What's the difference in Academic and Retail?

[Jinbrown]

Hi Mavrick71,

Your best bet, to be sure you're getting accurate information, is to call Corel. You'll find contact information at:

Corel Contact Information (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Section/Display&sid=1047022946165&gid=1047022946851)

Some of the information is available here:

What's Included with Painter IX (http://www.corel.com/painterix/product/included.html)

And here:

Corel Painter IX Education Edition (http://store.corel.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&currency=USD&jspStoreDir=CorelUS&partNumber=OL_PF09A&catalogId=10103&ddkey=SetCurrencyPreference)

Eligibility for Education Pricing - Including Exclusions, Terms, and Conditions (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Section/Display&sid=1047022949768&gid=1047022949788&cid=1047022953065)

In the meantime, this is my understanding:

• The Academic version does not include the Painter IX Handbook or hard copy Painter IX User Guide. However, they can be purchased separately, the Painter IX Handbook for $25 U.S. and the hard copy Painter IX User Guide for $49 U.S.

• You won't be allowed to use the Academic version of Painter IX for commercial work.

• There's no free technical support with the Academic version.

The good news is that even if you don't have the hard copy Painter IX User Guide, I believe the Educational version software itself is the same as the full, boxed version of Painter IX and you should have access from within Painter IX to Help > Help Topics. Painter IX Help > Help Topics is basically the User Guide in HTML format with a Contents tab, Index tab, Search tab, and Favorites tab to bookmark pages you'll want to refer to later.

Again, check with Corel to make sure of the facts since I'm only going on what I was told nearly a year ago. My memory may not be accurate and Corel may have changed some things since then.

[MaryAlice]

What is actually included with the Academic version of Painter 9? Is it any different than the retail version? If so, what are the differences, is it with the software or just included items(such as manuals)? Are the un-included items buyable seperately?

I'm just trying to see what I wouldn't be getting if I got the academic version of Painter, which I probobly will do anyway.

-------
-- Academic software has a watermark when printed, so they say. With Commercial/retail software, there is no watermark. It is legal to publish work using commercial software.

[Mavrick71]

Arg... I hate watermarks. It ruins the artwork, is it there if you just post it on the internet, say on CGtalk or ConceptArt.org? I was really excited because I could get basically full academic painter w/ handbook for about $105, instead of 495, but I might just get it with that sale so it's 225(i think) for the retail.

[Jinbrown]

Mavrick,

Before spending the extra money to buy a full Painter IX version, you'll spend far less by calling Corel, even if it is a toll call where you live (it's not a toll call in the U.S.).

Some software companies do place watermarks in images produced using their trial versions. The Academic version of Painter is not a trial version.

I've never heard there's a watermark in images created using the Academic version of Painter, even in their trial versions.

When you call Corel, ask them if there's a watermark. If they tell you there is, ask them if it's a visible watermark.

Even if there is an invisible watermark, and I doubt there is any watermark at all, it should not bother you unless you plan to violate the license agreement by using the software for commercial purposes.

The only reason I can think of for a watermark in Academic version images is to protect Corel by allowing them to check images when they suspect the artist is cheating.

Don't ever take the word of someone on a message board about something as important as this unless you don't care about getting accurate information. There are too may speculations around and there is too little actual knowledge of software companies' current requirements/license agreements which may change from version to version.

Good luck!

[Mavrick71]

Thanks Jinbrown. I never really considered actually asking Corel what the difference was. I think I'll just send them an e-mail, and if that doesn't work out I'll call them. Oh, and I wasn't really planning on violating the liscense agreement(my work probably won't be good enough for anyone to want to buy it without lots and lots of practice), I was just wondering if the watermark was there if you never physically printed it out onto paper, and what do you mean by invisible watermarks? The only kind I know of are the traslucent one's that have like Corel printed across the picture.

[Jinbrown]

Hi Mavrick,

No.. I didn't think you were planning to violate a license agreement. I should have put it another way and said something like...

"...an invisible watermark shouldn't bother anyone unless they planned to cheat."

... making my comment general. Please accept my apologies for not being more thoughtful before typing.


I don't know much about this from personal experience, because I've never used it, but Painter's earlier versions used to have an option in one of the menus to embed a watermark in an image.

In Photoshop 7.1, it's in the Filters menu, at the bottom, and it's called Digimarc.

Digimarc is a company where artists can register their watermarked images.

There are visible watermarks that we've all seen, for instance applied to images created in some software trial versions.

However, according to this short excerpt from the Digimarc site:


A MyPictureMarc digital watermark is a code embedded into a digital image. MyPictureMarc software embeds a unique Digimarc ID by making subtle changes to the image that can be detected by a digital watermark reader. Digimarc digital watermarks are generally imperceptible to the human eye.


Rather than try to explain further, something I don't know much about, here's the link so you can learn about the whole process:

http://www.digimarc.com/register/

I was rather surprised to find they're still in business. What with all the artists around wanting to protect their artwork, one would think we'd hear of them often.

If you learn more about it, please let us know what you think.


Thanks!

[Mavrick71]

That's ok, no harm done. Thanks for showing me that watermark page, I know someone who could use that. They have recently had their work stolen and were looking for ways to protect it.

[kraal]

i was in school when i forst bought painter and no there is no difference just packaging ( that was painter 8) which i was able to use to upgrade to painter 9

[wolfmanyoda]

I was also looking at the academic version and emailed Corel about the watermarks or other aspects of the program that may be crippled.
Here is their reply:

Thank you for your interesting Corel Painter IX.
The CD included in the Academic version is actually identical to the retail version, so the program itself is exactly the same.
The differences between Academic version and the Full Retail version are, as you mentioned, Starter Guide (available separately) is not included, and Academic version is provided in a DVD case instead of a box. Another difference to note is Academic version does not include free Technical Support while it is included in the retail products.

So I'm happy. I ordered it this morning.

[Mavrick71]

Oh, I've already ordered my Academic version, it's out for delivery right now,:bounce: along with my Intuos3 6x8, but my handbook is on backorder.
I got the same answer, but by Started Guide do you mean The Painter IX Handbook?
They never mentioned anything about a Starter Guide, but they did a Handbook.

[wolfmanyoda]

Yeah, I guess the starter guide is the manual.
In my email I asked what, besides not having a printed manual, was different in the two versions.
You already ordered your tablet? I have to save up some more for that, but that's the one I plan on getting too :thumbsup:

[Mavrick71]

OMG I love it, I love it, I love it... (the tablet and painter) I could type that all day, that's how much I love it!
Trust me, get it, all that talk about having to get used to it, forget about it, I picked the pen up and it was like I had done this before it's hard to explain. I usually adapt to new things faster than most of the people I know, so it may take longer for you.

Edit: Alas, I knew it would happen, Painter go poof.. :shrug:oh, well I wasn't working on anything.

[wolfmanyoda]

I just ordered my wacom.
Now I get to go crazy waiting for it to arrive... :banghead:

[kraal]

maverick check what version of painter you have.... it may be an older version so an update may stop the 'poof'

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.