Question about Photoshop
IceDragonArt
Posts: 12,826
in The Commons
If I decide I want to do the monthly subscription on this, can I use it on more than one machine?

Comments
Are you talking about creative cloud? If so i believe you can install it on up to 2 computers. I'll try and find a source..
Edit: Source: https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/faq.html It's the 11th question.
I have CS4 so im not sure if the license has changed since moving to the subscription model, but as I recall it allowed for use on one PC and one laptop.
https://www.gimp.org/
save your money, LOL I have photoshop, gimp and paintshop pro installed and I use Gimp way more than the others.
Yes creative cloud.
FSMCDesigns, I have tried gimp and I just don't really like it. I have photoshop elements and for me, photoshop is much more intuitive and easy to use. I WANT to like Gimp and I go back and give it a try every now and then but it just doesn't work very well for me. I know a lot of people like it though.
I'm still struggling with wether I want to go with this or not, as my elements program does have almost everythign I need. The two things I need that it doesn't have is the pen tool and the warp/wrap around tool to wrap textures with. There may be a couple of others but those two are the most important.
Yes, you can have two activations at any given time, no matter if laptop or desktop. In addition it allows the use of the mobile apps if you have an applicable device.
You can also deactivate and reactivate and thus have it installed on an additional machine (but you can only use it on two). I have it on a PC in my research lab and when I need to use it, I simply deactivate the version on my laptop, activate it on the other PC and then switch back when I am done. If you only need it occasionally on a thrid system this works well.
Also note that the two activations are not supposed to be used simutaneously.
Ciao
TD
I find Gimp is a lot like blender, you either get it or you dont. There are certain programs that just nestle quite nicely into your workflow and others that are just hell on earth. If it fits the bill, i'd say go for it.
Okay great thanks! I have been going back and forth on this for months now lol. Elements is a solid program by itself its just missing a couple of things. And I'm trying to decide if its worth it since some months I might barely have time to use it, other months I might use it almost every day. I know its just $10 but its hard to justify the $10 for one month if I only open it 3 or 4 times. This is why I hate monthly subscription plans.... And I just need to be able to use it on my pc and my laptop so that would be fine. If I need to use it at work I will do as you said thd777
Agreed. I am that way with photoshop which is probably why I took to Gimp more
Also in CC you can make normal maps. Can you do that in current Elements? I'm still on CS5 but did a free 30 day trial of CC...
Full Photoshop is less friendly than Photoshop Elements. Some of the family friendly tools are missing and you're back to learning how to play a piano instead of using the piano roll. No problem though if you're already writing your own sonatas.
I would interested in knowing how that goes. That's my biggest hesitation is the amount of time I have to use it going to offset the cost enough to make it worth it.
I personally love Full Photoshop as long as one realizes one is likely to be more comfortable as soon as they realize you just need to use the parts of PS that you like. It is a vast program...It works for me and I love Photoshop 2015+ tho the new Face Aware Liquify feature was touted to be greater than it really is. I use the FAF to do funky charactures. -grin-
I too am not comfortable with subscriptions services as a norm but PS's is very affordable and I could never have afforded the the cost of even an upgrade as they did back in the day.
...Gimp I understand only because I never could afford Photoshop when it was still a only perpetual licence programme and cost more than the computer I had at the time
On the other hand, Blender seems clunky and cumbersome as I first worked with Hexagon which I feel has a nice, clean, elegant UI (just wished it was more stable).
Basically, what you first learned on is what colours your perception of other software. There are people who have worked years in Poser who cannot grok Daz Studio and vice versa.
I used GIMP for a long time and liked it, but Photoshop simply does more stuff, more easily... mind you, this is largely affected by 1) I can actually afford the subscription, and 2) the specific ways I interact with ui.
That second element is very random and personal, really. I don't think it's strictly 'what you first learned,' although that's definitely another factor -- the first thing you encounter that suits you, you will tend to stop at, because you've invested the time and found something that works.
It's entirely possible that Blender will blow my socks off after I devote months of work mastering it, and it will suit me like a glove. But since I already have several things that cover the same 'territory' that I like... well. I'm not inclined to put all my effort into mastering it, because what if I do that and I find I hate it?
I think it really depends on what you want to do with your software. I have the subscription and also Elements. There are things Elements does so easily that is a pain in PS, and PS has a few more sophisticated adjustments that I prefer. So I use both. If I had to give up one, it would be PS first. $15 Canadian a month, but I use it almost daily.
I'm a photoshop person. Been using it since my college days and I find the UI Works for my workstyle. Plus, I cheap through work.
Yeah, I have Gimp loaded on my secondary laptops (yes, I travel with two laptops after one got crushed once enroute to an important presentation) and I have Gimp and my old copies of CS2 on my backup PCs, but the current version of Photoshop does so many things that Gimp simply can't do that it would really be hard to go back from CC 2015 at this point. Especially when it's coupled with Filter Forge. Do I need those things on a daily basis? No, but it's sure nice to have them when I do. :)
What really pushed me over was a combination of EXR/32 bit support (which GIMP is getting REAL SOON NOW (TM)) and Ron's brushes (which just work better in Photoshop).
NIK tools was cherry on top.
As an alternative to gimp and before taking the photoshop plunge, I'd reccomend taking krita for a whirl. Much better update schedule than gimp for one thing, and I think its main advantage over gimp is it doesn't just try to be freeware photoshop and is much the better for it. Rather than just being slower knockoff photoshop it actually has advantages over photoshop (like a really nice brush stablization system and guides, built in)
Yeah, when I found out there was a build for the GIMP 2.9 beta with the NIK filters, I had to download it. It looks great and I'm anxiously waiting for it to be released as the stable version. However, I'm using the beta version and love playing with the NIK filters and the .exr files.
I have krita installed, but have not had a chance to play with it. It's on this very long list of things to do that I have. :)
...I tried to get into Blender over the years but with no success. Each time someone said, "they improved the UI", I tried it again only to find it cumbersome to work with each time as it was still all hotkey and script driven. When I couldn't even navigate around the workspace without using clunky keyboard commands I said "this is not going to work for me" and went back to Hexagon in spite of that programme's instabilities.
As to Gimp, I know my away around it pretty well now and it is continually being improved. I have been able to work with Ron's Brushes with no issue for some time now, and find the layering system to actually be quite straightforward. There are a lot of ready made filters and very useful scripts that really give it a lot of power. and most importantly, it didn't cost me 700$ (pre-CC days).
I have Krita actually and really like it for landscape painting. Will have to take a closer look at what else it can do. Painting is not an issue, my elements program does that and does it very well. Its the other tools that are only available on the full version.
I actually tried Gimp first before photoshop and just could not wrap my brain around it. Photoshop suits my workflow very well. I might like Gimp better now since I understand the basic principles now but I've invested a lot of time into photoshop and am comfortable there lol. I should probably just go ahead and do the 30 day trial and then decide what I want to do.
Ya the price is a bit crazy which is why I went with elements its was less than $100 and I think I caught it on sale so it was even less. Might load GIMP and give it one more try before I decide. I do have a ton of Ron's brushes... as well as a lot of other ones.
...I have Krita as well, and it seems to be more of a digital paint programme. Not saying that is a bad thing.
No its actually a really great tool for landscape painting. But I agree, I don't think it has other tools like warp and the pen tool.
The photography packages gives you Photoshop and Lightroom for $9.95 US/D month. That's two fufu coffee drinks from Starbucks. Doesn't seem like to much if you're already buying content from Daz3D.
True. Although I don't go to Starbucks lol. I guess worst case scenario is I will try it for a year and if I decide I haven't used it enough I can always cancel and go back to my elements program.
I do work for printing, and I find Photoshop to be much better with color profiles than GIMP, though I haven't touched GIMP in a few years. I tried PaintShop Pro x6 and x7 for a year or two, but it could not scale when using large images (e.g. from a scanner or for print) with lots of layers, so I enventually gave up on it and went back to the PhotoShop subscription. Krita competes more with Painter more than Photoshop. Of course, use what you works best for you -- if yopu are doing just digital display type stuff then you have more options -- throw in professional level printing and scalability and PhotoShop becomes much harder to beat. I do wish Adobe would merge in the Elements stuff into PhotoShop (or add it to the photagraper subscription).
I would like to recommend affinity photo. It is a strong, strong beast.