Alternatives to Photoshop

By DangerShine Designs, in X-Wing Off-Topic

Posted at

Ahoy hoy,

For many years I have been using a licensed (and paid for) version of Photoshop 7 but this morning, each time I have fired it up and try and perform any function it would seem that all the menus and options are all grayed out. The only thing that is available is the "Registration" button. Best guess is that they have reset licensing after all these years to force repurchases of license.

Either way, I'm now without my primary design tool and at a bit of a loss as to where to go as a replacement. I currently want to take a photo of some hand-drawn line work, import it and recreate the image as line art and in PS7 it would take me about 3 minutes but after wasting 2 hours this morning looking at alternatives (Gimp, Pixlr, Paint.NET and a few others) I am frustrated beyond belief at how steep a learning curve I have in front of me to create a simple graphic.

So! Given the verbal vomit above, what I'm looking for is:

A) what alternatives to Photoshop do you guys recommend?
B) what resources (beyond YouTube) would you recommend for leaning said tool?
C) if you were going to great a simple graphic out of a hand drawn scan, what would you use?
D) any one know if Adobe changed their licensing in the last few days or have any idea why I am seeing the same odd behavior on two machines?

Thanks in advance,
DSD

Edited by DangerShine Designs
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Gimp

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I've heard good things about Gimp as well. Have not ported over myself as my last foray was met with... different. Why does every software developer move the freakin' buttons anyway?

My guess is they had a glitch in the code. One would think, despite the no support older software, that this would be something Adobe would want to have cleared up.

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I think the photoshop only subscription is about $10 a month which isn't horrible. Definitely the best deal if you don't need any other adobe programs.

I've been meaning to upgrade myself as I still have the CS2 suite.

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As mentioned above you can have the latest Photoshop (and Lightroom too) for a small monthly payment. Here in the UK I get them both for less than £8 a month on the Creative Cloud Photography Plan.

To be honest I've not been using them or my camera much lately, but the way I see it is that for less than three coffees a month I can have the best in class software ready to be used when I do need it. It's definitely worth looking into if you use Photoshop with any regularity.

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thanks, everyone. I think I will struggle on with Gimp.

I'm frustrated with Adobe - I can't find out why this licensed copy is now not working (if they changed their licensing or retired it, I can't find anything to support that) so feel a little pissy towards Adobe. Don't know that I feel like giving them a $20 a month subscription (pricing I found on their website) to a tool I use so infrequently. This may sound cheap but it's less about the money and more about the principle. I bought a license years ago because I wanted my own copy - now they have seemingly pulled that back and paying them monthly as a thanks isn't sitting right.

appreciate the responses.

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Try sumopaint.com

"Sumo Paint is an online image editor, without need to install anything to your device. It's the most versatile photo editor and painting application that works in a browser. You can open and save images from your hard drive or save it to cloud."
I use it from time to time when I need Photoshop & am somewhere where the computer I'm using doesn't have it installed (like at my in-laws).
Edited by Force Majeure
Posted at

Try sumopaint.com

"Sumo Paint is an online image editor, without need to install anything to your device. It's the most versatile photo editor and painting application that works in a browser. You can open and save images from your hard drive or save it to cloud."
I use it from time to time when I need Photoshop & am somewhere where the computer I'm using doesn't have it installed (like at my in-laws).

Thank you so much, I will give that a spin!

My curled lip notwithstanding, I put a couple of hours into Gimp at the weekend and am getting pretty conversant with it. I'm still frustrated with Adobe (and will actively try to avoid giving them a cent going forward) but once I had slapped all the "but why should I have to learn a new tool?' out of myself, I realized that Gimp will likely do 99% of what I want, I just need to learn a new tool.

Thanks again!