First off let me state - I cannot afford Photo Shop. No way, no how.

Now - I've been using Paint Shop Pro 7 for years and for what I do, it's done me well. My biggest problem is that it doesn't open PSD's. I'm at a point in my designing where I need a software that both opens psd's and support psd layers.

In detail, what I need is something where I can open the psd, separate the layers, and save each element in my preferred format.
Aside from Photo Shop, is there anything else out there?

adobe fireworks - also expensive but a lot less than PS.

not sure whether gimp will open layered ps files... have a look at http://www.gimp.org/

You could also try Photoshop Elements - not as robust as Photoshop, but also a LOT cheaper - usually around $100.

Hello Peggy,

You should be able to open a psd file in PSP 7 and do some editing. A few years back, I downloaded a psd graphic opened the graphic up in PSP 7, no problems, you can even save a graphic to a psd file in PSP 7 and go back and open it up again and edit the graphic. Here's a link which I quoted: two programs that we know can open and edit PSD files which are less expensive and quite good are Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7+ and Ulead PhotoImpact 7+.

http://www.basictemplates.com/psd.shtml

Your best bet is GIMP. It's a free image editing software you can download at www.gimp.org. I'm using this for more than 2 years now and I'm happy about it's outcome. You can even use Photoshop Brushes(ABR) in this software.