Entered CNET Catalog: 10/24/2002
SKU: 0756405013656
Manufacturer: Ulead Systems Inc.
Manufacturer description
Ulead PhotoImpact 8 delivers total image and photo editing for the PC. Easily manage and enhance digital photos, create stunning graphics and produce high-impact Web pages for recreational or professional use. PhotoImpact 8 was designed to meet the specific needs of digital camera users and photographers for managing, enhancing and sharing photos. At the same time, PhotoImpact provides a complete set of tools for Web and graphics enthusiasts who want professional results without a steep learning curve. PhotoImpact takes you every step of the way from transferring and organizing photos to enhancing and sharing images. Equip yourself with the same tools and techniques professionals use to make photos come alive. PhotoImpact makes it easy to get creative. Create eye-catching logos and other graphics with advanced text and 3D features. Or produce original works of art with a full set of painting and drawing tools. PhotoImpact sets the standard for high quality, bandwidth-efficient Web graphics and animation - even complete Web pages. And now with JavaScript slideshows, you have more ways to share your photos on the Web.Product summary
The good: Chock-full of easy-to-use imaging tools; produces sophisticated Web components; includes cool filter effects for static photos or instant animation; nicely integrated with online photo site; inexpensive.
The bad: Not available for the Mac; no CMYK-editing functions for commercial print applications; interface is a tad cluttered.
The bottom line: This versatile program does a great job of handling digital photography, Web graphics, and vector drawing.
Average user rating: from 26 users
3.5 stars
Editors' review
- Editors' Choice: Yes
- Reviewed on: 10/28/2002
No hand-holding
Installation takes no time at all. Just pop in the disc, and Ulead does the rest. Once you've installed and opened the program, you'll see the typical image-editor setup: a toolbar and an option bar, a canvas area, and floating palettes galore. However, just like other midlevel and high-end programs, such as Adobe Photoshop Elements, for example, PhotoImpact's interface is so packed with features and palettes that your work space sometimes feels cluttered. One bright spot: PhotoImpact 8.0 earns big points for its dockable Palette Manager, which lets you quickly display or hide all of the other panels with a single click.
While this program is geared toward advanced designers who want more creative control and more power, if you're not a professional artist, don't worry--even beginners will find PhotoImpact's tools extremely accessible. Case in point: the EasyPalette allows you to visually browse special-effect filters, such as Oil Paint or Gaussian Blur, and apply them to images with a simple drag and drop. In version 8.0, Ulead enhances the automatic processing commands, such as autolevel and autocolor. For example, the autolevel command takes advantage of an improved algorithm to control dynamic range, and the new autocolor command removes color casts. And a brand-new correction function, called Enhance Lighting, lets you use concepts that are common to analog photography, such as Fill Flash, to improve exposure without affecting the midlevel gray values that typically contain image detail.
Photo montage made easy
PhotoImpact 8.0 offers several new-and-improved tools that make it easy to get professional results when selecting and pasting photographic elements in a composition. Little details, such as disrupted colors in an otherwise smooth background or a halo of stray pixels around an object, are often the telltale signs of an amateur artist. When you use the Match Background function, PhotoImpact automatically blends the background colors of a pasted object into the background colors of the base image. This feature saves you tons of work and delivers great results, especially if the two images share similar colors. And the new Defringe dialog box lets you eradicate halos around objects to seamlessly combine images.
Further, basic selection tools have been improved. You can now select portions of one or more active floating objects without merging them first. While this may not seem like a groundbreaking feature, it helps save time and energy when you're building a complex composition with lots of different elements. And you can now convert a lasso selection into a polygon for precise shaping with control points. There is even a new panel where you can store selections and masks for future use, just as you can store alpha-channel selections in Photoshop.
Creative special effects
Want to dress up your shots? PhotoImpact's special-effects filters add excitement to humdrum photos. Particle Effects, such as rain and fire, came in previous releases, but now you can also animate them. We're very impressed with the new Texture filters, which can turn ordinary surfaces into reflective metal, crumpled paper, or refracting glass. And although they are more subtle, several new Photographic filters mimic real-world in-camera effects, such as film grain or diffuse highlights.
Web designers will be thrilled with the new JavaScript slide show function, which lets you assign behaviors--such as stop, previous, or next--to individual parts of an image so that you can control the flow of your presentation. These snazzy JavaScript effects, combined with the ability to generate true HTML pages, make PhotoImpact a great choice for creating or tweaking a small business or personal Web site.
But alas, PhotoImpact isn't perfect. There's no Mac version, and telephone support is a hassle: it's a toll call, available only on weekdays. Still, Ulead's Web site offers a decent set of FAQs, tutorials, a searchable knowledge base, and an e-mail-based tech-support request form. And although version 8.0 can open CMYK files, it automatically converts them to the RGB color space, rendering PhotoImpact unsuitable for high-end commercial print applications.
Bonuses galore
As if this program's impressive features weren't enough, PhotoImpact comes bundled with Ulead GIF Animator 5.0 (a $44.95 frame-based animation program that lets you generate AVI and QuickTime movies in addition to GIFs), as well as PhotoImpact Album 8.0, a database-driven program that lets you catalog and back up your digital photos. Use Photo Explorer 7.0 to organize your images or link them to Ulead's Web-based photo-sharing site, iMira, which lets you store 20MB of photos, create photo albums, and send e-greeting cards. Best of all, with Photo Explorer 7.0, you can save a slide show that can be played back on any DVD-equipped TV.
Among midlevel image-editing programs, including Adobe Photoshop Elements and Jasc Paint Shop Pro, Ulead PhotoImpact takes the prize for offering the widest range of features. This program's sheer versatility, healthy dose of fun, and inspiring tools are just the ticket for small businesses, individual artists, and digital-photo enthusiasts.
PhotoImpact 8.0 offers a new collection of texture filters, which can make photographic images look like metal, glass, or crumpled paper.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Best I've used
Pros: This product is simply the easiest to use that I have come across. I have used Photo Shop, Illustrator, Freehand, Fireworks, and Paint Shop Pro. This is by far the easiest package that I have used to date. You definitely can't beat the price when you com
Cons: Haven't found any yet
Review:
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Thank You ULEAD!!!
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Nothing is comparable to UPI8. for those who claim UPI8 is not intuitive, they might want to use their time in something else other than PC Graphics. It's easy, it's reliable, its simply better than other Graph Apps that costs hundreds of dollars. I have nothing to say but Thank You ULEAD!
User Rating:
4.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Easier than Photoshop and just as many features
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Overall, I'd rate PhotoImpact higher than Adobe Photoshop. I happen to have both installed on the same system, and PhotoImpact seems more intuitive. On a feature for feature basis, PhotoImpact 8 may be missing a few things available in Photoshop 7, however, every thing I have tried to do in PI8 has been relatively simple. In fact, because PI8 can export to PS7 (PSD file format), I can switch back and forth between editors. If I had to choose one, I'd choose PI8. Also, I have not had any stability problems, in fact PI8 has never crashed. I run a 2.5 Ghz AMD Athlon, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB swap and Windows XP. Also, the web page editing in PI8 is pretty good as well. Certainly not suitable for an entire site, but good for page by page layout. PI8 is a far better value than PS7, and even at the same price I would be hard pressed to pick PS7 over Photoimpact.
User Rating:
1.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
The LEAST intuitive of them all
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I have been trying to use this product for almost a year. I have the product manual and four other comprehensive guides (over $100 worth). This program is so NON INTUITIVE it is killing me. Nothing is done the way you would THINK you would do it. I had loads of fun editing images with adobe photodeluxe. Everything worked just as you thought it would. Then I decided I was ready for a comprehensive image editor and opted for this because of the cost of photoshop. This program is NONSENSE. It takes me hour and hours to figure out the simplest tasks and often times I can never solve even them.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Go with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro
Pros:
Cons:
Review: PhotoImpact is a good program but don't expect stability or support. It's packed full of easy to use features but when you go to print images, the program crashes. Called support, they said uninstall and reinstall. I did and it still crashed. Support then said I shouldn't print on high quality settings. Now why would I want to use a program that I can't print high quality pictures from? Ulead's support said I may not have the appropriate hardware or memory to print high quality. I disagree, P3 computer, 256mb memory and HP 920C. It's the program. If you've got patience, ok program. If not, go with Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
It crashes very often
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I have been trying Ulead since version 5. I was waiting for a stable version but it doesn't seem they can make any. Would it be more stable, I would buy it but I don't like having to redesign from scratch 25% of the graphics I compose. Tech support=null.
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
I Gave Up
Pros:
Cons:
Review: There are some great features on this program, but it crashed so many times, I finally just removed it after a couple of months. Maybe it was just my system, but I just didn't need the additional aggravation.
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Totally Outstanding
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Having been a user of Ulead Photo Impact back to version 4, I find this program a breeze to use. Unlike PSP where it is an ongoing hassle of asking questions and locating tubes. Having mastered the program, but never needed to open a manual, as the program is so user friendly. This is a program I would highly recommend to anyone interseted in Graphics. Also having acquirred a Graphic Tablet, designing and editting is a dream, and so much easier than trying to accomplish detailed creations with a mouse. Now and avid user of Ulead Software, and with outstanding support for Asia Pacific & Australia, I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to design their own Graphics or create outstanding Web sites.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
BEGINNERS USE ADOBE - ADVANCED USE ULEAD
Pros:
Cons:
Review: As We All Experienced Graphic Designers & Web Developers Know, Adobe has ruled the commercial arena for wide availablity for graphic programs but mean while in the underworld, more and more web sites and graphic creations are being credited to Ulead. People ask "How doo you do that? How Do You Make those web pages that are not restricted to line by line INSERT HERE theory that leaves dreamweaver web pages on such a linear look. Ulead allows you to make clickable photo-like web pages and then converts them into HTML for you. Easy. This piece of software is not the the faint of heart and is recommended only for the advanced users that wish not to be conformed by the adobe world. If you are a beginner in developing web pages or graphics, there are easier places to start. Like Adobe. Like Dream Weaver. Once you are able to grasp the concept of links, intergration of video, and then realize the value of being creative & versatile in one software, then you will turn to ULEAD Photoimpact 8 as a dream come true and something to lok forward to in the ages to come as. One day adobe users will have to compete & conform to Ulead for it will take #1 standings and be openly available just like adobe is today. I am the Advanced User
User Rating:
5.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
GOD USED PI8
Pros:
Cons:
Review: God must have used PI8 to design this beautiful earth. Yep, he plucked it from the future to do he great deed! Beats PS hands down in regard to productivity. Can match/better all of PS features for a fraction of the cost.---For those of you having the occasional crash, perhaps it id not the Software. There is such a thing as updating your drivers, insralling OS's properly, PC Maintenance, etc. Run PI8 on 91 well maintained systems at our site and less than 2 total crashes per trimester. Nothing that PI8's automatic save cannot deal with.
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Great tool for the price, but it crashes!
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I've started using PhotoImpact with version 6 and have always loved it. Especially, since you pay under $100. However, with version 8 I've become very disappointed with ULead on two counts. First, this program crashes...lot's. When doing a simple File Open, 50% of the time it'll crash the application. It just disappears. This is on Windows XP Pro. Second, there tech support is the worst I've ever seen anywhere. Tech support has not been able to resolve this issue yet. They told me to uinstall and reinstall, but the uninstaller is broke. So they said to reinstall it so I can uninstall it so I can reinstall it...seriously! But the installer won't install over the top of the existing application. It's really sad that they've hired such poor tech support for what was once a great product.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Great program. Documentation falls short.
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Program is feature rich. I am using it to edit / enhance photos off my Minolta Dimage. My only gripe is that the users manual could be better-not enough detailed instructions. I did purchase the book PhotoImpact: The Official Guide. I found it to be a disappointment. It rehashes what the users manual already contains, and little else. Aside from that complaint, the program is a gem.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Excellent value, excellent tool
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Ulead's Photoimpact has been my software of choice for the past 5 years. I use it in professional applications for magazines, newspapers and web illustration as well as processing literally hundreds of pictures at a time for corporate applications. The one bad thing to be said is that service providers are not set up to accept the native file extensions, so you have to make adjustments (and have a very good relationship with your service provider) before submitting work for professional rendering.
User Rating:
3.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Excellent product but poor tech support
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I tried a number of products before settling on PhotoImpact. I found it very easy to install and get going. It's also immensely fun to use, yet powerful enough for all my photo editing needs, which I would classify as "intermediate" (colour correction, compensation for poor lighting, editing away backgrounds and objects that are in the way, adding special lighting effects… the list goes on). PhotoImpact has everything to meet those needs! The program also comes with a host of backgrounds, materials and effects that are very useful. There also appear to be many tutorials on-line, not just from Ulead but from a host of other people who have been kind enough to put easy-to-follow tips and tutorials on the internet. The only negative is technical support. Emails go unanswered, online technical support/bug reporting also appear to fall on deaf ears. After two tries, I managed to get through to telephone support in the US and they have promised to escalate my problem (an occasional program failure). In summary, though, I love the program and want to continue to use it and explore all its features!
User Rating:
1.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Unstable, Locks, Poor Tech Support
Pros:
Cons:
Review: This was installed on a P4 1.6 with 512 Mb and 30+ Gb of free space. It won't install unless you give it your business name (for home use?). PhotoImpact 8 proved to be buggy. Their Smart Download didn't find it, but the P4 patch on their web site smoothed things out. Documentation has yet to answer a question including the large PDF that you have to download. When trying to burn a VCD, Photo Explorer 7 locks up, wipes everything out of My Computer, followed by an Explorer.Exe error and system lock-up. Several e-mails to technical support has failed to resolve anything. Responses just repeat what is in their on-line FAQ. In one case the response didn't even match the software in question, and now they're no longer responding. Bought Roxio Easy CD Creditor 5 which will burn a VCD so doubt that it's my system. Tried to install the Photo Explorer 7.02 patch but it won't install because I have a "newer version" of the software. I'm an IT Professional who can't get this to work properly and will never buy another ULEAD product.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Slow like turtle
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Have any one of you used Adobe Photoshop? I used used Photoimpact 8 on a AMD-550-128ram and It was slow as hell to do the simple operation of shrinking the image, flip it and save it(post scanning operations). I then installed Adobe Photoshop(the latest) on the same machine it was lightning fast compared to PhotoImpact. Also It's much easier to do these steps in Photoshop. For the impatient, if you search the web there are a zillion web pages with step to step example for Photoshop. Interface on Photoimpact is just plain ugly comapared to Adobe. Graphical operations are not optimized, so much slower than Adobe, which is sad, because it takes away the pleasure of editing photos.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Best photo editor and more
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Being in the multimedia field for more than one decade and trying dozens of programs I can tell you for sure that this is the one to have I also have the overated Photoshop for the 1% cases that PhotoImpact wont do. These guys (Ulead) were number one since the days of Image Pals and PhotoStyler. It is a shame though that the excellent Album application have not received an upgade in a while. Adobe Album is on the chase.
User Rating:
3.0 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Great Features, But It Crashes - A Lot
Pros:
Cons:
Review: There are some great features on this program, but it keeps crashing on me, even during the installation. Probably because I’m still using Win 98, but it’s suppose to work with this OS. It does all the same things that PhotoShop Elements does, but the layout is better and there are some great features Elements does not have. Unfortunately, when it crashes, and it does a lot, you have to completely reboot. Maybe I just need a new computer.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Great and i tried them all
Pros:
Cons:
Review: i got all the graphics programs from adobe, corel, elements,and jasc,i find this program the easiest to use and fastest touchup program to date all i deal with is pictures and some of my programs run about $900 dollars or more if i would have known then i would have got this program sooner and saved my money
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Extremely good value for money
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I've been using Pshop Pro 4...6 for years. Ulead beats PsP hands down - especially when it comes to task and presets automation. Version 8 improvements in photo enhancement area make me wonder, if I need PsP at all. Once I get used to these different hotkeys I can abandon PsP totally.
User Rating:
2.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
BACK UP FIRST
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I cautiously recommend this product, BUT be sure to back up your system before you install. It caused my system to totally crash and other applications as well. After several hours trying to fix the problem, I had to use by back up utility to get my system working again. Unfortunately, you can only access tech support during working hours, so I was on my own trying to fix the problem. Once I had it up and running, the program does feature a long list of great tools, and it is an improvement over Adobe Photoshop Elements One. However, when it comes to doing the most common and simple tasks, Microsoft PictureIt handles those tasks with a whole lot less effort. Simple touchups, cropping, creating collages, and just printing can be accomplished much faster with PictureIt. For more complicated and creative tasks, I think this will be great, but I don’t see myself giving up PictureIt anytime soon.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Great! I've used PhotoImpact since V5, and I'll never use any other.
Pros:
Cons:
Review: This would be an excellent program at twice the price. I've been using PhotoImpact since version 5, and it just keeps getting better. I can't imagine even bothering to try another program. PI has everything I need.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
One of the best I've ever came across!!!
Pros:
Cons:
Review: For some time now, I've been introduced to Photoshop 7 and Elements, thinking that this is the way to go for the easiest and more productive tool to do my pictures with. However ITS TOO HARD! The interface is not all userfriendly and so forth. One night I was at work, and we had this on display next to our digital cameras. I took a glance at this high quality box, with it's lil demo pages in the front showing all the things you can do with it. As I was glancing at them, I was saying to myself "I wanted to do all of that!!!!" So I purchased it with an open mind, and I just can't believe how easy, feature oriented and fun it is to use! I like to make websites, (I guess it's also one of my professions) and right now, I'm currently under construction of a site which is done in flash. The problem is that I can't seem to get the best results for photo imaging, and texutrizing the site. It needed major character which was easy to do in Photoimpact 8. It allows me to do so much with it, almost everything of what Photoshop offers! Just more affordable! HAHA. I 100% recommend this to whomever wants to get something easy, inexpensive and are begginers.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
The best - worth trying.
Pros:
Cons:
Review: Using a Dell laptop;800 mhz with XP and 256 ram: *6.0 worked fine. *7.0 was buggy and kept crashing. Went back to 6.0. *8.0 after 1 month: works fine and not one crash.
User Rating:
3.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
Small point
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I recently bought ver 7 from Ulead. A week later version 8 was released. Did I get a free update not on you life.
User Rating:
4.5 stars
out of 26 user reviews
All Around Amazing
Pros:
Cons:
Review: I do professional web site development and use this program to meet all of my needs.
