Is there a free painting program or a free program that allows me to make custom skins for the animals? So far all the programs that are suggested for the creation needs to be paid for. If anybody has a free GOOD program that i can use, please respond to this thread.

You are in luck. Check out this list: 

http://beastkeeper.com/thread/5917

Some you can download, and some you can use right online. I use Photoshop CS2 and it suits all my needs right now. :) 

Let me know if you have more questions, I'm always happy to help!

It's been a giant storm with a lot of reports of PS CS2 being free for real, and little official word, but it says on their page:

"Only customers who legitimately purchased CS2 or Acrobat 7 and need to maintain their current use of these products may use the serial numbers provided during the download."

It being legally free is just a rumor that went on an epic stampede.

I’ve done a bit of research and it seems that the definition of the product has changed over time and since I posted the original links.

I was originally altered to the CS2 download via my Adobe Online account that I had for both work and school. I worked in my families’ sign shop and a lot of our programs were ridiculously old and outdated. In fact when Adobe stopped supporting the CS2 Serial and we had used it to its maximum (our office computers as well as two personal ones for work that we took home (for me that later evolved into graphic design)).  However, a few years back I was notified that Adobe had released the legacy edition of CS2 for free with people that had an Adobe account (I’m still confused as to if this meant all Adobe account users, or users who had once had the CS2 serial number on their account). Either way, it was free and since the serial number from before was not working Adobe support provided me with the legacy serial after speaking with them and proving that I once had a valid and legal copy.

Fast forward. New sites and tech sites blew up saying that it was free and legal to download. The reason I had posted the link was because I had interpreted it at the time to mean that the –legacy edition- only was the one for free and legal download as Adobe had essentially abandonware’d it and was no longer providing any support for it.

It seems that this is a HUGE gray area because of the way Adobe had released it.

“If you have a digital creative streak but your budget doesn’t extend far enough to buy Adobe’s Creative Suite applications, this is for you. Adobe have made available an array of applications from its Creative Suite 2 bundle — for free.

Along with the ever-popular Photoshop CS2 are applications such as Premiere Pro CS2, InDesign CS2, and Illustrator CS2. If you want the whole bundle, the entire Creative Suite 2 is also available for download.

CS2 is not new by any standards — it was first released in April 2005 — but it’s still a fantastic offer and capable of some serious work. And when the cost is just the time it takes to download it, it’s a real bargain.

Download available here, with Windows and OS X versions available.“

That is pretty ambiguous sounding…  Follow the link and you need to make/use an Adobe ID to gain access- which is how most people got it.

News articles started posting things like this: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/01/adobe-almost-does-something-amazing-by-accident/

Everyone seems to be in agreeance that Adobe made an error when they released it and made it available to most everyone. And that single key will work for the programs as a legacy edition. However as one person aptly said “Writing the combination of your bike lock on your bike chain doesn't mean you're giving away the bike.” Since then Adobe hasn’t made much comment or follow up at all.

People are obviously confused: “I find the complete lack of an explanation or disclaimer very odd. It does seem like Adobe is saying "We're not giving this away for free" while actively handing it out to everyone who passes by. Adobe seems like its usually DRM for it's products..”

And some have humorous analogies:

“It's not exactly a free lunch, it's more like the out-of-date sandwiches which are left in the alley behind the restaurant.”

For a time they removed that original download link due to server overload. Then posted another that you had to simply make an ID for… The later removed that one too.

“Adobe has made CS2 even easier to get, by removing the Adobe ID requirement. The company created a new CS2 download page, and this time around, it had no registration requirement at all.”

-From the above link

Upon further research it seems Adobe meant these to go to people who were running old software but made a mistake and given how they were releasing it anybody could gain access to it:

“Effective December 13, Adobe disabled the activation server for CS2 products and Acrobat 7 because of a technical glitch. These products were released over 7 years ago and do not run on many modern operating systems. But to ensure that any customers activating those old versions can continue to use their software, we issued a serial number directly to those customers.  While this might be interpreted as Adobe giving away software for free, we did it to help our customers.”

-From Adobe staff on their forums (https://forums.adobe.com/message/4977556)

“Disclaimer: Adobe may have canceled its license management servers due to a technical glitch, but the CS2 download is intended for those who have purchased the software previously and already posses the existing CS2 licenses. Adobe no longer updates or supports the 10-year-old software either, so it’s prone to instability issues when running on the latest operating systems. If you’re looking for a free, legal (albeit old) version of Photoshop, read on … but use it at your own risk.”

-Third party site: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-get-photoshop-for-free/

The link I had posted was not the original download and was in fact found in the comments on the adobe page (obviously not official Adobe). I cannot vouch for its security as I was using the one from the Adobe page with my Adobe account.

Given all of the ambiguity I will alter that thread that was posted last year to update the recent changes. A disclaimer will be added as my old disclaimer asked: “If you have knowledge otherwise please let me know and I will remove it.”

But you are certainly right. There are too many concerns about the legality of the software and the fact that I can’t find a statement from Adobe makes me hesitant to add anything at all. I will leave the link for now, but will add the “at your own risk” and “this is the “skinny” on everything”.  Thank you Saccharissa for your very valid concerns that prompted me to do further research. The program is CERTAINLY not free for all, only those who had a legitimate/have an Adobe ID. I’ll make sure that is notated in the thread.