Pros and Cons of Adobe Photoshop CS2?

Question

I would like to know the Pros and Cons of Adobe Photoshop CS2.

I have a pretty good system with a high-end gaming graphics and clock speed. CS2 will work on my system perfectly but I want to know a few things before I buy it...

Can you make actual animations with CS2?
Does it affect your computer in any negative way?
If any of you have used it, Do u find it very hard to learn to use?
As the bottom line, is it worth the price?

I will really appreciate everyone providing details to these few questions for me.. I need to make a decision on whether buying it or not
Thanks.

Answer 1

Can it make animations? - basic ones, yes

Does it affect your computer? - no, other than tie up RAM

Do i find it hard to learn? - it depends on the depth of what you're trying to accomplish. Definitely get a book, like the Photoshop Bible, but it comes with a tutorial as well

Is it worth the price? I think it's a tad pricey, but it is an extremely powerful program. Try getting a lower version on eBay, then upgrade to CS2. It may save you some $$$.

Answer 2

I use both platforms in my freelance design business. I can tell you, from many years of experience, that, from within the application, the difference between Mac and PC is pretty transparent. Except for a few keyboard commands, the apps are pretty much identical. Raw processor speed makes SOME difference in how fast an effect is rendered, especially on the larger files. But all that means is that a fast PC will run faster than a slow Mac, and vice versa. And, in most cases, the differences can be measured in seconds, and fractions of a second. And, maybe I've been lucky, but my PC doesn't seem to suffer the ails that seem to plague other people's PCs such as compatibility issues, freezing up, or, even suceptibility to viruses. My hardware peripherals seem to all get along and I have few file sharing issues in my internal network. The list of software apps I use cross platorm include, among others, Photshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Adobe Acrobat Professional, Word, Excel, etc. For me, at least, the platform wars of the 90s ended back then.

Answer 3

First, about animations -- Photoshop CS2 comes bundled with another program called "ImageReady." ImageReady is designed for Web graphics. And here you can do simple animations (usually for websites). Photoshop CS2 is not really a program designed for creating animations -- it's designed for still pholos (imported from a scanner or digital camera).

With today's huge hard drives, I don't think today's Photoshop is that problematic in terms of taking up disk space. You might want to have as much RAM as possible (it speeds things up, especially if you're using image formats like RAW or TIFF).

It is less difficult to learn the program today than it was a few years ago (they've made the program easier, more user friendly). But I would recommend getting a book on the program (I, personally, don't like "the bible"). There is Scott Kelby's "The Photoshop CS2 book for Digital Photographers" -- he uses step-by-step tutorials.

You can try out the program (as a trial) download a free copy of Photoshop CS2 -- free for 30 days. It's availabe at
www.photoshop.com
Look for the heading "downloads." I think Photoshop is worth every penny! (if you think it's too expensive, might also go with the other person's suggestion about getting, say, Photoshop 7, then up-grading for around $200 to Photoshop CS2).

Answer 4

1. You can work on the frames, but you have to export them to another program to animate them. You can also import animations from other Adobe programs into Photoshop to retouch them or do especial effects.

2. Depending how frequently you use it, Photoshop will fragment your hard drive. If you plan to use it everyday, you'll have to defragment it once a week.

3. It's easy; that's why it's so popular.

4. Yes, every penny.

Answer 5

Photoshop is primarily software for editing your photos. It's quite the resource hog, but can work wonders if you take the time to learn how it all works. For basic editing, it can be quite simple, but if simple editing is all that you want to be doing, then a cheaper program would most likely better suit your needs.