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Picture Collage Maker Christmas Edition Giveaway
$29.90
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — Picture Collage Maker Christmas Edition

Picture Collage Maker will help you to create collages in minutes with just a few mouse clicks.
$29.90 EXPIRED
User rating: 302 37 comments

Picture Collage Maker Christmas Edition was available as a giveaway on December 24, 2012!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$24.96 / month
free today
Your all-in-one solution for home theater entertainment!

Picture Collage Maker is easy to use and allows anyone from novices to photography professionals to create eye-catching photo collages on Windows. With just a few clicks, they can create collages, scrapbooks, posters, greeting cards, invitations, calendars, and any other type of season greetings that they might imagine.

System Requirements:

Windows 8/ 7/ Vista/ 2000/ XP; Intel Pentium IV 1.0GHz, AMD Athlon XP (equivalent) or higher recommended; 256 MB RAM (512 MB or higher recommended); 150 MB HD (200 MB or higher recommended); Language: English

Publisher:

Pearl Mountain

Homepage:

http://www.picturecollagesoftware.com/

File Size:

76.6 MB

Price:

$29.90

Comments on Picture Collage Maker Christmas Edition

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#37

I wish I had been able to get in on the offer. It seemed like a pretty nice little program, especially for free! Thanks to the software engineer and GOTD.

Reply   |   Comment by EmmBliss  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#36

I downloaded this software & I could not regrister as it kept coming up as trail. I uninstalled it & the same thing happened. Very dissapointed as I wanted this as I had it before on an old computer.

Reply   |   Comment by fran phillips  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#35

Giovanni:

http://www.serif.com/digital-scrapbooking (==> My Personal First Choice)

This is just a starter... many functions do not work in the free edition and.. it is huge huge program !!

Reply   |   Comment by Kondoril  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#34

Thanks GAOTD. I downloaded and installed this collage maker and it runs very well and has lots of nice templates. Thanks Giovanni for your excellent review and list of alternatives which I will also check out. Merry Christmas to GAOTD and Giovanni and all GAOTD visitors and a very Happy New Year! :)

Reply   |   Comment by Kathy  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#33

It is a tiny simple application w wide range of templates. Can not compete with Photoshop of course. However if you need fast and ready made solution for a special occasion you may like this PCM. My problemes occured in installation on XP but for 3rd activation helped. But.. thanx to GAOTD it is my 3rd application of PCM as PCM (this one), PCM Pro and PCM Pro Full version. It seems to me product up-grade and user satisfaction is in wrong way by PCM.. Why can't find applications itself and up-grade the previous version especially I mean the templates? Why need I use 3 different program installed and different templates in different applications? Is it so complicated to solve? Or you have simplier reason? I propose to go on straight way and make life easier.. for your existing users. Thx. In case of complications I used to go back to PS and uninstall problemous graphic programs since I got no time. In this case I hesitate to keep it all or delete all.

Reply   |   Comment by dudu911  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#32

This is the first one I have ever had trouble activating.

As QM said, #24,

"There is a way to copy that activation to your standard account, but I am pretty sure discussion about that is not allowed. You will just have to run this program, and any giveaway that uses activate.exe for that matter, as administrator. You should find that it is registered when you run it that way."

Yes, I switched users to my admin account and it was fully registered there. I just prefer to use my guest account and leave admin alone. I'll have to look up how to copy the activation over.

Reply   |   Comment by jfreesol  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#31

Merry Christmas to you Giovanni .
I always look forward to you comments and suggestions .
Please keep up the good work
cjc

Reply   |   Comment by Cashew Chow  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-3)
#30

Giovanni

The first one on your list is 391 MB !!!

Reply   |   Comment by Kondoril  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#29

To JR ( 27)You can change the year and days....Double click on a day and the text box comes up....then notice...on the right hand side that you can roll the calender forward to another year...and that will change the day and dates.

Reply   |   Comment by Barbara Ann  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#28

I think Mike R's review (#11) was a bit harsh on this one, and I normally like his reviews, much appreciated! I spent about 20 minutes and figured out how to change calendars -- double-click on the calendar days and a property box appears where you can change month and year by clicking on left or right side. Can also change fonts, background & transparency for the calendar. The "Add Calendar" button is at the top, and adds a new layer. You can manage layers in the list in the bottom right corner, either show or hide, or you can click on an object you don't want and press the Delete key. When a new clip-art or calendar is added you'll need to resize by dragging the corner or side handles on the object. Click the green dot in the center and move the mouse to rotate.

Folks, there's quite a bit of power here. Add your own clip-art and background textures if you want something different. With the layers and masks, this is way ahead of many programs. Very easy to use, and you can customize everything or add your own. Thanks, Pearl Mountain and GOTD!

Reply   |   Comment by Mr.Dave  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#27

Thank you Barbara Ann. I tried that and the year changed, but not the days. They remained the same as 2012. Appreciate you trying, and Merry Christmas. (Now you can all click thumbs down again. I brought up what I think is a valid point, but probably won't in the future.)

Reply   |   Comment by JR  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+9)
#26

This works very well and is a cool bit of software, you can change the calendars to 2013
I've made a few xmas cards and sent to my mates and they have all received them and they liked them, play around with this and you will enjoy

thank you GAOTD and Pearl Mountain Software

Reply   |   Comment by buckoooo  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#25

@Kelty (#21): It says the activate.gcd has to be there. It doesn't say you're supposed to try to run it. Just run setup.exe, let it finish, and run activate.exe.

Reply   |   Comment by Steve  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#24

Never mind, I figured out you click on "save as picture"! Yeah, this is great!

Reply   |   Comment by Ruby Mae  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#23

If you are having problems with this program still being unregistered after successful activation, try running the program as administrator by right-clicking on the icon and selecting the "Run as administrator" option (Vista/7, don't know about 8). Essentially, if you are logged in as a standard user instead of administrator (the recommended setup for security purposes) activate.exe will automatically try to run as administrator (UAC will probably prompt you for a password). Once it is running as administrator, that's the account that gets activated, not your standard account.

There is a way to copy that activation to your standard account, but I am pretty sure discussion about that is not allowed. You will just have to run this program, and any giveaway that uses activate.exe for that matter, as administrator. You should find that it is registered when you run it that way.

Reply   |   Comment by QM  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)
#22

I've only just opened it up but it seems decent so far. I am running Win7 and I'm quite familiar with the aggravation of calendar making. I ran Paint Shop Pro 7 for years and moved up to ProX4 but thought I'd give this one a try for the quick calendar styling.

First off, those having trouble with activation install the program itself, run it one time with Trial, close the program THEN use the activate.exe. That should work. I had no trouble at all doing my install that way.

Secondly, when you run the program the first time you have their website pop open a window. Near the bottom it has a list of things you can use in the program, such as calendars.
http://www.picturecollagesoftware.com/how-to-make-photo-calendar.html
For those that are baffled they have 2012 only calendar templates... you only need double click the year, month and/or calendar itself to fix that. I've not ventured out past the calendar section as of yet but everything seems to work swimmingly.

The only two things you need to do is setup.exe to install the program and activate.exe. The exe to activate extracts the .gcd and runs it for you. :) So far so good (though I'd never pay $30 for it as it is rather easy and teenlike) and it gets a thumbs up from me.

Reply   |   Comment by KeishaJL  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)
#21

This worked well with my first try. I got the following on my 'read me.'

!!! .GCD file included is necessary for correct installation and activation. Please make sure to extract all enclosed files to the same folder. After successful activation and installation you may safely delete GOTD installation files from your PC (including .GCD)!!!

I press the activate .gdc and my computer does not recognize this. Any help please.

Reply   |   Comment by Kelty  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)
#20

It's a nice tool with pretty masks and backgrounds (I don't care about the calendars)but it *will not* let me save my work in anything but their special files. I don't know how the other posters are saving in .jpg. Maybe someone will let me in on the secret!

Reply   |   Comment by Ruby Mae  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#19

MERRY CHRISTMAS, GIOVANNI!

I always look forward to your expertise and to GAOTD!

HAPPY NEW YEAR COMMENTATORS!

Reply   |   Comment by SoftwareBabe  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#18

On this occasion I disagree with MikeR's rather harsh verdict and find myself agreeing with Giovanni's anodyne "pretty decent" verdict.

I've used Picture Collage Maker Pro 2.5.7 given away here in April last year.

I've tried today's out and, while it's not best-in-class, I have found it does a reasonable job of building collages and provides more options for fiddling with the source pics than you'd expect. This one provides a standalone* help file. It drives me mad when a product's Help menu command opens my browser and sends me to web site without warning, whether I like it or not.

But as this offers a reduced set of tools, I'll uninstall and stick with my previous, "pro", version*.

[*This is a good example of a trend on GotD that Giovanni has pointed out from time to time, towards the GotD offerings being sub-max versions, reduced or crippled in some way; this is to be decried.]

Reply   |   Comment by BenAsp  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#17

Merry Christmas Everyone and a prosper 2013

Reply   |   Comment by Ronda  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)
#16

What good is 2012 Calendars? No thumbs ^ for me.

Reply   |   Comment by perryntx  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-18)
#15

To JR on Number 12. You can change the date on the calenders by double clicking on 2012. A text box pops up and then you can put the date in.....such as 2013.

Reply   |   Comment by Barbara Ann  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+17)
#14

Installs, activates and runs OK on Windows 8 Pro x64.

Reply   |   Comment by Rooty  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#13

Pretty decent collage maker with several advanced features such as the ability to add cliparts, text, calendars, shapes, masks and backgrounds to the framed pictures.

Supports almost any kind of image format (BMP, JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TGA, TIF and TIFF).

Overall it's a good but not great app for 30 bucks, but if you are eager to create scrapbooks, collages, calendars and greeting cards just grab it and enjoy!!

BEST FREEWARE ALTERNATIVES (Giovanni's Christmas Edition...LOL!!)

http://www.serif.com/digital-scrapbooking (==> My Personal First Choice)
http://www.scrapbookflairsoftware.com
http://www.effectmatrix.com/Free-Photo-Collage/index.htm
http://www.photospills.com/details.htm
http://smilebox.com

Or for a more comphensive Photo management solution:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Digital-Photo-Tools/Windows-Live-Photo-Gallery.shtml
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/tools-for-windows-live-photo-gallery-to-enhance-user-experience

http://picasa.google.com


Top (scam) FREE Online Photo collage maker:

http://foxhugh.wordpress.com/2012/04/28/best-free-online-photo-collage-maker/

My 2 cents for today's giveaway....

Reply   |   Comment by Giovanni  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+66)
#12

Nice program to play around with. I love collage programs. Only problem is that all calendars are for 2012. I didn't see any way to update.

Reply   |   Comment by JR  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#11

Stunningly unimpressive software: clunky, non-intuitive, hopeless 'help' section and requiring of the user far more effort than the results justify.

I don't normally begin any GAOTD comment of mine with the verdict first but the 'reviews' so far posted here -- including Justin's from dot.tech -- make me wonder if we're talking about the same program.

To begin, then: downloaded and activated OK but the 'read me' text really should make it clear that though you should run setup first, activate afterwards, you should NOT activate if the program is open. Yes, you'll get a GAOTD activate confirm message but that means nothing: if this program is open then it's in 15-day trial mode only. Close it then and activate it again.

Creating your own calendars is one of the most popular features of photo collage software and explains why all such programs include calendar templates. So I figured, I'd quickly (!) make my own calendar with today's offer.

For a start, all templates are for 2012 calendars. They range from the ugly to the reasonably attractive. One might have expected today's developer to be aware of the fact that there's only a week left of 2012, but apparently not: go to the website in search of 2013 templates and you're out of luck.

Reconfiguration of the template ought in theory to be easy because this collage maker operates on the standard principle of adding 'layers' to a project; in a calendar, there can be separate layers for text, photographs, numbers, whatever.

Going to the program's help section is, however, pointless. There's little in the way of detailed guidance. Going to the developer's own website and the tutorials there also seems a bit pointless seeing as they relate to the PRO version, not the Standard version on offer here today.

The website's advice to doube-click on a calendar icon (I never found any such icon, but then, the toolbar icons aren't dependably context sensitive) is meaningless as it's necessary to go to Collage / Add Calendar to open the Calendar Settings panel where the year / month / week can be changed along with font, font style and font color.

There's no indication at all though of how those adjustments will play in. I finished up time after time with ugly slabs of 2013 data layered atop the existing template. Removing the template's layers resulted in, uh, ugly slabs of 2013 data that in most cases didn't even fit the template.

I suppose if I had all day or maybe even all week to figure out what the developer wants me to do here, the outcome might be more satisfactory -- but I hold little hope, seeing as this program has so far managed to lock up half a dozen times in its first hour of usage.

By contrast, I could -- in the time it's taken to try to fathom out just what today's software is supposed to do and if, indeed, it can even do it -- I could've created a dozen or more 2013 photo calendars for different friends and sent 'em off via email, courtesy of:

http://www.petrosit.de/apps/26-pically-the-picture-calendar-creator

Pically is free. Pically works. Pically doesn't require its user to have to waste time and effort on what should actually be the simplest of creative projects.

Quite how my road-testing of today's Giveaway squares with the glowing eulogies -- yet curiously omitted details -- of actual 'reviews' in this comment thread, I've no idea.

Thanks, GAOTD, but no thanks: uninstalled.

Reply   |   Comment by MikeR  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+67)
#10

#4 ASBY: Make sure the program is not running when you run Activate.exe.

Reply   |   Comment by Steve L  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+18)
#9

Very easy and smooth installation. Go to their website and there is a clip, very well made, good music, and shows very well what this software can do. Can rotate, and control the size of picture, and many background to select, with all the decorations, like clipart that one may wish to insert. The background can also be saved as wallpaper, and the finished collage can also be saved as picture. There is "download more templates", but do not bother because you will be disappointed that it is just for the Pro edition. A good software for the whole family to enjoy during the holidays. Thank you for this giveaway.

Reply   |   Comment by Andrew  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+12)
#8

Installed and registered fine on Vista Premium. Looks like quite a nice program. Merry Christmas everyone.

Reply   |   Comment by Harroman  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)
#7

Nice product. It is very useful and I can use it to make photo albums. It has been given away before and I wait for this for a long time. Thumb up and thanks for GAOTD!

Reply   |   Comment by YiKeDaCaoMei  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)
#6

Make sure you check over on the game giveawayoftheday site. there's extra games for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. todays game is 8-Ball Pool. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Whiterabbit-uk  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+32)
#5

Have a few collage tools, willing to give this one a try. Thank You GAOTD, and to all a Blessed Merry Christmas, and a great New 2013.

Reply   |   Comment by Steven E Frizzell  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)
#4

It is a good program and has many templets. I kept registering it but every time I opens it keeps saying it is a trial version and the register window will not go away. Also I was not able to save and open the pictures I made in JPEG and the default format did not open on the computer I emailed it to. I have similar programs and I am going to uninstall after seven times of registering and still getting trial version.

Reply   |   Comment by ASBY  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)
#3

This is one of thoses tools where it's not realy what in it but what you can add to it type of programs that makes it worthwhile to have.. for examples the masking options any greyscale image will interact as a mask (Black and white even better) as for vectors and cliparts well the internet is full of them and guess what Icons that are 256x256 are just the decent size for this little tool.. Yes like Ashraf mentioned the templates need work but guess what they are editable.. so make the final work your perfect design or let the little ones be creative while your preparing festivities... heck save on the macaronni and glue just download some clipart from google xD

Well have fun folks I'm off to get drunk and to forget 2012... so be safe and happy holidays..

Reply   |   Comment by Shawn  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+31)
#2

Very nice! I am surprised to see it saves the work as a JPEG. Now I can make some holiday cards and email them to friends and family....this is right on time! Thank you!

Reply   |   Comment by jimsock  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+8)
#1

Pros
*Offers 130+ templates
*Allows you to create collages, scrapbooks, calenders, greeting cards, invitations, posters and more
*Allows you to easily share your creations via email
*Extremely easy to use; very intuitive for new users plus offers a Wizard to walk you though the steps of using the program

Cons
*Some of the templates aren't very aesthetically pleasing -- ugly, one could even say

Final Verdict
Click here for final verdict and full review

Reply   |   Comment by Ashraf from dotTech  –  11 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+64)
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