Is there room for another player in the mid-range OS X bitmap image. editor category? How does this new "simple and easy" image editor stack up against Photoshop Elements and Color It!?

The thrust the Dynamics Learning series is to not just tell you what various programs can do, but to give you projects that guide you through these capabilities. It's like taking a training seminar, only you're the only one there and you can take your lunch break whenever you want. The first book I've tried out in this series is Dynamic Learning: Photoshop CS3, which is a great place for me to start.

Adobe has done a fantastic job in creating a program that, from out of nowhere, was strong competition to a program that had already been out for a long time (cough Quark cough). With this new, fifth version, Adobe provides a more fleshed out program, rather than introducing some major new features. That's not to say the new features are small, but those Mac users who've been waiting for FrameMaker capabilities (after Adobe killed the Mac version in April 2004) within InDesign will have to continue to wait. There are Text Variables (new with ID-CS3, explained below) that are powerful, but right now, very limited. The good news is that there have been some great refinements and wonderful UI improvements across InDesign's features and abilities.

It's been about 20 years since Illustrator first appeared as a Postscript vector program. It still is a Postscript vector program, although it has gone through a "few changes" in those intervening years. Over that time, some of the updates have been shoulda-woulda-coulda, and some have had major and/or significant component updates. Adobe Illustrator CS3 (aka Illustrator 13) is one of the later, with some very important new components while also improving the general user interface of the basic program. This is a welcome release.

Is there room for more players in the mid-range OS X bitmap image. editor category? Checking out Pixelmator 1.0, a new Core Image-Based image editing program for OS X which is being promoted as an 'image editor for the rest of us,' and even more ambitiously as a potential "Photoshop-killer." As we discovered, those boasts are more than a bit extravagent at this point, but this application looks great and has plenty of potential. Updated with Pixelmator 1.0.1 release notes

A basic, (and free) more Mac-like the GIMP for the less-geekily-oriented, but it's no Photoshop (or GIMP) replacement for photo correction or advanced image editing

A simple and intuitive painting app. in the tradition of MacPaint

Corel's Painter X is the kind of the program that's so well designed and so fun to use that you wish your job required you to use it every day. The trouble is, most of you won't have such a job, and the price of this program prohibits many from buying it simply to have fun. This is a pity, because Painter X has the ability to make artists out of us all, even if your drawing skills, like mine, ceased development in fourth grade.

Skitch—an image capture/manipulation/sharing program from plasq—is certainly the type of program that could develop a rather large cult following. It's well designed, it's easy to use, and—most importantly—it's fun to play around with. This is important, because its toolset is...well, I won't say limited. Targeted is more accurate, in this instance.

In the world of computing, the hardest thing for me to come to grips with is the fact that I don't need most of the software I have. I bring this up because I don't want you to make the same mistake when it comes to vector-based drawing tools. Yes, many of you have a need for Adobe Illustrator, so have at it. Illustrator is a fantastic program that's well worth its $500 price tag. Before you spend that, though, I want you to do yourself a favor and take a look at the capabilities of Freeverse Software's $80 Lineform. It may surprise you into saving over $400.

Fireworks has always been a weird program for me. I've been mostly pleased by what it can do, but somewhat frustrated by what it can't do. Although its feature-set never tried to mirror that of Adobe's ImageReady, Fireworks was often seen as Macromedia's vector-based alternative to ImageReady. This is why I was curious to see what Adobe would do with Fireworks: merge it with ImageReady, drop it, or keep it going as is. They've taken the latter route, and that has left me...well, mostly pleased, but somewhat frustrated.

Design your own house, apartment or office interiors in virtual reality (it's fun!)