Unbelievable...20 posts and only cmpan mentioned Xara. Guess it's one of the better kept graphics software secrets. The galleries on xara.com will show what may be done with the program. Ten years of tutorials at xaraxone.com give step by step instructions on a variety of great effects... and the forum at talkgraphics.com gets me the answers I need fast. Shhhhhh... it's a secret.
Hi WeTry... isn't it amazing! I actually know some graphic artists that have Xara installed on their systems incognito. When they need to do a whole bunch of things that they would normally pull out Illustrator and PS for... they boot up Xara and get it down in a FRACTION of the time. Yes, it's definitely not PS.... but, I'll but it up against ILLY, for 90% of everyday work. Cliff
Free Alternatives 1. Gimp 2. Paint.net 3. NexusFont Gimp has come a long way. its becoming more than just a free alternative to Photoshop. having said that, i use both! I also use Paint.net from time to time when i don't want to pull out the Heavy power tools. I like to use NexusFont as a free font organizer/installer/uninstaller.
Photoshop no doubt. It is essential for both vector and raster graphics. I think it has no alternatives because it is the best.
Photoshop is ever best graphic and photo editing software .. I like it and 75% people use this tool for graphics design.
It depends on what you are doing, but yes photoshop is the best (for now), I found illustrator to lack mesh features and feel its rendering methods could be improved
Ya, Photoshop is the best, but it's not free. I am a beginner, not pro, so I want to choose the free software to learn firstly.
Actually I don't have enough knowledge about Illustrator but I know Photoshop. everyday I use it for my personal use only.
Xara - Hands down When I first started out I tried PS, but found all the masks/layers were holding me back - Took me hours to do anything. Xara is such a walk in the park in compersion, and although sometimes it does crashes (usually when using heavy plugins) I will never go back to PS.
The Adobe Creative Suite is fundamentally the industry standard. Collectively it is expensive, so if you are looking for the best bang for your buck, Photoshop CS5 is the most versatile application in that Suite as far as picture editing, modification, & digital painting.