None…

I am starting do do some web site development etc. on my own for my site. I am still using iWeb, which is a nice and easy to use app, but since I don’t have .mac publishing is just a bit cumbersome.

Now I had found a few nice tutorials for creating great stuff with photoshop but the PS price tag I find quite unattractive, since I guess I don’t need all of that functionality.

Then I stumbled upon Photoline via google. Glad to say I can read the German material (since I am German but still, being pretty unexperienced in these matters, I did miss a good introduction, to find out if it is a good alternative to PS.

Thanks to your review I am now convinced that it will do for me what I need. And the price tag is VERY reasonalbe, I think.

So, Thanks again. You helped me out here )

Detlev

The following programs all rasterized the image into one layer (and i tried to both “open” and “import” the image on all of them):

- lineform
- vector designer
- drawit
- intaglio
- easydraw
- nakedlight

So, it was a relief to come across photoline, which opened it just fine AND has vector abilities.

Now to cancel my 1gb download of Adobe Illustrator… which I was planning to try next.

Phew.
From a niche funcionality perspective, I

http://www.geocities.com/advanced_pser/graphic_editor_cross_reference.htm

This list is a little outdated. It doesn’t look like it’s been added to for about a year. None of the newer features of Photline are even mentioned. Like the 33 new adjustment-layers. The “custom” one is nice to have, you can design as many of your own adjustment-layer types as you desire. Also, many of the features that neither of the other programs have is even mentioned on that cross-reference list. I suppose so that Photoline wouldn’t make PhotoShop and Paint Shop Pro look worse than they already are.

Excellent review. I’m another Mac user who came across PhotoLine 32 and loved it despite the interface. In my case, I am a long time and continuing Canvas user frustrated by the lack of development of Canvas’ image editing mode (and then the termination of its development on Mac — but I am sticking with Canvas X and working around the known bugs). I use PhotoLine to complement Canvas, which I use for vector graphics, DTP and website building.

Canvas continues to be developed for Windows, by the way.

Did you try Layers > Convert Layer Type > Vector Graphics in PhotoLine? Yes, the familiar switching among raster modes has converting to vector added. Try posterizing a picture, then doing that. THEN see what you can do! Wow!

Also worth noting — when you add effects to type in PhotoLine the type remains editable and the effects are live, so when you make changes to the type, the effects apply.

My approach PhotoLine 32 was the opposite of yours. I am a lowish end professional users of image editing. I wasn’t wanting to replace PhotoShop, I was wanting to extend/update the image editing capabilities of Canvas (probably about P’shop 3 level). I wanted to avoid Photoshop which is far too complex not to say expensive for my needs.

PhotoLine 32 was far and away the best of the budget priced alternative I found — in fact, the only one which met professional criteria — and oddly, the somewhat unconventional interface has worked to advantage — searching through it has helped me actually extend my image editing horizons.

My PhotoLine 32 review, written for and published by “PC Update” in Australia, from the point of view of a pretty low end user, is here: http://www.marketnow.com.au/PL32_Review_for_PC_Update.pdf

I’ll take the same liberty as Lutz, by the way, if I may, and give a link to your review from mine. In fact, the fact that both your and lutz’s reviews are out there now prompts me to build a proper web page for mine. I’ll get that done real soon!

cheers
geoff

Illustrator 10’s behavior has nothing to do with your blog post which, I believe, pertains to new behavior adopted post the Macromedia merger. I accept your explanation of it and think you did a great job of defusing this potentially embarrassing issue.

I’ve had Illustrator 10 (and the other CS1 apps) hang on startup many times, and sometimes generate an error to the effect that they couldn’t contact Adobe’s servers. I don’t know if this is technically “phoning home” — maybe they’re just checking for updates. Perhaps I’ve misinterpreted what’s going on, but that’s my experience, and the problem is solved by disconnecting from the internet. (This is also a workaround for Adobe’s old network copy protection which graphic designers used to use to run multiple copies of a single license on a LAN — I’m not referring to this, which is perfectly legitimate anti-piracy behavior.)

AFAIK Illustrator 10 requires no activation. I’ve been installing it on my new machines by dragging from backups since 2001. But it does seem to phone home on launch if it can.

I’ll try the second install of CS3 again — great news (and news to me).

That said, Photoline still launches in a fraction of a second

Why is product activation annoying? Does it impose a practical burden, or do you just not like the concept? I don’t especially like it either & would rather spend engineering cycles on other work, yet I have a big problem with people stealing the intellectual property of others.

You mention wanting to install the software on two different machines, running just one copy at a time. Not only is that perfectly fine under the terms of the EULA; the behavior has been supported since day 1 of activation.

By all means — and I’m glad you’ve linked your review.

I don’t know about Photoshop, but Illustrator 10 will hang on launch if it can’t talk to Adobe’s servers (if you’re completely offline it launches — I guess it pings the server, if it’s there then it expects a reply). It’s exceptionally annoying.

Product activation (which I believe was “inherited” from Macromedia) is intensely annoying for those of us who used to install Adobe (or Macromedia) apps on two different machines and use it on one (at a time). I am guessing this was a violation of the EULA, but — frankly — who cares? It’s one more thing that makes me want to use software from indie developers who treat their customers decently.

I will add a link to your review to my post. OK?

There’s your answer.