Rating: 
Summary: I LOVE my PhotoImpact!
Review: ...I've used PhotoImpact back before it was called that (and didn't know what I was using, I just knew I liked it better than some others I had used). I didn't learn what I had been using was PhotoImpact untill I got PhotoImpact4. LOL I've tried Corel, Print Artist (althoug Print Artist isn't an imaging editing program, I do use it, too), PaintShop , MGI, PhotoDeluxe, the JASC program, and various others that come with this printer, or that printer or this scanner and that. I've never used Photo Shop, don't think I want to, way to expensive, and from what I have heard, hard. I've never had any formal training with any graphic program, and I really like PhotoImpact better than any of the others, you can just do so much more with it. The rage today is scrapbooking. I haven't actually gotten into that, at least the way most do it. Takes tooooo much time and hubby gets a bit antsy with all that stuff in the living room or dining room or kitchen, scattered around and I just don't do it well. But, I have been doing my "scrapbooking" on the computer with my PhotoImpact. They turn out WONDERFUL! I print up two of my pages each time, one for me and one for my mom, and put them in sheet protectors and insert into a binder. After I started working where I am now employed, I took some pictures and printed them up and posted them on the bulletin board and the walls in the hall and people just love them and think they turned out so wonderful, and they DID! Having a very nice printer helps, too....
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Summary: I Can't Believe It! It's Dependable!
Review: After using the trial version of PhotoImpact 6, I bought this program for photo image editing. In my experience, software that really works, does what you want it to do, and doesn't crash regularly is rare. Ulead's products are excellent and dependable. I'm amazed that I have not heard of the company before. The image editing capabilities are more than I need for amateur digital photography. I am looking forward to learning about web graphics using this software. Take it from a critical user: PhotoImpact 6 will not disappoint you.
Rating:
Summary: Blows away the competition, price/performance
Review: Best price/performance image and web editing software on the market. I add in web because if you are looking for extras like rollover effects and other neat javascript effects for the web, this package has great stuff that the others (Paintshop Pro) doesn't have and can't touch. The graphic tools are much easier to use than PSP and, unless you are the highest of high end Photoshop users, will not ever need to use Photoshop. The price is 1/6 that of Photoshop and the extras in this package, especially the web optimizers and special features will make you not miss it. Filters are incredible, ease of use highly improved. Go for it.... given the price it's a no brainer. Note, version 7 is already out.
Rating: 
Summary: Just try it
Review: First of all, I've never used Photoshop. Considering how difficult everyone says it is to use and its expensive price tag, I haven't exactly been eager to try it. Mostly I use Adobe Photodeluxe instead, which is good for most things, but Photo Impact has a few features that I haven't seen before. One that I love is the Beautify Skin feature. Let's say that you have otherwise great picture but the person in the photo has a sunburn, for example. Using this feature, you can fix that without changing the rest of the picture. Brilliant!
Another thing I like is button designer. I have spent hours looking through graphic libraries on the net, searching for that perfect button to use on my web page. Now I don't need to do that-I can create my own in minutes. Or I can use one of the template buttons and customise it by changing the colour, adding text, a drop shadow, hyperlink and a transparent background. There are other things I could mention too, but I'll let you find out for yourself.
Ignore the other reviewers who said that the program is awful. It's not. I'm a relative beginner myself, but I found it pretty straightforward to use. All you need is a little time and patience and you'll figure it out. If you're not sure about buying it, download the trial version first. That's what I did, and it's convinced me to buy the full program. So really, there's no reason not to use this.
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Summary: Ulead Does It Again!
Review: I can't say enough about this program. If you read any of the other reviews I've submitted, you'll see I've tried a bunch pf editing software over the past several months. You'll also notice that I do photography professionally and that I use Adobe Photoshop 5.5 (now 6.0) for much of my work. At this point, I'm wondering why. Don't get me wrong, Adobe Photoshop is the Granddaddy of them all and a beautiful program, but there's a big learning curve and the need for some deep pockets. PhotoImpact doesn't require either of those. I got into the Ulead products with the 4.2 version that came with my H/P PhotoSmart scanner. Then I went to PhotoImpact 5.0 and loved it. Now 6.0 is what I use the most even over Photoshop. The program is much easier to use, it's loaded with palletes and effects, and the album feature is a Godsend. And it will take Photoshop plug-ins if I want to use them. As far as learning Photoshop or PhotoImpact, think about it....go to your local bookstore and see how many volumes are on the shelves to teach you how to use Photoshop. It's mind boggling! Then look for a book on PhotoImpact. You probably won't find one. I wish I knew why. Is it ignorance towards the program, or do the people that write these tutorial encyclopedias agree that Ulead's manual that comes with the program does an adequate job of giving you the basics and explaining all the fuctions? The manual is good, but there is a book out there that was written for PhotoImpact 4.2, but will work for 5.0 and 6.0. The only real difference between them all is the relocation of some of the functions. Basically, the programs all work the same. There are some additions to 6.0 that you'll have to learn on your own because they aren't in this 4.2 book. By the way, the book is called "Fun with PhotoImpact 4.2" and was written by Stephanie Baker-Thomas. I got a copy from Amazon.com. There is an excellent book for PhotoImpact 6.0 called "PhotoImpact Solutions" and can be ordered directly from Muskel & Lipman publishing.Although I do photography professionally, I still like to forget that now and then and have fun with my pictures as well, and for that, PhotoImpact 6.0 comes with Uleads "Drop Spot" which puts an icon on your desktop which will then connect you to imira.com which is Uleads site for you to put you pictures on the web for all to see. Nice extra! That too is a breeze to use. You can email directly from the program, do a slide show in the album mode, scan directly into the album or the editing program, and do just about anything you want once you're in there. I'm not going to go on and on with this. I think I've made my point. This is a great program at a great price that's easy to use and seems to always work. I've had no problems with errors, illegal operations, crashes or anything else like I've experienced with some editing programs. In short, if you want to have some fun with your pictures as well as do some serious editing and playing around with web design, buy this program. You won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: A really solid product
Review: I have been using PhotoImpact for several months and it is a lot of fun to use. With all the options that this product has, there is going to be a real learning curve, but don't let that put you off, keep the manuel handy and play with it. The selection tools are great and so are the touch up tools. I've used it to touch up and modify many pictures and most of the special effects allow you to get quite expressive. Some of the special effects, however are a little gemicky and of little practicle use, at least from my standpoint. Things that one might want to get with this? One is a pressure sensitive pad with a stylus to take full advantage of it's retouching capabilities. You will also need a powerful CPU, I'd say at least a gig, and plenty of memory. Remember, graphics can take up a lot of space, so a large hard drive is nice too. If you use it, you'll love it. If you love it, you'll want to update to the lates version. Doug Lester
Rating:
Summary: A really solid product
Review: I have been using PhotoImpact for several months and it is a lot of fun to use. With all the options that this product has, there is going to be a real learning curve, but don't let that put you off, keep the manuel handy and play with it. The selection tools are great and so are the touch up tools. I've used it to touch up and modify many pictures and most of the special effects allow you to get quite expressive. Some of the special effects, however are a little gemicky and of little practicle use, at least from my standpoint. Things that one might want to get with this? One is a pressure sensitive pad with a stylus to take full advantage of it's retouching capabilities. You will also need a powerful CPU, I'd say at least a gig, and plenty of memory. Remember, graphics can take up a lot of space, so a large hard drive is nice too. If you use it, you'll love it. If you love it, you'll want to update to the lates version. Doug Lester
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Summary: cumbersome red eye remover
Review: I have only started to explore Photo Impact, and I find it easier to use than Paint Shop Pro. For basic photo editing, I am finding it much easier than PSP. I especially like its Visual Open browser and the various printing options for multiple photos on a single page. But I have to say the red eye remover (which is a "core task") is incredibly cumbersome and easy to make mistakes on. Plus, the documentation on removing red eye is absolutely lousy. The manual is not bad (I'm a technical writer), but I tend to agree that it is a step-by-step manual without an explanation of how to do basic things. Why, for example, did the manual not have a section on reducing the file size on your image and deciding the best format to use for certain tasks? But the online help tutorials, both from Ulead and other people, are pretty good. Batch conversion manager is pretty basic though. Overall: mixed reviews. Has some interesting features, but the red eye remover (is cumbersome) in terms of usability!
Rating: 
Summary: program totaly useless
Review: I have used several programs like adobe photo delux and photoshop and microsoft programs. Although some like photoshop are difficult to use, at least they do work and with some studying and lots of practace they are useable and much can be done with them. I deceided to try photo impact based on the reviews and its reputation. Unfortunately I cannot agree with those. I have found this program useless as I cant even down load pictures from my digital camera using this program. The manual is not very good and doesnt explain what to do if you cant get something to work. I have asked an expert with a degree in computer science and is very familiar with digital photography for help with this and they could not help much. On their advice I will throw this oprogram out and chalk it up to a bad investment.I would like to write a good review, but I think that something as bad as this one is,it should be known just what this program is like so others may not have the experience that I had.
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Summary: Great Program, But Version 7.0 is Now Out
Review: I love PhotoImpact, but before you buy this version, you should be warned that a newer 7.0 version is now available. As for the program itself, it does everything Photoshop does, but at a fraction of the price. Plus the user interface is easier to understand and master. No doubt, this is the program you've been looking for, especially if you make graphics for the web. Some samples:
-- has a handy image compression tool for images that will be used on the web. You can see in real-time the effect that the compression will have on the file, so you can adjust accordingly.
-- save out an entire image cut-up into pieces for use on your web site. It will even create the HTML for you!
-- automatically create buttons
-- automatically add shadows and all sorts of effects to your text
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