Micrografx Picture Publisher

I work as as an research engineer in the field of Imaging & Information Technology. I have had exposure to many of the various image processing packages that have come down the pike over the past 15 years. I have even written a number of routines myself, for inclusion in proprietary products. I also am a webmaster for four websites; all of which are very graphics / image intensive. Micrograpfx Picture Publisher 8.0 is my tool of choice for almost all of my image manipulation tasks. I have used it to recover "hopeless" digitizations of extremely poor contributed photos, donated by site contributors. I have used it to denoise video capture frames. I have used it to extend the sensitivity of both video capture and digital camera photos to low light conditions. I have used it to soften and harden focus, to adjust gamma for the screen, to correct tone imballances to do gif "silloettes" and on and on. The program is easy to use, without reading the accompanying manual. Two levels of undo (^Z and revert to last saved) allow you to back away from processing goofs. The processing and artistic tools are generaly more than addequate. Heck, I am still finding different and better ways of doing things after a long period of use. The canned macros that are available in this program are a fascinating and usefull set of tools. I particularly make use of Photo/unsharp, Photo/remove-pattern, Gamma, Tone, Contrast, Color Balance, Photo/sharpen, Magic-Wand-fill. PaintBrushFilter/Impressionist and others. Tomorrow, I'll probably add more to the list. The macro recording and batch macro play capability is a god send for those occasions when you have a large number of images which you need to perform similar processing on, such as a resize to a common size for publication. There are only two small weeknesses that I have run into. 1. Would be nice to have a larger undo buffer 2. Would be nice for program to remember your last processing selection instead of always returning to default positions. 3. Some functions (Such as gif transparrency) are hard to find. But, these are relatively minor for such a reasonably priced package. I constanly recommend this package to anyone with an interest in image based computer graphics.

Rich Tool Set Inexpensive Reasonable Manual Ease Of Use Choice of image formats. Preview Functions

1 deep undo buffer No default setting adjustment Hidden Functions

Photo Shop Paint Shop Pro

Adequate

We got this software when we bought our flatbed scanner. We have been very pleased with the software and its versatility in editing our scanned photos. It was easy to learn the program and how the tools worked. We felt like this was a good compliment to our scanner purchase and it was decently priced alternative compared to some of the expensive photo editing software packages, with all the capabilities we needed.

Easy to use. Good price

None

Adobe Photoshop

I used Picture Publisher 3.0 for a number of years and now I am using 8.0. As far as I am concerned, it out-performs all photo editing software in its class. It has all the features you could possibly need to work on your images. I also have PhotoShop 5.0 which only gets used if there is something Picture Publisher can't handle and that is not too often. For around $100 you simply can not beat this product.

None

None

None

This is my prime software for managing images. I have used PP3, PP5, and PP7 and this is the best! I really like the many wizards and effects possible. It is very easy to learn and use and produce stunning image manipulations. The new effects such as lighting, camera and edging are fabulous. A great value for a great program. It has many features lacking in Photoshop.

None

None

None

Picture Publisher 8, is the best I have seen for the cost and you dont have to have add-ons that more expensive software does to do the same things.

None

None

None