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Decision between the two Adobe photoshop plans, or good alternatives
Peas
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Registered User regular
1. https://creative.adobe.com/plans/photography?PID=2159997
2. https://creative.adobe.com/plans - Single app annual prepaid option (Photoshop only)
The obvious choice seems to be the first one but I am afraid that there will be some drawback because it is so much cheaper compared to the second plan. Did I miss out on something obvious?
2. https://creative.adobe.com/plans - Single app annual prepaid option (Photoshop only)
The obvious choice seems to be the first one but I am afraid that there will be some drawback because it is so much cheaper compared to the second plan. Did I miss out on something obvious?
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If you want the cross-platform compatibility with Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, etc, it's probably worthwhile to go whole hog and buy the entire creative suite.
Photoshop by itself, in my opinion, is not at all good value. GIMP does pretty much everything Photoshop can do these days, and even reads .PSD files. I'd recommend going that route if you're not getting the entire creative suite for desktop publishing.
EDIT: I'll be blunt: those Creative Cloud payment plans look terrible. Sure, it's less money up front, but $50 / month forever? I think the last CS package I bought was like 300 bucks. So you're going to have paid twice as much at the end of the day by the time a year's up!
Basically I am a rookie trying to find an entry point into digital stuff and animation.
@The Ender
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Inkscape is a decent vector editor, similar to Illustrator.
Yea, you wind up drawing lots of pastel-colored magical horses. If you aren't really into that kind of thing, think of it as a boot camp of sorts for the tool. I can think of worse things to draw than cute pastel ponies in candy shops.
Oh, definitely do not shell out for Photoshop if all you want to do is draw / paint digitally. Grab GIMP instead; it's free, it uses fewer resources, etc.
As already mentioned, if vector interests you, Inkscape is a great alternative to Illustrator (personally, I find Illustrator's tools easier to use - but that's mostly because Adobe's shortcuts are now part of my muscle memory).
Only if you want the cross-software compatibility for desktop publishing should you get Adobe products (basically, if you want to set-up nice books / comics / whatever for printing using InDesign while producing artwork with PS / Illustrator). There's no decent alternative out there for InDesign right now, unfortunately (Scribus is still awful).
Also, discounting all of Adobe products as a bad idea unless you're using them for a very specific desktop publishing application seems a little backwards. The entire suite is certainly not necessary for most people, but pieces of it are really useful and nice to have.
Gimp is a really good alternative to Photoshop, but the two are not equal. As Forbe! was saying, I think Gimp is definitely a good place to start, and Photoshop can be considered when the OP feels like he wants to move up. On the other hand, I feel like if the $10/month plan is something he's willing to do now, there's no real downside to using Photoshop instead of Gimp if OP is not using an older computer that might struggle with having limited RAM or processor speed, or whathaveyou.
Photoshop can be a resources hog, it's true...and it can struggle on an older system if you're doing something very intensive like moving across a large canvas at 300 ppi with a large soft-edged smudge tool. I multitask regularly while Photoshop is open, and the resource-hogging is not an issue. The last time I noticed an issue (and I use Photoshop pretty heavily) was when I was using a computer that was 7 years old, and only had 4 gigs of RAM.
How is using Photoshop a 'move up' from the GIMP if you are only using it for painting / drawing?
And there is a huge downside - the cost. What features are worth $10 USD/month for an artist?
There are features that Photoshop has that AFAIK Gimp goes not, that can be really useful...Blending Options on a per-layer basis, for example. I've heard that the "non-destructive" methods that Photoshop use are not always found in Gimp, and that the tools may not necessarily be that intuitive (like being able to rotate something by hand, rather than having to punch in a number of degrees). As a disclaimer, the last I played around with Gimp was years ago, so I'm not sure if the very latest version has all of that...but what has remained constant throughout the years is when I've seen people compare the two, Photoshop is just the more advanced and preferred piece of software for those who are serious drawing/painting hobbyists or professionals. Again, that's not to say Gimp wouldn't be great for somebody who is a "serious hobbyist"...I've just seen a huge preference for Photoshop over Gimp for a lot of people. If Gimp was an equal to Photoshop though, or even superior for simple drawing and painting, I'd imagine that more professionals would be using it.
As far as the cost goes, IMO $10 is very cheap and is not a "huge" downside. Software packages in general cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars, if not thousands. I own a slightly older version of Photoshop, but if I had to move on, I'd likely be perfectly happy to pay the $10/month instead of using Gimp. I know Photoshop backwards and forwards and I find it does a lot of things very well, keeps things very editable, and I know how to use it and its features to get the exact result I want. If somebody was just starting out, I'm sure they would start to feel the same way about Gimp and would use the features Gimp has, since that's what they're learning on.
I think Gimp would be great for the OP, but if they are interested in learning Photoshop and are okay with paying $10/month for the program, I don't see why that would be a problem.
You don't even need to check with IT.
Adobe provides a student subscription to Creative Cloud. It's $20/mo for the entire suite for the first year and $30/mo thereafter (they normally charge $50/mo). If you register with an .edu email address, you are instantly approved.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
The $10/mo plan does not give you access to fonts, downloadable art assets, cloud storage, multiple device synchronization, or a portfolio website.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
AutoDesk Sketchbook is only $2.99/month and is incredible for simulating real world drawing materials. It also has a brilliant animation utility called Flipbook (I think?) that I've been using for my traditional animation classes in college.
https://www.sketchbook.com/
Subscribe to Sketchbook.. or just buy it outright for $65. Sixty five dollars. Who would subscribe to that service instead of just buy it?
If you bought a CS package for $300... actually $350 you purchased a single app license with a student discount. The equivalent for the CC is $10. You're making it seem a lot more expensive than it really is. The point where the perpetual license model and the renting meet is actually 2.9 years. The CS version is still available and cost $350.
Part of the thing is that Adobe stuff is only in the ~$300 range if you're actually upgrading every new release (or every other) anyway, so you're paying that every 2-3 years in that model as well. I have a full CS2 that I bought early on in grad school (so, ~7 years ago?), that is now so old that I can't even buy an upgrade version of CS6 (or even run it on Windows 7) - I'd have to get a full new edition.
I don't love the idea of renting software either, and I haven't transitioned to Microsoft's yet because there I really don't see the point... but Adobe's isn't really that terrible if you're actually buying the software legitimately.
A couple of years ago Adobe changed it's upgrade policy on their products with perpetual licenses (CS) to a "one version back". You can no longer do every other version upgrades. If you're running CC, it wouldn't matter because you get upgrades included in the bundle for as long as you pay.
They're really pushing people towards this cloud model.
I also second the ideas in this thread about taking advantage of student discounts, older versions, etc. I know that there is a discount for students on CC subscriptions, or if you did end up buying CS6, the student edition of that is only $350. Honestly, if you're serious about learning it, taking a community college class once you're on a level where you have some idea what you're doing/what direction you want to go in will be really helpful, so that would be my recommended course for upping your game/getting a good discount (though it goes without saying that if you get your heart set on jumping into freelance work, maybe still take a class, but skip the student version and go right to the full license).
And if it turns out you're really only marginally interested, I'd stick with the free stuff.
**In fairness, Photoshop CC actually seems fine. Illustrator CC is absolute shit, and InDesign CC is pretty fine other than the fact that it crashes once+ a day, which wipes a shitload of settings you then have to reload. Overall, the whole Creative Cloud thing is a shitty fucking idea which is already fucked up, since there is already Adobe CC and Adobe CC 2014, which is an upgrade to a totally separate, non-backwards-compatible new application. The upgrade is "free" since you're paying for the applications every month no matter what, and probably not a big deal to casual users, but as someone who works with these applications professionally: fuck the fuck off already, Adobe.
Also I got really excited by the timeline tool which Nic from AC linked, I was like, "Yes yes this is what I want", blacked out and the next thing I know I became part of the creative cloud. The $10 per month deal is still affordable to me, I just need to cut down on fast food and buying games from Steam that I never play
Once again, thanks folks you guys are the best
This will be here until I receive an apology or Weedlordvegeta get any consequences for being a bully
Nothing makes you feel more an ass than trying to do something while someone's watching and being on the wrong software/version, so you spend five minutes trying to find the damn function you know you need.
I don't know if the personal or student accounts are any different, but the corporate CC subscription requires a year contract. If you cancel before 12 months, they hit you with an early termination fee.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.