which software do you like?

[Marykate1975]

I am very new to the digital world of scrapbooking. I have been doing paper since 1998 and recently wanted to go "glueless" because of the book I made a friend for Christmas. It was from Shutterfly and so easy! I did a little research on digital scrapbooking and kept coming back to this sight. I wish I had signed up to the forums before I bought my software because it seems like not many use the Pixel Magic??. I am sure it is a wonderful way to go digital but there aren't any classes offered for it at the moment and from what I am reading Photoshop is the most popular software? Are there tutorials on the Pixel Magic software? I did a search on it but didn't see any....maybe I was looking in the wrong place.

So I was wondering what software do you like?

is there anyone out there using Pixel Magic? If so I would love to chat!

thanks,
Mary Kate

[Margie]

there are probably as many pixel magic users, but it's a very simple program and classes are rarely requested!! we do offer one and i'm not sure when the next is (it'll be under campus, classes). there are tutorials on the bonus cd that came with the pixel magic and that should be all you need to get started. that's why it's so popular is you don't need to spend time on classes and tutorials and in the forum!
there is one about using kits i see:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/hpcsa_addkitsKL.shtml

the program listed besided it is HPCSA (HP Creative Scrapbook Assistant, which is the software inside Pixel Magic) so we probably should make that more clear! hope that helps though. i use it often and many here can answer questions!

[Marykate1975]

thanks so much Margie! It is all beginning to make sense!

[Emma]

I use PM when I want to make some fast layouts using kits, not making many custom changes. The more flexibility I want, the more powerful the program I choose. PM is awesome for making a bunch of pages that coordinate, all using the same kit, because with less ability to tweak you work a lot faster.

Lots of us use PM, but there aren't many discussions about it. If you have a question, holler and we'll chime in!

[Marykate1975]

Here is a question about PM....can you edit your photos there(like crop them?)? I guess I just need to edit them in my kodak software first before using them in PM?

It is becoming clearer for sure!

[Margie]

there's a tutorial on how to crop on the bonus cd. :)

[Emma]

you can do some photo editing in PM, but it's mainly a scrapbooking layout assembly program. If you use it in confjuction with a retouching program like the free Picasa or PSE 2, you can then bring those in and put together a layout. Again, I use mine for making fast layouts where my stuff doesn't need a lot of changing, or especially when making a bunch of layouts that coordinate: click, click, go!