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Well I'm not sure if this goes here, but I have no idea where to put this topic so I hope this is fine. I've been wanting to make graphics and I need help choosing the right program. There's so much out there! So if you could give me a few pointers and tell me what you use, it would be a big help! The programs that I have heard are really good are:

Paint Shop Pro
PhotoShop
Animation Shop

Reviews are welcomed!

i have got:

3DStudio Max 8

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe After Effects

Adobe Premiere

Alias Maya

Animation:Master

Photoshop is good for still images but the rest is 3d animation and special effects and editing

I'm sure you can get demos of most of those programmes... nothing better then try before ya buy...

If you new to it though I would recommend you pic the one you can buy a book on, or find some help with learning to use it.. For some of them can be quite tricky to learn...

Photoshop is the best for editing images, it's the industry standard.

Paint Shop Pro is kinda like Photoshop-light, it's good to start out with. Animation Shop is an animation program that's bundled with it.

I use all of those, as well as Adobe Illustrator and Poser (for 3D work).

They're all kinda tricky to get the hang of, I'd say PSP is probably the easiest to learn. Poser gives me problems like nothing else I've ever touched before....except maybe Flash.

Books, btw, are completely useless for learning programs, as they only cover the most basic things. Best way to learn how to use any of them is to simply play around with the program and see what you can come up with.

whats poser. what features does it have?

Paint Shop Pro is definetly the easiest there.

Wow, thanx for all the great advice! It's really helped! I now know what programs I should try! Thanx again! xoxox