Multimedia Masterpiece Maker - Jasc Software's Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.0 - Software Review - Evaluation

Home Office Computing, Feb, 2001 by Jamie McAfee

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7

HOC RATING

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* Requirements: Win 95/98/NT 4.0/2000, 32MB RAM, 75MB hard disk * List Price: $109 * Manufacturer: Jasc Software, 800-622-2793, www.jasc.com

THIS UPDATE TO THE PERENNIAL SHARE-ware hit Jasc Paint Shop Pro gives image editors more control over both everyday and professional tasks. Some of the new capabilities include an enhanced color palette; better zoom control; and the ability to paint vector objects with gradients, patterns, and textures.

Veteran users of Paint Shop Pro will have to relearn some of the menus and toolbars--commands have been relocated and rearranged. We found plenty of meat here in terms of photo editing, though. For minor photo defects, an automatic scratch-removal tool and salt-and-pepper filter allowed us to remove scratches and dust from damaged pictures. For other flaws, there are new offerings, such as edge-preserving and texture-preserving smoothness filters.

The upgrade also addresses photo red-eye, drawing color-corrected eyes for subjects, and fixing the "glowing eyes" endemic to animal or pet photography. Other enhancement tools include automatic color balance, contrast, and Saturation. Several features have been added for improving video captures, as well as scanned and overly compressed images.

Paint Shop Pro 7 has added 25 new artistic and lighting effects for graphics, such as Aged Newspaper, Brush Strokes, and Polished Stone. Here, as with the other tools, we succumbed to the urge to tweak too much.

The included Animation Shop 3 application contains several useful tools for Web site enhancement. In addition to letting users build multilayered animated GIFs (manually or with software wizards), there are Web-ready templates and built-in tools for creating image maps and rollovers. This all adds up to a solid imaging package at a fraction of the price of Paint Shop Pro's famous-name rivals, albeit without some of the strides of earlier updates.

(A) Loads of tools for any image job

(B) New design may puzzle veterans

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 Rating: 8

RATINGS

HOME OFFICE COMPUTING rates products on a scale of 1 to 10--with few 9's or 10's--based on value, performance, innovation (medals go to rare standouts in these areas), ease of use, and suitability for home offices. The (A) and (B) symbols indicate pros and cons.