromedia Suite, and am trying to get my hands on the whole suite of goodies from Adobe as well, damned money.

I am curious what version you used to have of Photoshop btw?

[PressX]

Photoshop. Can't beat it for image editing and manipulation. Illustrator for vector. It can give you a little more detail than Photoshop. However, some of the features that were useful are starting to appear in Photoshop (Both adobe). Fireworks is great for web based work but I would use PS/Illustrator combo for better results for print based solutions. Fireworks is the best prog for making editble rollover menu! - Try following it's tutorial you'll be making cool rollovers within mins. - (see the left and top menu for example HERE (http://www.ipressx.com/) ) Overall if you use a combination of the three you will need for little else.

[Thrax]

Photoshop for everything but vector work. Once you learn photoshop, however, you'll never go back. You can do anything to photos with it. If you have the imagination, and can develop the skills, there's no stopping you.

[Straight_Man]

I was wondering cause right now i'm using macromedia Fireworks, cause it came with the bundle i purchased. While it is a powerful graphics program, it has a few faults that I really hate. One being the text it puts on any computer has horrible resolution.



Anyways graphics program does everyone use? And which is the best?





I used to only use photoshop, but I lost it and its an old version now anyways. I've been hearing good things about adobe's stuff.
:confused: :eek:

Actually, Fireworks was not intended to do GOOD to EXCELLENT print-quality graphics. It was intended for web graphics, on screen only.

To get decent print fonts, try Photoshop, or any of Corel's products. Corel uses Bitstream fonts AND ttf (TrueType Fonts), Photoshop uses mostly ttf. From Corel Draw I can gen either print or web graphics, for web I use 96x96 to 100x100 and NOT 72x72. 72x72 WILL look rough on a high-quality monitor, the edges will jaggy in strange places. 96x96 does not look Bad on my 80x81 PPI monitor, a tiny tib of jaggy but not much. On a 72x72 monitor, probably ditto (I have dropped my res here such that I can emulate about a 70x71 PPI density as far as effective density to check). So, I gen 96x96 PPI graphics sans text, drop text in ttf or bitstream vector fonts on top of that layer, and then have the program convert the text to curves and then embed text into bottom layer. I save the result. THEN I web-tune that result, and get smooth curves as they are vector-math edged totally and the browser and computer can regen the edges for the display mode. Now I'll tell you the other half of that trick, the web-tuned result also prints decently but not perfect.

[metomeya]

Talking about corel, where are they?

I seemed before the internet corel was hands down the program for image work.


by the way Thrax, what would you consider a good program for vector work? Causes thats usually what i mess with and photoshop (i thought I just didn't know how to use it right) like you said doesn't do it too well (the older version i had). :scratch:

[Thrax]

I prefer illustrator for vector work. I know most vector artists do too.

[KingFish]

I appreciate all of the features and power of photoshop but haven't even come close to mastering it. I find myself using paint shop pro vers 8 for the little bit of chopping that I'm capable of. Someone put together a good "how to" section for common editing elements in photoshop, will ya?

[MediaMan]

Photoshop is the most widely used and most powerful image manipulator.
Illustrator ranks the same for vector artwork.
After Effects is the most powerful 2D motion software. From there your next step is a Henry or a Flame.

[Thrax]

I can't even conceive how I personally would write a tutorial for photoshop. It's 20% knowledge, 80% finesse.

[PressX]

Remember there are others who have replied. If you going to ask or a little info and many people take the time and effort to reply then a little gratitude would not go a miss.

[MediaMan]

I can't even conceive how I personally would write a tutorial for photoshop. It's 20% knowledge, 80% finesse.

There is truth in that. These programs are just tools. If you were to change DaVinci's paintbrush then would he no longer be an artist?

A powerful PC with state of the art software will only allow the user to collide with a mistake that much faster. It's not the tool. It's the artist who controls it.

[CB]

Wow, I guess Photoshop is pretty popular...

I use Paint Shop Pro for photos and other single layer edits. I use Fireworks for Multi-layer graphics, and all of my from-scratch web graphics.

I use photoshop for awhile, and while it was useful for editing photos, I found it unwieldy for creating new graphical elements from scratch.

[Private_Snoball]

I've dabbled in Photoshop and it seems to be the most widely used, but man it confuses me. I just wanted to make a custom spray with a few different images for Counter Strike:Source and it took me about 2 hours. Granted this was the first time really using the program for anything other than resizing it was extremely overwhelming. I don't even know where to begin. Any help to some books or something that might at least give the concepts of what everything actually does and when to use them would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks everyone,
Alex

[Dexter]

PhotoShop for Dummies.

No insult intended, but the Dummies books are great, well written and informative. My wife is currently working her way through the Photoshop one, and I have glanced through it. Having used Photoshop for about 10 years, my opinion is that it is a very good resource.

Dexter...

[LawnMM]

Photoshop. Its the best. The end.

[Nomad]

Finely aged vintage-threads with a hint of modernism.

*Smells*

Breathtaking.

[metomeya]

Okay lets make this the final message on this post.

If you have an income: Photoshop HANDS DOWN

If you are a 13 year old nerd with no income (like more the half the internet is): Get the GIMP (its free!) :thumbsup:

[LawnMM]

Nah, get broadband

[leishi85]

Nah, get broadband

lol, true.

[metomeya]

Leishi85, where did you get that icon

the thread shall never DIE! :necro: :kneel:

[Wink]

I use PaintShop Pro (PSP) and Fireworks for web graphics and Macromedia FreeHand for vector, print work. FreeHand and Fireworks work really well together when you want to use something you've done in FreeHand and then want to paste or import into Fireworks.

PSP is owned by Corel now. It's a great program that's easy on the wallet. I've used Photoshop a little, but can't afford the price. Photosop is a good program to get if you can afford it.

Adobe Illustrator is OK, but I prefer FreeHand - it's easier to learn and does a great job. I guess basically it's what you are use to using. Maybe you could download the trial versions and then go from there.

Wink