# photoshop alternate?



## rika-wulf (Aug 27, 2007)

Are there any free alternatives to photoshop that are compatable with vista? I need to do some digital work.


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## darkcobalt86 (Aug 27, 2007)

I dunno if GIMP is, but it's worth a try X3


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## Acorndeer (Aug 27, 2007)

Corel painter X for sure and Open Canvas 4.06 I suspect to work ok,


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## ale (Aug 27, 2007)

From what I've read, Gimp does indeed work, but the program hangs while opening fonts.  You could also try pixia which was recommended in the art forum  http://park18.wakwak.com/~pixia/index.html  
Pixia is like a very old version of photoshop and isn't designed for image manipulation so much as coloration of manga.
(I don't know how to link things here yet)

Another more advanced program that has been used as a photoshop alternate is paint.net.  Except for the gradiant tool and some of the plugins I'd say it's actually weaker than the Gimp, but it is said to be fully vista compatible.  
http://www.getpaint.net/


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## Magnus (Aug 27, 2007)

Photoshop works fine on Vista, i have not yet encountered any problem!


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## rika-wulf (Aug 27, 2007)

Magnus said:
			
		

> Photoshop works fine on Vista, i have not yet encountered any problem!



Yeah, but I don't have it right now.


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## Chakat Scirocco (Aug 27, 2007)

Google "ArtRage."


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## SparKitsune (Aug 27, 2007)

How about Paint.NET?

It's Free and I've actually been able to make an art picture of mine into digital with this. I personally have found this to be easier to use than GIMP, but maybe the amount of success might vary from person to person.

Anyway, here is the link, if you wanna use it.

http://www.getpaint.net/

Hope that helped some.


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## 444 (Aug 29, 2007)

SparKitsune said:
			
		

> How about Paint.NET?


GIMP got more possibilities. It's pretty much like photoshop, but free. It worked on vista for me. But I also heard many people had troubles with it, so it's probably pretty much a dice roll.


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## Sparkynekomi (Dec 17, 2007)

What about Open Canvas? Did anyone actually PAY for that one? It's a decent program and I'm sure you can find someone to send you a free copy of that.


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## Stratelier (Dec 17, 2007)

> Gimp does indeed work, but the program hangs while opening fonts.


GIMP 2.2 had to load font data from scratch every time you started up the program, and took forever to evaluate and parse non-ANSI codepages (such as Japanese or Korean characters).  I know, I had to set the "-nofonts" option in order to maintain a decent startup time.

GIMP 2.4 seems to have addressed this, it remembers the fonts configuration for next time (just like it already does with plug-ins), so only the first startup gets bogged down.


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## Icarus (Dec 17, 2007)

Pirate photoshop from the internet like the rest of us D=<
[/joke]

Ya, I heard that the gimp was supposed to rival photoshop, but I don't know I've never used it.


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## RTDragon (Dec 17, 2007)

There's Photoshop elements a much cheaper alternative. then the expensive photoshop CS.

99$ bucks compared to $600 with the original.


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## Stratelier (Dec 18, 2007)

Photoshop Elements lacks some of the Photoshop proper's power features.


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## InsomniacOvrLrd (Dec 19, 2007)

Is promoting the idea of just getting a keygen and using photoshop like every other poor artist against the rules :| i recommend it.


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## Stratelier (Dec 19, 2007)

I do think keygens arrrr not a proper thing to be using.


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## Le_DÃ©mon_Sans_Visage (Dec 19, 2007)

I use Photoshop Elements and don't miss the power features. 

You can get free demos for programs like Ulead PhotoImpact. They only work for 30 days, usually.


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## Arshes Nei (Dec 20, 2007)

InsomniacOvrLrd said:
			
		

> Is promoting the idea of just getting a keygen and using photoshop like every other poor artist against the rules :| i recommend it.



Yes. Being a poor artist doesn't mean it's ok to steal when this is a hobby for most. It's a weak defense. I remember using things like pencils and paper, and not worried about Photoshop. Photoshop certainly didn't make my art great. It was practice. I got better actually using free alternatives because I wasn't worried about a filter saving my work (like musicians, "oh her voice is bad, we'll just fix it in the mix"..) Open Canvas is out there and you can get a lot of these programs at an educational discount. 

If you want to pirate among your friends and keep it on the down low that's your deal, but posting such things on a public forum is a bad idea. Not all robots and spiders follow the rules and can make FA a liability if you're just going to encourage people to steal.


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## Magnus (Dec 20, 2007)

No stealin pl0x >.o 
Open Canvas is way better then photoshop if you know how to work with it (personal opinion) not that i can work with it tho. 

give it a try: http://opencanvas.en.softonic.com/


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## Mayfurr (Dec 26, 2007)

I've been using GIMP for a few years now, and it's pretty good. Has a little bit of a learning curve, but then again I don't know what sort of learning curve Photoshop has. Haven't missed not having Photoshop 
Version 2.4 is recommended, I believe it works on Vista (it certainly works fine on XP) - and if you're really stuck, Linux LiveCD distros such as Knoppix have GIMP as standard as well.


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## Infinity (Dec 26, 2007)

http://gimp.org/downloads/ I'm not sure if it is compatible with Vista, but GIMP is something I love. I use it on most of the things I do.


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