Every once in a while, I get the question about why Corel has multiple bitmap / photo-editing products, what are the differences between each and which one to choose. While an option would have been to merge them all into one, having different solutions available to answer different users needs has been, and remains the way to go forward for us.First Corel PHOTO-PAINT (this is posted on CorelDRAW.com after all). This product, which is part of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite and the Corel DESIGNER Technical Suite, is an all-purpose professional bitmap editing application for users who require image manipulation as part of their graphics design and production workflow such as printing, awards, sign making and marketing collaterals creation (packaging, flyers, ...). It has been built from the ground-up to be fully integrated with CorelDRAW / Corel DESIGNER for a seamless workflow back and forth and provides a very similar user interface and experience. Corel PHOTO-PAINT also includes specific features that are relevant for design oriented users such as CMYK and LAB support, spot colors and color separation, in addition to the photo-editing related features such as camera RAW support, tone curves and image correction. Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo focuses on digital-photography editing and includes a streamlined interface to guide users through the process of making their digital photos look amazing. (In addition to one-click photo fixes such as Smart Photo Fix and the Makeover Tools for those new to photo editing), Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo includes advanced yet intuitive photo-editing features such as HDR Photo Merge to create the perfect shot, Clarify to automatically dodge and burn and support for more than 250 RAW raw camera formats. With the Learning Center in Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo users can grow with the software as their knowledge and skills progress making it the ideal choice for any aspiring enthusiasts or even the seasoned professional. Last but not least in the three main pro-level bitmap solutions from Corel, I need to talk about Corel Painter: While Corel PHOTO-PAINT and Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo can be associated to being the digital equivalent of the darkroom, Corel Painter is truly a digital canvas, enabling professional artists and photographers to create amazing paintings. With a true down-to-the-bristle and paper-type simulation, Corel Painter enables users to control every detail of their paintings, enabling the combination of multiple technics such as oil, watercolors and even airbrush on the same canvas. And with the photo-painting features, those who did not yet have as much practice as a master can still create unique pieces of art and have them printed on a canvas. Corel Painter is also the only bitmap solution from Corel that is both for MacOS and Windows.In summary, Corel PHOTO-PAINT is a professional bitmap-editing solution for the graphics design and production workflow, Corel PaintShop Pro PHOTO focuses on the digital photo editing and Corel Painter is the ultimate art studio on a computer.
From the point of view of those who have come to Corel as users of previous versions of Paint Shop Pro, they face a different dilemma, and one which is not solved by any Corel product. Originally the vast majority of PSP users were digital painters, but the recent emphasis on photography has completely disenfranchised them. There were once thousands of web sites of PSP tutorials and resources... most are now abandoned or gone. The users have either stuck to an old version, or moved to Photoshop or Photoshop Elements.
For serious photographers PSP has ceased to be innovative, and hasn't kept up to date. 16 bit/channel support is a good example... a partial introduction 3 years ago and ignored ever since. It is also hampered by very poor quality handling of digital camera raw images. Again, these users have moved to Photoshop and/or a specialist raw converter.
Photo-Paint is my favourite bitmap editor as it does everything I need it to and it is so intuitive and easy to use. The customisation is as good as it gets.
I have on a few occasions downloaded trial versions of PSP and it promised to be a fantastic programme. It always had everything it was advertised to have, but I always had two issues which made it not the programme for me:
1. it does not seem to follow conventions that have been established in the market for many years; i.e. features are often not where you expect them to be.
2. the dialog box previews and dialog box controls are just unusable for me. They are the worst I have come across on any programme. They are tiny, fiddly and annoying to use.
Aside from these 2 issues I found PSP to be an incredibly well featured programme and very capable.
After using Photo Paint for some time, I personally find that Paint Shop Pro XI is a bit confusing to use for some reason. It truely is a totally different piece of software, but for me it lacks the familiarity that the Corel Draw suite offers. However, for the price its a very powerful package.
It would be nice if we had a choice inside CorelDraw of which program CorelDraw linked up with when editing a particular bitmap object. I have had several occasions when Paintshop Pro had the effect I needed.
It would be nice if we had a choice inside CorelDraw of which program to go into for editing a particular bitmap object.
I have had occasions when Paintshop Pro had the effect I needed.
To have a choice on which program CorelDraw links to would be fantastic!