Basically it has lots of cool stuff and you think "That's nice, now I'll tweak it" but you don't have access to all the params. For example you can add a nice glow to text but it's always yellow, you can't make it white! I guess there may be tricks you can do to get this but why isn't it a simple option. Also I want to put a simple outline round some text but there is no option for this. Can you do this in the full £500 version? I can do it in gimp by selecting the background colour and the inverting the selection so the text is highlighted and then I can grow the selection and fill it, but even in Gimp there is no obvious Text Outline function (can do same highlight trick in photoshop, weirdly it has a Grow command that seems to do nothing but Expand works).
Actually Gimp has stuff that PS Elements doesn't have, maybe it's more like the full PS but free so with the odd "open-source" quirk. It's done me good for a long time actually and, although I enjoy using PS's fancy effects, because they are so limited I might go back to Gimp...
Also I want to put a simple outline round some text but there is no option for this. Can you do this in the full £500 version?
Yes, when you create some text on a layer you can assign all sorts of options to it, including outline in any width and colour.
There is a way in elements to access hidden tools. I don't know if they include what you want -
http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/pselementsaddons/Addons_and_Tools_for_Photoshop_Elements.htm
You're lucky you've never been forced to use that mountain-high pile of pap Adobe Illustrator! It's years behind Corel X3 - so much so it's a crime that they actually have the cheek to sell it!
Qube, yeah that sounds cool, but until I've made a bit more money I can't spend £500 on PS :-(
Thanks for the link btw.
Hujiklo: Last Corel I used was 10 (quite recently) and it can do outlines and all that. I'm always a bit disappointed you can set a gradient fill or texture/effect on an outline.
Can't remember if Corel 10 had the inter-active contour tool, but in X3 you can do glow gradients around any shape using it - though it's not as useful as a genuine translucent glow...best bet is to get an old copy of Max...you can do anything 2d in Max with much more control than any 2d program.
(EDITED)
http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-10157.htmlIn Photoshop 4-8 there is a coloured box on the glow filter dialogue that you can click on, I would have thought they would have left it there.
I found another page on the net referring to the glow being taken from the background colour (but that doesn't seem right to me).
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/photoeletmm/#top Heres a cheap way to get the full Photoshop CS2.
If there are any left, go to ebay and buy yourself a copy of Photoshop 6. Make sure it's legit. It's quite easy to tell. Make sure you're getting a valid serial (unregistered) with it. Once you have PHotoshop 6 you can then buy the Photoshop CS2 upgrade for £150.
Be prepared to pay anything between £60 to £120 for Photoshop 6.
Here's one I found on ebay that is legit.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Adobe-Photoshop-6-0-NEW-SEALED_W0QQitemZ300051805932QQihZ020QQcategoryZ51344QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Perturbatio: Nice link thanks. I've emailed that user about the missing styles CD.
Amon: Great tip thanks. I was looking at the much cheaper upgrade and wondering how to get it. I've seen the full CS2 on ebay but nearly all of them are a student edition (if you read the small print) and I'm not a student...