I’m finding it’s getting increasingly expensive to use all of these subscription based programs. Especially for a hobbyist. Are there alternatives to photoshop that can be plugged in to ZBrush, or at least a workable alternative workflow?
Thanks
Hi @ThreeViews ,
Photoshop is an image editing program. It is not the only program of that type. It does not plug into ZBrush, but certain plugins in ZBrush automate import/export with Photoshop. In the case of ZAppLink, this should work with any Photoshop-like image editing program that can import a .PSD, but failing that images can be imported or exported manually between the programs.
There are both commercial (example: Corel Paintshop Pro) and open source (example: GIMP) photo editors available that could potentially serve as an alternative to Photoshop. I’m not making a recommendation, merely informing you of their existence. 
Hi,
a very good additional commercial alternative (beside the information from SPYNDEL) is Affinity Photo 2.x
It has no subscription and all updates within the same releases are free (in the past with the 1.x version and with the 2.x version so far)
Note: You must pay the full price if you want to upgrade from a former release but Serife offered a sale of about 50% during several weeks as they announced the last version.
The current 2.x version costs 74,99 € (in Germany) and IMHO it’s the right graphic program for a hobbyist.
BTW: Serife offers from time to time a sale for their products.
CU 