Review: JASC Paint Shop Pro 7.0 & Animation Shop 3.0

5/5 Geeks

by Don Herion

Often considered a poor mans Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro has come a long way from its humble beginnings in the early 90s. Now in release 7.0 PSP is a powerful image-editing program with excellent web graphic capabilities. Its companion program, Animation Shop 3.0 has also gotten a nice facelift.

Can 20 Million Users Be Wrong?
With an arsenal of tools and capabilities that rival Photoshop, PSP has upped the ante with their new release. I am going to concentrate on new features and enhancements as they pertain to the Web. But these are by no means the only improvements in this dynamic duo.

Slicing and Dicing
Designers can now quickly slice up graphics for web pages. The process is simple. Using the 'Image Slicer' tool you can slice up an image into smaller chunks by drawing guidelines that break up any image into cells. Each cell can have its own URL link, alt text label, and target. You can then optimize each cell differently using the optimizer tool. For example you can save a more complex cell as a .jpg and a simpler cell as .gif. Reviewing your creation is simple by clicking the 'Preview in Browser' button. Once completed you save the file in .html with each sliced graphic getting its own file name.

Rolling, Rolling Rollovers
Creating a 'rollover effect' is equally simple. Almost a pleasure really. Design a group of graphics for each rollover effect you want and save them to the images folder for your web page. Select the first graphic, open the 'Image Slicer' tool and select the 'Rollover Creator.' Select individual graphics for 'Mouse Over,' Mouse Out,' etc and click OK. Save the file as an HTML and you're set. You can have up to 6 rollover images.

Hot Spots
Embedding URL links to specific areas of an image is also fast and painless. Start the 'Image Mapper' tool and using the mapping tools select areas of the image and type in a URL and alt tag. Save the file as an HTML and your set.

Optimize those Graphics
Like Photoshop PSP can now optimize graphics in .gif, .jpg and .png formats. Photoshop and Firework's optimizer tool is far easier to use. With PSP you have to select your image format first, then click various tabs to set percentages of compression, transparency levels, etc. You can preview the final result in the right window. I much prefer the other programs method where you can do everything in a single window and see up to three previews before executing the chosen optimization scheme.

Animation Shop 3
Animation Shop is JASC's version of Image Ready. Like Image Ready, this program can operate as a stand-alone tool or work with PSP. You can create banners, buttons and animations. You create animations using one of two tools, the 'animation wizard' or the 'banner wizard.' The wizards guide you through the initial steps in creating an animation. One of the great attributes of this program is the ability to add preprogrammed effects to an image element. These effects include animated transitions, image effects and text effects. All effects can be edited. The new 'onionskin' preview mode allows you to preview an overlay of frames before and after the current frame for improved precision. Another cool feature is the power to read .mpeg video files. Enhancing the integration between the two programs is a multi-layer export ability to export part or all of an animation as a 'tube' to be used in Paint Shop Pro. A 'Picture Tube' allows you to paint with a collection of objects without having to draw them. Once created an animation can be optimized for web delivery. Animation Shop 3 is an excellent complement to PSP and well worth getting.

Summary
PaintShop Pro and Animation Shop are superb, mature programs for the development of web graphics, animations and even editing complex digital images. Although Photoshop with Image Ready are better all around programs they are not five times better which is the price difference between the two pairs of programs. Photoshop with Image Ready retails for over $500 while you can scoop up PSP and Animation Shop for around $100. That's like getting a Lexus for the price of a Ford Escort. Who wouldn't grab a deal like that?

Est. Street Price
$99 (Electronic Delivery)
$109 (Boxed Version)
$49 (Upgrade)

Minimum Requirements (Recommended)
Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000
Pentium Processor (200mhz)
32 Megs Ram (64 megs)
70 Megs available for Hard Drive (200 megs)
256 color display (24 bit)
800 x 600 resolution (1024 x 768)
Mouse (Pressure Sensitive Tablet)