Photoshop substitutes
Wolfmanjim
Posts: 35
I used to use PS for postwork and designing textures for clothes. I am now looking for something less expensive... peferably something I will not have to keep paying rent... er.. licensing fees. Any suggestions?
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Two of the most common alternatives would be:
Probably a few others tho too.
I've been using GIMP for almost 2 decades. There will be a learning curve though. Because although GIMP and PS can accomplish the same end results, they don't always go about it the same way.
Even closing a Photoshop account is expensive. Better support GIMP!
Affinity, mentioned above, is now free and it's excellent. I've been using it for months replacing Photoshop. Some quality of life things are a bit aggravating but you get used to them soon enough. Definitely worth the not having to pay anymore.
Corel Paint Shop Pro is a good product.
OR
Photoshops little brother, Photoshop Elements.
I downloaded Affinity Photo now that it is free, but it lacks some of the Photoshop features I rely on.
Krita is also a free program, but it appears to be more of a painting app like ArtRage or Rebelle than a photo editing app.
Which features are those? My main stumbling blocks have been Illustrator features
I had a couple of my images I created with Paint Shop Pro printed in the reader section of the old Corel Paint Shop Pro magazine which sold monthly or bo-monthly on the news stands. Also in the old magazine Art Scene International.
The tools I use are mostly for retouching photos I took, as most of my work is in photography (landscapes and automobile photography).
Here are a few of the tools I use. I Shoot in the RAW camera. And also use Lightroom.
Photoshop tools :
Content Aware Fill
Camera Raw filter
Generative Fill
Spot Removal Tool
Healing Brush
Mixer Brush
History Brush
Sorry Richard, I have not tried Illustrator as I do not get along well with vectors LOL. I've tried Corel Draw and Inkscape in the past but I find it confusing. I do use the 3D equivalent "curves & NURBS" in MOI3D though and sometimes in Blender.
Affinity has had an uinpainting festure for a while, but to match the AI tools (if it will) you'd need a paid Canva subscription. Spot removal and healing should broadly be there.
On1 might be worth a look for that kind of feature set (plus it has a browser, which Affinity doesn't).
Anybody tried ACDSee Photo Studio Ultimate 2026 for compiling an image series into vidio and editing stuff? $110 USD and it's all mine if I hit the buy button by the 21st of Jan. 2026. No subsriptions
I'm a Daz noob poking around with Animate 2, doing test renders and tring to stitch it all together on the cheap. Not going smoothly. Hell, I got Daz Studio for free, and then... Well I'm retired and need to keep the old brain active so let's build a rendering rig...RTX 4060 TI...ect. You get what pay for, I'd like to do it wisely,and without a steep learning curve. Photoshop seems excesive for my needs.
I've never used ACDSee Photo Studio, or the video application that comes with it, so my response is more general advice, that specific to the software you are asking about.
For image editing I primarily use Gimp, and sometimes Krita. These are both open source, and free to use. The interface for Gimp is not flashy,but this is not a reflection on it's capabilities. I would imagine that ACDSee Photo Studio has some great, simple to use quick editing features that make it easy for someone new to image editing. As I see it, the problem with these low cost, easy to use applications is that they make it easy for the beginner, but they also make you reliant on their software and don't expose more advanced tools. This is great for beginners, but if you end up doing this for several years, it can hamper you development. They will definitely also continue to add new features that will encourage you to update each year. If you decide to go with something like Gimp or Krita, the learning process for the software will be greater, but you will develop more skills and understanding about what you are doing and why you are doing it. For me the huge plus to Gimp and Krita over commercial software is that it's free and there are no limits on how many machines I use them on, and no registration/autorization process.
For video editing and/or making a video from an image sequence, I use DaVinci Resolve and Shotcut. Black Magic Design (the maker) has a free version of DaVinci Resolve that has a full suit of professional tools. Davinci Resolve is also a professional (i.e. studio level) video editor, with a professional VFX editor/compositor (Fusion), and a professional sound editor (Fairlight). Because DaVinci Resolve is a full professional application designed for studios, the will be a greater learning curve than LUXEA Pro. But, if you stick with DaVinci Resolve, you will not out grow it. If you need access to some of the pay for tools, it's a one time purchase for a "forever" license (i.e. no annual purchasing the new version every year, you get the new version automatically). They have an excellent set of tutorial videos on their website, and there are tons of tutorial and "how to" videos on YouTube. Oh, and yes, you can make a video from an image sequence. Full disclaimer, I own the full version of Resolve, have used it for VFX work for documentaries, and teach it at the college level (even though we have access to Adobe Premier - yes, in my mind it is better than Premier).
I also use Shotcut, which is free and open source software. Like Davinci Resolve, it's interface is geared more toward the professional user. But you can get up and running with it after completing a getting started video (20 min. to an hour). There are also a lot of YouTube resources for shot cut to help you along the way (many are focused on a single process in Shotcut and are less than 10 min. long). Why do I use Shotcut if I have the Studio version of Resolve. Well, initially because there are things not available in the free version of Resolve that were available in Shotcut (i.e. noise reduction), so Shotcut make the perfect companion software to the free version of resolve. I still use it because some quick one off project are simply easier in Shotcut. I also sometimes get video clips that for what ever reason Resolve can't open, or there are portions of the video that Resolve doesn't recognize properly (often from either drone cameras or action cameras). So far, Shot cut has been able to successfully use every one of these videos. If I need to use the video in Resolve, then I just render it out to a new video from Shotcut and Resolve then has no problem with it.
TLDR; Since you are a "noob", I would recommend that you go with free options above first, until you know exactly what you want/need to do. If later on, you decide to buy something because it streamlines your workflow, that's great.
Thank you very much for your advice, I will explore the products you mentioned and very likely bail on the acdsee trial. Their 'Beginner Totorials' struck me as a bit flashy and spent a lot of time touting the wonders of their A.I.. I know even less about A.I. than video creation or editing, but me thinks that may not be what they are using. Anyhow, thanks again for the suggestions.
When Daz renders an image series it is blessed with what seems to be a rather odd numbering sequence eg. 100 thru 199 followed by 1100 ect.. That convention does not play nicely with others.ShotCut and DaVinci Resolve insist I use a zero padded index. What is easiest way to work around that dilemma. Copilot offered me a script file to add to Daz so it'll spit it out like that. Mightbe I take a stab at it one of these days, I know nothing about Python or Javascript yet so, mightbe not. Thought I should ask the pointy headed ones around these parts how they do it. Looks like DaVinci and ShotCut will be a lot of fun once I get more to throw at it. Canceled ACDsee trial,uninstalled it.
Wow, ACDSee. I haven't heard that mentioned in ages. I think i shifted to GIMP many years ago from some version of ACDSee.
Um, I'm doing an animation now and the frames appear starting with 000. I'm not sure how you are getting it to start with 100.