Photoshop

[JBR]

I have an old version of Adobe Photoshop Elements that ran perfectly on my old Windows 7 computer, but fails to install on my new Windows 10 computer. I have tried using compatibility mode, but the problem remains and I get the message that I need Internet Explorer 4.0 or later in order for it to run. I appear to have the latest IE already installed.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Dave54]

Have a look at "The Gimp" weirdly named, but free and open source. Makes a decent replacement for PS Elements.
https://www.gimp.org/downloads/

 

[JBR]

Thanks Dave. I have downloaded Gimp and, although it takes a bit of getting used to after Photoshop, it seems to work perfectly. I was pleasantly surprised as, according to some sources on the internet, people have had problems using it with Windows 10.
I think it's great that such stuff is available free of charge. Who would pay through the nose for Photoshop?

 

[Dave54]

I use it all the time, rather than PS. Couple of foibles are the save system and the "two screen" thing where the screens are split into tools and the work area.
The "save" action will only save a file as The Gimp's own "native" ".xcf" format (or ".xcf.bz2 which is compressed for archiving) You have to use the "export" action to "save" in any other format.
As far as the "two screen" thing goes, there is an option under "view" (IIRC) to make the program work with one screen.
There should be a new version out some time with various enhancements.
There is a good selection of plugins and scripts to do various things to images here
http://registry.gimp.org/glossary/a

 

[JBR]

Actually, mine has three screens! Tools, etc, on the left and layers, etc, on the right. They can be turned off though and, presumably, everything accessed from the menu bar at the top.
Yes, I have no problem saving a file as .xcf and have exported files as .jpg too. I find no problem with that
There are some things, though, that I found easy under Photoshop but struggle with in Gimp. For example, in PS I can draw a rectangle around an object and move it or isolate it for various functions, such as erasing. In Gimp, I've found out how to draw a rectangle (or ellipse) around an object, but am still not sure how to move it, for example. I'm sure it's just a matter of learning procedures (and 'reading the manual'!).
Looking at that list of plugins is impressive and reminds me of non-Windows software like Linux where various contributors have added, and continue to add, all sorts of probably very useful things, all of which appear to be free to use.

Yes, I'll persevere, and am presently trawling through the included help file bit by bit.

 

[Dave54]

You want "Select" / "Float". It puts the selected area onto a temporary layer. You can access the menus either from the menu bar or by a right click.
I'd forgotten it's three windows! Anyway once you have selected one window mode, you can dock the tool bars and the various things like layers etc.
It's all there in the help. As you have found it's a bit different. You seem to be getting on with it OK though.

 

[JBR]

Yes, thanks. I'll manage.

 

[JBR]

YAnyway once you have selected one window mode, you can dock the tool bars and the various things like layers etc.

Found it:
Windows/Single-Window Mode

 

[Dave54]

That's the thing! I'd forgotten what the proper name for it is!

 

[JBR]

Well, I've given Gimp a good try and, by God, it's been anything but intuitive.
I'm afraid there are still some important things I just cannot get it to do, though. Perhaps the most important of these is printing. I have tried everything, including searching on the web (which I must admit is full of information about Gimp), but I have failed to get an image to print to the full size of the paper. Whatever I do there is still a large margin at the bottom and right side of the page (in A4 landscape) which I just cannot get rid of.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to go back to Photoshop on my old laptop, as this is something I really have to have ready in the next couple of days.

If I want to do such work on my new computer, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy Photoshop Elements which, unfortunately, costs £60.

 

[Dave54]

I don't print from Gimp very often. Can't remember it being a problem myself, but it is known to be tricky.
Do you have the right page size set under "Page Setup" in the "file" menu.
Also when you click "Print" it brings up a box with a tab for image settings at the top. There's a preview there.
There is also this (which I haven't tried personally)
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
At the end of the day though, if it didn't do what I wanted without too much effort I'd move on myself.

 

[JBR]

I don't print from Gimp very often. Can't remember it being a problem myself, but it is known to be tricky.
Do you have the right page size set under "Page Setup" in the "file" menu.
Also when you click "Print" it brings up a box with a tab for image settings at the top. There's a preview there.
There is also this (which I haven't tried personally)
http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net/
At the end of the day though, if it didn't do what I wanted without too much effort I'd move on myself.

Thank you.

Certainly, the page size is set correctly, as are the margins. The printer options are also correct. One think I found was that one of the layers had its extents set far bigger than the actual contents of the layer (I know not how), but I managed to re-set them using (I think) 'layer to image size' (?).

Yes, I found references to 'Gutenprint' whilst searching the internet, but I have to admit that I am finding Gimp difficult to use, perhaps because it is so different to Photoshop which I am quite familiar with.

I suppose that £60 isn't all that expensive if the software is something I am going to be using a lot.

 

[JBR]

I'm just having a look at a trial version of Photoshop Elements 14. Of course, there are quite a few differences to the older version I am used to, but I found it quite intuitive to use; many things are very similar.
I think I'm going to have to shell out £60!

 

[jockscott]

Bloody grandson got a new computer for Xmas. He's now studying a photography course at school and because they use Adobe Photoshop at school he wanted it for home. Last week he tried to get it for free from one of these FTP sites. (yes you can see where this is going already) Got a phone call from my daughter saying his computer wouldn't start.. Got there and he said, when he was trying to install it, a message appeared saying "Please disable your AV software to continue with the installation." Bloody idiot turned off Windows Defender (his last great hope against the Dark Side) and continued.
Luckily I had an installation disk with the Win10 ISO on it. Still took me three attempts at re-installing Win10. (first two, it wouldn't let me boot from his dvd drive at all) Third time (after going into the bios) it did boot from the dvd. I told him never to download anything from these ftp sites, as you just don't know what shyte has been bundled with these hacked programs.

 

[Dave54]

Here's another one I've heard about but tried for a long time. Gimpshop.
https://www.gimpshop.com/
Apparently it looks and behaves more like PS.