Corel Paint Shop Pro and Video Studio X3 Upgrade

[lahazard]

For anyone who uses Paint Shop Photo Pro or Corel VideoStudio to edit their photos and video clips before importing them into Producer (or Gold), they have just released the X3 versions of both programs.

The current upgrade price is $69.99 each, but I found a coupon that gives you an additional $20 off.

The coupon comes from couponsdealuxe.com and is BONUSBUCKS20

What i did was to purchase each upgrade (I use both programs) as a separate order and received each upgrade for $49.99. When I tried to buy them together it only gave me $20 off the total order, so separate orders gets you a bigger discount.

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You can explore the new features and enhancements for Paint Shop Photo Pro X3 at......

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ ... bview=tab0

What's New?

Improved digital workflow

Enhanced! Photo Organizer

Customize your digital workflow with new photo management capabilities. Use multiple views, including thumbnails and image previews, to quickly select photos.

New! RAW Lab, Image Quality and Control

Make RAW adjustments during the loading process and work with even more RAW camera formats—faster than ever before.

New! Easy Batch Processing

Make adjustments to one photo, then easily apply the same changes to multiple other photos right in the enhanced Organizer.

Enhanced! Speed and Performance

Get more speed and editing horsepower with more multi-threading support for multi-core processors.

Enhanced! Express Lab

Apply common edits in just one click. Remove noise, sharpen images, and quickly adjust contrast, local tone mapping and more.

New advanced photo-editing tools

New! Smart Carver

Seamlessly remove objects from an image with professional quality. The Smart Carver also lets you expand or contract objects without distortion.

New! Vibrancy

Boost color in the least saturated areas of a photo without affecting the rest of the image.
New! Object Extractor

The integrated Object Extractor isolates an object—even challenging cases such as flyaway hair and fuzzy pet fur—so it can be copied to a new background or a new background can be pasted behind it.

New! On-Image Text Editing

With the updated text engine, it's easier, faster and more natural to apply text to an image. Adjust font, color, placement, position, size and wrapping of the text in context of the image. Reselect the text on the image and continue typing, or apply text on a path.

New! HD Video Slideshows

As an increasing number of DSLR cameras capture HD video, PaintShop Photo Pro now offers tools that let you combine photo and video projects. Create HD slideshows and movies of your photos and videos, all with the same tool.

New! Windows® 7 Compatibility

PaintShop Photo Pro X3 is fully compatible with Windows 7, as well as Windows® XP and Windows Vista®. Take advantage of new Windows 7 speed and performance to experience a whole new level of creativity.

Bonus! Corel® Painter™ Photo Essentials 4

This fun program lets you turn a photo into a unique work of art in just 3 easy steps:

1. Choose a photo and the painting style you want to apply.
2. Let the Smart Stroke painting technology create a stunning painting.
3. Touch up your masterpiece by hand if desired.

Bonus! KPT® Plug-in Filters

A natural addition to your photo-editing software, KPT plug-in filters help you quickly create remarkable image transformations and original effects. PaintShop Photo Pro X3 includes KPT® Goo, KPT® LensFlare, KPT® Projector and KPT® Equalizer.

Built-in photo projects and sharing

Easy Photo Sharing

Quickly share photos and videos directly on Flickr®, Facebook® and YouTube™. You can also email, print at home or order prints online*.

Built-in Photo Projects

Using the new Project Creator, its fast and simple to make great-looking photo books, HD slideshows, collages, cards and more.

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and for VideoStudio Pro X3 at.....

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/ ... bview=tab0


What's New

Create, edit, render and share faster than ever with VideoStudio Pro X3—the best video-editing software for making HD movies. Now two times faster, it simplifies your entire workflow so you can focus on the creative aspects of movie making, without your software getting in the way.

Dramatically enhanced speed and performance

* New! Hardware acceleration for Intel® Core™i7, NVIDIA® CUDA™ and AMD
* New! Launcher – quick access to express or advanced editing modes
* New! Express Edit mode – make movies in minutes!
* Enhanced! Smart Proxy for faster previewing and more responsive HD editing
* Enhanced! All-new interface for a faster video-editing workflow

Studio-quality effects and templates

* New! Professionally designed templates from RevoStock®—worth over $500 US!
* New! Real-time effects, including NewBlue®FX filters with key framing
* New! Effects for compositing and video animation, including RotoSketch and AutoSketch
* New! Multi-track filters that let you add effects to each of your tracks
* New! GPU-accelerated high-speed filters with real-time preview
* New! Customizable, royalty-free audio tracks from SmartSound®
* Enhanced! Title effects for easy compositing

HD enhancements

* New! Blu-ray authoring with Hollywood-style menus, titles, transitions and effects
* New! HD authoring to standard DVD media
* New! Web-ready files – save HD MPEG-4 files for the Web with H.264 compression

More sharing options

* New! Upload directly to Vimeo®, Facebook®, YouTube™ and Flickr® in standard or HD
* Enhanced! DVD authoring – output to CD, DVD or Blu-ray Disc™
* Enhanced! Save to more file formats, including AVI, FLV, MP3 encode, AC3 5.1, AVCHD™, HD MPEG-2 and MPEG-4
* Enhanced! Send to more devices, including iPod®, iPhone® and PSP®

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Louis

P.S. If anyone has questions about the X3 versions, please feel free to ask and I'll do my best to offer a response.

[Astra Profile Private message]

Louis,

very good tip, will look at it,

thanks, Alexandra

[PhotoMagicCreations Profile Private message]

Louis,

Do you know if there is a forum for Corel Video Studio?

Kelly

[Rosemary Profile Private message]

Kelly, Try this link.

http://forum.corel.com/EN/index.php

Rosemary

[AnnaMIkk Profile Private message]

Lahazard
Thank you very much for the coupon code I had received an email from them offering it to me for 59.99 and the code worked so I ended up paying 39.99 what a bargin.
Thanks Again
Anna

[lahazard]

Anna.... you are welcome and I'm glad the coupon helped!

Kelly, the link Rosemary posted is so far the only forum I know of that deals specifically with VideoStudio. I admit, however, that I haven't really looked for others.

Louis

[PhotoMagicCreations Profile Private message]

Thanks Rosemary and Louis, I will check it out.

Kelly

[Barkingmad Profile Private message]

This is a link to upgrade to the new PSP X3 for 19.99 for the download version. If you order the boxed version, they add 11 for shipping.
http://store.corel.com/webapp/wcs/store ... &langId=-1

[lahazard]

<This is a link to upgrade to the new PSP X3 for 19.99 for the download version...>

Ouch! That hurts. If Corel support actually existed (they are notorious for NOT responding to customers) I would try and see if I could get a refund... Oh well... Sometimes the early bird gets something other than the worm!

Can't really complain, though. I've gotten good deals before and I was willing to pay what I paid, so can't really be upset with Corel.

Louis

P.S. But an extra $30 savings? I've got to be honest. It still hurts....

[Barkingmad Profile Private message]

Dont feel bad - although I posted the link, like you I too had already purchased the upgrade at regular price minus the 20 discount BEFORE getting the link to the 19.99. To add insult to injury, I had purchased ver X2 only 2 days before as version 10 I had was not eligible for upgrade. 2 days later version 10 was included in the list of versions that are accepted for upgrade... so in a 48 hour period I had bought a full version and then paid for an upgrade ... then discovered that I could have upgraded my version 10 for 19.99. With a current exchange rate of 7.75 to 1 the difference is huge!!
I have also discovered that there is a coupon that gives another 2 or 3 dollarsoff that works with the 19.99 so one can actually purchase X3 for about 16.99. Unlike you - I am upset with Corel for the games they play...
Personally I feel it is wrong for one company to have so many different prices in the same online store, depending on via which link one arrives at the store. Today I have seen X3 on Corels online store for 69.99, 59.99 and the 19.99 .... and I can only guess that there are more. I understand that different companies compete and thus will naturally offer the same product at different prices, but as far as I am concerned Corels practice of different prices within the same online store is unethical ... but that is just my own opionion.

I really didnt I didn't post the link to frustrate you, I only posted it to try to save others who wish to upgrade from having to pay the more expensive price as you and I did.

Btw, Its the same with Photo Impact - at the Ulead site it is going for about 49 0r 59.99 .. something like that, and is not listed under all products on the Corel online store, yet if one does a search for it on Corels online store, it comes up at 19.99...

Ok, I have finished griping.

[Barkingmad Profile Private message]

ANd here is a question to those who have purchased the upgrade to psp X3, do you have the free KPT plugins that are supposedly included ??

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

And, another question to those who have upgraded:

How is the program???

Are the additions really good?

And.... Have they taken anything out from the normal program (as it sometimes happens with Corel's upgrades?
or just added to it?

[lahazard]

@Barkingmad.... I hear you about Corel as a corporation. It really does tick me off when there are so many different upgrade paths and no clear presentation of them to people who currently use their products. I am fortunate as I can afford to have lost out on the cheapest deal for the upgrade and it will not hit me like it will hit some other folks. that said, however, $30 is still $30. And regardless of my own ability to live with this situation, I agree that such business practice is unethical - but then I admit my own bias that I EXPECT corporations - especially large ones like Corel - to be unethical until proven otherwise. (Thus my previous comment about wanting the software itself regardless of who was actually selling it.)

This is a big reason why I will not condemn people who access and use pirated software from such companies. My own conscience may not let me do so, but I refuse to lay a guilt trip on those who can. (Point of Clarification - I AM against people doing so to companies that demonstrate a willingness to support their customers and maintain an approach of actively engaging with their customers after the sale. And I feel even stronger about condemning the pirating of the work of individuals whose living is dependent upon the sale of their own work. Treat your customers with respect and honesty and I will stand with you in seeking to get them to respect you. Treat your customers like crap, especially AFTER the sale, and you're on your own.)

Corel also has a notorious reputation of NOT responding to customers who write them with problems and/or complaints... even when presented in a non-threatening and polite manner.

(Customer support from the actual staff of the corporation is why I recommend Photodex and Proshow to everyone, even if they are not asking about slideshow programs. From before I even downloaded the trial version, the folks at Photodex have been great in responding to my questions, concerns, and requests. Corel is like the polar opposite of Photodex. and it is really nice that when you call Photodex support you actually get people at the Photodex office! And not simply get transferred to some company they outsourced their "support" department to. "Support" that more often than not comes across to me as having very little, if any, actual personal knowledge of the program in question. At Photodex it is obvious (at least in my experience) that the individual I am speaking with KNOWS the program from personal use, actually LISTENS to what my specific question or concern is, and then seeks to address it.)

I knew going into this upgrade that I was NOT buying their (Corel's) support services, but rather what I hope will continue to turn out to be a program that is easier for me to use than the last version.

If I was going to rate a program by it's price in terms of after-sale support, I would say Corel's software is too expensive at any price. Producer, on the other hand, is way less expensive at twice it's current cost.

the previous version - 2X - was way too slow for me and I often times had crashes and I ended up getting Photoshop Elements 7 and have been working with it up until now. I am still finding my way around X3, but so far it is responding a lot quicker and I have not had a crash yet. Even more so I am finding that the X3 version of Videostudio is easier for me to do the things I want to do with editing video clips and responds much faster than X2 did.

While I am still financially in a position where I can survive having paid an extra $30 for something, there are other areas of my own life where I need to focus the energy it would take for me to get myself more worked up about this specific issue with Corel. That is not intended to suggest that anyone else who does have the energy to focus more time on it is wrong to do so. For me it is simply not a priority at the moment, but had I been in your specific situation - having purchased X2 in order to be able to qualify for the upgrade only to learn 2 days later that you didn't need to do so - I think i would feel a lot differently than I do (for myself) at the moment.

I do appreciate your info about the $19.99 as I personally know at least 4 other people who were able to benefit from it.

As to KPT plugins - if they are there, they are not there identified as KPT plugins. There are built in effects that appear to provide the kind of effects I would expect to be getting from the KPT ones, such as the warp brush effect - which other than not allowing me to record a short animation of the effect being produced (at least that I have been able to determine) does everything I remember my old version of Goo doing years ago. I have contacted Corel "support" about this, but honestly am not expecting a response any time soon.

by the way, I did not take your posting in a personal fashion. My comments were intended to come across in a truly joking manner and I did not intend to convey any sense of irritation with you.

@Mona... I can't accurately answer your question at the moment as I had stopped using X2 due to problems I had with it and Vista 64bit. (Or something.... and even though I installed it when I upgraded to Windows 7, i still stayed with elements until now.) I still have it installed, however, and if you have any specific questions about features added or removed please let me know and I will be more than willing to take a closer look.

What I can say is that so far I have been pleased with the program (X3) and have switched back to using it rather than Photoshop Elements. the more I get into Producer, the deeper my desire to learn more about photography AND photo editing (beyond just the basics.) So even though I am not a complete "newbie" with such software, I still feel like one!

Louis


P.S. I know that it is true that as long as folks such as I am not willing to more actively pursue such issues as Corel's upgrade pricing, then i must share in the blame for them continuing to believe they don't have to change in order to keep selling their programs. And if other issues in my life were not as in need of my time and energy I would be willing to raise my own voice more in this matter. Life being what it is, however, I find myself in one of those times when I need to prioritize where to put my focus and Corel's upgrade pricing is not one of them..... for the moment at least....... things could change.......

[lahazard]

@Mona...

One big dislike.... No built in help with X3. It's all Online, at least as far as I can tell. I've looked and cannot find a means to download the Online help system and thus have to be Online in order to access information about any new features (or old.) Fine if one has a consistent access to being online, but my internet access at home is via a Satellite connection with a very limited monthly bandwidth usage. And depending on the weather and peak-usage times, a connection is not always present, and sometimes even when it is present... it is worse than dial-up in the speed department.

Second.... I can't give you specifics at the moment, but a quick exploration of the X3 side by side with X2 appears to show X3 may indeed be a "lighter" version even with the new additions to it. So if you have a specific question let me know and I will compare and report back.

Third.... if one can get the $19.99 deal i would say go for it. Otherwise it might be more prudent to wait until more reports come in as to the actual changes (pro and con) that get discovered by more advanced users.


Louis

[cherub Profile Private messageWebsite]

Luis,

The help file being online is really a nuisance, even if one does have broadband.

When I was asking about missing features, I was mostly referring to the drawing part of the program. For instance, working with vectors has been changed a lot in in the more recent versions. So I was wondering if now maybe they gave up on it entirely.
As you know, I make all my graphics in PaintShop Pro and this is the part that interests me the most.
Of course, managing pictures, improving them and removing unwanted objects, are important too, but for me much less than the real graphic part.

Thank you Luis for all the details that you provided.