Add to ChromeWhen comparing Paint Shop Pro vs PaintCAD 4Windows, the Slant community recommends Paint Shop Pro for most people. In the question“What are the best pixel art / sprite editors?” Paint Shop Pro is ranked 22nd while PaintCAD 4Windows is ranked 29th. The most important reason people chose Paint Shop Pro is:
You can work with a pre-defined number of color palettes, save and load custom palettes, and access several modes to reduce the number of colors on a picture.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Custom palettes available
You can work with a pre-defined number of color palettes, save and load custom palettes, and access several modes to reduce the number of colors on a picture.
Pro Several file formats supported
Paint Shop Pro can read and write images in several file formats: PCX, PNG, GIF, CDR, PSD, JPG, EPS, TIF, TGA, WMF... even RAW.
Pro Offers informative tutorials
There are quite a few informative tutorial videos available for users on Paint Shop's website.
Pro Doesn't need to be installed
Simply download package, unpack, and use: no installation/setup/registry are required. Furthermore, all settings are saved in its own folder.
Pro You can draw images using the keyboard alone
The cursor on the image allows you to move it to any pixel of your image and place colored pixels precisely. You can draw on a small notebook (when travelling on a train or bus, for example), or in any other situation where you don't have access to a mouse.
Pro Completely free to use
All the user has to do is download the software and put it to use: draw images, create animations (gif), videos (avi), tilemaps, draw raster PCF fonts, and use it on your images for free!
Pro Support for Russian and English
The interface and help system have two localizations (English and Russian) included in the distributive package.
Pro Works with every Windows version
PaintCAD 4Windows doesn't need any .net, java, or other VM installed: it is a pure Windows 32-bit application and will work on every Windows-based operating system starting from Windows 95 until Windows 10.
Cons
Con Windows only
Paint Shop Pro is available only in Windows.
Con PSP8 has a relatively slow startup
PSP 7 worked better than PSP 8 in terms of startup speed. There are still versions around somewhere, if you look hard enough.
Con No more updates available
Paint Shop Pro 7 was pretty stable, but its creator JASC Studio is no more. It has since been acquired by Corel, and rather than improve Paint Shop Pro, they have killed it.
Con Windows Vista and upwards have limited support for colors
The main issue with PSP is that Windows is forced to "change" your window's color scheme while the software is still running. This causes screen flickers and odd color effects.
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