Four very affordable graphics tools
When most people think of desktop graphics applications they think of Adobe’s Photoshop and most don’t think of open source alternatives. The reality, however, is that there are many fine open source graphics applications that can easily fill the needs of most users. We look at a few of the best that run on most popular operating systems including Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
Scribus
http://www.scribus.net
If you’re a desktop publishing type of user then you probably know about Quark Xpress and InDesign. Both are fantastic applications as well as being fantastically expensive to buy. Which is why, if you’re not actually a design house or a newspaper publisher, you’re unlikely to ever own a legitimate copy of one of these. But if you need to publish newsletter for your local school or hobby group and you don’t want it to look like a Microsoft Word job, then consider Scribus. It’s not InDesign but it has many of the features of InDesign, can be setup to work using the same keyboard shortcuts and does a very respectable job of producing a print-ready publication. Despite being a relatively new application Scribus has all the essentials built in. So, for example, it produces press-ready PDFs with full and correct colour matching and profiles at a resolution good enough for high quality work. Scribus does still have a couple of rough edges but it is worthy of a look for anyone wanting to do serious looking newsletters and publications.
Gimp
http://www.gimp.org
It’s hard not to mention the Gimp when considering open source graphics applications. Gimp has always been something of a Photoshop clone and in recent versions it mimmicks Photoshop very successfully. But, while Photoshop is best suited for high-end and print publication work Gimp is better suited for Web graphics work. The main reason for this, and one of Gimp’s major failings, is that it doesn’t produce CMYK formats. And in the world of printing that is the primary requirement. This doesn’t mean you can’t print Gimp-produced graphics at your local one-stop print shop, but if you’re producing a magazine with quality images on a real printing press you’ll run into problems. Having said that Gimp is great at producing the likes of animated web images, banners and logos; basically anything a user can do on Photoshop without the CMYK.
Pixel
http://www.kanzelsberger.com/pixel/
If it’s Photoshop that you really want and you don’t want the Gimp limitations then it’s worth taking a look at Pixel, an unabashed Photoshop clone that does everything it can to be just like its big brother. Pixel is not free but for around R500 it’s also not exorbitantly expensive. Pixel easily rivals Photoshop in almost all aspects and is significantly better than the Gimp in a number of areas, most notably in its support for CMYK and Lab colour modes, a key ingredient in the professional publishing sector which Photoshop dominates.
Inkscape
http://www.inkscape.org
Mention illustration programs and most people immediately think of Adobe Illustrator. Again, just like Photoshop, Illustrator is a giant of a application, but unless you’re a full-time graphic artist it’s probably not worth the money. If you want to produce good quality vector illustrations there is Inkscape, a simple but highly effective illustration package. Inkscape has all the basics in place so that vector drawings can be produced relatively quickly as well as being able to open other vector formats, convert images to paths and the like. It’s not Illustrator, but it is still remarkably versatile.
Graphics tools – give your views
Loading ...