Home > Consumer Reviews > Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.0 [OLD VERSION]

I use Paint Shop Pro 7.0 nearly every day for business purposes. The screen capture functions, which allow you to do multiple captures of full window (with & without cursor), and screen sections using mouse click and drag or hot keys has been a lifesaver for obtaining program images for use in manuals and other documentation.

For editing and creating images from scratch, the interface is fairly intuitive and user-friendly (although the sheer number of buttons, toolbars, and submenus is a bit overwhelming at first) The online help system is excellent - much superior to many of those I've encountered in other paint and graphics utility software packages, and will get you started quickly. I especially like the ease with which image layers can be labeled, moved, and discarded in the PSP format.

The browse with Paint Shop Pro is a handy feature for anyone working with directories containing large amounts of images.

The animation shop allows you to easily build animated GIF files for websites, create screensavers, etc.

For the price, I haven't found anything comparable.

I've been using various versions of Paint Shop Pro over the years and it just keeps getting better. While I mainly use it for photo-editing, it has a very good drawing program as well. There are many automatic special effects and all the tools you're used to in other programs. And of course, you can open and save/convert your graphics in just about any format.

There are a lot of built in features useful for web designers - image mapping, slice and dice, optimization, rollovers - and it includes JASC's animation workshop that has many automatic, if not old hat, features (scrolling, glow, etc...)

PSP has almost all of the features you find in PhotoShop, but it's much easier to use. I could never get used to the interface in PhotoShop. PSP is just more intuitive. You can also use most PhotoShop filters with this program.

The casual user looking for automatic photo-editing might find all the control this program gives you a little daunting. You just can't click a button and get rid of red eye, for example. What this is is a serious, feature filled alternative to PhotoShop at a fraction of the cost.

Then you need this program! Paint Shop Pro has been and continues to be one of the premier image editing packages out there. It's very simple to learn with an icon based or menu bar based format. All of the tools are right where you need them, neatly packaged and not too "overcomplex" like other, more expesive packages.

The budding amateur digital photographer will love the import feature for digital cameras. Just hook your camera up to your PC and download your images direct to PSP7! Or you can scan them in the same way!

The web designer will definitely find the multitude of special graphic effects like button maker, glowing edges or mosaic! Saves in JPG and GIF among a slew of other extensions! And it also has a built in watermarking feature to protect your images online!

Amazon auctioneer? What better program to prep the pictures of your items than this one? You just can't beat how quickly you can crop, brighten or a plethora of other features to make your items look great! I use it religously!

I can't say enough about this program. If you want a simple but powerful graphics program, this is it! If you want advertising agency type graphics, then perhaps one of the $600 suites would be your taste. But for the average every day person, this graphics progam just makes the grade!

...I have owned every PaintShop Pro since version 4.0 and I love it.

I have both Photoshop 6.0 and Illustrator 9.0, a web designer and I must say that I use my PaintShop Pro about 95% of the time. For the casual user or the experienced professional, PaintShop Pro offers features that are easy to use, learn and master. Virtually any plugin that is out there for Photoshop you can use in PaintShop Pro, it offers excellent vector graphics capabilities and for the price it blows Photoshop out of the water.

If you own a Mac and work in a professional graphics studio for print spend the money on Photoshop and Illustrator, if you are a web designer, a wanna-be web designer or an amateur digital maniac save your money and get PaintShop Pro and get a scanner or a digital camera with the savings.

Again I have all three including Micrografix Picture Publisher but PaintShop Pro is a must have for everyone, even those Photoshop gurus wanting to have an inexpensive program on their Windows based home computer. I have used it for printing on my HP Photosmart 1215 and it's turned out some beautiful photos and cards.

In short, PaintShop Pro is a small investment that turns out excellent results and most anyone can easily learn it. Go to their main website (JASC's site) and see the digital art people have created, some of it is incredible.

As an aspiring web designer, I was tired of using Microsoft Paint and other cheap graphics programs to get by. So, after getting hooked on a trial, I received it for my birthday. After picking up different aspects of it, I was quite impressed with its capabilities.

Many people see Adobe Photoshop as the primere of all graphics programs. (...) . This is the superior alternative. I started out simple with it. I learn basic colors and text. Then I moved on to touching up photos, transparency, gradients and more. Then, I progressed to optimization, image slicing & mapping, and other advanced features. Sound over your head? It was for me, but this program can turn you from a beginner into and expert (at least it did for me).

PROS:
- great interface
- cheap price
- powerful yet simple

CONS:
- none yet