Hi Nick,
I'd like to use it to edit photos and to create sigsI think Paint Shop Pro has a curve/pen tool which PSE does not have. And when I want to work on a PSE-created PSD file in GIMP, then GIMP simply ignores layer effects like bevel/emboss, inner/outer glows etc. I mostly use GIMP because it has a curve tool; but then I usually have to work with two sets of PSD layers just for one sig.
I've done a lot of reading on the enormous suites like Photoshop CS and Corel Draw Graphics Suite X5, and they seem to have too many functions, several of which I'll probably never use...besides the fact that they're very expensive.
Student versions (over here, at least) tend to be rather watered down - so what's the use of a full-fledged watered-down version?))
Briefly...I'm searching for a rough equivalent of PSE with a curve tool :-D
Well if it's photo editing and sig creation that you want to do then stick with Gimp.
All programs will loose some of the layer effects when saved in their native format and imported into another program, that's why we merge layers down or flatten images to preserve these effects.
You should be working with multiple layers so I wouldn't worry about having more than one layer in Gimp for your sig designs.
As for Student versions being "watered down" well this isn't true. They don't make a different version of the software just for students, it's still the full version but at a cheaper price.
Hope this helps a bit

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