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usregimechange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:09 AM
Original message
Best free alternative to photoshop?
I lost my Photoshop when I switched PCs, the install disc is damaged. So, I havbe been looking at the free products on line. Photobie isn't bad for free but it is nothing compared to photoshop. Any suggestions? What do you guys use?
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Duer 157099 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:11 AM
Response to Original message
1. Have you tried Gimp?
http://www.gimp.org/
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usregimechange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:18 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Never, is it a good program? Does it have a magnetic lasso?
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Duer 157099 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:22 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Well
Not being a Photoshopper myself, instead I've used Paint Shop Pro forever, and I find Gimp to be reasonable similar to PSP.

I'm not even sure what a magnetic lasso is but I bet they have something similar, maybe. :shrug:
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usregimechange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:47 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. Looks good but I can't figure out how to select one layer at a time
The layers seem to just all stick to the background... The worst part is the time it takes to learn a new program.
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Duer 157099 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 03:13 AM
Response to Reply #5
8. Agree, there's always a learning curve of some sort
But in this case, it may be worth the time and effort.

There's probably a "layers" menu, something that pulls up a list of all the layers so you can select which one you want to work on. I haven't spent much time with Gimp, just enough to know that if I need an alternate to PSP, it would be a good alternative.

Good thing is there's probably lots of documentation around, it being open source and all. And lots of plug ins too.
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blogslut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 07:30 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. On the File Menu, click "Windows"
From the drop-down, select Dockable Dialogs > Layers
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hunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 01:37 AM
Response to Original message
4. Gimp will do what you want but it's not Photoshop.
It's a little closer to the actual math, a little bit raw.

You'll want things like G'MIC
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csziggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 02:03 AM
Response to Original message
6. Do you have a legitimate license for Photoshop that was registered to you?
Contact Adobe, maybe they would let you download the version you had. I haven't gotten an install disk for the last two versions I have - I pay online, then download and install. I burn the download to a CDR so I've never had to re-download, but they do have a way to allow that.

What version did you have?
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usregimechange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 02:47 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. 7.0 or CS1 but good idea.
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csziggy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 05:10 PM
Response to Reply #7
11. I've got Photoshop 7.0 but only an upgrade version
And that would probably not work with a full version license.

Another suggestion is Photoshop Elements but I don't know if it has the access to layers that real Photoshop does.
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Bragi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-05-11 09:24 AM
Response to Original message
10. Not free, but cheap and good: Photoshop Elements 9
Costs a fraction of what PS CS does, but does most of what matters. I think it sells for about $50 after discounts.
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