14 DAY TRIAL // When talking about raster graphics, most people who are into the field will name Adobe Photoshop as the best application available, and even lots of people who don't have anything to do with computer graphics heard (at least) that name. As usual, a family has more than just one member, and raster graphics editors are no exception to that rule.
STOIK Software is a Russian company that brought Deformer to us some years ago, a great image deforming software similar to Kai's Power Tools GOO. Unfortunately that program's last version appeared three years ago, but Picture Man Pro, the program I will review now, has recently reached version 5.0.2. Let's find more about it...
First, prepare something to do for a couple of minutes, depending on the speed of your Internet connection. The installation kit is over 17.5MB in size, but once you download it successfully, the setup process finishes in no time.
Picture Man's interface is nice and easy to use, with a very large number of tools available. You can notice a menu bar, three toolbars and three properties windows on the default interface.
We installed the program, fired it up...what next?
Working with the tools is very easy, even if the only image application that you have ever used is Ms Paint. In order to ease the workflow for beginners or users that only want to apply an effect to the whole image, nothing more, Picture Man Pro has a built in wizard ready to stand by you. Its name is Effects Wizard and can be found as the first item in the Help menu. Do not hesitate to use and get to know better the tools available in this program this way.
What kind of images can we open and save with Picture Man? Picture Man Pro can open his own PMD files, as well as PSD, TIFF, JPEG, TGA, JPEG2000 and more. When it comes to saving our work, it can use the same formats as the above ones and can also save the current document as a HTML Web page.
If you have a TWAIN device attached to your computer, you can import images from it and make your life easier this way. I have to add here that Picture Man claims to be the only graphics software that can work with multiple layers in the same document using 48bit color depth.
First task that can be carried out successfully with this program is color correction of any image. The tools available for this are the automatic levels, color and contrast adjustments, as well using one of the Enhancement tools from the menu with the same name. For example, you can remove scratches, remove red eye effect, clean dust, remove noise and much more.
What can be fixed can also be broken, and image deformation is an operation performed not only for fun, but also to achieve artistic effects. I really was surprised to find here deformations that simulate accidents like collisions or explosions, each one with three presets (QuickSands, EarthQuake or Burst are only half of them).
The "classic filters" family has four members: Artistic Effects, Processing, Special Effects and Texture. The effects available are well known to Photoshop users, but not only to them. Just think about what Oil Paint, Sharpening, Smoothing, Motion Blur or Mosaic can do, and you get a small picture of what Picture Man Pro can do!
This program has also drawing tools that enable you to place circles, lines, text or use the air brush on your images. There are over 130 image processing tools available, and Picture Man can also use scripts and automated operations!
What I told you so far is just my view on the Picture Man Pro mountain, looking up from a distance. Pack your bags, prepare your gear and get ready for a free 15 days trip! There is a lot to discover, so don't wait any longer!
The Good
Picture Man Pro supports 48bit images, has a lot of great features and its automated functions like SmartSmooth and SmartSigma are great. It is easier to learn compared to Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint and comes with built in interactive tutorials.
The Bad
This application's interface is good, but it looks like being built a decade ago. Bringing it up to date would be a good thing to do, as well as working on the Help file for the same reason. Working with layers seems a bit rigid and hard, but maybe it's just me...
The Truth
Picture Man will turn you into a pro easily, and you can have a lot of fun in the process. The 15 days trial is enough for everybody to get along with this program and use it to the fullest. All I can do now is suggest you to click the Download link and wish you good luck!
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
