Review by Steffan Piper

Having been using photography editing software since the dawn of man, or back in the nineties, ahem … I’ve been one of those people sewed into Photoshop as if there was never any other choice. I suspect that to be the case for not just hundreds of other users, but perhaps millions. And this is what makes software like this, which is very good, very difficult. It’s just different enough to make the learning curve steep. But it is better in other ways that makes it worth it - for the professional user.

I recommend using this program with a Wacom tablet or another pen-like device as the functions with this program, while good for supplanting Photoshop, are more along the lines of Illustrator and thus allows the user to paint in a variety of digital styles with a multitude of brushes. Creation is the standard rather than manipulation.

The real truth though is a simple one. This program is jam packed with features that the common man may never use, and it wouldn’t be for trying either but for Corel’s insistence on trying hard to make things just that' much different than the Adobe products. I cannot knock the company for this as they have a right to be different and not emulate a competitor. But in truth, I actually started out on Corel products when they were much more prolific on the early Macs.<br /><br />The product is solid and my own copy is being used to run a t-shirt / silk-screen printing business. This program comes with a large cache of graphics and artwork that can either be usedas-is’ or further manipulated – which makes this product well worth the money. But in all honesty, the Achilles heel of this particular item IS the cost. Let’s not quarrel or mince words about that.

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