Inkscape is really great but what I really need are Photoshop and After Effects. What are the best Linux equivalents? And don't say GIMP the UI is too different.
I've used photoshop on a contracting (professionally) basis since I was 15 using version 4. I've used just about every version since, but kind of stopped since Adobe is moving to more of a service based model with the creative suite cloud crap.
I've also used gimp for approximately 8 years and it has made HUGE strides in the past few years. In fact, I've done a few professional, or semi-professional (ie: not paid) photo restoration jobs recently and I used gimp to do it. Not that surprisingly, people still absolutely loved the work I did restoring pictures of their loved ones or whatnot.
Photoshop still has nothing equivalent to the SIOX background removal tool as the guy who wrote his PHD thesis on it wrote a gimp plugin. If you've not seen it, it is kind of amazing: http://www.siox.org. See this video for an example using a much much older version of gimp: http://www.siox.org/videos/siox-in-gimp.mpg
Maybe it's because I'm a software developer myself but I never had a problem with GIMPs UI. I never had a problem with Blenders UI either (only when they changed some things and I couldn't find them anymore because they are now somewhere else). In fact back in 2001 when I once tried Photoshop I found GIMP quicker to grasp than Photoshop (maybe because it has less features and thus one can get an overview of all the functions quicker).
Having used both, I think that gimp is actually much easier than Photoshop. To prevent him from sending me 5Mb pictures over email, I showed my father how to shrink the size of pictures using both gimp and photoshop. Then I asked which he wanted to use and he went with gimp, which surprised me. But using it more, the menus do make a lot more sense in gimp than they do in photoshop.
Think about a new graphics design person coming to photoshop. It is very much a learning curve, a higher one than gimp.
I don't mind the GIMP's UI so much. What really bothers me are the lack of non-destructive layer effects and other niceties that make its workflow so much inferior to Photoshop's.
you can still buy CS6 last I looked but you better do it pretty soon, as that might not last. I'd also sign up for a communicyt college course for a great discount again if you can. This whole renting requirement may subside. Adobe is going to be suffering some from people who don't want to rent and will stick to cs6 for so long that they will try something new to convince them. Like way cheaper prices or go back to an licensed / ownership model. CS6 still does everything CC does for 99% of people, but Adobe will start to feel the pinch as every year passes. A lot of people hate renting software. Rent to own is ok, but just to rent, that's a bunch of BS for the amount charged in my view.
It seems to be getting harder to run the older versions of Photoshop on newer versions of OSX. Photoshop didn't like the migration from my MacBook to a MacBook Pro. I tried to reinstall from the disc for CS3, but I can't get the installer to run. I'd don't feel like renting it, so starting to look for new options.
if you can stomach it, Blender can do some great things after effects can do. Photoshop there's no way to know the best replacement without knowing what you use photoshop for primarily. Becuae there are a lot of things can can do better than photoshop type features, but none work exactly the same. If you need the majority of what photoshop does, buy it.
