Corel Painter IX Upgrade Win/Mac review:5 stars (Painter Perfect) - In response to review rated at a "2":

I am a professional graphic designer and so Painter along with so many other digital artistry programs such as the line to be found with Adobe, are a must have on my computer. And since I am the owner of my home-based business with little to no income most of the time because of the software costs...well, purchasing upgrades is not always something I can do. My point coming to this....you really need to evaluate your goals and desires before purchasing costly programs in the digital artistry field. I have yet to find great software that isn't expensive. And if you expect to find a fantastic manual with your software then 9 times out of 10 you'll never see it. Corel Painter, any version really, have all been fantastic and they continue to improve but if you're just starting out and your funds are limited or you are not a professional and you just want to play or have a side hobby then buy an older version, a used copy, or look for company specials, and save yourself some money. Painter is an awesome program and there are no two ways about it. My recommendation to you simply:

If you are not a serious artist, you do it as a hobby, or maybe you are a student, then get an older version, a used copy, a company special or a student rate when you purchase your copy of painter. Next, don't expect anything from the manual you may or may not get depending on your purchase choice. Concentrate on buying a book later on that specializes in Painter. There are some terrific books out there from student to hobbiest to professional.

If you are a professional then I don't need to tell you anything that you didn't already know. Painter is a fantastic program and coupled or grouped with other programs such as Photoshop, you can let your creativity soar.

Last, don't bad mouth a product because of your own nievity. Dont' cry because Corel decided to create a program that was awesome and it didn't fit in with your budget...you have choices you can make it's just a matter of making good ones based on your needs. Do your homework and think about what your goals are. If you want to spend a lot of money but can't then save up for it if it's that important to you. Believe me when I tell you...Corel has done no wrong here.2 stars (Overpriced, stick with Painter 8) - In every way, Painter IX is geared towards the professional user (even by the admission of a Corel marketing manager I spoke with). Most of what has been "improved" in this version simply will not make an investment of $200 worth it for the non professional. With the upgrade or full boxed version, you receive only a handbook (not to be confused with a manual) that tells the history of Fractal Designs, MetalTools, Metacreations and now Corel with regard to Painter and gives a few artsy fartsy tutorials that the average user could care less about. And I must add that to get a true manual such as what was supplied as part of the Painter 8 package (which has highly technical information, help and that you can actually learn the ins and outs of the program from) you have to hand over an additional $50. So the true upgrade price, at least on Amazon, begins at around $250 when you consider the cost of the manual. Granted, the manual is in pdf format on the Painter IX CD disk, but in that format it is virtually useless. Each new term or example leads to a hyperlink and before you know it every page of the pdf "manual" has fifty hyperlinks on it and you begin to feel you're going mad trying to navigate around this behemoth of a pdf file. Try going from hyperlink to hyperlink for 400 pages, not to mention while sitting in front of a montior rather than in a nice comfortable chair . I guess Corel feels the manual isn't very important in this version as their users are seasoned professionals with regard to Painter and the truth is that the "upgrades" to this version really aren't that substantial. Getting back to the high costs of this ugpgrade, According to the high level marketing manager at Corel I spoke with, the overall costs of this version is not a concern to Corel or their user base because they believe it is overwhelmingly professional (people who make their living with Painter). So for us hobbysits and weekend professionals, take a pass on this version and on any subsequent versions until Corel begins considering non professionals as a valuable part of it's user and consumer base and gets back to basics rather than wasting time and resources on artsy, useless handbooks instead of a physical manual and other down to earth resources. By the way, I did buy Painter IX, not realizing what the handbook was and that I wasnt' getting a manual. At this time, I am strongly considering returning the software as I am not part of Corel's professional base.
Corel Painter IX Upgrade Win/Mac Features:
Illustration (Illustrated)
Graphics (Graphic)
Professional Design
desktop publishing
desk top publishing
Mac Macintosh Machintosh Apple
Computer software (programs)
Graphics
CAD (Computer Assisted Drafting)
Architect
Architectural
Architecture
Multimedia
CD
Includes Corel Painter IX, both Mac and Windows versions; libraries of unique gradients, nozzles, patterns, stock photos, paper textures, and brushes; The Corel Painter IX Handbook
A highly-sophisticated painting and illustration application, the fastest version of Corel Painter yet
Most brushes work, on average, twice as fast; includes more than 30 brush categories plus custom brushes
Animators can now test frame rates directly in Corel Painter; movies can be saved as animated GIFs, QuickTime movies or AVI movies
Supporting industry-standard ICC4.0 profiles, this software enables color matching between on-screen and printed colors

Corel Painter IX Upgrade Win-Mac is the CD-ROM version. The full version can be purchased by clicking on the "CLICK HERE TO ORDER" button below for around 189.99USD.