Corel Corporation Announces Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album™ 6; Digital Imaging Software Sets New Standard in Ease of Use, Discoverability of Features

Business Wire, Sept 6, 2005

OTTAWA -- Corel Corporation today announced the release of Corel(R) Paint Shop Pro(R) X and Corel(R) Photo Album(TM) 6, two major new products from Corel's digital imaging portfolio and the first versions of the software to be introduced since Corel's acquisition of Jasc in October 2004. Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album 6 will be widely available through Corel's global channel partners over the coming weeks and through www.corel.com starting today. This is the first simultaneous worldwide shipment in the product line's history.

"Today's announcement demonstrates Corel's commitment to provide customers with powerful, flexible and affordable digital imaging software tailored specifically to meet their needs," said Corel's Chief Executive Officer David Dobson. "Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album 6 set a new standard in ease of use and demonstrate Corel's intent to clearly differentiate itself within the rapidly expanding digital imaging market."

"Corel Paint Shop Pro X and Corel Photo Album 6 are the result of unprecedented levels of customer contact and rigorous usability testing," said Blaine Mathieu, General Manager, Digital Imaging at Corel. "Throughout the development cycle for the new products, Corel engaged in intensive discussions with users to understand the key factors that shape a positive user experience. These included ease of use, integrated learning tools, more discoverable features and more automatic options to simplify the most common photo editing and organizing tasks. The new releases of Corel Paint Shop Pro and Corel Photo Album reflect Corel's investments in these core areas and the Company's commitment to deliver unmatched ease of use to every customer, whether they're a casual digital camera user, hobbyist or professional photographer."

Corel Paint Shop Pro X Breaks New Ground with Integrated Learning Center

Corel Paint Shop Pro X ushers in a new era of photo editing software by putting the power of advanced photo editing into every user's hands, whether they're a first time photographer or a seasoned professional. With a revamped user interface featuring a new, integrated Learning Center and Browser palette, Paint Shop Pro X is designed to accelerate learning and increase productivity. Tools are intelligently organized by task within the Learning Center palette, enabling users of all skill levels to produce professional-looking results with no previous photo editing experience required.

Offering a unique combination of one-click fixes and precision controls for fine tuning, Paint Shop Pro X delivers unrivaled flexibility and control, enabling users to grow easily into the program as their knowledge of digital image editing develops. Below is an overview of the new and noteworthy features included in Corel Paint Shop Pro X:

--New! The Paint Shop Pro X Learning Center: The new Learning Center organizes tools logically by task, providing users with a step-by-step guide and quick access to the instructions and tools needed to complete the most common photo editing projects.

--New! Browser Palette: The Browser palette is now integrated into the Paint Shop Pro X workspace to make it even easier for users to access, view, organize, and work with their images.

--New! Smart Photo Fix: The new Smart Photo Fix analyzes a photo and suggests settings to auto-correct color, brightness, sharpness, and saturation -- all in one step. Smart Photo Fix gives users new levels of control by allowing them to combine the simplicity of automatic corrections with the precision and control of manual adjustments.

--New! Makeover Tools: Paint Shop Pro X introduces a powerful new collection of extreme Makeover Tools to help users quickly and easily retouch the subjects in their photos. The Makeover Tools include the Blemish Fixer, Toothbrush and Suntan Brush.

--New! Object Remover: The new Object Remover lets users seamlessly eliminate unwanted elements from photos, intelligently filling in the resulting gaps with appropriate background detail.

--New! Special Effects for Black & White Photos: With the new Special Effects filters in Paint Shop Pro X, users can now easily convert images to simulated black and white infrared or apply color filters while converting to black and white images.

--New! Corel Photo Album 6 - Standard Edition: Included for the first time with Paint Shop Pro X, Corel Photo Album 6 provides efficient organization, sharing and photo backup options, along with hundreds of new drag-and-drop creative project templates.

--New! Advanced Features: Paint Shop Pro X now includes support for 16-bit/channel adjustments, ICC-based color management, the ability to import and export CMYK images using ICC profiles, along with enhanced monitor calibration that allows LCD screens to be correctly calibrated.

--Enhanced! Camera Raw support: Paint Shop Pro X now supports over forty Camera Raw file formats. Users can open, enhance, process, and convert images taken in the Camera Raw format.