Finally the folks at JASC listened and have produced the next release to the popular Paint Shop Pro 8.10 but currently in Beta release.
The following is an excerpt from JASC Forum:
http://forums.jasc.com/default.asp?action=9&read=10108&fid=34
" Welcome to the Paint Shop Pro 9 beta preview! This preview is designed to introduce you to the new version of Paint Shop Pro and help you get a jump start on learning the product before it's available in final form.
We're excited about this new version of Paint Shop Pro and are sure that no matter your favorite use of the program - whether editing photos, designing graphics or creating artwork - that you'll find new tools and features to spark your imagination and creativity. Some of the exciting new features in Paint Shop Pro 9 include:
Innovative digital photography filters - the Digital Camera Noise Removal filter scans photos and removes image noise introduced by the digital camera system while intelligently preserving normal image textures. The Chromatic Aberration Removal filter helps eliminate the colored glows that often appear in digital photos. The Fill Flash filter corrects the underexposure of shadows in photos, while the Backlighting filter helps compensate for over-exposed areas surrounding the subject of a photo.
Raw Camera image support - commonly known as "digital negatives", Raw Camera images contain the unprocessed sensor data captured by digital cameras. Paint Shop Pro 9 includes integrated support for Raw images from popular camera models by Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax. You can set custom white balance, exposure and sharpening levels when converting Raw Camera images for use in Paint Shop Pro.
Realistic painting tools - new "Art Media" tools allow you to create digital artwork that accurately emulates real-world media and painting styles. The new Mixer palette is an off-canvas area to experiment and mix custom colors together, while artists of all levels can use Tracing as an easy way to repaint a photograph or other image using realistic brush strokes.
Flexible drawing and text tools - the new Rectangle and Ellipse shape tools make it easier than ever to create buttons, banners and other custom graphics. The new Symmetric Shape tool allows you to create regular polygons and stars, then edit them into custom artistic shapes with dazzling flexibility and control. The Text tool now features vertical text layout options and new anti-alias rendering choices that render cleaner text at smaller font sizes, while options on the Pen tool have been simplified, making it easier than ever to add lines and curves to graphics.
History palette and Selective Undo - you can easily stay on top of complex editing projects with the new History palette, which tracks each command applied to an image. Powerful new Selective Undo functionality allows you to undo any individual editing step in a document’s history without undoing all the following commands. Select and save history steps to the clipboard or as scripts for use in another image.
Resource categorization - you can now organize your Paint Shop Pro resource files by projects or subjects in flexible Resource Categories. Choose exactly which groups of resources are available to use by switching between categories when using a tool or feature. You can create your own categories to use along with the default options installed with the program.
Filters and effects - use the Displacement Map filter to "tattoo" graphics onto a photo or create custom two- or three-dimensional surface effects. Add spin, twist and zoom blur effects to images with the Radial Blur filter.
Print Layout text - we’ve made it easier than ever to add captions and titles to photo layouts with the new text options in Print Layout. Add and format custom text to describe photos and graphics.
Browser information view - a new information section in the Browser allows you to view image details, creator information and EXIF data for any selected image. Sort images using EXIF data to find specific photos.
For more information about these features and the product in general, please be sure to read the Help file included with the program. If you still have questions, we encourage you to ask questions in this forum and we will do our best to provide an answer. Due to the number of posts, we may not be able to provide an immediate answer. The majority of staff will be monitoring this forum during business hours (9am to 5pm), U.S. Central time, though some may stop in earlier or (much) later.
IMPORTANT: as with any pre-release beta software, you may experience problems or issues that prevent you from using the program in a normal manner or that cause you to lose image data. If you are uncomfortable using pre-release software for any reason, we encourage you to wait for the final product to be released. If you do encounter an issue, please post as many details as you can provide, including steps to reproduce the issue and your system information. Our Quality Assurance staff may contact you for more information if need be. A list of known issues will be posted here in the forum with each new beta build of the software.
If you have suggestions for new features or enhancements to features in Paint Shop Pro 9, feel free to post those as well and we'll be glad to consider them for future versions of the program.
Again, on behalf of the entire Paint Shop Pro product team, welcome to the beta preview of Paint Shop Pro 9 - we're glad you're here.
Very sincerely,
ElShaddai Edwards "
--
Jan Shim
http://www.janshim.com
5 Star Gold Award by Pinnacle Information Systems
Golden Web Awards 2003-2004 by IAWMD
The following is an excerpt from JASC Forum:
http://forums.jasc.com/default.asp?action=9&read=10108&fid=34
" Welcome to the Paint Shop Pro 9 beta preview! This preview is designed to introduce you to the new version of Paint Shop Pro and help you get a jump start on learning the product before it's available in final form.
We're excited about this new version of Paint Shop Pro and are sure that no matter your favorite use of the program - whether editing photos, designing graphics or creating artwork - that you'll find new tools and features to spark your imagination and creativity. Some of the exciting new features in Paint Shop Pro 9 include:
Innovative digital photography filters - the Digital Camera Noise Removal filter scans photos and removes image noise introduced by the digital camera system while intelligently preserving normal image textures. The Chromatic Aberration Removal filter helps eliminate the colored glows that often appear in digital photos. The Fill Flash filter corrects the underexposure of shadows in photos, while the Backlighting filter helps compensate for over-exposed areas surrounding the subject of a photo.
Raw Camera image support - commonly known as "digital negatives", Raw Camera images contain the unprocessed sensor data captured by digital cameras. Paint Shop Pro 9 includes integrated support for Raw images from popular camera models by Canon, Fuji, Kodak, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus and Pentax. You can set custom white balance, exposure and sharpening levels when converting Raw Camera images for use in Paint Shop Pro.
Realistic painting tools - new "Art Media" tools allow you to create digital artwork that accurately emulates real-world media and painting styles. The new Mixer palette is an off-canvas area to experiment and mix custom colors together, while artists of all levels can use Tracing as an easy way to repaint a photograph or other image using realistic brush strokes.
Flexible drawing and text tools - the new Rectangle and Ellipse shape tools make it easier than ever to create buttons, banners and other custom graphics. The new Symmetric Shape tool allows you to create regular polygons and stars, then edit them into custom artistic shapes with dazzling flexibility and control. The Text tool now features vertical text layout options and new anti-alias rendering choices that render cleaner text at smaller font sizes, while options on the Pen tool have been simplified, making it easier than ever to add lines and curves to graphics.
History palette and Selective Undo - you can easily stay on top of complex editing projects with the new History palette, which tracks each command applied to an image. Powerful new Selective Undo functionality allows you to undo any individual editing step in a document’s history without undoing all the following commands. Select and save history steps to the clipboard or as scripts for use in another image.
Resource categorization - you can now organize your Paint Shop Pro resource files by projects or subjects in flexible Resource Categories. Choose exactly which groups of resources are available to use by switching between categories when using a tool or feature. You can create your own categories to use along with the default options installed with the program.
Filters and effects - use the Displacement Map filter to "tattoo" graphics onto a photo or create custom two- or three-dimensional surface effects. Add spin, twist and zoom blur effects to images with the Radial Blur filter.
Print Layout text - we’ve made it easier than ever to add captions and titles to photo layouts with the new text options in Print Layout. Add and format custom text to describe photos and graphics.
Browser information view - a new information section in the Browser allows you to view image details, creator information and EXIF data for any selected image. Sort images using EXIF data to find specific photos.
For more information about these features and the product in general, please be sure to read the Help file included with the program. If you still have questions, we encourage you to ask questions in this forum and we will do our best to provide an answer. Due to the number of posts, we may not be able to provide an immediate answer. The majority of staff will be monitoring this forum during business hours (9am to 5pm), U.S. Central time, though some may stop in earlier or (much) later.
IMPORTANT: as with any pre-release beta software, you may experience problems or issues that prevent you from using the program in a normal manner or that cause you to lose image data. If you are uncomfortable using pre-release software for any reason, we encourage you to wait for the final product to be released. If you do encounter an issue, please post as many details as you can provide, including steps to reproduce the issue and your system information. Our Quality Assurance staff may contact you for more information if need be. A list of known issues will be posted here in the forum with each new beta build of the software.
If you have suggestions for new features or enhancements to features in Paint Shop Pro 9, feel free to post those as well and we'll be glad to consider them for future versions of the program.
Again, on behalf of the entire Paint Shop Pro product team, welcome to the beta preview of Paint Shop Pro 9 - we're glad you're here.
Very sincerely,
ElShaddai Edwards "
--
Jan Shim
http://www.janshim.com
5 Star Gold Award by Pinnacle Information Systems
Golden Web Awards 2003-2004 by IAWMD