Software Review of:
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 
Version 6 

Minimum Windows System requirements are a Pentium processor running Windows 95, 98, or NT4.x, a CD-ROM drive, 75 MB hard disk space for a full installation, monitor resolution at 800 x 600 pixels with 256 colors, 32 MB of RAM and a mouse or tablet pointing device. Recommended configuration includes a 24-bit or 32-bit video display with 64 MB of system RAM, a Pentium-class processor operating at speeds of 200 mhz or better and 200 MB of free drive space. 

What’s new with this version, you ask? Well let’s cover the basics first and then get to the improvements. First, for those who, like me, have version 5, it does come with a new version of Jasc Animation Shop (version 2.0) – more on this later. It also still arrives with excellent and thorough user’s guides/manuals. Editing images is one of the real strengths of Paint Shop Pro, at least for me, since I do not have my artist father’s natural artistic abilities. The editing process allows the user to crop, add borders, adjust the orientation, resize the image or change the image canvas size, as needed. You can also cut, copy and paste to your heart’s content since there are the built-in undo and redo commands just in case you mess up. Layer editing is still a robust choice if you want to really refine your image, not to mention your skills. There are multiple selections in terms of layers, with moving, copying, hiding, modifying, viewing and blending layers among them. 

Additional power in this program comes with the filters, deformations and picture frames you have at your fingertips in Paint Shop Pro version 6. But the real meat of any digital editing program are its tools. There are many painting tools, including customizable brushes, the airbrush, the eraser, the clone, retouch and flood fill tools and the color replacer and picture tubes. Vector layers and objects, masks and special effects are additional positives in my view. Although, to be honest, I don’t use many of these tools often, it is nice to have them if I need them or want to use them.

Now, to cover some of the new things in Version 6. Vector tools and layers allow the user to use Paint Shop Pro as a drawing tool. The integration between Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop has been improved so that they work better together. Now you can insert text, add digital watermarks and print multiple images on a single page. Finally, and one that I am anxious to try out (when I get my digital camera) is the support they include now for over 120 digital cameras. 

Jasc Animation Shop 2.0 includes a banner wizard which lets you create animated banners for fun or to put on your web page, if you must. They have expanded and enhanced the features used to optimize animations. Integration between the two programs is much greater now. For example, one can “drag and drop” objects (see Figure 3) to share information between these two programs. Also, when you are editing an animation frame in Paint Shop Pro, it is simultaneously updated in Animation Shop. 

One negative aspect I have found is the lack of an easy way to deal with the dreaded “red-eye” problem, so prevalent in many photographs taken by us rank amateurs. At the May meeting, Susan Ives (Alamo PC past-President) took a picture of my son Jackson with her digital camera and e-mailed it to me later. Jackson has nice big brown eyes, but in the picture, they were as red as the shirt he had on that night. I loved the picture, so I thought I would try to fix the problem with Paint Shop Pro. I was successful in doing it, but it was rather convoluted and imprecise process. If you want basics and simplicity, perhaps this program is not for you. However, if you want a great program (especially for the price) that is very powerful and has many diverse tools, then I would definitely recommend Paint Shop Pro 6. 

Paint Shop Pro Version 6 is available online at the Jasc Software site where they provide an online tutorial, which can be used to help familiarize you with how this program works. You can download the free 30-day trial version of this or any other Jasc product. If you just want to purchase it outright, Paint Shop Pro Version 6 will cost you $99.00 for the full downloaded item and $109.00 for the boxed program. They are coming out with Version 7 (in beta testing on the website right now) and at the time of this writing, they offered a special, if you buy Version 6 now, you will receive an automatic upgrade to Version 7 upon it’s release. Now that’s a pretty good deal, if you ask me. You may order online from the website or by fax (950-930-9172) or toll-free by telephone, at 1-800-622-2793. If you don’t want to download, the boxed version is available locally at CompUSA for $99.99, when I wrote this article.