Need help with Photoshop

[Vander]

I am looking to get Photoshop to create some custom textures, and possibly do some banner work for my clan's website.

My question is: What version do I get? My wife got Photoshop Elements 6 for my birthday, but does this have everything I need? I don't want to open it for fear it does not have everything an aspiring custom texture maker would need.

 

[DJive]

erm well.. Elements is 1/6th the cost of photoshop cs3 sadly.

elements is more so a touch-up, effects software, not so much a image creation/minipulation.

I personally only use CS3, i tried elements after i used photoshop and couldnt get into it.

A lot of people here actually use GIMP and feel it is close to the same as far as Photoshop, i'd give that a shot.

GIMP Home Page

 

[SaerisHawkeye]

I'm a professional user of photoshop of 8 years, and I'll tell you, Elements is not for making images.

Elements is a basic package designed to assist beginner digital photographers to easily crop and touch up their photos for print, and not much else. The UI's for elements and photoshop are also vastily different, and as such, I wouldn't even recommend it as a stepping stone to learning the full product.

If you don't want to buy photoshop because of the price tag, there are plenty of other programs out there that will be just as good for creating textures. Such as Paint Shop Pro or Adobe Fireworks. I don't find these programs to be as advanced as photoshop, but they are just as good for creating the sort of simple textures you might want to make for TF2.

So, either get photoshop or look into one of the alternative packages out there. (The Gimp being a good one, however, I don't use it.)

 

[poopster101]

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[trackhed]

gimp ftw.

it uses a slightly different interface method than photoshop, but if you've never used either, then there isnt much a learning curve

 

[YM]

I'm afraid I have to dissagree with you guys, I wen't from PS elements 2.0 to CS2 and I despised the transition, I lost several features that I used all the time (as in - completely lost, they dont exist in cs2 but do in elements) that was annoying and quite a lot of the menus are much less intuative, which basically stopped me being creative with it, I hit a brick wall when we changed over and I never really managed to get going again (even though I now know fully how to use the beast and I know its hugely powerfull and vastly superior to elements and paintshop and the likes)
Elements is useable but if ya can get cs2 or 3 then do it - newer generally means better (except with physical goods, like MP3 players break after a few years whilst hoovers from 50 years ago are still going strong...wtf is up with that, its almost like manufacturers are making goods 'disposable' now)


Also - poopster - no, just no.

 

[l3eeron]

Im using an old version of photoshop.... 6.0, and I love it. Never tried anything else. Ther'es a steep learning curve. I still, after a few years of tinkering, only know how to do a few simple things. I'd love learn from someone who knows the program good.

 

[DJive]

Ask away =) im sure there are many, including myself, who know photoshop extremely well.

 

[Scotland Tom]

Indeed, I'm a frequent user of Photoshop and use it for both professional and personal projects. I currently am familiar with both CS2 and CS3.

@Youme, what features did you lose from Elements that aren't available in CS2?

 

[Vander]

If you don't want to buy photoshop because of the price tag, there are plenty of other programs out there that will be just as good for creating textures. Such as Paint Shop Pro...

As it turns out, I am able to lay my hands on an older version of Paint Shop Pro version 7.02 (not sure how old this is?)

A lot of people here actually use GIMP and feel it is close to the same as far as Photoshop, i'd give that a shot.

Did someone say free? *clicks link and begins download*

Elements is useable but if ya can get cs2 or 3 then do it - newer generally means better

Here is my big question: What am I getting out of Elements that I won't get from Paint Shop Pro or GIMP? In other words, should I take this copy of Elements back to Walmart? I'd like to get CS2 or CS3, but at this point, if I'm dropping that much coinage, I'd rather upgrade my PC before investing in a (admittedly badass) program. Elements is in my price range, but only IF, it can be used effectively for what I want to do with it.

 

[SaerisHawkeye]

in my experience, Paint Shop Pro goes for under $100 (not altogether sure about that tho, may have been a sale), and I think X2 is the latest version (in other words, v11.0, I think).

Since I started with Photoshop 7, I learned that and stuck with it, so I don't know the other programs very well. I can work my way around them though, so, there's evidence that they are fairly easy to use in comparison. As for feature differences, those I don't know anything about.

What makes them different to me is mainly the interfaces. They all do pretty much the same basic set of operations, and to my knowledge, that's all you really need for texture design. As long as you can paint and use layers, then you should be able to do everything you need. Some people like taking shortcuts though, by using effects filters and whatnot to achieve results. I don't particularly think you need them in order to get the job done, but they can help, and they aren't the same or sometimes even included in some software packages. Keep in mind though, that as long as you are using a very recent version of a software package, they've prolly included functionality capable of reproducing the effects in older versions of photoshop (part of that whole market share thing).

The alternatives I gave you are good examples of that and should suit your needs for a lower price. I'll stick with photoshop though, cuz I loves it. <3

 

[MangyCarface]

I have both elements and cs2. Elements is hands down more user friendly and I've never run into something I couldn't make in elements but could in cs2. Your wife got you a fine gift, don't bother buying something overly expensive because it can do "so many more things"

 

[sailfin]

I would try painter by corel. Its more meant for texture stuff and artsy stuff in general. Photoshop was just built to modify pics.

 

[Jive Turkey]

If you don't already know photoshop anyway, you might as well go ahead and learn the GIMP. It's a good program and really the major things it is lacking in comparison to Photoshop are more for print work. If you're just using it to make textures, it is quite comparable to Photoshop and very powerful, especially for being free.

 

[Rock]

I use Photoshop CS2 (essentially Photoshop 9) and I'm sold on it. However, it took me over a year of use to get familiar with all of the commands and functions. If you have no previous experience, it can be a bit overwhelming. But once learned, it's a very powerful tool.

Here's something I just created today as a logo for my clan. Took about an hour. Two years ago, I might have spent a couple of days trying to make this.

 

[Vander]

I think I'll download GIMP and try it out for a bit before making a decision on whether or not to take back Elements.

 

[Earl]

Can gimp save to .tga with alpha channels, though?