Photoshop and Ulead gif animator for me. I suck at doing graphics though and would rather pay for someone to do a professional job - first impressions count Darren
I use both photoshop and fireworks but my favorite is fireworks. I think it is suitable for web design and not for hardcore imaging.
I'd go with Jasc Paint Shop Pro. Has everything you need for web development. Also includes animator. Very affordable too. Want it free? Try GIMP.
Students are poor generally and if you go to the bookshop on campus and find that they sell the software you want at student prices, go outside and find yourself a malnourished looking student and bribe em with a few quid to buy it for / with you using their student ID.
That's a good angle Dominic, or you could sign up for a course, get your student ID, get your cheap software AND get a qualification too.
I've served my sentence at uni... B.Soc.Wk = Bachelor of Social Work and now that I've got it thats it for me - working in the industry teaches you more than uni in my field anyways.
LOL, good on you Dominic I don't believe you can or should ever stop learning and all the real world and indistrial experience is one thing, but I do miss academic study. I went back last year and was intending to study again this year but business took over. Oh well, such is life...
I've been using Photoshop ever since I got my own computer and making websites. Being all self taught and finding unlimited photoshop tutorials through Google I've been able to get quite a hold of Photoshops power. Photoshop does have quite a learning curve so you're not going to get the hang of it and really appreciate it's power right away, but it's one of the best, if not the best for image editing. So if you get Photoshop make sure to check out some photoshop tutorials from the abundance of sites on the net.
One of the best things bout photoshop is the plethora of filters available, some of which are free. Far more than I have seen for any other image editing software.
Photoshop cs3 is currently the number one graphic software program out there. But it is very pricy like $1,000. Maybe you should look at cheaper alternatives 2.
This thread is kind of old, dug up from the grave. But Photoshop rocks.. I like Fireworks I learned how to use Fireworks before Photoshop but every time I use fireworks now I end up back in Photoshop before I finish a project. Photoshop just has more tools. Fireworks is like the little tool box in the kitchen drawer and Photoshop is like the tool chest in the garage with all the real tools.
Photoshop is quite good if your a linux person like me you might prefer GIMP but its still not as good as Photoshop. Graphical software like photopshop and gimp are not that straight forward to use, you have to understand layers and what not, so you might like to get a free photoshop tutorial from somewhere