General Category > Public Discussion
free or open source windows image editors?
ratty redemption:
i'm currently trying out the freeware app paint.net, which although not very fast at applying some of it's tools when running on my laptop, it does seem quite a powerful app with several hundred user written plugins, it can also apparently import ps brushes, although i haven't yet tried any of those, and there are a lot of youtube video tutorials
http://www.getpaint.net/download.html
http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/18-tutorials-publishing-only/
http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/15260-plugin-index/
i don't know yet if i'll use this for most of my texture work. i'll update this topic over time.
ratty redemption:
kat, although their not free apps, what is the main difference between coreldraw graphics suite and psp? i used to use psp7 a lot and have also been researching into the latest version, but i've heard it's very unstable on some versions of windows.
kat:
It's been a long time since I looked at PSP but it was intensely 'wizard' based (drives the user through a series of steps to apply an effect rather than encouraging the development of any fundamental understanding regards to what one is doing). I don't know if that's the case now though.
The version of CorelDraw suite I have is nearly ten years old! So although I have had a look a recent versions it's not necessarily doing anything 'better' than it was back then (that's the only reason I ever upgrade.. heh). Best thing to do is download the demos of each and try them, this stuff is always a personal preference as you know.
That Paint.net has come a long way since I last looked at it, should be more than capable of doing what would be needed for most texture work, especially if it can use Photoshop plug-ins and tools.
ratty redemption:
understood and thanks, and so far the main disadvantage of paint.net that i have seen is the image window lags when using a tool dependant on mouse movement, eg a paint or custom brush type tool, but it's filters seem reasonably fast. there is also no direct way to save selections, although we can save 'masks' which can then be reloaded into any image layer and selected using the magic wand tool. so not quite as convenient as i was used to in psp7 but the workaround is ok.
i'm not sure if paint.net can use photoshop plugin filters but it can use custom brushes from what i have read.
edit: fixed a couple of typos.
mikshaw:
There are now decent builds of Gimp 2.7.3 available, which include single-window mode (disabled by default, but easily enabled under the "Windows" menu item). The image widows in this mode are tabbed, which I think is beautiful. I also like being able to shrink the toolbox into a single column on the edge of the window, which frees up a lot of space...especially if you switch to the small theme.
http://www.graphicall.org/gimp
I'm using the Linux version, so your experience may be different.
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