Reducing image size (# of bytes): Paint Shop Pro vs. Adobe Photoshop

[songdog]

My father is currently learning Adobe Photoshop at a community college. I have Paint Shop Pro 7.0 because it was affordable and will be easier for me to learn.

Since many of my site's viewers have dial-up connections, I've been spending a lot of time reducing the byte count of my images.

My father said there's a way in Photoshop to save an image in something called "web resolution" (I think that's what he called it). This takes a huge number of bytes out of a typical digital photo, yet looks identical to the original when viewed on a web page. Apparently, the screen resolution of a monitor is quite crude compared to that of a good color printer, so this technique is quite useful for reducing images intended solely for online viewing.

Does anyone know how to accomplish the comparable thing on Paint Shop Pro?

I've used PSP to increase JPEG compression, but it reduces image quality (as viewed on a monitor) and takes a while for me to decide the optimal compression/image degradation balance. So I'm hoping there's a real quick & easy way with PSP to reduce size and maintain "perfect" image quality for images viewed online.

Thanks for any light you can shed on this.

[chilihorse]

I (we) use Photoshop and Illustrator every day. The latest versions have a very simple and easy method to compress and tweak images for the web. In a matter of a few seconds and three clicks, you can take a photo or image and have it Web ready at whatever quality level and load speed you think is appropriate.

I'm sorry that I have no idea how to make the same thing happen in Paintshop. My reason for posting is that, if you will be doing a large number of images for the Web or otherwise, invest in Photoshop. The expense and time are well worth it.

The RAM required is another issue...

[wildmuse]

Paint Shop Pro has a spin control feature that allows you
to change the resolution on a jpeg image. When you save
the image, click on options and there will be an option for
compression. This feature is probably far more useful and
sophisticated on your version of PSP as I using 4.12

[jeep]

IMHO the two absolute best programs for getting small, high quality files are FireWorks (from Macromedia) which does a lot of great stuff too and GraphicConverter which is Mac only AFAIK but has an inredible batch feature.

Jason

[Matt]

songdog,
There is nothing "magical" about the "Save for Web" feature in Photoshop 5.5 and 6*. It simply converts your image to GIF or JPEG, which it sounds like you are doing already w/ Paintshop.

I've used PSP to increase JPEG compression, but it reduces image quality (as viewed on a monitor) and takes a while for me to decide the optimal compression/image degradation balance. So I'm hoping there's a real quick & easy way with PSP to reduce size and maintain "perfect" image quality for images viewed online.

* This is really where both Photoshop & Fireworks shine. You can adjust the image compression settings in real-time BEFORE saving, while making a side-by-side comparison to the original image. If Paintshop Pro 7.0 doesn't have a similar feature, I would recommend investing in either Photoshop or Fireworks. If price is an issue, go w/ Fireworks. Although it isn't quite as powerful as Photoshop, it is easier to use in some respects and is MUCH cheaper.

Hope this helps- Matt

[teach1st]

PaintShop Pro 7:

File > Export > JPG or GIF or PNG

[andyrose]

Or you could just click on the 'gif' or 'jpg' buttons on the top menu.

[Jeff]

I happen to like Corel since I've been using CorelDraw since version 3, and find that Corel PhotoPaint's export previews work very well too, for both jpeg and gif. Previous versions weren't so good, but the latest version makes export for the web a snap.