GRAPHICs PROGRAM ON A BUDGET (Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8)

Member Name: stuleg

Product:	Jasc Paint Shop Pro 8
Date:	12/10/05 (493 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, User friendly

Disadvantages: It is not the newest version available

We all have programs on our PC we could not do without, and having had “Jasc Paintshop Pro” in various incarnations since I begun computing means it qualifies as my “must have” application. The Paintshop Pro series of art and graphics programs has been around for 13 years, not bad in a competitive sector of the software market. But its ease of use and well thought out features mean it competes with the best. The best price I have found Paintshop Pro 8 at is just £6.95 from Amazon, so a real bargain if you so wish.

Features of Paintshop Pro 8 include:-

Browse Effects:-
Lets you manipulate, alter or touch up your images

Create Web page backgrounds:-
Select all or part of an image you like and create a seamless tiled image for use as a Web page background

Magnifying Lens:-
If there is part of an image you like but you feel is not standing out enough you can apply the Magnifying lens to accentuate the portion. You can also enlarge and alter the magnified part as desired.

Batch Processing:-
My favourite part of Paintshop Pro, Batch Processing is not completely new to version 8. It enables you to convert Images from one format to another. The 32 file formats in Paintshop Pro 7 have been joined by 15 new ones, including JPEG 2000 and PDF files. I use Batch Conversion to convert Bitmap Pictures into JPEG`s which makes them a lot smaller for emailing.

Erase to Backgrounds:-
Paintshop Pro 8 makes erasing unwanted backgrounds on your pictures easy and risk free. Unlike normal erase tools Paintshop Pro 8 detects the edge of your picture and leaves it untouched while erasing everything else behind it.

Browse:-
Is not new but has been updated and refined for this new version. View your picture collections as thumbnails and edit, maximize or delete them at will.

Correct Distortions:-
Have you taken a picture with your camera that did not turn out quite as well as you hoped? Now you do not have to delete it, just use Paintshop Pro 8`s “Correct Distortions” feature. Common photography issues such as fisheye, pincushion distortion and barrel warp can be corrected quickly and easily. You need never have a wonky picture again.

With over 40 new tutorials included, novices to Paintshop Pro need not feel out of their depth. Users can use walk throughs to master the features of the various applications. Add to this a detailed and thorough help file which covers all aspects making Paintshop Pro 8 extremely user friendly.

Paint Shop Pro 8`s new painting engine has been rewritten to give smoother control over brush strokes. It is now much easier to use a mouse for fine detail painting and editing when before a graphics tablet may have been required.
Perspective problems in photos are no longer a problem with the Perspective options tool. Distorted photos can be aligned by a unique handle placing system to sort out your image.
It is also easy to straighten a crooked picture using the straighten tool. A line is positioned along an item that should be straight in the picture, the horizon for example. The image is then corrected.

At the price you can pick Paint Shop Pro 8 up for it really is a great graphics tool, four stars out of five.

Summary: Good range of features at a price to please

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