Definite Painter nOOb

[Lumi]

H'llo.
I'm sorry if I'm taking up anyones time because this question has been asked before...but what are the major differences between Painter and Photoshop? I've been working with Photoshop for about a year now, and I want to try something different. Does a Wacom tablet go hand in hand with Painter? It seems that all the artists whos work I admire say they use a 'Wacom tablet and Painter.'
How much do these usually cost? I have a Mac (G3?), is Painter compatible with it? What do these tools work best with? (system wise)
Thanks alot to anyone who can offer some helpful advice! ^^;;

[Petra]

Painter is compatible with your Mac.

The latest full version of Painter (8) retails for $299 US.
Registered users of Photoshop 5.5 or higher (along with a list of other products, including Painter Classic) are able to buy the upgrade version of Painter 8, which retails for $149 US.

In a nutshell, the difference between Painter and Photoshop is that Painter is designed to emulate traditional mediums, whereas Photoshop is designed for image editing.

Both applications are compatible with each other. You can open PS files in Painter, and save Painter files in PS format.

While it's not required to use a tablet in conjunction with Painter, it's highly recommended. Not only is a mouse cumbersome and harder to control for precision and detail, but it isn't pressure sensitive, and many of the brushes in Painter are, so just like using a regular pencil, the harder you press down, the stronger the line you draw.

Many people new to using a tablet, and on limited budgets will go with a Graphire3. It's as cheap as $99 for a 4x5, and comes with Adobe PS Elements, plus a copy of Painter Classic (you can upgrade that to Painter 8). If you've a little more budget to work with, an Intuos2 is the way to go.
I'd personally recommend at least a 6x8 with either the Graphire or Intuos. It's a nice middle ground size that's not too big, or too small to work comfortably with.

Corel (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Products/productInfo&id=1047021764853&did=1047021793915), Wacom (http://www.wacom.com/productinfo/index.cfm) and Adobe (http://www.adobe.com/) all have information about their products and their interactivity between them.

- Petra -

[Jin]

Hi,

Painter and Wacom are made in heaven for each other.

In other words, Painter makes full use of Wacom's capabilities, and vice versa.

Wacom is definitely the way to go if you're going to purchase a tablet. It's by far the best and their tech support is great too.. and free.

Graphire tablets have 512 levels of pressure sensitivity and work just fine if you're not ready to spend more right now.

The Intuos tablets have 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, support Tilt, and also have higher resolution than the Graphires.

A 6 x 8 inch tablet is fine. The actual space the 6 x 8 tablet takes up on your desk is approximately 13 x 10 inches. The larger 9 x 12 inch tablets take up even more desk space, so much so that I returned my 9 x 12 for a 6 x 8 and have not regretted it for a minute (costs less too).

I'd suggest downloading the 30 day trial version of Painter 8 and spending as much time with it as you can cram into those 30 days. That'll give you a good idea of what's different about Painter from what's available in Photoshop.

If you do that, try to join some Painter groups so you'll be able to ask questions from a larger number of Painter users and maximize your experience while using the Painter 8 trial version.

You can download it at:

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel/Products/productInfo&id=1047021764853&did=1047021793915

Check the Wacom and Painter 8 bundles, too, for good pricing. You'll see the advertisement/link on that page too.

Good luck, :)