I know that the best software on the market today for Graphics is obviously the Adobe Creative suite. Its made for designers of every type. But what about the others who don't use Adobe products, what else do you use. I have heard of Gimp and Paint.net but are there any other programs that have a good reputation. I know most have a HUGE learning curve. And what about another no-frills version of Adobe Premiere. Most video editors use all the top end stuff. Does anyone have program for video editing that they think excels this???
Adobe users and others
I use GIMP, I find the new version is way easier to work with, and everybody should at least try it (again).
For video editing, Windows Movie Maker is free (as long as you have windows), and if you use it properly, you can get a pretty good video from it. Unfortunately, it has received a bad name, because people don't know how to change that stupid blue background. An undocumented feature even allows you to make custom titles and overlays just like Premiere and Final cut (Google it)
For video editing, Windows Movie Maker is free (as long as you have windows), and if you use it properly, you can get a pretty good video from it. Unfortunately, it has received a bad name, because people don't know how to change that stupid blue background. An undocumented feature even allows you to make custom titles and overlays just like Premiere and Final cut (Google it)
Adobe makes a piece of software called Adobe Premier Elements that's available for about a hundred dollars at http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/. Aside from that, I've found that Windows Movie Maker is generally trash. As a Mac user, I've found that iMovie '07 is pretty good, but the newest version ('0
pales in comparison to its predecessor. Sorry to say I don't know that much about video editing.
However, as a photographer, I know quite a bit about its tools. For Windows, the best photo organizer is most definitely the free Picasa by Google. (http://picasa.google.com/). If you seek to edit your photos but don't want to spend any money, definitely check out paint.net, it's rather incredible. (http://www.getpaint.net/) It's also one of the only programs I miss due to my switch to Mac (which was a couple years ago now...) and the interface is easy to use. The newest version of the GIMP isn't too bad, actually, but I would still not recommend it unless you had a need to use that much power. Most users wouldn't benefit from it enough to learn all of it's many powerful functions and still very confusing menu structure. I personally use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 1.3 to do all of my photos (http://flickr.com/photos/kuyman), but I could have easily done that same thing with free tools if necessary.
Good luck and post again if you need more help.
pales in comparison to its predecessor. Sorry to say I don't know that much about video editing.
However, as a photographer, I know quite a bit about its tools. For Windows, the best photo organizer is most definitely the free Picasa by Google. (http://picasa.google.com/). If you seek to edit your photos but don't want to spend any money, definitely check out paint.net, it's rather incredible. (http://www.getpaint.net/) It's also one of the only programs I miss due to my switch to Mac (which was a couple years ago now...) and the interface is easy to use. The newest version of the GIMP isn't too bad, actually, but I would still not recommend it unless you had a need to use that much power. Most users wouldn't benefit from it enough to learn all of it's many powerful functions and still very confusing menu structure. I personally use Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom 1.3 to do all of my photos (http://flickr.com/photos/kuyman), but I could have easily done that same thing with free tools if necessary.
Good luck and post again if you need more help.
I know what you mean about windows movie maker. I believe it's rep has gone down from a couple of years ago, when it was pretty popular. I personally like imovie a lot better, especially since you have many formatting options.
Not only do you have more formatting options, but the plugin support is really pretty good on iMovie '07, something I can't really say about Movie Maker. iMovie also has a tendency to be well thought out (as most Mac apps in the iLife suite are except maybe iWeb) as well as powerful.
If you're a movie maker with a limited budget seeking a new machine, I would suggest picking up a Mac just because iMovie is so great.
If you're a movie maker with a limited budget seeking a new machine, I would suggest picking up a Mac just because iMovie is so great.
| kuyman wrote: |
| Not only do you have more formatting options, but the plugin support is really pretty good on iMovie '07, something I can't really say about Movie Maker. iMovie also has a tendency to be well thought out (as most Mac apps in the iLife suite are except maybe iWeb) as well as powerful.
If you're a movie maker with a limited budget seeking a new machine, I would suggest picking up a Mac just because iMovie is so great. |
Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay $100 to get an awesome Premiere Elements instead of $2000 to pick up a new machine with iMovie (which is probably only worth about $50)
| LostOverThere wrote: | ||
Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay $100 to get an awesome Premiere Elements instead of $2000 to pick up a new machine with iMovie (which is probably only worth about $50) |
Ahhh....it all depends you see. Premiere Elements is good. But picking up a Mac is actually a good idea these days..because....it's actually a mac AND a PC. So you can run FCP, Vegas, Adobe Premiere, or any other program on it. If you have a PC you can't run any mac programs like FCP which is kind of an industry standard on it. SO it depends on how much money you have.
It depends on what you are doing with the software. For things like digital painting I really like corel painter, it is awsome, and is actually becoming the new standard program for most commercial illustrators. I also was a big fan of macromedia's products but they have been swollowed up by adobe now, so most of it is now a part of the creative suite. For page layout quark is getting a little old but is still a quality product. I am sure that if you do a little research you will find alot of programs out there that will do alot of the same thigs as adobe products.
| LostOverThere wrote: | ||
Wouldn't it be cheaper to pay $100 to get an awesome Premiere Elements instead of $2000 to pick up a new machine with iMovie (which is probably only worth about $50) |
That's another approach to it, but I think that if your really trying to go ahead into the world of Graphics and video editing, a mac would do it. I personally love pc's, but unless your willing to dish out a whole lot of money to build a pc that is worthy enough to handle such software, than go for a mac, built and designed for such. I have too many issues on my laptop and it's made for this to handle this stuff. I guess if it were the case of someone hoping to expand themselves into more of a business, mac is the way to go.
I know linux folks use gimp. I don't think it's as easy to use as photoshop... but it's a very good alternative. Paint shop pro is as well.
Well, I have Photoshop CS3 Extended, and it can do quite a few things. Since I have that, I haven't really used GIMP for a long time... 
well i must say
east or west
adobe is the best.........
when they took over macromedia.... they registered themselves as the kings of graphics and vedio making industry
east or west
adobe is the best.........
when they took over macromedia.... they registered themselves as the kings of graphics and vedio making industry
there's this new software called Pixle which is kind of a mirror of photoshop 7-8ish and it only costs like 40ish dollars since it is still in beta. when it goes major release it is supposed to be 80ish and people who did the beta get it for free.
here's the website
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/
make sure u give it a spin since its free for first 30 days with a watermark and it works on EVERY OS i can think of. Im on linux so this is a HUGH plus for me.
here's the website
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/
make sure u give it a spin since its free for first 30 days with a watermark and it works on EVERY OS i can think of. Im on linux so this is a HUGH plus for me.
| Kelcey wrote: |
| I know linux folks use gimp. I don't think it's as easy to use as photoshop... but it's a very good alternative. Paint shop pro is as well. |
If you're running Linux I would recommend Krita, its quite a nice program and is similar to Photoshop in many ways and generally easier to use then the Gimp.
| Kelcey wrote: |
| I know linux folks use gimp. I don't think it's as easy to use as photoshop... but it's a very good alternative. Paint shop pro is as well. |
THere is an alternative to the standard gimp, as well. If you do a little searching you may be able to find gimpshop. Which is a version of gimp that they made more like photoshop, mostly just interface changes. If you are used to photoshop it will make it easier for you to use.
| web_harman wrote: |
| well i must say
east or west adobe is the best......... when they took over macromedia.... they registered themselves as the kings of graphics and vedio making industry |
I too have to agree, Adobe products are really high quality products. They cost quite a lot but they are really good.
If you've got the money go for them. 
I heard Corel's Painter series is very good overall. I've used it once or twice, just to test it out, and the brushes behave very realistically. I never really used it all that much though. I use Adobe Illustrator for a lot of vector projects, but Adobe Photoshop is by far the most user friendly. GIMP is alright for small projects and perhaps even more, if you are a GIMP guru, but Adobe makes a great easy to use product that's both simple, but effective.
| ddukki wrote: |
| but Adobe makes a great easy to use product that's both simple, but effective. |
Yes that's true. I've used many of Adobe's products and they are all very user friendly. Adobe is probably the best or one of the best choices.
I don't see a replacement for Adobe Photoshop.
But I use Apple Final Cut for video editing and don't see myself moving back to Adobe Premiere Pro.
But I use Apple Final Cut for video editing and don't see myself moving back to Adobe Premiere Pro.
Friday i have been at multimania2008, Adobe was there
The have spoken about the futher of flash, graphics, motion... and i must say wat these guys are planning for the futer , it wil knock you sock off,
Evrything your vidocamera records , premiere wil make a text file of every person that speaks en make it searchable, Just type the word en you go to the scene where that words comes from the actor. metadata on location. flashcs4 a timline like after effects. En so on
Adobe has great plans for the future i'm sticking with the, sure its not cheap but when you make bucks with it, its unreplaseble
The have spoken about the futher of flash, graphics, motion... and i must say wat these guys are planning for the futer , it wil knock you sock off,
Evrything your vidocamera records , premiere wil make a text file of every person that speaks en make it searchable, Just type the word en you go to the scene where that words comes from the actor. metadata on location. flashcs4 a timline like after effects. En so on
Adobe has great plans for the future i'm sticking with the, sure its not cheap but when you make bucks with it, its unreplaseble
've used adobe since photoshop version 3 came out...
its good but GIMP, its out of the world!
Gimp can get you advanced editing effect which are not possible in photoshop unless you spend few hundred dollars on plugins..
e.g. Orton effect, Droste effect and isometric projections. in Gimp you can use mathmap while in photoshop you have to look for plugins and spend lots of $
e.g. of some GIMP edits: http://tarunchawla.in/photos/album/best-of-editing/
its good but GIMP, its out of the world!
Gimp can get you advanced editing effect which are not possible in photoshop unless you spend few hundred dollars on plugins..
e.g. Orton effect, Droste effect and isometric projections. in Gimp you can use mathmap while in photoshop you have to look for plugins and spend lots of $
e.g. of some GIMP edits: http://tarunchawla.in/photos/album/best-of-editing/
GIMP is good, also try the Gimpshop version of GIMP, its GIMP but the interface is a lot like that of Photoshop , so if you are used to using photoshop there won't be a problem.
ive tried bimp and cant get the hang of it i use bout everything else there is, adobe stuff, ulead photoimpact and gif animator, animation shop, cinema4d
| kuyman wrote: |
| Adobe makes a piece of software called Adobe Premier Elements that's available for about a hundred dollars at http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/. |
Thats about all I ever use anymore. I edit a WHOLE LOT of photos, but do not do movies.
Stick with what you know.
Certainly Photoshop is the best product out there and is the industry standard however if you have been using Gimp for years why bother changing. Someone who has years experience in Gimp and only days expperience in photoshop will obviously produce better results with Gimp.
If you are fluent in an application and you have not found it to have limitations then stick to it.
If however you want to go into the professional market you may want to consider learning photoshop as it will maximise compatibility.
Certainly Photoshop is the best product out there and is the industry standard however if you have been using Gimp for years why bother changing. Someone who has years experience in Gimp and only days expperience in photoshop will obviously produce better results with Gimp.
If you are fluent in an application and you have not found it to have limitations then stick to it.
If however you want to go into the professional market you may want to consider learning photoshop as it will maximise compatibility.
Related topics
 |