Cons Some operations still slow. Interface can get cluttered. Ineffective chromatic aberration removal. Bottom Line Corel continues to build on its low-cost Photoshop competitor, adding some fun new tools and improving the speed of some operations. PaintShop Pro has long played the role of understudy to Photoshop's star. But with Adobe moving its flagship application to a subscription-only model, it seems that more and more users are turning to Corel's very powerful image-editing program—the company informs me that last year saw its best sales on record. With version X7, PaintShop Pro ($79.99 list) now offers even more of what most people probably think of as Photoshop-only features, such as content aware object removal and layer manipulation. The latest version also adds faster brushes, new text and shape cutter tools, a materials palette, and support for XMP metadata files. Let's see whether the new Corel PaintShop Pro X7 has what it takes to lure you away from the Adobe juggernaut. Getting, Installing, and Setting up PaintShop Pro X7 PaintShop runs on Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP with the latest service packs installed (32-bit or 64-bit editions). It comes in the standard $79.99 Pro edition as well as a $99.99 Ultimate edition. The Ultimate edition includes Perfectly Clear auto-correction and some other retouching and drawing tools. A free 30-day trial download is available for each of the two versions. After you agree to the license, you choose whether to install the 64-bit or 32-bit version (or both). The reason for the last choice is that you may sometimes want to use 32-bit plugins. Unfortunately, the installer still tries to install unrelated third-party software, a practice I take exception to in paid software—even when it's as affordable as Paint Shop Pro. The installer checks for updates, then, on first run, asks for an email address to register and create an account. This account gives you access to a wealth of tutorial videos in the online Discovery Center. Interface The startup interface of PaintShop Pro hasn't changed much since the last version. A dark background encloses three main widows and loads of icons and menu choices. It's hard to escape an intricate UI in programs with so many capabilities. Even Photoshop isn't bare bones. Corel has redesigned several of the program's commonly needed dialog boxes, though. The new image dialog in particular has become more helpful. Other updated dialogs include those for Selective Focus, Vignette, Retro Lab, Graduated Filter, Depth of Field, and Red Eye Removal. Like Photoshop, PaintShop is not a photo workflow application, even though it includes tools for organizing and outputting. It's especially evident when importing photos because you don't get to preview or tag images on import. After importing images, you can add star ratings, as well as tags for keywords, people, and places. You can also create collections, including Smart Collections of photos that meet specified criteria such as date, name, or tags. Images aren't overwritten when you save edits, but saved in PaintShop's own PSP format. You can also save in Adobe PSD format, along with dozens of other standard image formats. The main window's side panels can be undocked or dismissed. You switch among three main modes using buttons along the top—Manage, Adjust, and Edit. As you might guess, Manage is for acquiring, organizing, and sharing pictures. On the left panel in this mode is source navigation, with folders and collections, in the center is your content view—thumbnails, full image view, or even a map mode. You can double tap a thumb for a quick full-screen preview with options for rating, rotating, deleting, or launching the image in the editor. Adjust mode shows a histogram with lighting and color controls in the left panel. Its helpful and effective Suggest Settings button corrected lighting problems in many of my test photos. You can click on a neutral spot to correct the white balance and use a levels slider to balance a lopsided histogram. A slider lets you zoom in or out to any magnification you choose, unlike Lightroom, which restricts you to set ratios like 1:2, 1:3, and 1:1. There is a 1:1 button in PaintShop, however, and you can zoom in and out simply by spinning the mouse wheel. One missing feature is a before and after view to show the results of your adjustments and edits. PaintShop's speed continues to improve, but even on my 3.4GHz quad-core with 8GM RAM, I still occasionally found loading images and effects too sluggish. For less-adept users, PaintShop's Learning Center, similar to Photoshop Elements' Guides, walks you through oft-needed photo editing processes, such as retouching, working with layers, printing, and advanced effects. It's a helpful resource for those who are shaky in some areas of working with images. Instant Effects On a right panel in Adjust mode are a panoply of Instagram-like Instant Effects. Double-clicking any of the effect preview thumbnails applies it, and you can combine two or more. There are lots and lots of effects—Artistic, Film, B&W, scene lighting—but their thumbnails use sample images instead of the one you're working on, which I'd prefer. Clicking on an effect, however, shows a preview of the selected effect in a larger thumbnail up top using your own image. Another gap is the lack of control over the effects. Sometimes you want to tone it down a bit, as I found with the Instant Film effect. Photoshop Elements' instant effects are indeed adjustable, but Corel's aren't. Of course, you could fuss with the image using the app's other adjustments for lighting and color, but it's nice to have a slider that simply controls the effect's strength, as even Instagram does. Luckily, there are also Undo and Redo buttons, since applying effects can get messy. Another help is the big Revert button, in case things have gotten completely out of hand and you want to start over. Full-Power Editing Once you move into Edit mode, the full panoply of tools comes into play. Just as in Photoshop, you can add layers, manipulate grouped objects, and adjust curves and levels. The Curves tool is particularly powerful, allowing up to 16 control points, which let me create some pretty crazy effects by itself. A new Retro lab makes up for Instant Effects lack of adjustability in a big way. It lets you adjust blur, diffuse, glow, color, and more. Two selection tools, Smart Selection and Auto Selection, are similar to Photoshop's magic wand. The first did a decent job of letting me brush to create an edge-detected selection. But the Auto Selection is more impressive. You draw a box, and the tool selects an object inside it. In my testing, this only worked with very uniform backgrounds (a clear sky, for example) and objects with well-defined edges. Still, it's a useful tool for plucking a head off and using it against a different background. In the right circumstances it works quite well.
Dec 3, 2014.. Adobe Photoshop is more than most of us need—more features, more power, more financial outlay. Corel thinks its PaintShop Pro X7 is a ..
Introducing the new Corel PaintShop Pro X7! Create your best photos ever with pro-quality tools. Watch this video to learn more about the new Magic Fill ..
Professional-quality photo editing New Make it vanish with Magic Fill Perfectly Clear smart photo correction technology FaceFilter3 photo retouching and beautifying toolkit The ultimate photo editor Imagine your best photo ever-now bring it to life with the ultimate photo editor. Corel® PaintShop® Pro X7 Ultimate combines the pro-quality photo-editing tools of PaintShop Pro X7 with powerful image correction technology Perfectly Clear by Athentech Imaging...
