Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 Awesome Graphics Power at a modest price!

Over the past few years, I've tried a half dozen graphics programs. None of them felt quite right. Some were great at composing and just so-so at retouching. Others were complex and just didn't get the job done. Most had one thing in common.....
They were slow! 

I heard about Paint Shop Pro in a web design class. The instructor mentioned that in his opinion, Paint Shop Pro was a much better buy than Adobe Photoshop for most of us. 

He went on to tell us about Paint Shop's ease of use and the exceptional power the programmed offered. 

During a break  I asked a classmate who was telling another class member about the product and he agreed with the instructor. He was experienced with Photoshop but preferred Paint Shop Pro. 

I was using MGI's Photosuite at the time. It was OK but lacked features I wanted. I was also using Microsoft's Publish It, and I was still not satisfied with the results from either program. Both were painfully slow as well.

After the seminar, I got on the net, went to the Jasc Website www.jasc.com  and downloaded the complete version of Paint Shop Pro for a 30 day evaluation. 

It took me less than a half hour with the program to decide that at long last, I had found the program I was looking for.

I took a quick tour of the program and explored the various toolbars which were already familiar to me in that several other programs I used had similar icons with similar functions.

I launched on my initial project in less than a half hour of exploring the toolbars.

I wanted to restore an old childhood picture that I found in my photo album. It was in rather poor condition and the photographer must have been a rank amateur. The picture in the lower left was the original.

I wanted to remove the striated background and the numerous scratches and folds. The shadow of the shoe made the picture ungainly and had to go as well.

The table I was sitting on was an odd shape so I wanted to eliminate the bottom section and straighten the legs. The whole process took me another half hour. Not bad considering that I was learning the program at the same time.                                       

I added a colored & textured background to make the picture more interesting.  I Also cropped the picture and increased its size slightly. Imagine what I will be able to do as I become more familiar with the program. I sent the original picture via the Internet to several professional photo re-touches to  get an idea what it would cost me to have the photo retouched. Prices varied from $20.00 for a basic restoration, i.e. removing scratches and cleaning up the background to $45.00 for removing shadows and cropping to center.  I accomplished the same tasks in less than an hour. I actually saved enough to pay for half the cost of Paint Shop Pro.  I sent the image to an on-line photo service and had a photo made on photo paper.  Not only did I save money but had fun completing the project.

The Jasc Try&Buy Program allows you to download a 100% working copy of the entire program. Literally there is no risk to you and your satisfaction is assured. Of course, the download time is not a problem if you are on DSL or cable modem. Dialup 56 K modems will take a significant amount of time.

I personally recommend you purchase the program. It comes with a 146 page Getting Started Guide and a comprehensive 502 Page Reference Guide. It is indeed rare to get any documentation with software today but Jasc provides two terrific reference guides to make your experience with learning the program very positive! If you are not familiar with a graphics program, the smaller getting started guide will have you up and running in about an hour.

The amount of features in the program will allow you to do just about anything you may need to accomplish with a graphic or a photo.

With Paint Shop Pro you can.....

Create Graphics.....

Here is an example of a logo I designed in less than five minutes. The Saturn image was an  imported clip art image from another program.  I added the text to the top of the graphic. The sectioned ball at the bottom was on the preset shapes item on the tools palette in Paint Shop Pro.  The program delivers Amazing power and it is very easy to use.

Create Animations.....

This  is an example of a simple animation I created using the logo I designed and a page turning effect.  This was done with the animation wizard in a few minutes. More elaborate animations can be created with practice. You can combine separate objects within a single graphic and make each element move independently. This version of the program includes Animation Shop which was a separate program a short time ago.

Red Eye Removal

Most graphics programs offer a red eye removal feature. I am not aware of any that work with animals as well. Paint Shop Pro not only performs animal red eye removal, but it does it almost automatically. Note the red eye on the dog in the photo on the left. In seconds, I removed it giving the image a natural look.

Shapes and Effects

Paint Shop Pro is rich in features. One of my personal favorites is the Preset Shapes Tool. It is a library of various shapes, and unlike standard clip art, the items are sized as they are placed in the workspace. You simply drag the target cursor until the item is the exact size you need from very tiny to full age size.  You can also add your own shapes and items such as buttons to the library. And you can frame your work like my sample.

Text Manipulation

Here you see three elements. The Circle, the top hat and the text.

Wrapping is just a matter of bringing the text tool to the shape you want to wrap the text to and when you see the wrap icon, let go and the text is wrap With Paint Shop Pro, you can manipulate text to fit around an object or follow a curved line. 

The myriad of other features of this wonderful program would fill dozens of additional pages! Don't take my word for it, go to the Jasc Website and download the program. Just click on the link below

www.jasc.com

Although the documentation in  the program is excellent, I recommend that if you are new to Graphics programs, get a copy of either of the two terrific books below. See them at www.amazon.com (search by title)

Click here to download Paint Shop Pro 30 Day Free Trial Program