Painter is really sort of unique. This crappy screenshot shows some of Painter's palettes. When I bought Painter 6 several years ago, I originally got it JUST to use the image hose and a couple other features. Painter is not like Photoshop, which is more of an image manipulation program that can be hacked to make textures for Poser, for example. Painter is a real-media feel Painting tool. You can paint with fur, fiber, metal, oils, camel hair brushes, watercolors, textures, lenses, glass, water, patterns, hoses, and anything else you can think of a brush for. If you're REALLY smart, you can script certain actions.