I've had mixed feelings over several CorelDRAW Graphics Suite upgrades but one thing that to me is always a sad realization is that Photo-Paint seems to have lost it's competitive edge and many who prefer CorelDRAW over Illustrator don't feel the same way when it comes to Photo-Paint vs. Photoshop. I personally still prefer to use Photo-Paint for most applications but the lack of development has forced me to use the other more expensive program more and more and as a dedicated Corel user of over 14 years this makes me really sad. So, i decided to start this discussion of my own personal curiosity to see who like me would be happy to pay a lot more for the full suite and/or upgrade to see Photo-Paint finally wipe off the dust and start to kick-butt again as we all know it can. Or, to see if it would be a worthwhile decision to sell an updated stand-alone of Photo-Paint for those who do not want to switch to Photoshop but understand the need to keep the cost of the suite at an affordable price. I know that this has been tried with a half hearted effort in the past but i'm talking about a real effort to develop and market the product. Also,i think when this was last tried Corel wasn't in a financial position to do this properly. Perhaps Photo-Paint PRO?
So my question are:
1. Would you pay more for the Graphics Suite with an updated Photo-Paint?2. How much more would you be willing to pay?3. Should Corel offer different levels of the suite or a stand-alone product?4. Who would be willing to purchase an updated stand-alone "Photo-Paint PRO"?
This should be an interesting discussion. Thanks to all who participate.
Maybe have two versions of the suite.
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite Standard
and
CorelDRAW Graphics Suite PRO
or
Just one version as it is now but offer a stand-alone of Photo-Paint Photo-Paint PRO
dreamwizard said:Perhaps Photo-Paint PRO?
Personally, I'd support it, but PP is half my life and I know it very well.
One of the challenges is that Corel has Painter, Paintshop Pro, Photo Paint, Photo Impact... Some feel they're a bit divided with their attention, to develop and support all of them.
some ideas for Corel:
1. look to the competition and swipe features. There's no shame in taking layer styles, content aware scaling, or perspective editing from PS
2. listen to power users for improvements, but ensure these users touch PP for their daily work. Meaning... there're many ways to improve PP in theory, but the nuts & bolts improvements are most important. For me that means overhaul of brush and tool management, for fast access to saved tools.
3. show all users of any other bitmap editor why PP is great
Hi neighbor!
I agree with you Jeff that their attention is divided with several amature tools while neglecting their one professional one.
I personally would pay quite a bit for a "Photo-Paint PRO" even upwards of the $500 they currently charge for the whole full suite.
FYI even Xara has content aware scaling now. And, vector feathering and interactive and better bevels. Oh well, at least I got some of my desired changes in the X5 release. Overall, it's a great release but still somewhat falls short of my expectations.
Oh ya, one last thing: Hi neighbor!
Xara sounds better on paper but totally fails in real life. True!