One morning I awoke to find my wrist and elbow having more than the average arthritic pain that age has added to my life. I thought over all my activities of the past week and realized I am spending more and more time in front of my computer in my “digital darkroom”. I asked myself if that might have something more to do with the pain I was feeling than old age. When the answer was a resounding “YES!”, the next question was, “What can I do to alleviate some of the stresses I am putting on my wrist and arm?”
I began to explore the idea of using a pen and tablet instead of a mouse when I am editing photos. It is ergonomically better to use a tablet and pen than using a mouse, thereby giving your wrist and arm a break from repetitive stress Then I began to question how many other programs and activities on my computer could I use a pen and tablet for? I needed to do a justification for the expenditure incurred with the pen and tablet. It needed to have value added, not just a little pain relief. I needed to put sound judgment to a frivolous purchase that might be driven by a lust for the latest and greatest technology (a far too common event in my household).
I began to investigate the different tablets and pens that are in the market place. There are two popular manufacturers of these items: Wacom and Aiptek.
Wacom Technology Corporation
This manufacturer claims that their pen tablets are the fastest and most comfortable way to work at your computer. They claim to have over 100 compatible programs they work with on both the PC platform as well as Macs. All their tablets are built using pen-enabled technology to feel like a regular writing instrument in your hand.
The web site promotes the idea of enjoying your experience and having fun with their tablets. If you want to have fun with digital photos, draw, paint, jot notes, and annotate documents, a tablet may be your answer.
The first group of tablets are called GRAPHIRE. The latest version, the Graphire4, is available in a choice of three colors (Silver, White, and Metallic Blue) and two sizes (4×5 and 6×8). The 6×8 size has over twice the tablet area of the 4×5 for even more comfort and control. There is also a Graphire Bluetooth 6×8 that gives you up to 30 feet of wireless freedom.
According to the manufacturer, the Graphire4 tablet offers two programmable ExpressKeys for convenient mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts, plus a handy scroll wheel. The pen stays nearby with the integrated pen compartment and a separate pen stand. A transparent photo frame allows for easy personalization with photos and artwork - fun samples and a template are included in the package. The included Graphire4 Pen offers 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for natural brush control, patented cordless battery-free technology, two programmable buttons and a pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes. The included Graphire4 cordless mouse that always moves freely also features patented cordless, battery-free technology, as well as a scrolling fingerwheel that allows for easy navigation while functioning as a third programmable button. The Graphire4 seems to have nearly everything a serious amateur or emerging professional could ask for.
For the “serious” photographer, designer and artist , the model of choice is the INTUOS. These “professional” pen tablets have “ExpressKeysÔ” and “Touch Strips” on the tablet which give you keyboard shortcuts, scrolling, zooming, and brush size control plus more.
The Intuos comes in six sizes: 4×5, 6×8, 6×11, 9×12, 12×12, 12×19.
Since I am a “PC” owner, I have not experienced any tablet on a Mac, however, the manufacturer says you can use your Graphire pen to enjoy all the digital-inking capabilities of the Apple Inkwell.
Aiptek, Inc.
Aiptek makes a model called a “Hyperpen”.
Aiptek's HyperPen comes in 4 models:
HyperPen 12000U is a 12 inch x 9 inch tablet (with cordless pen and mouse) which gives you the ability to use the pen to fast, easily and accurately edit your digital photographs, digitize, trace, draw, and illustrate graphics, as well as manage your cursor and navigate menus. Draw, paint, create artwork, sign your name, and annotate documents directly in Microsoft ® Office XP. With the included software you can keep it in your own handwriting or convert it to text.
HyperPen 8000U is a 8 inch x 6 inch tablet with exactly the same technical specs as its bigger 12000U. Just has a slightly smaller working area. This could be a very important issue to anyone who has a big screen monitor and is used to working every inch of the monitor.
HyperPen 6000U is a 6 inch x 4.5 inch tablet with exactly the same technical specs as the two larger models. The 6000U has a yet slightly smaller working area. If this is an issue to anyone with the 8000U, it will be a really big issue for you.
HyperPen Bluetooth Tablet is the same size as a 6000U but with Bluetooth capability. With Bluetooth technology, the new Aiptek Bluetooth tablet provides a wireless solution for tablet users. You could walk around in the meeting room and handwrite annotations or draw graphs simultaneously during your presentation. It provides cable-free mobility during meetings and presentations.
Bluetooth is an up and coming mobility tool. Both Wacom and Aiptek has moved quickly to integrate this into their tablets. With Aiptek, their least expensive tablet has incorporated Bluetooth, bringing the Bluetooth Tablet in as their most expensive tablet. If latest and greatest technology is important to you, this is a feature to consider regardless of manufacturer. However, if you are only looking for a great tablet to be ergonomically correct while you do photo and graphics work on your desktop or laptop computer, these tablets may not be the tablet for you.
Having now owned two of the models listed here, the Aiptek HyperPen 6000U and the Wacom Graphire4, the Graphire4 meets my criteria better than the 6000U did. I had the HyperPen 6000U several years ago (so it was an older version, although it looked exactly the same). It seemed a little balky when I tried to make it work. I cannot say that the current 6000U is better or worse than the original (which was easily 4 years older) because I have not used the latest version.
With the Wacom Graphire4, one of the most important determining buying factors was the additional programs available in the manufacturer’s packaging. For just under $100, I was not only able to purchase the Graphire4 – 4X5 tablet with wireless pen and mouse, I also got Corel Painter Essentials2, Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, nik Color Efex Pro 2GE, and EverNote Plus and JustWrite Office (included digital-inking software) included. At the time of my purchase, Adobe Photoshop Elements version 3.0 was retailing at the same price as this whole package. This was the full version, not a trial or limited version. Needless to say, the added software wins this tablet package my “Best Buy” vote!
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Most of us already know that Photoshop is the “industry standard” graphic design program. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always the best option, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s the best value for money.
At its retail price of 699 USD / 470 EUR, Photoshop isn’t exactly cheap. And let’s face it, not everyone needs the all of Photoshop’s high-end features. For example, Photoshop has the ability to edit images in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) mode, a feature mainly needed by print designers. If you work exclusively with web design, you may not want to pay extra for this feature.
Fortunately, there are more affordable (and sometimes even free) alternatives to Photoshop, and I’ll take a look at some very competent ones in this article. I’ll also include information on whether each program supports CMYK and Photoshop Plugins. All of the included programs support Photoshop-style layers and alpha channel transparency.
Corel Draw Graphics Suite X4
Corel Draw is the most expensive of Photoshop’s competitors, priced at 399 USD / 270 EUR. Still, there’s a lot included for that price. The Corel Draw Graphics Suite actually contains two major programs: Corel Draw and Corel Photo-Paint. Corel Draw is a vector-based design program similar to Adobe Illustrator (which sells for 599 USD / 402 EUR). Corel Photo-Paint is a bitmap-based design program similar to Photoshop. Both Draw and Photo-Paint enable CMYK editing, so they can be used by print as well as web professionals.
When compared to Photoshop, one of the things that I really like about Photo-Paint is its completely customizable interface. Just about everything, including toolbar buttons and even toolbar icons, can be changed to your liking. The Dock, which contains information similar to that found in Photoshop’s various Rollups, can also be moved out of the way with a single click. Another nice feature is the ability to turn plugins on or off while using Photo-Paint. In Photoshop, doing this requires shutting down and restarting.
For those working with both print and web design, or who require both vector and bitmap editors, I feel that Corel Draw Graphics Suite is the best of the programs I examined.
Paint Shop Pro X2
Paint Shop Pro has been available since 1992. The original version was created by JASC Software and marketed only via the Internet as shareware. JASC was purchased by Corel in 2004, apparently with the main intention of marketing Paint Shop Pro as a low-cost alternative to the Corel Draw Graphics Suite. Paint Shop Pro X2 is priced at 39.99 USD / 27.00 EUR. There is also an “Ultimate” version priced at 69.99 USD / 47.00 EUR. The retail Ultimate package includes media recovery software, a content pack, a basic version of Corel Painter, and a 2 GB USB flash drive.
Much of Paint Shop Pro is oriented around single-click solutions for common photo editing problems. If you appreciate this type of approach, and you don’t need print design features, Paint Shop Pro may well fit your needs, and do so at a very reasonable price. Also, due to the program’s shareware roots, there are many Paint Shop Pro tutorials and discussion forums available on the Internet, so help is usually very easy to find. Paint Shop Pro has only limited CMYK support, but it does support most Photoshop plugins.
PhotoLine
PhotoLine is something of a “diamond in the rough” among Photoshop alternatives. Although you’ve probably never heard if it, PhotoLine is an impressive program with many features. My only real issue with PhotoLine is its interface, which is somewhat old school. In Windows, the toolbars have a Windows 95 look, and in OS X, there’s no full-screen mode available, making PhotoLine feel more like an OS 9 program. PhotoLine is priced at 87.50 USD / 59.00 EUR.
Despite the interface issues, PhotoLine is a powerful program at an affordable price. It operates in both 32-bit and 64-bit mode, which is unusual for a program in this price range. There are several features that will appeal specifically to web designers, such as the Button Creator (see below). The Button Creator includes presets for styles such as Apple’s “Aqua” color gradient, and all the presets are fully customizable. The Effects tools are designed to work well with text, and multiple effects can be applied from a single dialog, making it easy to create the graphical text that’s often needed on web pages.
PhotoLine enables full support for CMYK editing, and while Photoshop plugins are supported, you may find yourself having to search Google for some plugin-related files (such as plugin.dll for Windows).
Ulead PhotoImpact
You may remember Ulead PhotoImpact from its original name: Aldus PhotoStyler. While Adobe was busy trying to create a CMYK capable version of Photoshop for Windows, Aldus/Ulead had already done so with PhotoStyler. Adobe bought the source code from Ulead and created Photoshop for Windows, and Ulead began the PhotoImpact line, with limited CMYK support. Although Ulead’s non-compete agreement with Adobe has long since expired, Ulead never bothered to return full CMYK editing support to PhotoImpact. More recently, Corel purchased Ulead’s product line, and it remains unclear whether PhotoImpact will continue to be upgraded. PhotoImpact is priced at 69.99 USD / 47.00 EUR.
Bearing in mind that CMYK is only needed for print work, I feel that PhotoImpact is the best graphics editor available for web-only work. There are a wealth of tools included for web work, including: two button designers (rectangular and any shape), a seamless background designer, a type effect which applies special effects to graphical text, and a web component designer that can help you quickly create just about anything, including banners, bullets, and JavaScript Rollovers. Many of the effects in PhotoImpact (including Animation Studio, Creative Lighting, and Particle Effects) can either be used on a single frame image, or exported as a series of images for use in animation. PhotoImpact also includes support for most Photoshop plugins.
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
GIMP is a free, open source graphics editor originally developed for Linux. The program has since been ported to both OS X and Windows. GIMP maintenance and development is handled by volunteers. Although GIMP’s developers state that it’s not meant to replicate Photoshop, there’s little doubt that the program was/is intended to bring Photoshop-style graphics power to Linux, and to the open source community.
GIMP is a solid editor that can perform functions such as designing web graphics and editing photos. Personally, I’ve found that the learning curve for GIMP is slightly higher than that for other editors. One issue here is the interface, which in Windows is somewhat difficult to manage. For example, it’s easy for windows to overlap each other, and for background windows or the windows desktop to appear. For those willing to take their time with GIMP, and who don’t find the interface distracting, it would likely prove to be a very useful graphics editor.
GIMP has limited support for CMYK (via plugins). Photoshop plugins are not supported by default, but a Google search can help you find libraries which enable Photoshop plugins.
Paint.NET
Paint.NET began as a semester-long programming project at Washington State University. The program was intended by students to be a replacement for the simple Microsoft Paint program, which has shipped with every version of Windows. Although Paint.NET never actually replaced Microsoft Paint, it has been moderately successful as a Windows-only freeware graphics editor. As you might suspect, Paint.NET was built using Microsoft’s .Net framework. Since the program relies so heavily on .Net, it requires less file space than other programs, the current size of the download is just 1.6 MB.
Paint.NET comes across as slightly less powerful than GIMP. However, the fact that it was designed for Windows from the start has allowed for an interface that Windows users may find more agreeable. Paint.NET does not support Photoshop plugins, but it does support its own proprietary plugin architecture, and many freeware plugins are available. Paint.NET has limited support for CMYK, via a plugin.
Conclusion
Photoshop will continue to be the first choice for those who don’t mind its rather high price tag, and for companies such as design houses. Still, as you can see there are plenty of alternatives out there for any kind of wallet (even for empty wallets, as both GIMP and Paint.NET are free). Depending on your needs, some may even be a better option for you regardless of cost, especially if you don’t need the most advanced features in Photoshop.
Was your favorite editor left out? Let us know in the comments.
About the author:
Anthony Celeste is a technical writer, multimedia developer, and Windows programmer. Anthony wrote about color theory and Web design in “Corel DRAW 10: The Official Guide”, and covered animation and special effects in “Ulead PhotoImpact 7: The Official Guide”.
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