Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   hamstergirl
   Member

   @Idahl -

   *it is so great to find a fellow paint program/filter junkie!!*

   Yeah, but you actually DO SOMETHING with yours! Me, I just muddle around for my own amusement....I had to leave the workplace just around the time that computers were starting to become an every day/body thing. So you can imagine how floored I was when I got online last December - I had seen MS Paint, but that was it. The first thing I googled was Dogwaffle, and after that, well, you know the story! Right now I'm working on (or at least I'm supposed to be) Xara Extreme. Its a 30day trial, but I'm thinking of getting it - are you familiar with this? You can get 2 really nice vector draw programs for free, Serif's Draw Plus, and Inkscape, but Xara seems to make the whole process a bit easier (I could NOT handle it being any harder!!)

   And I'm babbling again, its time for a breather. So glad you liked Kaleidoscope, it really can create some beautiful images (I think there's one or two on my Live space). The Plug-in Site has so many great links to free plug-ins and filters - I've dl'd more stuff in the last 20 hours than in 6 months! Guess I'm gonna have to just force myself to learn how to use it all *grin*....catch ya' tomorrow..
   Cheers,
   hamstergirl

   Posted 17 years ago #
2. 

   ldahl
   Member

   Ah, Muddle is my middle name*grin*! My own amusement is most important to me, work second.One must keep one's priorities straight. Xara Extreme, my thoughts for whatever they are worth. First I bought Xara3d, I'm thinking around nine or ten years ago. I have version 3.03... I may have upgraded once, can't remember for sure. I do know this, I had to do a complete reinstall once as I burned up a drive, and they had all my account info and everything went quick and easy with that company. Now they have Xara3D 6...almost 40 dollars for the 'upgrade'...and after I looked over the "new and improved features" I wasn't impressed. In fact, they are basically selling what I was doing with their program on the fly, back when. For the noobie graphics user, I guess it would be worth it...but really, it was a piece of cake to make their version 3.03 do the very same thing. So I won't be "upgrading". Then I looked at what was being offered in their Pro Program, again, they weren't offering anything that was all that special. In fact I'm surprised if you are working with the freebies and low cost shareware, you haven't already run into most of those very same features. In short, I do believe it is a good company, but they are really taking other people's ideas and marketing them with a pretty package for the end user that isn't very experienced yet. The safe but dull route.
   The best thing you can do for yourself is plan a project. Sit down and ask the software you already have to do the work. As you solve each problem, you will learn the capabilities of the software that you already have. Then read through the feature lists of bigger packages. Just for grins and chuckles I went and checked out what ebay had tonight for Corel8. You can get all the bells and whistles, Draw and Paint(Vector and raster),clip-art, fonts, manuals etc for around $80 dollars including shipping. New, legal and registerable, 2 days left. In Jewel cases, no box. It took me years to find most the goodies that program could handle, and I was using it every day. I never have been able to find anything that I wanted it to do, that it could not, it was a great version. If you are working in the print media, go with Adobe Illustrator10-Photoshop8 or Corel12,they are the industry standards. Corel and Adobe have always warred. Corel stumbled way back when with version4(buggy as heck)and again with 7(same problem)so Adobe took the lead, but believe me, I've used both and Corel could hold it's own +. I'm just now thinking of upgrading because there comes a time when the bar has been raised. That doesn't mean Corel8 is a boat anchor, it just means for pro work, you have to be able to really grind fine to stay even. A lot of Pro end users are switching to Corel now, they are finding what I've known for years. Corel is very user friendly and you get more bang for your buck. I've worked with some of Serif's products back when, had a couple of big clients who had done their own basic work but needed it to be redone professionally, so they would bring me their files and I would put it all together for them in a better way. It was horrible, I always hated working with it...like using your elbows to move the mouse:))) BUT that doesn't mean it is that way today... I found the site tonight and I'm tempted to D/L so I can give you my opinion of it now. Another excuse to play with software!heheh!
   Hope I haven't bored you silly,it's just my work has taken me through lots of the graphic software ups/downs through the years. Time is money and I've had to know what would work with what, fast. A rolling stone gathers no moss but it does acquire a bit of polish.
   ~LDahl

   Posted 17 years ago #
3. 

   hamstergirl
   Member

   Hey Idahl!
   .....YIKES! You sure know your stuff! (says the noobie graphics user in a small, reverential voice). I live in fear of having to do a reinstall - probably because I'm not sure how, LOL! And, I don't have a cd for XP - I realllllly need to buy that new computer.....You know, outside of selling my beadwork, (back before everybody and their mother started making their own) and working as a street artist in San Francisco back in the day, my creative endeavors have always made rather than paid the bills. I never had a job doing anything remotely interesting (hey, most of us don't get excited by insurance!) It's nice to hear that you have been able to work in a field doing something that you enjoy and are passionate about - and yeah, I'm jealous too ;)

   Thank you for the lowdown, its put a few things in perspective. I came to my computer knowing the names of two pieces of software - Corel and Photoshop. Not being a photographer, and not knowing any better, I thought "Oh, Corel is for painters, I won't need to look at that silly Photoshop" - jeez, what an idiot. I even sat on my copy of PSE4 for two months before I looked at it! Well, I got bored one day and decided to install it and now, well I just wish I had done it sooner - I love playing with all those brushes!....Now you have given me a very good piece of advice - basically, learn the software that I already have; and then learn how to push it past its limits. Remember, thrill of the kill and all that? They were thinking of me when they cloned the phrase jack of all trades, master of none! Happy accidents are a good thing, but only recently have I been able to operate at a level of intent (as opposed to "Wow, how did I do that?....so I won't ever do it again"). One of the reasons I play with all these filters and plugins is to get a grasp of the terminology - its hard to make plans when you don't know what your tools are for! There's just so much stuff to take in and its not just the graphics, there's the day to day operation of the computer too. Sometimes I really feel like my brains are leaking out my ears (its really hard to get out of my fur too).

   I see that Corel now has an Essentials 4 (I have v3, came with the wacom) - it seems like Artweaver is practically a Corel clone (and has features that Essentials3 doesn't). The program history you gave was very interesting. I had always planned on using this machine as a learner, and then getting a new one, and installing Painter on it - at the time I wasn't even aware that they were up to version 10. I knew it was overkill, but hey, everybody deserves champagne once in a while! But getting v8 might not be a bad idea. Getting Xara was foolish, I admit. Vector drawing frustrates me more than anything else I have tried to do to date. When I held it up to the programs I currently have, yeah, I'll admit it - the packaging got me. I've stayed away from eBay on purpose - do not want that temptation as well *grin*. I've just put something up on my Live space called Old Master. Did it for a competition with Twisted Brush. Its got a gazillion things wrong with it, but its the best I've ever done, on or off a computer. Look at the rest - they scream newbie - but you'll see what I'm talking about. Its about 5:00am, and this hamster is retiring to her nest- see ya later!
   hamstergirl

   Posted 17 years ago #
4. 

   ldahl
   Member

   @HG I didn't mean to babble on so much yesterday, sorry! I just didn't think you would really like Xara all that much and I knew from what you told me, that you already had most of what they offered.
   I loved your Live Space and I think your paintings show a lot of talent! There is much confusion between Corel Draw, Corel Photo Paint and Corel PainterX vrs. Adobe Photo Shop. All those Photos and Paints in the names. Not to forget the old Photo Shop Pro
   I think they did it on purpose!:)
   I can tell you want to work with raster programs, the vector programs are Corel Draw, and Adobe Illustrator the rest of them are raster.
   I've had way too much fun looking at all the software the last couple of days. Today I'll be good and shut up early!:)))
   Later
   LD

   Posted 17 years ago #
5. 

   hamstergirl
   Member

   Freeware Fan - are ya still with us? It seems like Idahl and I have sort of highjacked your thread, LOL (didn't think you would mind tho!) There's one other program I've been sitting on, trying to decide if I should post for you.....so, here's the full story and afterwards you can decide what to do.

   Its a freeware texture/tile generator called Imagely's Picture Styles. The homepage is at
   http://www.imagelys.com/

   Its relatively new - June of this year. You also need to download the texture packs - there are six so far - some of them look like draped silk scarves in beautiful jewel tones, all designed to be layered over each other and there's soooo many of them. Its got a decent help file and if you are interested, I did make some notes for a friend you are welcome to have (although I doubt you'll need them, LOL!). So, why did I hesitate to mention this? I have McAfee's Site Adviser on my browser - I don't rely on it nor treat it as gospel, but I do take the time to check it out when something I'm interested in is red flagged. You can get Imagely's and the first four packs at cNet Downloads, but packs five and six are on the homepage only. When I found this program back in August, McAfee had not yet rated them - when I looked the other night, they had and its red, due to links to other red sites. Also, when I googled' it just for grins, man, I have never sen so many red flags on one of my searches! Now, when you dl the program, it says 30 day trial - but you register for free and its yours to keep. My system is clean, and I have had no emails from them or anyone else far as I can tell.

   I'm not going to debate about McAfee - but I did want to give everyone the full story and then they could make up their own mind. If you have a use for this sort of thing, its a fun toy to have on hand, so let me know. (FreewareFan, check out my live space) - See ya'll later,
   hamstergirl

   Posted 17 years ago #
6. 

   hamstergirl
   Member

   Idahl - yeah, I'm giving my paws the rest of the night off too! Thank you for the nice comments - much appreciated. Spent the day trying to be a good girl and catching up on everything I've neglected the past few days. This poor hamster is runnin on empty - too much software (yeah, as if...) - I'll check in later
   hg

   Posted 17 years ago #
7. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   There are a lot of excellent graphics programs on the market these days, but just because they come with a premium price tag doesn’t mean they are the only option. Take a look at this list of our favorite, and free, alternatives to some of those pricey programs.

   35 Free Graphics Programs Hopefully there is one or two on the list you haven't seen before.

   Posted 17 years ago #
8. 

   ldahl
   Member

   Thanks BuBBy, super list! I've been on a filter frenzy for a week now! Lot's of goodies to go through, it takes some work to investigate each filter's capabilities and save the best, then getting them all working across the graphic programs I use most. Good times, good times:)))Now is a great time to be seeing what is new in the graphic sector, so I really appreciate new links to check out.
   ~LD

   Posted 17 years ago #
9. 

   FreewareFan
   Member

   Great list, BuBBy! You've led me to a new photo editor favorite, that being GimpShop.

   A port of Gimp, obviously, but tailored to be as close to Photoshop as possible. Works with PS filters, and is one powerful program, with or without having to pay for it. The icing on the cake is that it's totally free of charge. I'll be spending some time learning it, and then I feel that I will be uninstalling some of the others I currently have on my system.

   Anyway, I'm grateful for you sharing that list!

   FF

   Posted 17 years ago #

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