Open Source Graphics

Monday, 14 December, 2009

I regularly end up doign all sorts of quick graphics edits. I have been a long time fan of Pain Shop Pro and still run v8. Its since been acquired by Corel and newer versions are considerably bloated. v8 is powerful and exceptionally capable which is great. But when I’m on the move I want to use other packages to do the grunt for me. GIMP is a long time, and powerful, favourite of many users. I personally don’t get on with it so rarely end up using. My pick are the following:

1. Fotografix - extremely lightweight but very powerful. Layers, masking, levels, fills, gradients etc etc, Very good for touching up all sorts of graphics and photos.
2. XnView - fantastic general toolbox. Thumbnail image viewer, converter and manipulator. Lightning fast to boot.
3. IrfanView - grand daddy of open source image software. Real Swiss Army knife and well worth having knocking about.
4. Inkscape - Illustrator-esque open source product. Still at alpha/beta stage but it is very promising. Well worth keeping an eye on.
5. Dia - short for Diagrammer, this is great for things like flow charts, network diagrams etc.

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