Corel has released the latest iteration of its long-serving, budget photo editing software, Paint Shop Pro X5.
The latest version of the Windows software sees updates and refinements to popular features like layer styles, brushes and High Dynamic Range (HDR) tools, with the addition of new creative tools including Retro Lab, an Instant Effects palette and a Graduated Filter effect.
Social media integration has been welded in to keep Facebookers happy, while face recognition adds a useful feature that we wish ACDSee would hurry up and implement.
There’s also a shiny new Share My Trip widget that lets users create and share map based interactive slideshows.
PaintShop Pro X5 is available now in English, French, Italian, German and Dutch for £59.99, with upgrades from PaintShop Pro X3 or higher priced at £44.99.
Here’s the full press release:
New PaintShop® Pro X5 Combines Photo Editing & Design Tools for a Powerful All-in-One Solution
Expertly organise, edit, and share artistic vision with ease
Maidenhead, UK – Wednesday 5 September 2012 – Today Corel® announced the release of PaintShop® Pro X5, its robust consumer photo editing and creative design solution. PaintShop Pro X5 delivers all the powerful editing and digital design tools needed to produce stunning images and professional works of art. With easy-to-use, pro-quality tools and built-in learning resources, every level of user, from aspiring amateur to seasoned professional, will be able to expertly organise, edit, and share their photographic and artistic visions with ease.
The latest release includes updates and refinements to PaintShop’s most popular features like layer styles, brushes and High Dynamic Range (HDR) tools. PaintShop Pro X5 also boasts new creative tools including Retro Lab, an Instant Effects palette and a Graduated Filter effect. Also new to X5 are the innovative social media integration and organisational tools like face recognition and Share My Trip which gives users the ability to share map based interactive slideshows.
“Consumer needs have always been the driving force behind enhancements included in new releases of PaintShop Pro and X5 is the perfect example,” said Matt DiMaria, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Digital Media at Corel. “Our customers come from a wide variety of professions and creative backgrounds, so we’ve listened to their feedback and tailored and refined the new tools and updates in X5 to fit their specific needs. Thanks to the community’s involvement and support, we are confident that this release delivers a depth and range of features that make PaintShop Pro X5 a valuable and beneficial upgrade.”
Highlights of New and Enhanced Tools:
NEW! Instant Effects palette: Includes a variety of pre-set effects and styles such as Artistic, Film, Black & White, and Landscape, plus users can create their own!
NEW! Retro Lab: Create and apply old-school color and contrast effects to photos to achieve a distinctive look inspired by early or toy cameras
Enhanced! High Dynamic Range tools: Create intense B&W contrast, easier photo alignment, and the application of pre-sets to HDR batch processing
NEW! Single RAW Photo: Allows users to create HDR results using a single RAW photo
NEW! Graduated Filter effect: Semi-transparent color gradients that simulate the effect of using different on-camera filters
Enhanced! Layer Styles: Includes the ability to apply styles such as drop shadow, glow and reflections directly from the Layers palette
NEW & Enhanced! Paint Brush: New Watercolor brush plus enhanced ability to import Adobe Photoshop brushes
NEW & Enhanced! Corel Guide: Built-in instructional videos, easy-to-follow tutorials and free downloadable content such as PictureTubes™, picture frames, brushes, presets and more
NEW! Places: Maps photos to specific real-world locations that enable users to quickly view and search photos based on their geographical info
NEW! Share My Trip: Share your travel photos online with a slideshow that links photos directly to an interactive map
NEW! People: Face recognition technology that helps users identify and tag individuals for easier photo management and social sharing
Also introducing PaintShop Pro X5 UltimateAlso available today is PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate. This release combines all the powerful photo-editing and design tools of PaintShop Pro X5 with valuable creative extras. Users can explore their creativity with award-winning Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 photographic filters, and REALLUSION FaceFilter Studio 2.0 portrait-enhancement tools. Also included is a collection of over 100 unique brushes, textures and royalty-free backgrounds, making this product exceptionally good value.
Pricing and Availability
PaintShop Pro X5 is available now in English, French, Italian, German and Dutch, and can be purchased immediately as an electronic download (ESD) from http://www.corel.com or from Corel’s global resellers. Suggested retail pricing (SRP) is £59.99. Users of PaintShop Pro X3 or higher are eligible for upgrade pricing of £44.99. All prices are VAT included. Commercial and education volume licenses are also available. PaintShop Pro X5 will be also available in Russian, Spanish, Finnish and Polish starting from October.
PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate is available now in English, French, Italian, German and Dutch at http://www.corel.com and at resellers for SRP £79.99 for the full version, and £59.99 for the upgrade. All prices are VAT included.
For more information about Paintshop Pro X5, or to download a free fully-functional trial version please visit http://www.corel.com/paintshoppro
