My Favorite Graphic Editing Programs
My son Tim is always telling me about cool open source programs. He loves open source. He loves programming and is very good at what he does.
Here are a few favorites. These are not try then buy, nor do they ask for your credit card. This are high end programs at no cost, great if your budget is on a shoestring.
Gimp is an open source program found at http://gimp.org/about/ Nicknamed the free photoshop. Takes time to learn but a fun program. Mask, layers, shadows, makeseamless (not sure photoshop has that one) Does some pretty cool stuff. I use this one the most, still learning all its features. Supports many file formats.
inkscape http://www.inkscape.org/ open source vector graphics editor, similar to illustrator, coreldraw. My daughter Jessica loves this one. She loves to draw and is now drawing on the computer. Just ask and I’ll have her show you the thankyou cards she designed.
Scribus http://www.scribus.net/ open source page layout, makes your work press ready
Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/ open source office suite, does much, converts your documents to pdf files
Have fun!
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Oct 18th, 2007 at 12:41 am
G’day Diva Heidi,
Great Blog and great info! I would love to know more about inkscape and the idea of designing some get well cards/thank you cards-
Feel free to email me or drop by Mispoetic’s Place!
Love your diva sister,
Deb
Oct 19th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
Thanks Deb,
It is my daughter who knows the most about Inkscape, look for an email. Thanks and keep having fun.
Oct 24th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Great post. Opensource fan here too. I teach a computer design workshop to 5th-8th graders. We currently use artweaver which is pretty cool (and free) too. Always open to trying new software though. Thanks for the info.
Oct 25th, 2007 at 8:48 am
Thanks Karlyn,
I haven’t heard about artweaver, I’ll have to check it out. My 11 year old is checking out a 3-D program called Alice freely available from Carnegie. So many resources available.
Thansk!
Oct 25th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I just checked out Alice too.. Wow, amazing software! Thank you for the tip. I am always looking for new art related programs to try out and possibly introduce to my students. If you hear about any more, I would love to hear about it Heidi! Let’s link up too when you get the chance, ok?
http://www.karlyns.com/link-up-with-karlynscom/
Oct 26th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Glad you enjoyed it. Not all programs are easy to learn. I will let you know as new things come up. I downloaded the new GIMP yesterday. Sure! Heading out of town to see new grandbaby in a couple of days.
Dec 2nd, 2007 at 8:28 pm
Hi, I was was looking for a video for send out cards and found your site, downloaded inkscape graphics editor, wow I was impressed, It was a fast and furious package to use, I havent been this impressed with any packages I got of late, glad I found your site I was only looking this week for a design package, I love simplicity, cool
Thanks a Million
Patrick in Dublin
Dec 2nd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
Very cool program Patrick, glad that you found it. Sometimes it gets processor hungry, esp when using the blur feature. I really don’t use Inkscape, haven’t had time to sit down and learn all its features. Gimp works great for photos, but inkscape is great for vector drawings. Here are a couple of cards Jessica Sellers created in inkscape.
Feb 9th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
I am going to actually repost this on one of my blogs so I never forget the valuable information you have researched, rehearsed and revealed. Thanks so much
Mar 27th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
First time here Heidi. What a great resource person you are! Need an easy point and click graphic program. Now I use http://www.picnik.com.
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