 What is it?
A powerful graphics and photo editor.
Who is it for?
Appropriate for both home and business--those passionate about digital photography, people who want to manipulate or create graphics for business or personal use (presentations, newsletters, flyers, etc.), designers of Web graphics and/or animation.
New features in Version 7:
Extra photo enhancement tools, such as red-eye removal, scratch removal,
automatic tools to improve crispness and impact; business and home
graphics features, such as new support for gradients, textures,
and patterns with stroke and fill when using vector shapes, lines
and text, brushes now support gradients, textures, and patterns,
more precise positioning with snap-to grids and guides, new
artistic and lighting special effects; new web design features,
such as new png optimizer; productivity and ease of use features,
such as repeat last command feature, save and retrieve workspaces,
customizable Auto Save, and more.
System requirements:
Win 95/98/NT4/2000/Me, Pentium or equivalent processor.
This is a single CD-ROM (extras are included on the CD-ROM).
Using the Program:
Users are presented with a workspace. Near the top of the screen is a Menu bar
with text commands (drop-down) and the Main Toolbar, containing frequently
used
command icons. Depending on what you have opened on the workspace, some
commands will be greyed out indicating they are not available. The Tool Palette that
runs down the left hand side of the workspace offers selection
tools (such as the arrow, freehand, magic wand, dropper), a Zoom
tool for better viewing, editing tools (such as a scratch remover
for editing photos, deformation tool for Raster images, and object
selection tool for working with Vector objects), and a wide
assortment of Painting/Drawing tools (such as paint brush, eraser,
draw tool, preset shapes, and so forth). These
tools can be tweaked using each tool's options palette (for
example, after selecting the "preset shapes" tool, users
can set the shape, such as an ellipse, line width, line style, and
so forth in this tool's options palette).
Along
the right side of the workspace screen is the Color Palette that
allows users to set the stroke and fill options (such as the
foreground and background colors, textures, and gradients) for the
tool they are using. Photo
editing options are plentiful. Users can enhance their photos in a
variety of ways--rotate, crop, adjust color balance and contrast,
red-eye removal (a little tricky), remove scratches, sharpen.
Users can even combine two photos into one with the use of layers
and a mask. Another method of enhancing or correcting images is by
adjustment layering - a tutorial is offered on this process.
Picture frames can be added to photos, as well as a variety of
special effects, such as sculpture or brush strokes. Paint
Shop Pro 7 also has powerful tools for creating custom images
using vector objects and text--great for creating custom logos and
designs. Plenty of special effects can be added to images,
including 3D effects, texture effects, artistic effects (for
example, glowing edges, charcoal, etc.). Screen
captures are also possible with the software. We captured a screen of a game we were
reviewing (below left) then cut out a picture of the character
SpongeBob in order to get a nice close-up (below right) to use in
our review:
Web
designers will appreciate the ability to preview images in a
browser, and the included software, Jasc Animation Shop 3, which
allows users to create and enhance animations with special
effects. The program includes options such as a gif optimizer,
jpeg optimizer, image mapping (a graphic with hotspots), and image
slicing. Our
Notes: This program is
powerful and the price is right. It comes with both a Getting
Started Guide and a Paint Shop Pro 7 & Animation Shop 3
Reference Guide. The latter is a thick book-sized manual that
provides wonderful details and user-friendly walkthroughs for
things like creating an animated banner, optimizing an animation,
working with layers, using vector tools and editing vector objects
and text. There is
plenty to learn and do, and those who are ready to teach
themselves will find the included tutorials and manuals very
helpful. This is a huge step up from regular photo and graphics
editors, and anyone new to graphics editing will need to invest
quite a bit of time into learning all of the ins and outs of the
program. Although well-explained, novices will have a tough time
going for a while.
**For more information,
user reviews, or to buy:
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.0 Anniversary...
at Amazon.com.
This program is also
available as a download, although the boxed version with the
manuals is worth the extra money, in our opinion. A trial version
(full demo) is available at the Jasc
site.
UPDATE: The latest
version of the product is JASC Paint Shop Pro 9
| For Windows |
By: Jasc Software |
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Published: 2002 |
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