New PaintShop Pro X5 Combines Photo Editing & Design Tools for a Powerful All-in-One Solution

The latest versions of Corel PaintShop Pro was released today. Below is the press release from Corel about the new offering. I'll take a look at it in the near future and let you know what I think.

Ottawa, ON – Sept. 5, 2012 - Today Corel® announced the release of PaintShop® Pro X5, the most robust consumer photo editing and creative design solution on the market. 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 organize, 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 organizational 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 preset 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 presets 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 Ultimate

Also available today is PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate. This release combines all the powerful photo-editing and design tools of PaintShop Pro X5 with over $200 of 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 an exceptional value.

Also introducing Photo & Video Suite X5

Corel also announces the release of Photo & Video Suite X5, the economical, yet comprehensive software package for producing high quality multimedia projects for both business and pleasure. With the combined power and creativity of PaintShop Pro X5 and VideoStudio® Pro X5, this new editing suite is the supreme content creation engine for photography, design and video enthusiasts.

Pricing and Availability

PaintShop Pro X5 can be purchased immediately as an electronic download (ESD) from www.corel.com or from Corel's global resellers. North American suggested retail pricing (SRP) is $79.99 (US and CDN). Users of PaintShop Pro X3 or higher are eligible for upgrade pricing of $59.99. Commercial and education volume licenses are also available.

PaintShop Pro X5 Ultimate is also available at www.corel.com and at resellers for SRP $99.99 or $79.99 for an upgrade.

For more information about Paintshop Pro X5, or to download a free fully-functional trial version please visit www.corel.com/paintshoppro.

Photo & Video Suite X5 is available in English, German and Bilingual (English/French) for Canada. North American pricing is $129 (US and CDN) for the full version of the software. Please visit www.corel.com/photovideosuite.