Photoshop: Life after Photoshop!

[Repairman]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23714699

Just read an article on the BBC website regarding PS which may be of interest. Not being familiar with other retouching software (apart from Quantel back in the day) I'd be interested to hear what you think is a good/realistic alternative!

[Joeven]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

A very interesting article. I got a new computer this week and just reinstalled CS5 and all my plug-ins. I have never heard of the two programs they mentioned in their article but I'm going to check them out. CS5 will be my last version and I'm OK with that because I'm not going to pay Adobe every month for software I don't own. Now is the time for one of the smaller software companies to put out a real alternative to Photoshop at a reasonable price. I would defiantly check it out.

Joe

[Tony W]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

Interesting read. I think the problem for most old time PS users is going to be the change and time to learn how to apply new tricks with any new software.

Will the new software have all the tools we are used to using maybe layer blending modes, Apply image, calculations, refine edge masking options and so many others?

Before PS I used to use the Corel Products and PSP very good but somewhat limited in comparison to PS. There is I suppose Photoshop Elements with a limited toolset and raw conversion and limited 16bit functionality that is close to the UI of PS.

I am on CS6 and frankly see no reason why this should change in the short to mid term for the jobs I need to do. I am sure that there are many users on earlier versions that fulfill their needs. The only thing that may be an issue is receiving raw files for a non supported camera for your old version of ACR but even then it may not be the end of the world as DNG file conversion is free and as far as I can tell there is no loss of image data or quality

[Shoku]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

Xara has been producing good applications for years. Their version 9 is very robust. They offer different versions for specific tasks. Their Designer Pro is like a combination of Illustrator and Photoshop.

http://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/features/

[plugsnpixels]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

Thanks for the link! I'm familiar with Pixelmator and Perfectly Clear but wouldn't become heavily reliant on an online editor such as Fotor (that may disappear overnight).

Here's more info on Xara Designer Pro X. Please note Xara products are Windows-only (I run them via VM on my Macs).

They also make web design products. Their sister company MAGIX makes multimedia editing suites.

[Markzebra]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

Yes, I think it's where Saulius Dailide, 'co-developer' of Pixelmator, utters the statement "Surpassing Photoshop in features is easy - it would take two years", that the whole thing completely loses any credibility whatsoever. It's not a good sign. I'm not sure you'd really want someone capable of such a deluded and ill-educated statement running your imaging software company.

[plugsnpixels]

Re: Life after Photoshop!

At first glance that does seem preposterous, but then again, look what he and his brother have pulled off in six years. Two people! How many work for Adobe?

The small developer can be quite powerful. GraphicConverter, various unrelated apps from Synium Software, countless iOS app and plug-in developers, etc. etc.

Corporate bloat does not necessarily translate into groundbreaking software development. But we shall see!