So as to not further hijack Brittny's (sorry if I spelled your name wrong) "I need comments from anyone!" thread, here are some questions for digital scrappers who use dedicated scrapbooking programs. I have not tried any of them, but would imagine they run the gamut from simple "plug & play" templates (everything's done; all you do is pick the template & add your own photos) to being able to choose all the elements and design the pages yourself. Is this correct?
What are some of the programs you've tried & what did you like (or not) about them?
Can you export the pages to PDF or some other format that can be read by any computer or do you have to have the software to print the pages once you've completed them?
What features (if any) do you wish the program you use had?
I have used Lifetimez, Scrapbook Max (SM), Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Microsoft Digital Image Suite (DIP), and Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE). My favorites are SM and PSP although I use PSE often for creating my own embellishments.
SM is an extremely easy program to use and there is a forum where everyone trades templates and embellishments. You can start from scratch or use a template or a quick page and scrap a page in just a few minutes. You can even have the prograqm upload the completed layouts for them to print out. I don't use that service as it is more expensive than the one I use. You can scrap at 12 by 12 and then changed the size with a mouseclick and it will appropriately resize everything to fit an 8.5 x 11 page. I do this all the time so I can email the pages to my sister who can then print them out on her printer at home. I bought this program for all my nieces as they don't have alot of money to do paper scrapping and with all the free kits available they can scrap all they want.
I mostly use layout templates with PSP, there are hundreds of them freely available on the web. Sometimes I use the template as a scrap map for my paper layouts as well. There is a steep learning curve with PSP but it has been a year and I can do almost anything I need to do with it now. I find it easier to scrap with than PSE as you can hide the other layers with just a mouse click and PSE doesn't have that feature.
PSE is great for creating your own papers, elements, etc. I bought a bunch of "actions" from atomic cupcake and using the actions I can make chipboard, stitches, stickers, etc. PSP has scripts that will do this but they are not as readily available as the PSE actions. I also use templates and overlays to make papers, tags, frames, etc.
All of the above programs export to .jpg which can then be printed.
None of them support .svg (scalable vector graphics) and now I am trying to learn a new program so I can draw things to cut out with my Cricut and Sure Cuts A Lot.
LifeTimez' books look cool (anyone seen one in person?), tho they don't have the size I generally make (8.5x11). 12x12 has definite advantages over 8.5x11, but since I don't have a printer that can accommodate it, I've always done 8.5x11 (except one 8.5x5.5, which was a challenge).
Looks like Microsoft is no longer making their "Digital Image" suite as a standalone package. Says it comes with Vista, which I've not heard good things about (including from Dave - LOL).
So you can mix & match elements from different kits? Having had no experience with dedicated scrapbooking programs, I wasn't sure if you were limited on a page to what was provided by the program or whether you can pull from whatever you have on your computer (including items from other programs?). It seems to be fairly flexible. Ah, just found on their site where it says you can import a variety of image formats, so am assuming you can copy elements from programs that use standard image formats (as opposed to something proprietary).
Haven't read everything, but didn't see what formats (other than JPG) it lets you export to, nor what DPI.
Love the page resizing feature, having done it the "hard way" myself.
I've not used either Paint Shop Pro (PSP) or Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE), but I imagine the latter has a lot of similarities to regular PhotoShop, which I do use for all of my photo manipulation.
I've made some of my own papers/backgrounds, but have done it all manually. Having actions to create at least some of them would be very handy (& probably do a better job than I would!).
All of the above programs export to .jpg which can then be printed.
That would be a downside for me since I prefer the higher quality outputs of PDF or TIF, unless I'm wanting to just email the file to someone to view on screen. Most of my stuff is 300-400 dpi. Makes for large files, but I can always make them smaller to email. Can't make them bigger from smaller starting files w/o losing quality, tho.
I do anything scalable in PhotoShop, but I'm not a good at drawing freehand, so don't generally have images I've created that need manipulation. Have not seen Cricut or Sure Cuts a Lot in use. Will have to see if my cousin has either or both & ask her to give me a demo.
Thanks for the detailed response! Sorry it's taken me so long to follow up. Whew, what a week!
Yes you can use any kit or pieces from a kit and any .png or .jpg file. It also allows you to use masks which they call shapes and add drop shadows if you want to.
You can export to .jpg or pdf. You can also make a screen saver, a slide show, a movie, a slide show cd, a movie cd, or a photo cd.
The program's default is 200 DPI but you can change it to whatever you want. I use 300 DPI to scrap and 72 DPI to make wallpapers for my desktop, blog banners, etc.
I have every action from atomic cupcake and about a dozen other ones I purchased or downloaded from the web. I could never begin to make anything without those actions. I sit here and watch it as it goes through the steps, sometimes it takes 5 minutes and literally goes through hundreds of steps before the final product is produced. If you have Photoshop already the actions at atomic cupcake also work in PS 7.0 and higher. Unfortunately they no longer have the all you eat buffet (it was $17.95 for a month and you could download every action and kit on the site) and each action is now priced at $4.95.
Yes you can export to pdf
Most digital kits are created at 300 DPI although some use 200 DPI. When you go to export the file you are given the choice of 5 different levels from lowest (web) to highest (300 and above depending on what DPI you chose)
I am catching on, yesterday I made a fence in Inkscape like the sizzix one except that it is 12 inches long and can be cut in one piece on the Cricut. Today I am working on invitations shaped like picnic items and learning how to layer them. It is kind of fun using the computer to design my own diecuts and then cutting them out.
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