Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Photoshop CS4 vs. SketchBook Express

I've been playing around with SBX and my new Wacom Bamboo Connect graphics tablet since it arrived last Friday.  Some impressions:

  • Photoshop is better.  I know the comparison isn't fair, considering the costs.  Still, the point is, it's worth paying for Adobe's CS software suite.
  • SBX could be useful, but it needs better pressure-sensitive settings and the ability to import / create brushes, preferably Photoshop brushes.
  • SBX does support the saving of a file as a native Photoshop format (.psd), including saving layers, but it won't re-import that same Photoshop file with layers intact, unless you have SketchBook Pro.  I don't quite understand this one...it's not like I'm going to waste $51 on SketchBook Pro, when it doesn't actually have any particular tool or use that exceeds Photoshop's.
A 15 minute play-around sketch with Photoshop, that utilizes pressure sensitive settings, below.  With the variety of settings that can be altered in brushes, as well as the enormous set of free brushes online, there isn't much point to paying for SketchBook Pro.


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