Paint Shop Pro V10.02 updater increases Raw support, improves browsing, fixes bugs

[Bob Crabtree]

Corel's V10.02 updater for Paint Shop Pro X (a 20.4MB download) minimises the browser when opening a file (as PSP 9 does) and is said to add Raw support for six further cameras and fix a wide range of bugs.

New Raw support is for the Canon Kiss n; Nikon D50 and D70s; and Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D and Dynax 5D and 7D.

As with earlier versions of PSP, it's also now possible to drag and drop thumbnails from the browser into folders in the file tree.

For details of the long list of improvements and fixes (and a download link), see the V10.02 release notes.

[Funkstar]

sounds good. i really need to have a play with PSP 10, see if i can wean myself off PhotoShop

[Atomic]

I've always used PSP, its been fine for the stuff I do.

Using Ctrl + A to select all thumbnails in the Browser Palette now works properly.

Wahay!

[Bob Crabtree]

Truth is, there is no one perfect solution for all possible image tweaking tasks (ditto video or sound).

So, in an ideal world, you'd have a selection of apps available and use the one that best suits the task (and your ability to do that task).

I've used PSP on and off since V4 (maybe V3 even, I'm not sure) and Photoshop since V6 (I currently have 7.0.1) , and have tended to find that most things are easier to do in PSP - if, that is, you can do them.

With V10 of PSP, there were certain features I badly missed from earlier versions, and that has meant that it hasn't been uncommon for me to be running V7, V8 and V10 all at the same time (I never did get V9).

I'm kind of hoping that this latest update of V10 will mean that happens less often - the drag-to-folder feature was something I sorely missed, likewise the fact that the browser didn't get out of your face when you open an image.

However, I think that the way that V8 deals with the browser is more Windows-like and more natural - it simply opens the image on top of the browser window and you can have either on top. With V10, if you can see the browser, then it will be on top, unless you resize browser and image so that both share the screen.

And, with V8, unlike V10, you can switch between browser and image using the program's Window menu - and you can minimise the browser using its Windows-standard minimise button (missing completely in V10).

A couple of backwards steps, I'd judge, but without having had hands on with V9, I'm not sure whether this all happened in the move to V10 or was partly different in V9.

If V9 worked the same was as V8, there may be hope that Corel will take one further step backwards to restore V8's way of dealing with image browsing.

Mind you V7, V8 and V10 all offer far more natural and easy-to-use image-browsing (in my view) than does any version of Adobe Photoshop I've used (though Elements 4.0 isn't bad). I've not used the current or previous versions of Photoshop proper and don't know whether either has improved on this side of things.

That said, I think that those who have reason to make the major effort required to get the maximum from Photoshop do find that investment provides a good return.

And, if there are tools in Photoshop that you need and no other app offers, then you end up getting in and either making (or not making) the required investment to master more of what's on offer,

For a large number of casual users (and, indeed, some less-than-casual users) the effort is not easy to make and, so, a program such as PSP (or some of its many inferiors) is what gets used.

[Bob Crabtree]

"Using Ctrl + A to select all thumbnails in the Browser Palette now works properly".

Wahay!

I'd never even noticed that it didn't because I didn't have any reason to use it once I realised I couldn't drag images from the browser into folders.

But, yes, that is a significant fix - and the Ctrl and Shift selections look to work normally, too (God, I am a sad, cynic).

[divinemadness]

I use PS CS2 as I always found the interface far more intuitive, and the program itself much more powerful.

PSP was good, but not quite good enough to compete with CS/CS2.

I have also never found anything that PSP enabled me to do easier than CS2 does.

[Flibb]

I use CS2 mainly becaus people on the Nikon forums tend to use it, consequently mainly of the techniques they demonstrate are for PS or CS2. The big BUT is that it was provided by work (swift bit of talking on my part) and I couldnt have spent that much myself, would probably have got Elements of PSP

[Bob Crabtree]

Just noticed a quirk that hasn't been fixed.

Unlike in V7 and V8, you can't drag a folder of files onto V10 and have the folder open in the browser.