Corel Paint Shop Pro

Paint Shop Pro (PSP) is a bitmap graphics editor and vector graphics editor for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system that was originally published by Minneapolis-based Jasc Software. In October 2004, Corel Corporation bought out Jasc Software, and with it, the distribution rights to Paint Shop Pro.

The first version, 1.0, was released in early 1992. PSP was originally distributed as shareware, but is now sold for ^*]100 or, after rebate, US$50—which is considerably lower than the price of its main competition, Adobe Photoshop.

Its functionality is easy to learn and its user base is large due to the fact that many mid-range scanners come with PSP as their acquisition tool and image editor and many OEMs, including Dell, have been or are bundling it with their systems.

Much of PSP's popularity can be attributed to the fact that it is much cheaper in price than most professional image editors, like Adobe Photoshop. Instead it competes in the same price class as Adobe Photoshop Elements. It also uses the same plugin architecture as Photoshop, allowing for a high degree of expandability.

Although Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop are functionally similar for the majority of casual users, the pricier Photoshop offers features important to some professionals that are unavailable in Paint Shop Pro. For example, Photoshop provides CMYK color management (not introduced until PSP X) and is available in an Apple Macintosh version, features which remain critical to the print publication industry. However, PSP supports both raster and vector graphics, whereas Photoshop only supports raster graphics. (Adobe Systems markets Adobe Illustrator for vector graphics.) This has made PSP a somewhat popular editor for vector graphics.

From version 5.01 through version 8, Jasc bundled Animation Shop, an animated graphics editor, with Paint Shop Pro. The program is now available separately for ^*]40.

With version 8.0 of PSP Jasc made some major changes to PSP. The most obvious change was the new look of the program through the use of all new GUI elements. Version 8.0 also introduced the ability to control most elements of PSP via scripts or macros. Some changes, however, were not welcomed by all users. Some users complained that the time to start version 8.0 was tens of seconds, whereas the previous version started up in a few seconds. Some users also complained that the changes made to the brush and other tools rendered them much less precise than in the previous version. This has caused some users to stick with version 7.0 of the program. Version 9 later solved some of those issues.

The latest version, Paint Shop Pro X, was released in September 2005 and now bears the name "Corel Paint Shop Pro". Major changes include a revamped Learning Center that helps new users get started, Makeover Tools (Blemish Remover, Toothbrush/whitener, and Suntan Brush), IR film simulator, and a Black and White film converter that includes color filter effects.

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Bitmap graphics editors | Vector graphics editors | Technical communication tools

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