Comments on: Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3

By: meikel14

meikel14 — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:17:24 +0000

I used Paint Shop Pro ever since it was Shareware – probably since Version 3. x – and had come to love this once great program. I would recomment it to all friends looking for an affordable, yet reliable alternative to PhotoShop from Adobe.

When in 2004 Corel purchased Jasc, inc. – maker of Paint Shop Pro – I was one of those, who voiced convern about the possible loss of Qualtiy.

Sadly, this has now occured.

Paint Shop Pro X3’s Trial Version cannot be installed, as the installation hangs severel times due to an file permission error. Tech Support provided detailed, lengthy and cumbersome instructions on how to remidy this issue – NONE worked. . .

Best is, not to buy this programm – this will save you time, money and headaches.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Rojohn

Rojohn — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:25:16 +0000

I installed the trail version on a Win 7 64 bit machine with 8 GB of RAM. The first several hours went fine but then the program stopped responding any time I tried to go from one component to another, that is between the Editor, Organizer and Express Lab. Doing a restart did not help the problem. I stopped trying to move from component to component and just tried to work in the Editor but the program shutdown while working there too. It looks like it has a lot of nice features and for the money it would probably be a very nice program if it ran without problems. Applying some of the effects takes quite a bit of time even with 8 GB of memory! One option I did like is that you can use “large icons” in the user interface which helps when the monitor is set to a high resolution. They were very small and hard to read on the default setting. I have not explored much of the program but if it continues not to run, I probably never will. Too bad, I think it has potential.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Nerd3D

Nerd3D — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:51:49 +0000

Since Corel acquired Paint Shop Pro it’s been all down hill. X3 is the Apollo 13 of paint programs. A total disaster. If you have more than a few images on your computer be prepared for a 2-3 hour installation ordeal. The program will crash and freeze several times as it attempts to catalog the entire contents of our computer. Thanks, but I already know where my pictures are, really. Should a “Pro” program be brought to it’s knees repeatedly by a large catalog of images? Corel evidently thinks so.

The cause of all this trouble is the “Organizer”. Man oh man what a train wreck. It’s whole purpose in life seems to be so you can rate your pictures. I really don’t need to rate my picture. Really? rate my own pictures. . . OK but I generally just delete the lousy ones but what ever. It would be of some use if you could use it like a browser, but no. There is no way the keep the “Organizer” open after selecting an image to edit. You can’t even keep your place as opening an image automatically closes the “Organizer”. When you go back your at square one go find it again. If I want to open several pictures from different folders. . . well let’s just say it’s much less than useless. If you don’t want to use their exact work flow you are up a creek, a very slow creek as switching between editing and “Organizing” is glacial.

Well we got one new tool! Oh goody, I can do a lousy job of taking somebody out of a picture in one click. Whoop-de-doo! They did make the Text editing tool less stupid that it was, but it was pretty stupid. The new method is less awkward but still needs work.

What didn’t we get? Well the majority of the editing tools are still 8 bit. If you want to work with your raws and maintain 16 or 32 bit per channel keep looking because there has been no improvement.

Now for the bad news when you decide to uninstall the demo. Corel really wants to put the screws to you for daring to uninstall their epic bloat ware. The uninstall literally took 45 minutes, It was stuck on 36% for at least 30 minutes.

In summary I would only recommend this to people I really don’t like.
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Stephen714

Stephen714 — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:55:00 +0000

Paint Shop Pro used to be an easier to use Photoshop type program that was comprehensive and yet understandable. Slowly, with every release since Corel took the program from Jasc, the program has gone downhill. They remove necessary features and add unecessary features. I once saw Corel descibed as the “Rodney Dangerfeld” of software companies and from what they have done to Paint Shop Pro, it is easy to see why. NO manuals, no support, just a useless program. DO NOT BUY OR INSTALL THIS PROGRAM AS IT IS ENTIRELY USELESS!
Rating: 1 / 5

By: Russell E. Marooney

Russell E. Marooney — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:37:10 +0000

I purchased this soft ware along with with the newest version of their video. Have had install problems. tried to call tech support 3 times on cell phone. wasted a total of 76 minutes on hold( ignore). Tried to use the online chat option. Kept getting looped back to the main support page. Maybe good programs, but not good if they don’t want to support them. I will return them and go back to the older versions, and my Adobe photo/video.
Rating: 1 / 5