Hi everyone,

This is the first time I've ever written in this forum, and I have a question about something, please.

I find myself in need of making some detailed textures. A friend recommended tutorials on a couple of websites to help me out. Those websites have what I need, but all the instructions are written to be used in Photoshop. I usually use Paint Shop Pro 6, but I'd like to learn to use photoshop since about 99% of 2D graphics information is written fo the Photoshop user.

I looked at the Adobe website, and quite frankly Photoshop is too rich for my blood at the moment -  I could afford it now, but my wife would be none-too-happy if I went ahead and bought it.

So it is in the spirit of matrimonial harmony that I ask this; a lot of websites that I researched, recommended using Gimp (since it's free) as an alternative to Photoshop, so I must ask, is Gimp really that similar? I'd love to get an actual copy of Photoshop but it's just not gonna happen right now. So are any instructions written for Photoshop compatible with Gimp?

Thanks,

Steve

Attached Link: http://www.filterforge.com/

I've heard that GIMP is very similar to photoshop in many ways, but never tried it myself so I'm not in a position to answer your question.  I'm wondering though if you've tried those photoshop tutorials in PaintshopPro?  Because I've also heard that many photoshop tutorials can also be executed in PSP with some minor tweaking so it might be worth a try? 

Off topic a bit, there's a program called filterForge (you may have seen its banner here actually 60% discount right now, banner says 50% but when you go on their site it says 60...) that creates some really nice textures pretty easily.  It's a standalone program and you can also use it as a ps plugin that I believe works in PSP. 

Yeah, I've tried some of the Photoshop tutorials in PSP and some parts translate OK, but some don't. I just had a look at FilterForge an even at the discount it's $159, which is about $158 more than I have to spend on something like this :)

Maybe I'll fire up Gimp and try to work through some Photoshop tutorials in that....

Photoshp and the GIMP may look similar and for some things they are very similar but they are still very different programs.  Where you found some tutorials for Photoshop working quite well in PSP and some that didn't, you will find the same thing with Photoshop tutorials and the GIMP tutorials.  I mainly use Photoshop but I also use the GIMP because of its portability on a USB hard drive.  If the GIMP had adjustment layers I could almost make the switch to it.  If you are familiar with PSP and know it well try and understand what action is trying to be accomplished in the Photoshop tutorial and then figure out a PSP workaround.  Have a look at the GIMP as you have nothing to loose or spend on it but know that it will still frustrate you when you are trying to follow a tutorial written for a different program.

welcome to the forum arrowhead!

yeah it can be a bit of a pain trying to follow a tutorial in a different program, and i agree, PS is downright pricey! i use CS5 at the office but i've not been able to upgrade at home passed CS (two kids in college and not enough freelance work to warrent the cost!)

not sure how many GIMP user here but it dosen't hurt to post a question anyway. i might download the program a take a look (i especially like the above mentioned "portability")

retrocity

HI, you might want to look at Photoshop elements, it has a lot of the critical things photoshop delivers, layers, actions and so on. but sits around the $200 mark.