Graphic Design -> Opinions / ideas wanted

exponder

I'm currently using Jasc software (psp7), but I aslo have a full version of Adobe Photo Shop 6.0

Obviously, for the serious designer Adobe is the best way to go. However, I'm having problems using it for 'web graphics' and keeping the loading times in a decent range. What am I doing wrong?

Secondly, what I really need to do is have a way to fully edit the 'Selection tool' into any shape I want. (speaking of psp7) However, I've looked through the manuals, tutorials and ever thing else I can find. I'm still lost as how to do it. I know my way around psp7 pretty good. Is there a way to do this with psp7, or should I just bare down and learn Adobe?

Thanks for any ideas 🙂

Elizabeth

I use Photoshop 6.0 all the time- I love it.

Saving graphics for web pages is easy- I just do "Save for Web" (as opposed to "save as") and then mark my jpg quality down to about 65 or 70. In my opinion there is no discernible difference in appearance between this and the 100 setting, and it can really help loading times.

Also, you may want to chop up larger pics into smaller pieces - this will help your loading time too.

Hope this helps!

DwarV

what you are doing wrong extremely depends upon what you are creating. Is it complex with a lot of colors and a lot of shapes, use jpeg...

has it got less colors and for example: horizontal stripes (because gif builds images from top to bottom in a horizontal way) use gif..

exponder

Hmm, I'll just have to bite the bullet and learn Adobe. Thanks for your comments 🙂

clintonium

There really is no match for Photoshop. My company just upgraded me to version 7 😃. Lovin' it.

There are endless ways of making irregular selections (marquee, lasso, magic wand, quick mask...). If you're looking for good tutorials to help you get started, try:

http://www.planetphotoshop.com/

Elizabeth

Clintonium- we entertained the idea of upgrading to Photoshop 7.0 but it didnt' really seem like it would be worth it... what am I missing by keeping 6.0?

-Elizabeth

jeremuck

what's wrong with Fireworks?

(Fireworks can use Photoshop's extensions as well as it's own API).

clintonium

Elizabeth-

Well, since you asked... 🙂

The first thing you notice when you launch Photoshop 7 is a visual change. The palette buttons have been modernized to look sleeker with icon shading and colorful hover effects. I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first (I thought that Adobe was probably responding to market pressure from Macromedia whose products have much glitzier UI's), but after a few hours of use I came to appreciate the changes. Adobe hasn't abandoned the elegant minimalism of their earlier interfaces; they've just updated the theme. The toolbar is actually more minimal than before, since they've eliminated the grid effect of the button outlines.

There are some nice new features that I actually use, too. The new file browser is more than a convenient way to preview thumbnails -- it's a powerful tool for managing your files. You can quickly rotate images, rank them by quality, and do batch renames (with very customizable schemes and incrementing serial numbers). The new healing brush is AMAZING -- it's become my primary photo retouching tool.

There are a few other improvements that I haven't completely explored, like the new painting engine, custom brushes, Auto Color command, better liquify functions, and scripting support. And of course a bunch of improvements that I don't have much use for, like the new spell checker. Overall though, a pretty substantial update.

</evangelism>

That being said, Photoshop 6 is not by any means outdated by this release, and whether to upgrade now or wait for the next version is an open question. It was easy for me to decide since my company was willing to foot the bill... 🆒 If I had to fork over the money myself though...tough call.

jeremuck-

Apps like Paint Shop Pro and Fireworks have their strengths, and if the tasks you plan to tackle fall within their scope of features they can be a good fit (and save you some $). It's just a question of what you plan to do with the app. Some people don't want or need to be all-powerful, so they don't need Photoshop.

Cogen

I agree with clintonium ... If I had a company that bought Photoshop 7 for me I would love it, however since I'm not that lucky I don't plan on buying ps7. Instead, I'll probably make due with ps6 until ps8 comes out.

Elizabeth

Does anyone prefer to use Illustrator as opposed to Photoshop? Photoshop definitely fulfills about 90% of our needs, but there are times when we really wish we had Illustrator.

What are everyone's thoughts on this?

-Elizabeth

Cogen

I use photoshop and illustrator, but for totally different things. Illustrator is better for company logos and other things that require vector images. I usually create a logo in illustrator, and then resize it and place it into photoshop to play with is some more.
My opinion is that all features of Illustrator except the basics are better left to graphic designers. If your a web developer, then unless you work for a small company, you shouldn't need Illustrator. And if you find yourself needing it, then hand the job over to the company graphic specialists. Ofcourse if you happen to work for a small company that doesn't have a graphic designer, then by all means do it yourself.

My opinion is based on the fact that I'm a terrible artist. hehe.

If your doing corporate identities, then photoshop definately will not do. So it really depends on what your doing.

clintonium

I have Illustrator 9 at home but I don't find many opportunities to use it, just because I don't do that much vector work. Since I bought it I've only done 2 or 3 logo projects on it. When I saw that Adobe had already released version 10 I was so disgruntled that I almost considered finding an upgrade with KaZaA... :eek: Heh.

I think you're pretty close with the 90% - 10% estimate. My Illustrator use is even lower than that, but I'm sure it's a workhorse for a lot of design shops.

stephen

I made the move from paint shop to photoshop about a year ago. At first it was over whelming with all the new features but definitely worth it. I would never go back now.

I have used Illustrator too but you need to use it with Photoshop. They both have their own roles and are used for their own specific tasks.

Mark

This is my conclusion, and i am great with both programs. PSP 7 IS better for Web Graphics, anyone that wants to argue that.. try. Adobe does have its advantages though.... and if you want to select things(psp7) use the lasso tool, goto the options palette, and select POINT TO POINT... make any selection you want...

the reason i think psp is better for web graphics is that it is more precise, adobe, from my experience is not precise and doesnt exactly follow pixels.. i cant really explain it.. not to mention, you cant turn off Anti-Aliasing with adobe.. so if you want to make a 1px line in adobe without it creating a dimmed colored line on each side of it, good luck, you would have to go back over the line pixel by pixel and it out.

also, i like to use both of the programs for different features. since.. if you people didnt know this, adobes .PSD files, ARE compatible with PSP, but PSP's .PSP files, ARE NOT compatible with Adobe, but.. you can save files in PSP as .PSD files.. then you can use it with Adobe. just a little info for you people.

heres some of my old stuff i've done in both psp and adobe, check them out, can you tell what was made in what program? i know i can.. and not just cause i made em 😉 i just can.
http://4.65.32.70/myart/banners/
http://4.65.32.70/myart/banners/newstuff

and i'm kind of proud of this image 🙂 hehe
http://4.65.32.70/myart/banners/mydbgcard.gif

stephen

everything you said you can't do in photoshop, you can. For the longest time I kept going back to paint shop when I needed to do a task but after a bit of learning I found that anything paintshop can do, photoshop can do better. When it comes to web graphics, Its all photoshop.

Elizabeth

I think we'll just stick with Photoshop 6 until version 8 comes out... although the company does pay for it, we're pretty small. Oh the sacrifices we make just to work at home.. 😃

I also am glad I recommended Photoshop instead of Illustrator- the only time we REALLY need it is when we are dealing with outside vendors (printers, etc) and we kind of like making their lives hell trying to convert files over to vector. It's a sick sort of entertainment but what can we say?

Thanks for the input, guys!

-Elizabeth

clintonium

Mark- I don't think anyone here is bashing Paint Shop Pro -- it was a good app when I used it at version 4, and I'm sure it's even better now. But it does sound like you haven't completely understood all that you can do with Photoshop.

You can turn anti-aliasing off for any of the selection tools. Just choose the tool you plan to use, then look in the tool option bar (versions 6 & 7; for version 5.5 or earlier look in the tool options palette) and uncheck the box next to "Anti-aliased".

There has been some agreement on imaging-related message boards that both Paint Shop Pro and Fireworks outperform Photoshop in the simplicity of their learning curve. I think that was part of Adobe's motivation for spinning off ImageReady as a web-focused app (also to include some tools that they didn't want to clutter Photoshop with, like making image maps, rollovers, animations, etc.). ImageReady is a great tool in it's own right, and it now comes bundled with Photoshop.

If I've learned nothing else working with Photoshop over the past 5 years it's that any limitation I encounter is in my understanding, not in the functionality. I can't think of many apps that I can say that for.

If you can imagine it, it's possible. And probably easy too. 😉

Mark

Originally posted by clintonium

You can turn anti-aliasing off for any of the selection tools. Just choose the tool you plan to use, then look in the tool option bar (versions 6 & 7; for version 5.5 or earlier look in the tool options palette) and uncheck the box next to "Anti-aliased".

see, i'm not talking about just the selection tools.. i'm talking about the text.. the line tool, ect.. there is no option to turn of anti-aliasing for them, unless i'm going blind and somehow missed it.

clintonium

We're all prone to a little blindness now and then. 🙂 Here's some tips:

Text tool: In versions 6 and 7 when you choose the text tool the anti-aliasing options appear in the option bar (next to the 'aa' icon). They include smooth, strong, crisp, sharp and none. Version 5.5 uses a dialogue box (double-click the text layer) that has anti-aliasing options near the bottom (also including 'none').

Line tool: This tool can be used to create vector shapes, paths, or just pixels, and the options that are available change with each of the 3 settings (which can be confusing). If you set it to the 'Fill pixels' mode the options which appear in the option bar will include a checkbox to turn anti-aliasing on or off. There are other ways of making lines if the line-tool doesn't seem quite right, such as the pencil tool, single row and single column marquee tools (fill them with the current color by hitting backspace), or selecting Edit -> Stroke for whatever selection you've made.

Photoshop really is pretty flexible. This kind of stuff is just the tip of the iceberg though. Things get really fun when you start playing with channels, levels, blending modes, actions and batch processing. :eek: