Desktop Computer Packages

Recommendation on computer graphic packages?

Can anyone recommend the best and essential packages to get whilst I study graphics at uni? eg photoshop etc

Public Comments

1. corel works?
2. Photoshop is great but very expensive. Fireworks is very good and you can get a student version which is reasonably priced. Paintshop Pro is even cheaper and some would say just as good. In my opinion, they are all good but for different things.I haven't used Corel so can't comment on that!
3. If you're into the arty side of things, get Corel Painter IX - It's an incredible bit of software! A graphics tablet is essential though.
4. I'm sure you can get *student* *cough* copies of Photoshop and Illustrator from somewhere while at uni... but in the mean-time you may consider The GIMP and Inkscape as freeware equivalents. I've seen the commercial competition and frankly they lack greatly by comparison to Photoshop and Illustrator, and probably no commercial outfit will be impressed if you turn up to the interview with Paint Shop Pro experience.