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I'd argue that Inkscape is as good as the above product.

If you don't like Gimp (it's the bigger and best of the free image editors) the buy Adobe Photoshop Elements. Elements can do almost everything PS can, well at least in terms of what a photographer needs.

But again the software hardly matters. The difference between a commercial artist and a fine artist is that the commercial guy is TOLD what style to work in and what colts to use and where to leave blank space for text and may have to work in a genre he does not really like. In other words you work for a paying customer or boss. So what they look for is a person with very wide skills who can do anything.

Session musicians are that way too. They just do whatever the producer wants so if he needs the work he has "a, I can do that.." So the trick is to be able to say "I can do that."

ok one more tip on cheap/free software: Wacom tablets. You are going to need a Wacom tablet and some version come bundled with free software. Sometimes the software is worth the cost of the product. I got PS (full version) that way a long time ago.

For me, Inkscape is a non starter because it won't open my Illustrator files!
 
One thing I always consider when I look for a piece of software is how much easily accessible training material is available.

Clearly Photoshop is the winner here, but this thread is about alternatives.

Good, bad, other, I've used the Gimp for over a decade and have learned to love it. The one thing about Gimp is there is nearly an unlimited amount of Youtube training videos and tutorials. So you quickly come up to speed in any area you need, regardless if you think the interface is intuitive or not.

So since the Gimp is free, the source code will always be available so it unlikely to get abandoned, it more than meets the needs of 99.9% of the population and there is a ton of free training material available, learning Gimp is a good investment.
 
For me, Inkscape is a non starter because it won't open my Illustrator files!

Unfortunately, keeping up with clients and file compatibility is a big part of how Adobe has most creatives over a barrel when it comes to alternative softwares.
 
1) Buying the software does not make you a designer.

2) Full CS6 for $50 per month is a professional expense for a professional tool. Otherwise you can get student discounts.

3) If you have bought a Mac solely as a tool for business then you need to factor in the cost of software. It's part of the the OPEX/CAPEX in running a freelance or business gig.

4) There are alternative, but nothing I would recommend if you're doing it professionally. I've used Pixelmator a fair bit, though Photoshop and Illustrator are my workhorse.
 
1) Buying the software does not make you a designer.

2) Full CS6 for $50 per month is a professional expense for a professional tool. Otherwise you can get student discounts.

3) If you have bought a Mac solely as a tool for business then you need to factor in the cost of software. It's part of the the OPEX/CAPEX in running a freelance or business gig.

4) There are alternative, but nothing I would recommend if you're doing it professionally. I've used Pixelmator a fair bit, though Photoshop and Illustrator are my workhorse.

Over the years, Adobe has gone from a model whereby those same professionals could buy their individual apps at reasonable prices (I got Illustrator for $299). Illustrator was all I wanted, and all I still want. Then, they bundled it together into the Creative Suite (like MS does with Office), and depending on version, you could pay $1500 for it. (No bundle pricing discount here). Then, they copied MS's poor decisions once more by ditching the Creative Suite option altogether, in favor of their subscription model for the Creative Cloud, whereby you have to continue paying for it if you want to be able to open your Adobe generated files.

Poor choices, Adobe.
 
1) Buying the software does not make you a designer.

2) Full CS6 for $50 per month is a professional expense for a professional tool. Otherwise you can get student discounts.

3) If you have bought a Mac solely as a tool for business then you need to factor in the cost of software. It's part of the the OPEX/CAPEX in running a freelance or business gig.

4) There are alternative, but nothing I would recommend if you're doing it professionally. I've used Pixelmator a fair bit, though Photoshop and Illustrator are my workhorse.

Speaking as a professional designer, you're quite correct.

That being said, I find the model Adobe has moved to as borderline extortion. If their prices go up I have zero choice but to pay more or totally lose the ability to work with my files, and that's not an acceptable choice to me.

I'll be holding onto my old software as long as possible.
 
nine american dollars

At the moment you get Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC for $9/month..
Check out adobe website for more details :)

Just photoshop alone used to be around $2000 where I live..
So the $9/month is quite nice :)
 
Over the years, Adobe has gone from a model whereby those same professionals could buy their individual apps at reasonable prices (I got Illustrator for $299). Illustrator was all I wanted, and all I still want. Then, they bundled it together into the Creative Suite (like MS does with Office), and depending on version, you could pay $1500 for it. (No bundle pricing discount here). Then, they copied MS's poor decisions once more by ditching the Creative Suite option altogether, in favor of their subscription model for the Creative Cloud, whereby you have to continue paying for it if you want to be able to open your Adobe generated files.

Poor choices, Adobe.

Couldn't agree more, Adobe has its cartel as Discreet and 3DFX had in the 90's. Their focus is on the subscriptions and selling entire line (needed or not).

Speaking as a professional designer, you're quite correct.

Thanks :)

Speaking from experience BTW...

That being said, I find the model Adobe has moved to as borderline extortion. If their prices go up I have zero choice but to pay more or totally lose the ability to work with my files, and that's not an acceptable choice to me.

I'll be holding onto my old software as long as possible.

Same, though working with some clients meant I had little choice but to update to the subscription.
 
Pixelmator is an excellent alternative to Photoshop - it's available in the App Store.

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pixelmator/id407963104?mt=12

I try to like Pixelmator I really do but:

- I open my PSD files it flattens it down onto one layer :S !!!!
- Its brush system is a joke, good luck getting even the most pro artist out there to paint something decent in Pixelmator
- The effects are not in a list which I prefer from PS instead of browsing through a bunch of icons to find what I need.
- Photoshop generally has a lot more manipulation tools in terms of transform and colour/tone

The only thing I give to Pixelmator is the price, wonderfully priced but nothing else.

TL;DR: Pixelmator is for Mums and Dads making christmas cards, PS is for anyone serious about image editing.

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At the moment you get Lightroom 5 and Photoshop CC for $9/month..
Check out adobe website for more details :)

Just photoshop alone used to be around $2000 where I live..
So the $9/month is quite nice :)

and soon it will jump to $20 a month. $9 was just to prevent people bombing Adobe HQ

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The other alternative is to do what 99% of high school students would do...

Which is the alternative Adobe kinda forced on people, such a dumb move. Maybe set it to $15 a month for the entire suite and people wouldn't even bother to crack the software, Adobe would make more profits that way but their business strategy is as immoral as the pirates.
 
The fact of the matter if you *really* need any of Adobe's pro suite of products (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, Illustrator, etc.) then the cost isn't a consideration—despite what others have said here, Adobe does a tremendous job and continues to offer working pros more and more all the time.

If you aren't a professional, you don't need Adobe's pro products, and Adobe certainly doesn't owe you anything…even still, they offer "Elements" versions of their products that are very affordable and very functional.

The pro line of products is for people who use them as part of their daily job—they are meant to be used to *make* money. If you don't use Adobe's products to make money (or to learn how to make money in the future, as a student would), then you really don't need their pro line of products. I think lots of people just *want* the Adobe stuff, even though they don't really know how to use it, and don't make money with it.
 
The fact of the matter if you *really* need any of Adobe's pro suite of products (Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Lightroom, Illustrator, etc.) then the cost isn't a consideration—despite what others have said here, Adobe does a tremendous job and continues to offer working pros more and more all the time.

If you aren't a professional, you don't need Adobe's pro products, and Adobe certainly doesn't owe you anything…even still, they offer "Elements" versions of their products that are very affordable and very functional.

The pro line of products is for people who use them as part of their daily job—they are meant to be used to *make* money. If you don't use Adobe's products to make money (or to learn how to make money in the future, as a student would), then you really don't need their pro line of products. I think lots of people just *want* the Adobe stuff, even though they don't really know how to use it, and don't make money with it.

Exactly, the biggest issue with Photoshop is that literally EVERYONE has gotten their hands on it and has been using it illegally. And this has been the case for at least two decades now. When this stuff was still boxed, teachers had NO problem handing out their disks to students. Plus, you could grab it cheap off the street too.

Honestly, try making these same arguments with Autodesk, just TRY.
 
If you *really* need Photoshop at a pinch and don't want to pay anything, this is how to get legal Photoshop CS2 (and the rest of CS2) for free from the Adobe website! I wouldn't really recommend it, but hey! free stuff! It's for Windows or Mac (PowerPC) - so unfortunately, you might not get it to work... :(

The Mac version will only run in up to 10.3.
The Windows version is still fairly useful since there's still plenty of machines running XP.
 
Honestly, try making these same arguments with Autodesk, just TRY.

I remember when 3D Studio MAX came with a dongle where it would connect to the parallel port on the main board, near on impossible to pirate...

Weather Central does the same with Fusion you buy the software can put it on as many machines as you like though it won't function with submitting the machines MAC Address and connecting a USB supplied dongle.

I am waiting for Adobe to do something similar with subscriptions, a USB dongle when you subscribe to Adobe products, just like good old Discreet :)

Again I reiterate it's professional software for professionals, yes it's expensive, they are screwing the little people but there are little alternatives... Though stranger things have happened, look at Quark.
 
need help

hi! i am new here on this forum and i am not very good english speaker so i found very hard to post here something so i first want to say sorry if i used replay option because i don t know where i must post a thread.
Anyway i hope somebody will read this and maybe will give me an advice.sorry again for my english.
i bought a mac mini one week ago and i feel dumb because i just started to use it
i downloaded photoshop from torrent and after the download was ready i tried to install.I opened from downloads list and is just a Mac OSX zip file so i clicked to start the installation .The only one window that open it was expanding adobe photoshop.
The expand process finished after view minutes but that was all.I don t find any photoshop icon on applications so it seems it not installed.How do i know if the installation was ok and where i can find it to open it?
i hope somebody will give me an advice.Thank you in advance
 
Honestly, try making these same arguments with Autodesk, just TRY.

I'm not sure what argument you want people to make, but if you're implying there aren't pirated copies of Maya/etc. out there you're sorely mistaken.

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i downloaded photoshop from torrent and after the download was ready i tried to install.

No one is going to give you help with your illegal software.
 
Autodesk has dropped their price of their software significantly over the last decade, however.


Part of that was consolidation. When they acquired maya they eventually did away with maya complete and maya unlimited by making one version that mirrored the price schedule of 3ds max at the time including all plugins. I think the price has crept back up a little since.
 
It looks like adobe is only doing cloud monthly payment plans - does anyone if creative suite is still available for permanent purchase?
 
Part of that was consolidation. When they acquired maya they eventually did away with maya complete and maya unlimited by making one version that mirrored the price schedule of 3ds max at the time including all plugins. I think the price has crept back up a little since.

To an extent, I think they were also just plain forced down by the market. Other apps that were very capable and less than half their price forced them to come down to be somewhat on par with the competition.

Unfortunately Adobe has no natural competitors and as such no pricing competition.

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It looks like adobe is only doing cloud monthly payment plans - does anyone if creative suite is still available for permanent purchase?

Still available on the Adobe site it looks like.
 
I try to like Pixelmator I really do but:

- I open my PSD files it flattens it down onto one layer :S !!!!
- Its brush system is a joke, good luck getting even the most pro artist out there to paint something decent in Pixelmator
- The effects are not in a list which I prefer from PS instead of browsing through a bunch of icons to find what I need.
- Photoshop generally has a lot more manipulation tools in terms of transform and colour/tone

The only thing I give to Pixelmator is the price, wonderfully priced but nothing else.

TL;DR: Pixelmator is for Mums and Dads making christmas cards, PS is for anyone serious about image editing.

Yes - I'm a pro who uses Photoshop everyday, and I could never replace it with Pixelmator.

However, for someone who isn't a pro (the OP) and who has asked for an alternative to Photoshop then Pixelmator is a good choice.
 
Seriously?

Anyone planning on becoming professional graphic designer, should learn to use the tight professional software. Forget the freebies and the knock-offs. Any profession environment you enter will pretty much only be using Adobe software. You will be required to do the same.

The cheaper student edition is still available to buy

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Extended-Student-Download/dp/B007USGCT8

and the pro

http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photosh...&qid=1390489640&sr=8-3&keywords=photoshop+mac
 
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It is, but won't get updates.
This is what scares me. I'm getting ready to purchase either CS or CC in February. I hate the idea of subscription so I really want CS6. However, if they aren't going to update it anymore, how long will it remain useful? If there is a compatibly issue with future iOS releases, am I SOL?
 
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