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Best free graphics editor?

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 11:46 am
by Troken
Hi there,

I'm currently searching the WWW for the best free graphic editor, and I've found some very interesting programs indeed. But its hard to decide which is the best, so I'm wondering if any of you guys have any thoughts about them or interesting tips about good programs. Maybe even trouble you've encounterd or other ideas. My personal goal is to move more from Photoshop towards a freeware-solution (though Photoshop is still best for advanced editing, and probably will be for quite some time).

So far, my favourites are Artweaver and Paint.net, both have layers, nice tools and many good basic layer-adjustments (curves, levels etc.) Both have a nice interface and a fairly professional feel.

Haven't found any free software with ICC-support or CMYK-colourspace.

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:00 pm
by JohnFredC
Much less expensive than Photoshop and with a MUCH better user interface too: Corel PaintShopPro X.

I know it has been the traditional "budget" alternative to Photoshop, but it really is a wonderful tool and with:

floating/docking panels
document tabs
integrated thumbs browser
totally customizable floating/docking toolbars
scripting

...it workflows great, best of any graphics tool I have encountered!
Supports PS plug-ins, too.

The full-featured adjustment dialogs with their resizeable, zoomable, scrollable previews are worth the price all by themselves.

In my opinion PSP X is sufficently robust and stable to use for years. No upgrades needed.

Not free, but almost, considering.

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:15 pm
by Troken
JohnFredC wrote:Not free, but almost, considering.
But still, well you said it, it ain't free :) Maybe I'll give it a shot though, if there is a demo.

Anyway, I just found out that the next version of GIMP (2.3 I think) will have full colour-management :shock: which is extremly cool, considering the price. But on the downside, I hate GIMPs interface. All those loose windows and palettes everywhere! Sigh.

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 2:46 pm
by Stitscher
I use GIMP on my PC and DigiFoto on my USB-Stick. No installation required.

Can't download

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:11 pm
by Clo
—> Stitscher

:) Hello !

• I can't download DigiFoto, the transfer stops always around 589,000 … bytes :(

- I'll try fromTC…
EDIT : I could get the archive from TC, but it doesn't work, I have error messages… The size of the archive is 2,066,690 bytes.

:mrgreen: VG
Claude
Clo

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:42 pm
by Stitscher
@Clo
I have got the same error with 2.3.3..
I reported the bug to the author already. He will fix it.

Digifoto 2.3.2 works fine, here.
You can get 2.3.2 here

Regards,
Stitscher

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:25 pm
by JohnFredC
2Troken

Yes a 30-day PSP demo is available at the Corel website. Huge download, though.

It's now called PSP Photo XI.

Unfortunately, if you need LAB color, it doesn't support it.

I'm probably going to shell out for Adobe LightRoom when the free beta period ends. It has a highlight recovery tool that rocks and a beautiful user interface that is acceptably functional. A little counter-intuitive at first, but it grew on me.

Nice… in German…

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:37 pm
by Clo
—> Stitscher

:) Thanks, it works OK. It looks nice !

• Unfortunately, my German is rather limited :(

- Since you can contact the Author, please could you suggest him to plan some old good LNG¦MNU text files ? ;)

- The EXE is UPX-packed, when unpacked it's 12.9 MiB (!), that hangs the editors…
- Moreover, as usual the internal font (in the EXE) is still the awful MS Sans Serif everywhere :twisted:

- I'll wait for the bilingual version (when the download shall be fixed up…) to test really.
- But indeed, I would prefer a translatable programme, I could translate into French if this is improved…

:mrgreen: VG
Claude
Clo

Re: Nice… in German…

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 4:51 pm
by Stitscher
Clo wrote: • Unfortunately, my German is rather limited :(
You can change the language to english. ;)
Datei---Einstellungen----Sprache---Englisch
- Since you can contact the Author, please could you suggest him to plan some old good LNG¦MNU text files ? ;)

- The EXE is UPX-packed, when unpacked it's 12.9 MiB (!), that hangs the editors…
- Moreover, as usual the internal font (in the EXE) is still the awful MS Sans Serif everywhere :twisted:

- I'll wait for the bilingual version (when the download shall be fixed up…) to test really.
- But indeed, I would prefer a translatable programme, I could translate into French if this is improved…
Thanks for your suggestions. I will contact the autor. :)

Stitscher

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 5:00 pm
by Troken
Stitscher wrote:I use ... DigiFoto on my USB-Stick. ...
Thats pretty neat, has lots to offer. A somewhat old interface maybe. I'll try it out some more.

Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:06 pm
by Lesmo16
Hey Troken, PaintStar is another one to try out.

Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:43 pm
by Guest
Troken wrote:
JohnFredC wrote:Not free, but almost, considering.
But still, well you said it, it ain't free :) Maybe I'll give it a shot though, if there is a demo.

Anyway, I just found out that the next version of GIMP (2.3 I think) will have full colour-management :shock: which is extremly cool, considering the price. But on the downside, I hate GIMPs interface. All those loose windows and palettes everywhere! Sigh.
try this :wink:
http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294

Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 5:42 am
by Troken
Anonymous wrote:
Troken wrote:
JohnFredC wrote:Not free, but almost, considering.
try this :wink:
http://plasticbugs.com/?page_id=294
Yes, GIMPshop is a nice effort to make GIMP usable, and it's ok, but it's still GIMP. :) I guess that one day I'll have to learn it anyway, it has so many goodies to offer!